OK, it’s printed packaging, not printed newspapers, but McDonald’s new ‘TrackmyMaccas’ iPhone app is a good example of the state of the art (writes Peter Coleman).

Developed by agency DDB Australia, is uses image recognition, augmented reality and GPS technology to deliver an engaging and entertaining message.

Holed up in flood-isolated Warwick, Queensland, yesterday – where the APN-owned  local Warwick Daily News was not printed because copied could not be trucked the 83 kilometres from Toowoomba – I had the opportunity to check it out.

Snap the fast food restaurant’s packaging and give it access to your location, and you set off a process which uses data from the company’s supply chain to tell you what you’re eating and where it came from.

And sets off an animated presentation using your table as a stage.

A world first for the restaurant chain, the app runs on iOS mobiles such as iPhone and iPad and tracks ingredients of specific meal items.

I see great opportunities for its application in the print newspaper market… if only the papers can get through.

Your GXpress e-newsletter would have come from the Rose City – where APN now prints only sheetfed, having laid the old Harris V15 to rest – but for the fact that in the early afternoon with river levels lower, travellers were allowed to drive over the bridge they had walked for exercise in the morning. The detour through Toowoomba was an alternative to the Cunningham Gap, where a multimillion makeover didn’t stop rocks and mud closing the road.

Here’s the Macca’s video: