BRANDING UNBOUND

Video: DoCoMo's 'Golf Phone' Uses Augmented Reality To Improve Your Game

Coming to an iPhone app near you. This phone from Japanese mobile services operator DoCoMo uses augmented reality to improve your golf game. And some of us, er, could definitely use it.

(As it turns out, yes, there is an iPhone app for that, too.)

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"... AN ESSENTIAL READ ..."

“This is an essential read for those of us tasked with connecting and engaging with the elusive 'I want it right now' generation. Anyone interested in not sucking at their jobs should pick this book up immediately!"

Jordan Atlas
Vice President, Group Creative Director
Digitas

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JC Penney Hopes to "Haul" Viral Videos, Mobile & More for Back-to-School

  JC Penney wants to have a word with your teenager - no matter where your teen can be found.

Word's out today that Penney's back-to-school marketing blitz includes viral video, mobile, TV, and store-based promotions, social media and more.

Among the elements, according to Internet Retailer: Those so-called "haul" videos where consumers post videos talking about what they just bought where. Mobile ads on iPhones and iPads. And even some virtual reality.

“Using an array of innovative interactive and user-generated content, our back-to-school marketing encourages teens to take control and discover our extensive assortment of exciting styles and brands at affordable prices,” J.C. Penney executive vice president and chief marketing officer Mike Boylson, tells the pub. 

The virtual reality component seems to include a co-promotion with Seventeen magazine that gives shoppers the ability to overlay images of products into real-world environments, enabling shoppers to virtually try them on and then link to JCP for a purchase. 

Mobile efforts include a mobile site that includes TV spots, those haul videos, and weekly offers via text message, and the ability to upload their own styles to share and vote on among friends.

I'm actually not clear on how the haul videos will work here. Apparently, they're going to be featured on JCP.com, but by law the posters have to reveal if they received products from JC Penney for free - and it's unclear just how authentic the whole scenario can be if JC Penney is recruiting the haulers. So that part is unclear at this point.

What is clear is that Penney is building on digital efforts that over the last few years have included a branded offers widget; a web/TV/print and mobile campaign that seemed to used contrasting archtypes from the 1985 teen angst movie "The Breakfast Club" to illustrate the broad range of selections that Penny pitches; and more.

Time will tell if this new effort will bombs - or if it really does spark a mountain of new haul videos.

Read more here.

 

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>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

"... AN ESSENTIAL READ ..."

“This is an essential read for those of us tasked with connecting and engaging with the elusive 'I want it right now' generation. Anyone interested in not sucking at their jobs should pick this book up immediately!"

Jordan Atlas
Vice President, Group Creative Director
Digitas

 

 

 

 

 

>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

 

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Video: iButterfly = Augmented Reality + Motion Sensor + GPS + Coupon

Just got on my radar today, though it's been out for a while.

It's a mobile implementation in Japan that involved augmented reality butterflies, posted in specific locations, that consumers could then collect, share, and even turn into coupons for use at retail stores.

I could easily see how consumer goods and entertainment brands could put this to great use here in the U.S. Look for some serious action on that front in the coming months.

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>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

"... AN ESSENTIAL READ ..."

“This is an essential read for those of us tasked with connecting and engaging with the elusive 'I want it right now' generation. Anyone interested in not sucking at their jobs should pick this book up immediately!"

Jordan Atlas
Vice President, Group Creative Director
Digitas

>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

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BrandChannel Names 'The On-Demand Brand' Its 'Featured Book of the Month'

Very cool: BrandChannel has selected THE ON-DEMAND BRAND as its "Featured Book of The Month" for July.

In making the selection, BrandChannel writes, "Brand marketers will value [this book] for the detailed case studies, such as how Burger King, Coca-Cola and Axe Deodorant are using advergames; how Showtime, MasterCard and NBC are redefining viral video; and how Fanta, GE, Papa John's and Topps are leveraging augmented reality."

Check it out here.

Learn more about the book here - and order your own copy here (available everywhere books are sold).

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>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

"... AN ESSENTIAL READ ..."

“This is an essential read for those of us tasked with connecting and engaging with the elusive 'I want it right now' generation. Anyone interested in not sucking at their jobs should pick this book up immediately!"

Jordan Atlas
Vice President, Group Creative Director
Digitas

>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

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Condé Nast Traveler Launches Augmented Reality City Guides

With apologies to Visa, augmented reality is everywhere you want to be.

At least that seems to be the objective for Condé Nast Traveler, which is launching a series of iPhone apps for New York, Rome, Barcelona and Paris.

At $9.99 each, they're not cheap by iPhone app standards. But they may just be worth it.

As DM News points out, in addition to the usual city guide content, there are social media elements like comments and word-of-mouth from local authorities on their personal favorites, audio tours, sharing via email, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, and augmented reality functionality with GPS so that you can find what you need quickly.

In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (available everywhere books are sold), I look at how brands from BMW to GE, to Coca-Cola to Ray-Ban are using augmented reality to enhance the brand experience.

It seems like a natural fit for a brand like Traveler. 

Especially to show of us less prone to, er, ask directions.

Read more, here.

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>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

"... AN ESSENTIAL READ ..."

“This is an essential read for those of us tasked with connecting and engaging with the elusive 'I want it right now' generation. Anyone interested in not sucking at their jobs should pick this book up immediately!"

Jordan Atlas
Vice President, Group Creative Director
Digitas

>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

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Rolling Stones Augmented Reality App Helps You Post Virtual, Interactive Flyers

  Rolling Stones fans jonesing to express their devotion will soon be able to get some satisfaction in a whole new way.

A new iPhone app will soon enable fans to post virtual, interactive posters of the rock icons on streets, homes and offices.

Developed by Howard Ogden and Augmented Reality, the app is designed to help celebrate the re-release of the Stones' Exile on Main Street.

What's especially cool is that when you post one of 18 flyers, you can leave a comment along with one of 28 tracks from the double album and a short video clip of the band for others to discover through their own phone screens. Users can drop these posters via a special website as well as via a Facebook app.

In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (everywhere books are sold), I look at how a number of brands are using mobile augmented reality apps to express themselves or provide useful information and utility. 

As a longtime Stones fan, I'm looking forward to this particular bit of AR, too.

Read more about the effort here.

And read more about the book here.

FOLLOW RICK ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK

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>>> IN STORES NOW - LEARN MORE (AND ORDER YOUR COPY) - HERE <<<

"... WITTY, INSIGHTFUL, DYNAMIC ..."

“THE ON-DEMAND BRAND is witty, insightful, dynamic, and highly inspiring. This book should be required reading for marketers—or anyone trying to understand how to keep their brand relevant and energized through the rapidly changing consumer landscape. Mathieson has a gifted ability to dig under the breakthrough ideas that are keeping top brands engaged with their current and new consumers, offering key insider takeaways that we all can learn from.”

Alison Moore
Vice President, Brand Strategy
& Digital Platforms
HBO

 

 

 

 

 

 

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