Starbucks jumps on the AR bandwagon

Signs of fall and the oncoming holiday season: Starbucks' pumpkin spice lattes, red holiday cups and... dancing cartoons on your morning coffee?

While perusing the iTunes App store, Starbucks Cup Magic appears as one of the featured applications. Strictly for the holiday season and its infamous red cups, Starbucks has created an augmented reality application strictly for the iPhone (no iPads here, but Android is around the corner) that brings to life the five characters on their November/December cups, Christmas Blend coffee bags, and other in-store signs.

In addition to the augmented reality, the app also has features like "Send an eGift," notifications of holiday offers and a gallery with bios for each of the cup characters, including which cups and products to find them on. While the characters seem more catered to kids, I wouldn't be surprised to see adults ooh-ing and aah-ing over the animation on their morning grande soy non-fat peppermint latte with a pump of cinnamon.


Video via BusinessWire's Youtube

Microsoft's Surface Experience has been seen many times in the advertising world, especially in product launches. The most recent of those launches is Toyota's "Scion Surface Experience," which will be making the rounds at auto shows late this year and into 2012.

Earlier in the year, Juxt Interactive worked with Toyota to bring the "world's largest multi-touch installation" at 60 square feet at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. This time, according to Digital Buzz Blog, they're working with the surface table from Microsoft to show off their new line of hybrid cars, and clearly, their innovation in technology, by blurring the lines between information and entertainment:

At the Scion stand, you’ll get one of 8 cards that unlock unique experiences on the Surface table, taking users on a journey to discover images, video, specs, and sales information for the latest Scions. And when you flip the card over, it triggers parts of a song… If you get all 8 cards on the table, it releases the full song while also allowing you to re-mix your own version!

SCION SURFACE EXPERIENCE from JUXT Interactive on Vimeo.

The world's loneliest marathon

According to a post on Adverblog, the world's largest individual marathon will take place... on your smartphone. Xperiathon, which is sponsored by Sony Ericsson, will take place at 1200 CET (or bright and early at 6 a.m. EST) on November 26th. Anyone who uses Endomondo, MapMyFitness or RunKeeper to track their runs are eligible to participate in the race.

It's not just a race for funsies either - the male and female winners of the full marathon will win a two-night stay in New York City and an entry into the 2012 New York Marathon, and the male and female winners of the half-marathon will win a two-night stay in Gothenburg for their 2012 half-marathon.

Moving beyond the mobile devices and marathon itself, they have also created a few Spotify playlists to "enhance the feelings of the world's loneliest marathon" and opened up a collaborative playlist for anyone to add songs to for the marathon.

Check out the website for details at http://xperiathon.com/. It's a smart move to not only get people running, but a smart way to advertise mobile applications (and indirectly, smartphones).

National Geographic augmented reality

While some companies use augmented reality as a tool of advertising, just because it's available and cool, rarely does it make an impact on the general public.

National Geographic has launched a mall tour in Hungary this month which brings the animals and environment directly into the mall, interacting with anyone who steps on or near the augmented reality mark. As soon as people step onto the marker, a live picture appears on a large, projected screen nearby, where leopards, astronauts, dinosaurs and thunderstorms come rolling through, moving around the people and, in the case of the leopard, laying down next to them and taking a nap.

Really awesome use of AR in public, and NatGeo succeeded in using AR and making it an unforgettable experience, especially for kids:

iAd view on beauty

In a twist on digital and traditional advertising intertwining, Brazilian beauty company oBotanico teamed up with AlmapBBDO to create a digital element to a traditional print ad in Vogue Brasil. By placing your smartphone onto the designated area of the print advertisement and visiting the URL provided, the ad (or at least, the woman's eye) comes to life and goes through the process of creating her look for the photograph.

Something like this could definitely be integrated into the editorial of magazines, including how-tos and step-by-step beauty, DIYs and even outtakes of interviews. People aren't always near their computer, but they almost always have their mobile phone at hand.

Visit the link here at Digital Buzz Blog to view the video demonstration.

Online checkouts in the real world

Google, in its consistently innovative ways of incorporating technology, ease of use and advertising, posted a video on YouTube recently "documenting" what the online checkout would be like if we had to go through the steps in real life. Moving from the inconsistencies most people have when creating a username for each site they purchase from, to the password, postal code and even the dreaded timeout session and terms of service and agreements, Google shows the realities of why online shopping can be a true pain in the ass, which of course, leads into their own Google Checkout, making it easier to make purchases on the web (and soon, via Google Wallet, in real life).

Logos jump to the next interactive level

Beck's Beer takes their key logo to the next level in their newest mobile application. The Beck's Sobriety Test offers a handy tool to somewhat inaccurately tell you whether you are fit to drive.

According to Beck's, the most difficult thing to do while intoxicated is fit a key in your car, and such, they've created an app that tests your ability to do just that. Not only must you fit the virtual key into its keyhole, you must keep it there as it moves around the screen for 25 seconds.

What happens if you fail? A cab is called to pick you up. Thanks to GPS technology, it can locate available cabs nearby and once the test is failed, offers an easy prompt to call the nearest service to pick you up.

Experimental "fashion shoot" with laundry detergent

In September, Proctor & Gamble's European laundry detergent brand, Ariel, set up shop in a Stockholm train station.

Via Facebook, people could play a shooting game with laundry, which triggered a robot in the station to shoot the person's chosen ammo (ketchup, mustard, wine, etc.) at a passing shirt or other white garment on a conveyor belt. Not only is the interaction between Facebook and the robot, and the robot as a spectacle in the station, whenever a Facebook user gets a bullseye on a garment, it is then washed with Ariel detergent and mailed straight to the Facebook user's home address! Great integration of online and non-trad.

Models' forte is not dancing

With the combination of a popular song, attractive models, and their "we're not perfect!" Dance Central video game moves, Lanvin was truly hoping to score viral gold in its new online campaign "movie" (their words, not mine). While it's been considered popular and funny, it only proved that the ingredients of viral videos don't always equal a wildly popular hit.

Either way, models stumbling off-beat still manages to be amusing.

Ad gives new meaning to "viral"

Though not strictly digital, this "out-of-home" campaign for the new film, Contagion, found a somewhat disgusting life online as well. Created by CURB Media, a firm that creates advertisements from sustainable, natural products, the living billboard in a Toronto storefront window featured bateria from two custom-made petri dishes. The bateria grew over the course of just a few days to reveal the name of the film.