Nov 16, 2010 15:17 GMT  ·  By

Google Goggles is one of the most interesting technologies from the company, making visual search a reality, albeit a far from perfect one. While the technology is constantly improving, it hasn't really gotten that much attention, until now. Google is partnering with several big brands to launch a campaign of ads built with Goggles in mind.

"Today, we’re announcing a Google Goggles marketing experiment. We’re working with five brands—Buick, Disney, Diageo, T-Mobile and Delta Airlines—to extend some of their offline marketing to the mobile web," Shailesh Nalawadi, Product Manager for Google Goggles, announced.

"They have 'Goggles-enabled' some of their print ads, movie posters and other media. When users take pictures of these with Google Goggles, they will be recognized by the app, and users will have the option of clicking-through directly to a mobile destination from the brand," he added.

This is not the first time offline ads have been linked to online content. But it is the first attempt to monetize Google Goggles and the first time ads from several publishers are enhanced by using this type of technology.

The move should come as natural for Google. It is, after all, an advertising company which makes the vast majority of its revenue from ads. Granted it hasn't had much success with offline ads, but it is now trying to bridge the gap with Goggles.

Google Goggles is a mobile app which enables users to simply take a photo of whatever interests them and have the app retrieve further information about it. Goggles can translate text and recognize landmarks, though its error rate is still too high to make it a truly indispensable tool.

Accuracy won't be a problem with these ads, Goggles is already trained to recognize them. When users snap a pic of these ads, they will be directed to a page the advertiser specifies.

The potential is huge, mobile advertising is still an emerging market. While Google already covers the existing opportunities with ad platforms for mobile search as well as apps, via the AdMob acquisition, the market is very young and any number of technologies or ad models could prove a huge hit.

Google has launched the Goggles experiment for advertisers to see how users would engage with ads, what works and what doesn', and, of course, if users really do want this type of ads.