Like Friday, today is a Bank Holiday in the UK, so we are taking a day off; normal service will be resumed tomorrow. But we felt we had to log on to bring you the news that rich media mobile advertising firm, Celtra, is working on a 4D advertising technology that would enable mobile users to reach into the screen of their phone or tablet and touch the product being advertised. The company says it expects the new format to be of particular appeal to fashion advertisers, enabling users to feel the quality of the fabric, when it launches next year.

Celtra has been working on the technology with scientists from one of America’s leading universities for the past two years, but it was not until the development of Corning’s flexible Willow Glass last year that it became feasible outside the lab and in the real world. The first smartphones and tablets using the glass are expected to launch next year.

Using an advanced molecular algorithm, and a prototype, ultra-thin and semi-penetrable version of the Willow Glass, Celtra has created dummy ads where the user can push their fingers into the screen and feel the product on view, without causing any damage to the screen.

The company demonstrated the tech to Mobile Marketing last week and it is nothing short of remarkable. When a pair of jeans was advertised, touching the screen felt exactly like touching denim. A silk shirt delivered the experience of touching a silk shirt.

“We are taking mobile advertising, literally, into another dimension,” said Celtra general manager, Europe, Jonathan Milne. “This stuff has to be seen, and touched, to be believed, but once you experience it, it’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.”

One of the US researchers working on the project, Tex Tile, added: “This is the first ad format to truly harness the power of mobile. Mobile advertising will never be the same again.”