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Kinect-Powered Branded Game Brings Celebs & Sizzle to Intel-based Ultrabook Promo (Video)

 
 

I'm digging the looks of this branded, Kinect-powered video game designed to promote the Intel Ultrabook.

Of course, all the celebs help things along here. But look for more of this kind of Kinect-based branded game, as more companies discover the power of such immersive experiences to engage consumers - especially young ones.

As Intel U.S. Media Director David Veneski tells Ad Age: "They're the tastemakers of our society and influence a lot of decision-making around technology. We haven't proactively targeted them in the past and now that opportunity is very ripe for us to build amazing experiences for them that show the value of the Ultrabook."

If you need any further indication that this is catching on, look no further than Coca-Cola's Kinect-powered vending machine.

Even in these early days, this is not just a trend.

It's a movement (pardon the pun).

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Shafted: Elevator Riders Get Big Suprise from LG (Video)

 

Call it Schadenfreude in the elevator shaft.

As marketers, one of our favorite things is to scare the bat sh&* out of people, so other people can laugh at them.

Well, okay, that's only when it's to drive home our value proposition. Which, of course, this new effort for LG IPS monitors does quite well. 

I just wish eye-level cameras could have caught facial expressions here, too.

And just imagine if they'd been able to do it with a single unit, without the "cross bars."

Maybe that's for next year's model.

Get the full scoop, here.

 

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Coke Zero '007' Vending Machine Turns Passersby Into Bond (Video)

 

Hold the martini and make it a Coke Zero - shaken, stirred or otherwise.

In a cross-promotion for the upcoming Skyfall, a Coke Zero vending machine sets passengers at a train station in the UK on a mission to become James Bond for the chance to win tickets to the movie.

But don't expect it to be easy, as this YouTube video illustrates.

Truth be told, it's hard to tell just how real this is - one could see how someone could easily get hurt in all this commotion.They may very well be actors.

But hey, we are talking about tickets to what is rumored to be an outstanding new edition to the Bond cannon. I'd take the challenge anytime.

Get the full scoop, here.

 

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Social Media Street Fight: Duke It Out for Your Dream Mustang (Video)

 

Mustang's not horsing around when it comes to social media.

In an innovative new social game, consumers can use the very cool Mustang Customizer to design their dream Mustangs, and then compete to win the car by spreading their creations as early and often as they can through social channels.

This works on a lot of levels. As I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, in the digital age, it's all about "Accentuating The P-O-S-itive." That is, creating experiences that are Personalizable, Ownable & Sharable.

In the on-demand era, the Web is no longer merely about content retrieval. It's about real-time content creation, participation, collaboration and exhibition. And this effort embraces all of these notions within a gamification dynamic that's sure to catch on with the brand's most avid fans.

Hat tip to Adverblog for the very cool find. 

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AXE's 'Showerpooling' Viral: 'Fun' With A Side of PSA (Video)

 

Hard to watch this YouTube video with a straight face - yet another purposefully provocative AXE viral, this time with a faux PSA-style message that equates showering together as, well, good clean fun.

Actually, as these things go, this is pretty tame by AXE's standards. But the stats it throws out are dubious at best ("If everyone showerpooled for one year, we could save nearly 29 trillion gallons of water. Enough to make a new Great Lake").

I don't know who came up with that figure - there doesn't appear to be a citation - but clearly they've never "showerpooled" - for reasons summed up well by PR Newser.

In my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, I look at AXE's often brow-raising approach to marketing, which has been accused of being sexist - sometimes by those pointing out the irony that AXE is owned by Unilever, the same company whose Dove brand simultaneously promotes healthy body image among women and girls (you can listen to what former Unilever SVP of Global Media Laura Klauberg had to say about that for the book, here.)

So far, it's unclear if this particular initiative will run into those kinds of protestations. In fact, by today's network TV standards, it almost seems staid.

But what do you think? Is this indeed good, clean fun? Or is this a brand in desperate need of a cold shower?

Read more, here.

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Lexus Brings Magazine Ad to Life - With Help from a Handy iPad (Video)

 

Lexus loves to make a splash.

Case in point: This print ad for Lexus comes to life. That is, if you have an iPad at the ready, and if you've got the browser on it open to a special website.

You get my point. Super cool tech. Way, way too much work for most people.

But for the handful of people who'll go to all the trouble - presumbably exactly the kind of people Lexus hopes to reach - magic.

That is, if they aren't reading that magazine on the iPad instead of in print.

Read more here.

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Coca-Cola' Kinect-Powered Vending Machine (Video)

 

Call it the Happy Dance: Coca-Cola wants you to bust-a-move for a free beverage.

In yet another cool outdoor initiative from Coke, the brand has insalled Kinect controllers in South Korean vending machines that invite consumers to play a short dance game to win a free soda.

Globally, Coke has been pulling this kind of thing off for quite some time, with everything from social vending machines to Happiness Trucks, Tables, Traffic Jams and more.

In my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, Coca-Cola UK's head of digital marketing, Prinz Pinakatt, talks about how Coca-Cola builds brand love through digital + physical experiences like this and more (you can hear  part one, part two & part three of my interview for more).

Just another way Coke continues to prove it's the real thing.

Read more here.

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Hotel Chain's Robots Turn Guests' Sleeping Patterns Into Art

 

Too many jokes, not enough time.

A hotel chain called ibis is outfitting guests in a handful of European hotels with specially outfitted beds that monitor body movements as you sleep, and enable a remotely stationed robot to turn your movement into "works of art' - acrylic paintings, to be exact.

Call it, as Adweek suggests, a Mechanized Monet, a Robot Rembrandt or even a Cyborg Cezanne. By whatever name, the YouTube video may suggest something else the robot can paint - and it doesn't have anything to do with sleeping.

With hotel service like it is these days, most guests will probably pass on the Digital Degas.

(Faster room service and maybe some extra pillows would be nice, though.)

But what's your take? Is this an artistic upsell? Or a snoozefest?

Read more, here.

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Wonderbra Decoder App Gives You X-Ray Vision

 

School-age boys the world over might think an age-old dream has come true: a mobile app - from Wonderbra, no less - that gives you x-ray vision.

In this new integrated campaign, based in the UK and France, users who download a special app can scan print advertising and even YouTube videos to see through women's clothes to get a better at their Wonderbras.

As Adverblog explains, it's really image recognition in special symbols in the print and online advertisements that trigger the illusion.

But obvious appeal aside, will people really go to all this trouble to see the kind of images that are available virtually everywhere? And why force the reader to take an extra step?

Still, just for positioning the brand as leading edge, I think the initiative has some merit - especially in terms of competition with Victoria's Secret, which is known for its digital prowess.

But what's your view? Is this x-raygeously cool? Or peak-a-boo on that?

Read more, here.

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