Last week Facebook added the ability to tag photos with brand, product and people Pages (example photos show a woman holding a Coke and fans with Kanye West). This opens up a rich array of opportunities for brands to gain awareness outside their owned presence on Facebook—indeed, photo tags may be “the new Likes.” Meanwhile, [...]
In February, Old Navy launched a music/mobile integrated TV campaign: During music video-like TV commercials (such as the one below), viewers are prompted to use the popular smartphone app Shazam—which identifies tracks and provides artist, release date and other information—to find out more about the featured song, all of which were produced for the ads. [...]
Premium German dog food brand GranataPet recently launched a novel Foursquare campaign that seamlessly blends the digital and physical—a manifestation of Worlds Colliding, one of our 2011 trends—to introduce the product to dogs and their owners. A billboard in an area heavily trafficked by people taking their pets for a stroll asked passers-by to “check in” to [...]
ShopAlerts is a new mobile service from AT&T and Placecast that notifies consumers about deals and specials when they’re near a participating retailer or brand. These text messages include weather conditions, traffic information and shopping area details to enhance the consumer experience. Rather than asking consumers to download a mobile app and hope they’ll utilize [...]
After difficulties with attempting to teach a group of kids the fundamentals of baseball, FunGoPlay’s co-founders hit on a solution for encouraging children to be more active: a virtual sports-themed world that will incorporate physical play and recreation with online play and rewards. Using FunGoPlay equipment, kids will earn points in the virtual world when they [...]
Harnessing Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and YouTube, Mattel is running an integrated social media campaign to celebrate Ken’s 50th anniversary. The campaign culminates today, Valentine’s Day, with the reveal of new dolls. The effort focuses on the story of Ken’s efforts to win back Barbie after a six-year separation. Fans can follow both Barbie’s and Ken’s journeys and interact with the characters via [...]
To demonstrate its Internet-connected ePrint printers, HP recently teamed up with well-known comedy group Upright Citizens Brigade to host a live-streamed two-hour YouTube show. Sketches were based on user-generated ideas (those who used HP ePrint to submit ideas got access to a special Best Buy promotion). The live show coincided with a branded site takeover [...]
Utilizing Twitter and Facebook Places, Red Bull teamed up with San Francisco Giants player Tim Lincecum to give away 11 autographed baseballs last week (Lincecum pitched 11 strikeouts this past season). To participate in the scavenger hunt, players followed Lincecum on Twitter (@StrikeIn) to get clues and checked in on Facebook Places once they found [...]
Hasbro is partnering with YouTube in a promotion for Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It Edition that stars viral-video celebrities. An interactive version of the new game at youtube.com/trivialpursuit lets visitors play with more than a dozen YouTube stars (people who’ve achieved Internet fame for their viral videos). Players answer three questions to earn poker [...]
Game mechanics are fast becoming a method to create loyalty and time spent with brands. “Gamification is a hot buzz word these days,” notes VentureBeat. They use DevHub, a platform for creating websites and blogs, as an example of the potential here. By relaunching with an expansive gaming component—users win rewards for adding features—DevHub has [...]
In a post last October, we looked at innovative ideas for crowdfunding movies. The new film Iron Sky, a sci-fi comedy involving Nazis on the moon, was financed both by traditional crowdfunding (from some 10,000 contributors) and crowd-investing (around 200 people are shareholders and stand to benefit from any profits, according to Wired.co.uk). And Finnish writer-director Timo Vuorensola, who amassed fans with a low-budget Star Trek spoof, also involved the crowd in the creative process—e.g., to help with historical research, props and visual effects. This had the added benefit of creating evangelists, he told The West Australian: “When people are contributing to a film, they take ownership of it and spread the word.” Iron Sky is playing around Europe, in Australia and a few other markets, and has a North American distributor lined up. —Marian Berelowitz
More flat surfaces are becoming screens, and more screens are becoming interactive, as we note in our 10 Trends for 2012 report. In one recent manifestation of this trend, the upscale Hong Kong Jockey Club installed several 10-by-4-foot touch-screen tables, where members can view videos and see updated race results, as well as gamble, using RFID-enabled smart cards to place bets. The tables, which each accommodate eight players, can also interact with members’ digital devices.
The Club is looking to install the tables at other tracks around the world, according to Possible, the WPP agency that created them. “Designed to resonate with the always-on tablet and smartphone generation,” screens such as these will increasingly replace formerly static flat surfaces. —Will Palley
While some are questioning how much potential remains in the Facebook gaming market, a batch of celebrities are turning out their own apps for the social network. Oprah’s Thank You Game, which aims to “help spread gratitude around the world,” was designed by game maven Jane McGonigal’s SuperBetter Labs. Jay-Z’s new Empire is based around his rise to fame, with players creating a Sims-like avatar before running empires of their own. Another famous rapper is behind 50 Cent’s Blackjack, basically a version of the casino game. And Jersey Shore’s Snooki beat them all to the punch with Match Game in February. —Will Palley
Brands are increasingly using Twitter in innovative ways—e.g., via “micro-affiliates” or for e-commerce. To help manage demand for sought-after new sneaker editions, Nike recently debuted a Twitter RSVP process that allows customers to reserve a shoe at any of a dozen U.S. stores, avoiding long lines and mayhem. Sneaker fans must follow the Twitter account of their local store, which sends a tweet at a random time on the designated day. Consumers must then direct-message the store within 60 minutes, including the product-specific hashtag, their name and shoe size. Shoes are awarded on a “first respond, first serve” basis and can be picked up on the launch day. —Will Palley
Launched in late 2011, BackBid.com is a booking site that pits hotel against hotel to gain a client’s business—in the end helping the consumer to win out above all. Here’s how it works: Users book a room and post the details to BackBid.com. From there, other hotels in the area can outbid the current booking, offering lower rates or room upgrades and more amenities. Users can then accept one of the offers and rebook at the competing hotel. The model offers hotels an opportunity to fill empty beds without resorting to heavy discounting—which could ultimately cheapen the brand’s image. Instead, hotels can make savvy travelers feel like VIPs by offering a seemingly personalized discount package. But it’s a potential catch-22, since those beds might be empty due to would-be guests defecting to competitors with better bids. —Jessica Vaughn
It’s one thing for a brand to have millions of followers on Twitter; it’s another to have that army doing some work for you. American Express recently started offering a credit to customers who tweet an Amex-related promotion (e.g., #AmexWholeFoods, to receive $25 off a $75 purchase at Whole Foods). U.K.-based Park Resorts, similarly, is offering savings and credits to brand followers who share promotional links.
“It’s simple and frictionless,” as Ed Gilligan of American Express told The New York Times. The ease of getting consumers to send a brand’s message certainly saves on media costs, and the message is more likely to be noted (Nielsen reports that 92% of consumers around the world trust recommendations from friends and word-of-mouth more than any other form of messaging). “Micro-affiliates,” as these consumer participants are sometimes termed, is an idea that fits well in a post-Groupon world, where deal-loving consumers respond to offers to save money they may not have spent otherwise. —Aaron Barr
With businesses like TOMS Shoes and Warby Parker, we’ve seen the rise of the “Buy One, Give One Away” business model—a strategy we highlighted in our 2011 100 Things to Watch List. Now, we’re seeing more brands linking customer purchases to tangible do-good initiatives. Apparel maker United by Blue, a certified B Corp, says it has “one hand in the apparel industry and the other hand in waste management.” That’s because UBB vows to remove a pound of trash from oceans and waterways for each item sold (since launching in 2010, they’ve removed some 83,000 pounds of junk). The company proudly “does its own dirty work,” as the UBB website lays out, and the brand-organized cleanup events serve as organic community-building experiences for the volunteers, typically local residents. With more cause-minded products and CSR activities launched every day, socially focused efforts will increasingly need to promise tangible results so that customers associate each purchase with a measurable benefit. —Jessica Vaughn
TV networks aren’t the only ones experimenting with complementary mobile apps. Big-screen producers are seeing potential in the second screen, with movie apps that go beyond the outtakes and commentary of classic DVD extras. A $4.99 iPad app that debuted along with the Blu-ray edition of Monty Python and the Holy Grail yields the screenplay, Michael Palin’s diary and more. And if synced with a Blu-ray player, the app doubles as a remote control and surfaces pertinent extras at key points. Kids flicks are a particularly good fit: Warner Bros.’ free Happy Feet Two app, for instance, helps viewers “sing, dance, and play along” in sync with the Blu-ray. Disney offers free second screen apps for Bambi, The Lion King and Lady and the Tramp that include extras like stills, storyboards and flipbooks along with Blu-ray syncing. These apps provide a window into a future where viewers access augmented content across synced screens. —Deanna Zammit
Formerly known as Miss Bank$, 20-year-old rapper Azealia Banks has been garnering significant attention since she released her debut single, “212,” in December. She topped NME’s 2011 cool list and came third in the BBC’s Sound of 2012 countdown. The New Yorker’s first EPis set to launch April 17, and she’s working on a full-length album, Broke With Expensive Taste, while collaborating with Kanye West and Lana Del Rey. —Will Palley
Hang on to your popcorn. Another “dimension” is being added to the theatrical experience: physical effects. In some cases, theaters are installing seats that shift, rumble and otherwise move in sync with the action. “We are trying to reflect everything you would feel in real life without crossing that line of being like a theme park ride,” Guy Marcoux of high-tech seat manufacturer D-BOX told The Guardian. Around 3,000 D-BOX seats have been installed in theaters across North America, Japan, Germany, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Other 4D experiences incorporate “in-theater special effects,” like Broadway 4D, a permanent musical theater attraction planned for a long-vacant historic Times Square theater.
It seems the entertainment industry is working ever harder to create experiences that manage to entice viewers away from the big screens and high definition they already have at home. —Deanna Zammit
