DigIn! Media

CES 2012: Do Food and Advertising Mix?

by Limor Schafman

We've all heard of pop up restaurants being done by famous chefs and haute design food encounters created by the likes of David Rockwell (Nobu around the world). Foodies love it when the pairing of food and design come together.  How about when the design is digital, produced by projection, allows for games and interactive location based fact finding right there at table top and advertisers can buy your table for you and even top themselves up on the menu list if they pay enough.

 

That is what Inamo and their restaurant chain offers.  

2D/QR Codes Pave the Way to Consumer Focused Augmented Reality

by Limor Schafman

One of the interesting things about this year's CES was the arrival of technologies long in the works and now ready for consumer use. Such is the case with Augmented Reality.  All the rage in marketing and advertising circles, augmented reality, the use of digital interfaces or other extra-experiential mechanisms or story telling tools to bring an enhanced experiences to a given situation, is starting to show up increasingly in the consumer world.

  Now, we've been seeing the use of 2D, also known as QR, codes for some time in some one-time-only oriented advertising by brands, on magazines, coke cans and bus stop posters.  And the uses have been pretty cool.  Now we are seeing a resurgence and we will be seeing greater ubiquity in usage.  Hallmark cards will be releasing a special brand of card using 2D codes. I have not yet heard what will be the augmented part of the experience (if you go to the Sobel Media event tomorrow morning and learn more, do tell), but the very fact that a name brand is taking 2D codes and making in part of a card found in any store, is a commentary of how accessible the technology is now.

   Intel, interestingly enough at CES, was showing off its new i5 core processor with an augmented reality display.  As you will see in this video, they chose to use Esquire's December issue with Robert Downey Jr. as an example of technology requiring enough processing power to use their new chip. 

To get the full effect of what is happening with the AR, check out this video by Esquire on the December issue:

I have to say that I was not buying that this could only be done with the new Intel chip. Nevertheless, it is nice to finally see technology which was showcased 10 years ago at Siggraph and which I saw also demoed at the University of Washington Human Interface Technology Lab at that time, finally hit the mass market.

Taking this one step further, tonight, at the Disruptathon event in Tysons Corner, VA, I saw another level of 2D code use.  Until this point, we have been seeing 2D codes that are all the same, thus featuring the same media - very creatively, but still a mass production. Ven Chava of AirArts has taken this to the next level with his company's TalkingTag products. With patent pending technology, Chava has created a system for producing unique 2D codes which then allow for very personalized use of the codes to create UGC media as an augmentation to whatever you want to stick a tag onto.  This enables voice, photos, video and other data of ones own making to be added to anything that has this unique identifier - like a post note or notebook page.  All you need is an iPhone or Windows Mobile phone. Take a look at this video interview with Chava to hear more in his own words:

Take TalkingTag's technology and put the tags on Hallmark cards and you have a whole other level of personalized greetings. On the simple level think what this could mean to direct mail, books, magazine and newspaper articles.  Add the TalkingTag fingerprint-style uniqueness and imagine how cool it would be if we could embed 2D codes in a tweet and other social media communications.  Configure a photo with a 2D embedded watermark and add vocal commentary or any other additional media.  As you can see, I think Chava is on to something quite big.  Check out the TalkingTag store for products with which you can create your own augmented reality experiences.

Now if you want to hear more about Esquire and from some of the thought leaders in this area, walk fast and be ready to stand at the SobelMedia Augmented Reality panel breakfast taking place at the Samsung Experience Store in the Time Warner Building in NYC tomorrow, Thursday morning.  Come bright and early at 7:30am to hear from David Curcurcito, Creative Director for Esquire; David Polinchock, founder of the Brand Experience Lab [with whom I saw the first iterations of this technology at Siggraph oh so long ago]; Doug Dimon, Creative Director/Broadcast Design at Creative Bubble/NYC and Adam Broitman, Ringleader of Circ.us.  And with digital media visionary, Richard Carey, as moderator.

I'm always interested in hearing more about cool uses of 2D codes and experiences and explorations into augmented reality.  So please do write in and send links to cool things we should take a look at.

Driving a Volvo in a Cinema - AudienceGames

One advergame I particularly like is a fully immersive on created by the Brand Experience Lab. With Carlton Screen Advertising, the BELab created an interactive advertising experience for the Volvo brand.  Linking theaters across England, they had cinema goers competing against one another across a connected network in real time. 

In talking to David Polinchock, head of Brand Experience Lab, he said it was incredible to see how quickly and completely a cinema audience got what was happening, understood what they needed to do, and enthusiastically participated.  After the experience, the buzz and connection among the players was unstoppable - and they were all talking about the VOLVO game.  I put that in capital letters because I am emphasizing that they were engaged and remembering the brand. 

Even more than this - because of this style of game and its novelty, Carlton estimates this program lead to 33M impressions across all media.  The press extended this story and the brand across media around the globe.  This AudienceGames program was named one of the 10 Best Marketing Ideas in the World [scroll down to "Wag the Car"], in Brandweek's December 10th 2007 publication.  To see the audience experience, visit the BeLab Blog and scroll down on this page to the You Tube link.

Increasingly, branding will become interactive.  Increasingly, the digital and real worlds will intermingle and interconnect.  Immersive, interactive, rich media, multi-medium, fixed and mobility, targeted to person time and space, individual and collective, social and personal.  This the the future of branding and advertising.  And DigIn! will continue to track these types of technologies. 

Advergaming: a powerful marketing tool if managed correctly

John O'Green, CEO of BOSSdev, has written a great article on advergaming entitled Top Things NOT to do in Advergaming. Advergaming, is the combination of advertising and branding into an interactive experience that engages consumers in an experience which helps them understand and buy a product and brand.  It has been proven repeatedly that when a consumer interacts in a fun and/or meaningful way with a brand, they are much more likely to remember it, like it, come back to it - assuming the interaction was in fact positive.

O'Green lists excellent points as to what to NOT do.  It is easy to get excited by the game, by its interactivity, its high end graphics and to forget its purpose.  It's purpose, ultimately, regardless of whether this tool is being used by a corporation selling pogo sticks or an advocacy group informing members about the need to recycle, is always to get consumers to participate in a call to action. To "buy" something.  So make the game engaging, but not for the sake of interactivity.  Produce a game effectively targeted to the audience you need, and stick to message.   And then promote the promotion, meaning promote the game.  Don't forget to put it in the hands of your target consumers.  O'Green goes on in depth.  It's worth a read.  And if you've got a good advergame, tell DigIn! about it.  We'll come play.