MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Luminate, Inc., the worldwide leader in making digital images interactive, today publicly debuted its unique Visual Targeting offering to help transform static images into robust branding experiences. L'Oreal's Garnier division is just one of several global brands that experienced a significant brand lift from Luminate-enabled Visual Targeting campaigns during the pilot period.

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Luminate has long employed a unique image recognition system that combines visual algorithms with human crowdsourcing. Now through the Visual Targeting offering, Luminate's human category experts identify visual cues relevant to brands – markers that indicate a mood or lifestyle, categories of products, or even specific products that look similar to those in catalogues— and this information is coded and embedded within images. As a result, marketers can dissect and target what's in an image at a remarkably granular level and serve highly relevant brand messages to the "right" consumer at the precise time of engagement. This novel approach allows for significant personalization of the message.

"Visual Targeting opens up the 40% of the web's real estate that was previously inaccessible to brands–the content inside images," said Chas Edwards, CRO and Head of Publisher Development at Luminate. "We are extremely pleased to publicly announce this program, particularly with the support of forward-thinking brands such as Garnier that understand the power of images. Witnessing the success of our early Visual Targeting customers is inspiring as we continue to reshape what images can do for the Internet experience."

During the Visual Targeting pilot program Luminate helped companies such as Garnier achieve their goals by creating programs designed to build awareness through images. L'Oreal USA's Garnier division used Luminate's service to promote its new Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream by embedding information within images of beautiful, approachable women. Doing so appropriately aligned the product with a message of the Garnier brand and its innovative skincare technology.

"With Luminate, we saw an opportunity to create awareness of our first-to-market BB cream in an environment where women are looking for the latest trends and fashion looks," said Michelle Ryan, Vice President, Garnier Skincare. "Using fun, approachable visual images to bring attention to the benefits of our Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream in completing a look gives us a different way to interact and educate consumers. We are happy with how Luminate was able to increase BB Cream and skincare awareness for us."

To learn more about how visual targeting helps brands across industries reach their target customers while creating an outstanding interactive consumer experience, please visit www.luminate.com. 

About Luminate

Luminate, Inc. is the worldwide leader in making images interactive, serving more than 150 million users each month and 40 billion image views per year. Founded in 2008, with the vision to make every digital image interactive on the web, Luminate offers the world's first platform for image applications. Developed by technologists from Netscape and LiveOps for the new era of the Imagesphere Luminate's platform combines Internet and crowdsourcing technology to deliver the optimal content relevant to online images. Luminate is a private company funded by August Capital, CMEA Capital, Google Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners and Shasta Ventures, with headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

SOURCE Luminate, Inc.