Uses of Apple iBeacons

iBeacons are (potentially) Apple's secret weapon in the retail war.  They use Bluetooth to communicate from a fixed point to iPhones.

Below are some examples that were demoed by Major League Baseball (MLB) last week, to show how they might work in a sports stadium.

According to the description iBeacons could replace how people are currently using NFC (or not using it), and also augmented reality.

"MLB demonstrated the new technology on Thursday at the New York Mets' Citi Field, showing off several potential applications. Fans who purchase their tickets from MLB could have the tickets' barcode automatically displayed on their device as they approach the gate, for example, alongside a map of their seat location. Those who visit a concession stand might be given a virtual "point card," while fans shopping for merchandise can be served coupons upon entering the team store. 

Since the features can be customized for each team and each ballpark, they can also be used to turn the stadium into a sort of "living museum" — part of Thursday's demonstration had the app play a video about the history of the Mets' iconic home run apple when standing near the statue."

More updates as I find more examples.

McDonalds #MightyWings campaign across different platforms

I'm sure this must have been done before, but the McDonalds #MightyWings campaign is a good example of a campaign running across multiple digital platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & YouTube.

The story is that someone has stolen a box of #MightyWings - but who..?

Examples:

YouTube



Twitter

Do you think @Kaepernick7 has the #MightyWings? Let’s hear his side of the story… find out who has the wings on 10/6! http://t.co/PLdyK54FbL
— McDonald's (@McDonalds) September 27, 2013

Facebook

Here

Instagram



More on the campaign here

Stickers

Here are some examples of stickers used within messaging apps.

Barcelona & Real Madrid have official sticker sets in Line (which apparently has grown to 15m users in Spain)

Path is offering lots of stickers - e.g. these ones for Breaking Bad

Plus NFL stickers, and the new Sony movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Facebook has also launched some, including these for Despicable Me 2, and some more are being added for a Bollywood film.

(In fact since that was out in the summer it shows how late I am to this.  & also, are these any different to the MSN messenger emoticons?)

More background on the rise of Stickers here

Jamie Oliver Vs. Kevin Bacon

Lots happening here - a tie up to promote both Jamie's Food Tube YouTube Channel, and EE, who has just signed Jamie to be a spokesman.



I think that the new YouTube channels will be full of cross promotions like this.

"Was I singing?"

No real innovation, just very well done.

"Was I singing?"



Also, if you pause the video at 20 seconds, and then 33 seconds you'll see who he was dreaming about, and who he was trying to get away from.

Tweet-able trailer for We're The Millers

I haven't seen this done before:

A French trailer for We're The Millers on YouTube let's you Tweet directly from YouTube, as an annotation.


Have a look - it should work when embedded too.

Dunkin Donuts' Vine film Shown as a TV Ad

Last night history (of sorts) was made in the US when Dunkin Donuts showed a 5 second Vine film in place of the usual static image during the Monday Night Football show on ESPN.  Generally brands just show an image for 5 seconds.



The Vine showed a re-creation of action using Dunkin Donut cups as players.

Full info here

Earlier - The movie Stoker made a TV ad out of animated gifs

The Million Second Quiz

The Million Second Quiz premières tonight on NBC.



Where Simon Cowell understood the way things were going 5 years ago (or so) and created 'event' shows that both demanded to be watched live, and also created short clips perfect for YouTube, the Million Second Quiz aims to create something that can be played along on mobile before, after and during the show.

The concept is this:

The quiz runs continually in real time for 1 million seconds, or about 12 days.  There is a nightly live TV show.

Contestants battle to stay in the 'money chair' and win money for $10 each second they can stay there, in a 'winner-stays-on' against other contestants.  (So theoretically if someone stayed in the chair for the full million seconds the prize would be $10m)

Contestants have to answer the question in 5 seconds

It's live, so the questions are potentially written every day

Contestants live in the studio for the entire time, a bit like Big Brother, or Deal or No Deal

The top four players cumulatively are placed on 'Winners Row' and at the end of the quiz these four get to play for an additional $2m.


The interesting bits for me are:

There's an app, which is already live, and millions of games have already been played on it

It's live, with a set cast of contestants, so you can root for your favourite

There are going to be lots of talking points.  You can follow the show on Twitter & Facebook,  & Instagram and they are using hashtags like #MoneyChair and #MSQ

Believe it or not, Wayne has finally been dethroned. He'll now take over the number one spot on #WinnersRow with a total of $87,561! #MSQ
— Million Second Quiz (@MillionSeconds) September 9, 2013

I've called these things wrong before, but let's see how this one plays out.  If it's a success, expect to see it in lots of other countries very soon.

Update - It seems from this review that it's all a bit complicated...

Update - Now that it's over it seems like it didn't work in the ratings, peaking on 5.4m for the finale

The Cornetto Megamix

This makes me want to buy DVDs


MIKE RELM: THE CORNETTO MEGAMIX from Mike Relm on Vimeo.

See the official Tumblr here

'How-To' Videos

Video is eating the world, as the saying goes.  Video is one of the most popular things that people do online, over 100 hours are uploaded to YouTube every minute (& YouTube is only eight years old), and so on.

Companies are now using short videos as ways of communicating things they would have done in text previously, and completely beyond traditional advertising.  We've seen great examples of this from Lowe's...


& from NatWest...


& I'm sure this will grow.  Look at the sort of content that LifeHacker is now putting up on YouTube -




This one on how to pack a suitcase



& also this life-changing (I'm nearly serious) video on how to eat a chicken wing.



I think that this could soon be a new land-grab; something that the smartest brands will want to own.

Update - this from ASOS



& this from Samsung - not really 'how to' but a long product demo



Oreos have also got some nice ones, for example


'6 Fruits You're Eating Wrong'

Using Twitter for data collection

Twitter have just published a short case study on how you can use their 'cards' (the expandable bit in tweets) for data collection (e.g. collecting people's email addresses).

In the example they cite, it couldn't be easier to give the brand, Rock/Creek your email address.  Just expand the brand's tweet, and then click on the Sign Up Now button, and it sends your email address to them.  It would be just as easy on mobile.  (no***@gm***.com is a shortened version of the email address that I use for my Twitter account.)

This is part of a trend to make things simpler and more seamless for users.  You can also see this in Facebook's decision to let brands host promotions on their own pages, and also the things that will be happening around payment.

Imagine if instead of sending your email address you were sending your payment details, to pay for a specific item, like pair of trainers?

Volvo's Hook

This shows a company president who has a very strong faith in his own products...



Currently getting lots of views!

See also this one from earlier from a company that makes bulletproof glass - even more faith

Dizzie Rascal's Gif Video

This video for I Don't Need A Reason is effectively just a collection of gifs.


Dizzee Rascal | I Don't Need A Reason from DIVISION on Vimeo.

We've already seen this done as an ad for a film - when are the major advertisers going to do it first?

& while we're on the subject, which brand is going to be the first to #Twerk?

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