´Invisible¨ print ad lights up with smartphone

To emphasise the mysterious look and feel of the Abraxas brand, drinks giant SAB Miller has placed an extraordinary advertisement in Lima magazine in Peru. The interactive ad seems to be black, but when the reader holds a smartphone LED light behind the page the logo and text light up which gives a special effect. No special apps or QR codes are necessary for this interactive advert. The inventors do not want to share their secret. Most likely it is a combination of various inks, a pigment ink and a dye ink. Quite possibly the opaque pigment makes the page look black. The colourants in the dye ink are somewhat transparent. It seems that the black parts of the Abraxas ad are printed with pigment ink and the parts which have to become visible – the logo and text – are printed with dye inks which will become visible with the smartphone´s LED light. If you would like to look at the effect, you can watch this video.