Esquire cover model Brooklyn Decker is making appearances and posing for pictures at Barnes & Noble stores around the nation. Virtually, that is.
B&N is running a promotion with GoldRun to enable shoppers to take augmented reality photos of themselves posing with Decker as a way to promote B&N's newsstand.
Oh, and you can track down augmented reality versions of the letters in the Esquire logo and you might just win an iPad.
If you can pull yourself away from Decker, that is.
For more on how major brands are putting mobile augmented reality to work, pick up a copy of my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (available everywhere books are sold).
I'm just going to come out and say you're going to going to get a kick out of Jeffrey Harmon, the 28-year-old CMO at Provo, Utah-based Orabrush, and the lively, behind-the-scenes story of how his little social media campaign for a product nobody had ever heard of came to inspire Ad Age to name it one of the best campaigns of 2010.
On its face, none of it seems like a forgone conclusion.
Let's just say it involves a device for scooping out the halitosis-causing germs from your mouth, a video about testing your breath; a newer series of YouTube videos featuring the misadventures of an obnoxious misfit named Morgan, called "Diaries of a Dirty Tongue," which has been viewed 31 million times, and a Facebook page about halitosis.
This week, the company even released a paid iPhone app called "The Bad Breath Detector Pro" - to compliment the free version released a few months ago.
This after 76-year-old inventor Robert Wagstaff had almost quit trying to sell his product after spending a fortune trying to market it. Then he discovered Harmon, who was just finishing up school at BYU. Harmon challenged a key assumption about online marketing, prompting "Dr. Bob" to give this kid a chance to show him how it's done.
Since the launch of the campaign - created almost entirely by Harmon and his friends without an ad agency or professional videographer in sight - Orabrush has sold over $1 million worth of its tongue brushes through its YouTube channel, called Cure Bad Breath, instead of being overtly branded to Orabrush.
And today, Google routinely flies Jeffrey out to meetings to help other brands grasp the power of YouTube video marketing.
What's more, drugstores around the world are beginning to stock the product, and now even the guy in the original halitosis video - a friend of Harmon's who performed for about $100 - has a stake in a small company that may be valued as high as $50 million.
In short, it's exactly the kind of digital initiative that embodies the ideals explored in the new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND.
Here's Harmon in his own words - which include some great secret strategies for video marketing and branded entertainment - as well as a bigger picture perspective on what he calls "branding in reverse."
A BRUSH WITH FAME: THE JEFFREY HARMON INTERVIEW (PT 1)
Beyond the branded YouTube page. Beyond the augmented reality. Now, Agency Spy is reporting that GE is bringing the 'Ecomagination' campaign to an interesting new iPhone ad experience via iAd. And the ability to share it via Twitter is a nice extra touch.
Is this the iPhone equivalent of a microsite? Cool as it is, I'm trying to decide how much time I'd really spend with the ad.
But you have to admit it's surprising just how fun and lively this experience makes something that could be perceived as mundane (hey, the energy sector isn't usually associated with awesomeness).
Kinda makes you wonder if the team behind this (BBDO, I believe) could even turn something like accounting software into a toe-tapping, iPhone-shaking, finger-strumming, Twitter-sharing adventure, too.
“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."
It’s no secret Coca-Cola Europe has been at the forefront of the mobile revolution, long having turned the nascent channel into a major sales tool. But more recently, the beverage giant has been launching branding initiatives via mobile to astonishing effect.
Two notable projects: The Fanta Stealth Sound System, an iPhone app that enables teens to make fun of grownups using audio clips that are broadcast at frequencies too high for anyone over the age of 21 to hear; and an augmented reality tennis game that you play using your mobile phone as a racket.
In a source interview for the new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, Prinz Pinakatt, head of interactive marketing for Coca-Cola Europe, shares his insights on Coke’s perspective on mobile in general, and then makes a blockbuster prediction about mobile augmented reality.
“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."
In this final clip from my exclusive interview with advertising legend Alex Bogusky for the new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, Bogusky shares how 'Subservient Chicken's' sudden success made him sweat - and his advice to marketers in an age of so many transmedia possibilities.
ALEX BOGUSKY TELLS ALL (CONCLUSION) - MARKETING IN THE ON-DEMAND AGE
“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."
This last July, word spread fast that Alex Bogusky - advertising's golden child and Adweek's "Creative Director of the Decade" - was leaving Crispin, Porter + Bogusky and parent MDC Partners. Not to go to a rival shop, but to retire from the industry at the ripe old age of 47.
The industry reeled, as the man behind such breakthrough work for Burger King, American Express, Sprite, Domino's and Microsoft, was leaving the business he'd shaped more than any other person over the last 10 years.
In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, Bogusky - known for his cutting-edge creativity and slacker chic style - participates in what is perhaps his most in-depth interview ever on what it takes to succeed in digital marketing.
Over the next few says, I'll post audio excerpts from that interview, starting with Part One, in which I ask Bogusky about his mantra - "whatever it takes to make our clients famous" - and how digital experiences play such a central role in that effort.
ALEX BOGUSKY TELLS ALL: PART 1 - 'WHATEVER IT TAKES'
“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."
In the conclusion of this source interview for my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarré offers his view of alternate reality games (ARGs), social media, location-based marketing and that most controversial of issues: targeting.
Tom Bedecarré, CEO, AKQA (Conclusion): ARGs, Social Media, Location-Based Marketing & Targeting
“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."
The second season of MTV's reality hit "Jersey Shore" doesn't hit until Thursday, but MTV's already out with a Facebook game that features the stars of the show as cartoon characters.
On Facebook, it's a battle over tanning location-throwing contests. And the mobile app? Well, it's called "Spread Snooki," which enables you to drop Snooki into iPhone photos.
Which is all fine and good. But I think it would have been cooler to drop "Jersey Shore" hair and tans into photos instead.
(UPDATE: Can't tell if this was part of original release or newer, Aug 31 release, but the App store page for the app says you can indeed "give yourself Snooki's famous poof and golden-orange tan." A fun way for fans to shore up some laughs.)
“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
Jones New York is hoping you'll get the hang of it.
Word's out that its fall line will feature mobile-activated hang tags with which consumers can access videos featuring model Jessica Stam discussing her contributions to Jones' Rachel Roy line.
“You can actually get to Jessica sharing with you her favorite pieces, why she did it in a really great, unplugged way,” Stacy Lastrina, CMO for Jones, tells Brand Week, adding that the video will include fashion tips and the back story on the line’s creation.
This seems like a nice way to enhance the in-store shopping experience for more sophisticated shoppers with smart phones. Prada has done similar things with RFID tags, in which readers built into the store walls scan and then transmit related video to the nearest in-store monitor.
One advantage of the Prada approach is that the shopper doesn't actually have to do anything - if you pick up a garment, the readers fetch the associated content. But that took a lot of investment. The Jones initiative, which apparently uses Microsoft Tag technology, requires little if any.
It will be interesting to see if Jones shoppers access these tags. But for those who do, this is a nice differentiator, and something more brands should explore as increasing numbers of consumers take to the mobile medium.
“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
Chris Nolan's new movie Inception opens with sneak previews at midnight tonight (yes!) and wide release on Friday - but the digital marketing efforts have gone on for some time - and should get fanboys excited.
There's a must-read online comic book called "The Cobol Job" that tells the prologue to the story. A Facebook "Mind Crime" game. A personalizable movie poster app. A Verizon-based "Mind Crime Prevention" augmented reality app that, in the vernacular of the film, becomes a totem that enables you to tell when something is real life or a dream. A "green screen" app that places you into scenes from the movie via webcam or mobile phone - and more. All available through the official movie site, here.
Apparently this movie is taking the Trendrr charts by storm, which could bode very well for opening weekend.
And hey, it's a Chris Nolan film, which means it's not to be missed.
“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
Recent Comments