Catch A MINI & Keep It - In World's Largest Outdoor Reality Game (Video)

 

A mobile/real-world game credited with doubling sales of MINIs in Sweden last year is now going global.

Next up: Tokyo, where smartphone users will hunt, and then try to hold onto, a MINI hidden in the city, for the chance to win the real car.

According to Ad Age, the original game doubled sales of MINI in Sweden (I don't know from what baseline - but the case study video below gives a nice overview of how it works) - and is expanding dramatically in Japan, where it will cover 32 times more space, at 240 square miles.

Considering the average gameplay was over five hours in Stockholm, we could be looking at some serious engagement in a city the size of Tokyo.

 

The Japanese will need to get their game on: The event only runs just nine days, starting December 3.

While it's very cool, I think it really would have benefited by GoldRun-esque augmented reality, where you "find" the virtual version of the car, vs. the basic "location" of the MINI as seems to be the case here. But I do like the fact that others can snatch the car if you aren't careful. 

In THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, I look at how brands in general, and automobile brands in particular, are using virtual/real world games like this, either on their own, or through platforms like Joyity.

Look for the trend to hit overdrive in 2012.

Read more about the MINI Getaway here.

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Honda's 'Experiment' Branded Game Makes You 'The Cog' (Video)

 

The "Cog" legacy continues. Honda is out with a new HTML5-based branded game that enables players to assemble pop-up images to create onscreen chain reactions.

 

According to Adweek, the idea, from W+K and B-Reel, is to encourage players to experiment and discover what works, just as Honda's engineers do.

As readers will recall, "Cog" was a short film that conveyed some of the same message.

And as readers of my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND know, Honda has created a number of online initiatives around the theme of engineering innovation. Here, the experience becomes fully interactive in an engaging new way.

As a branding exeercise, I think this is a nice way to reinfoce Honda's design bona fides, though I think it's an extremely soft approach as any connection to wanting, needing or looking for a new car is tangential at best.

Of course, if and when I do think about a Honda in my driving future, I will, the game's designers seem to hope, feel good about the quality of Honda's engineering.

Think it'll work? Is this wisely elevating the brand by applying the brakes on the hard sell?

Or a game that will, at best, put any brand consideration into neutral? 

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PS Vita Game Console features 'Wide Area Augmented Reality Games' (Video)

 

Sony's new PlayStation Vita is the first gaming console to use WAAR - Wide Area Augmented Reality technology. 

Translation: You can use multiple AR cards - up to six of them - in a single game, to outstanding effect, as shown in the video here.

In short: Viva the Vita.

Let's play.

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Domino's 'Pizza Hero' Game for iPad (Video)

 

Speaking of pizza, you gotta love Domino's new 'Pizza Hero' iPad app.

It essentially gamifies the act of ordering a pizza, by making users a part of the action - going through the process of stretching dough, ladling sauce and so on, before placing an order.

It's not all just gimmick, either. There are several challenging levels, and the game is part of the iOS Game Center hub for social gaming - complete with leaderboard and time-specific contests.

Sprinkle in trivial about the Domino's legacy and a 'Top Chef' style store "manager," and this looks like a solid hit in the branding department.

Still, while I'm sure there is a certain segment of the brand's target audience that will love this kind of task-based gaming, I'm personally more enamored of Domino's DVR-based ordering system, which allows you to place an order through TiVo - an initiative I examine in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND.

Now that's something a pizza loving couch potato can get even more revved up about.

I'm just saying. Thin crust pepperoni if you're asking.

Read more about the iPad game, here.

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New Tech Turns Bananas, Pizza Boxes Into Interactive Devices (Video)

 

Surf the web on that pizza box - and answer the banana when someone calls.

That's the idea behind 'Invoked Computing,' a notion that entails technology that recognize certain gestures, and turn everyday objects into computing devices.

As CNET reports, it one the team behind it grand prize at the Laval Virtual 2011 conference in France.

But turning objects into interactive devices gratuitously doesn't do much for me - and I'm sure the team is looking for case models and scenarios that bring true value.

As a marketer, I see the potential to make products - more if not all of them - interactive in some fashion, creating subscription content and services around what are otherwise static physical products.

And packaging could provide a fully immersive experience communicating a product's value proposition.

And in the case pizzas, it might just be a way to place an order for next Friday night's pizza - right at the point of consumption.

I'm just saying. Thin crust, pepperoni if you're asking.

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Mazda Revs Up Mobile Augmented Reality for New Print Campaign (Video)

 

Mazda's zoom-zooming into mobile augmented reality.

In a new print campaign down under, the auto brand is working with agency Clemenger Harvie and the Aurasma AR solution to enable readers to activate print ads for to find out more about the new BT 50 pickup. 

The idea is cool - longtime readers know i'm a proponent of activating traditional media with mobile.

But this is actually more of a QR-style campaign activating digital content, rather than true AR. And either way, I do think we need to move past asking consumers to download an app, take out their phones and scan a print ad just to see an extended TV commercial.

The ability to schedule a test drive at the nearest dealer might have been a nice feature here. Or the ability to check out key features of the car in AR.

Still, here's a major brand taking a step in the right direction.

Let's see what the ads for next year's model brings.

Read more about the initiative here.

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Rebecca Black's 'Friday' in Kohl's Black Friday TV Spots (Video)

 

Rebecca Black is back - and this time, it's for a very different Friday.

Just when Black's Internet sensation was finally fading from your frontal lobe, Kohl's is capitalizing on the teenie-bopper's titanic tune for its Black Friday TV commercials.

Which means fun, fun, fun for many people.

For others, it's a fresh round of audio-induced agony.

 

Wisely, the retailer hedges its bets no matter where you fall on that score - with a closing line about hoping to get the song out of one's head.

Yeah, well good luck with that.

For now, it seems like the gift that keeps on giving - for fans and detractors alike.

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Enter: The 'Blog-Up' Store - A New Take on Social Selling (Video)

 

Who needs a pop-store when "blog-up" stores get influencers to do the selling for you?

In an effort to promote its new online store, interior design retailer Lagerhaus invited six leading bloggers in the category to create their own storefronts on their blogs using a special app.The bloggers then could invite readers to come meet them at physical world stores.

The results have been spectacular.

The brand's Facebook fans have increased 226%; interactions have surged 360%; and 13,000 readers turned out for a fan-only online store launch.

Needless to say, the blog-up store has become a permanent distribution channel for the brand.

And something tells me other brands will be be joining them soon.

Read more, here.

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