Google Goggles, an app that lets you search by taking photos of objects, has gone commercial.

In a self-coined "marketing experiement," Goggles has partnered with Buick, Disney, Diageo, T-Mobile, and Delta Airlines to add their offline advertisements to the service. Once photographed, mobile users will be led to the associated brand's Web presence.

Google Goggles was released on Android phones in December 2009 and on iOS 4 in October. Users can photograph objects on their phones and receive relevant Google search results. Goggles doesn't identify everything; mostly nameable objects like landmarks, logos, books, DVD covers and games. It also works with Google Translation (handy when you're faced with a foreign-language menu).

"We developed Google Goggles so that people could more easily explore the world around them with a mobile device," Shailesh Nalawadi, product manager for Google Goggles, wrote in a blog post. "In this experiment, we're applying the same principles, and the same technology, by 'Goggles-enabling' advertisements and other media, and offering to link people to the mobile sites from these brands."

Now that Goggles has brands on board, the technology fosters more active relationships between advertisers and consumers, advertisers said.

"We want to create a more rich experience for consumers, so when they come to a print ad that's enabled with Google Goggles, it gives them the opp to then get a deeper, richer experience with the brand," said Craig Bierley, director of advertising for Buick GMC, in a video (below) posted on Google's blog.