everyone all play nice together now

It's finally here. Just when you started to get bored of Foursquare, they've made a much needed update to the location-based social network platform with the added functionality of photo sharing and comments. We've been playing a lot with Instagram lately, and have seen a drop in Fsq usage. Now, with integration not only with Instagram and even Foodspotting, users can get check-in credits for posting on other LBS platforms. Nice. What are your thoughts on this latest update? Will you see more interaction between your Fsq friends now?

sour's "mirror"

What if we took your reflection from the internets and mashed it up into a music video?  We'd get the Japanese band Sour's latest digital awesome, Mirror.  A bit of a social media navel gazing and snappy little music video experience. And, if you haven't seen any of Sour's earlier work, it's a visually delightful piece. It's much better than this version.  More here.

authentic sole?

Mass shoe-teria Foot Locker is jumping on the sneaker-culture scene by creating an online community for sneaker-heads, called "Sneakerpedia". Bold move on their part to add value to a passionate tribe of sneaker-addicts, or, will it reek of big money marketing trying to buy their way into relevance?

When I was a kid, I remember fondly going to the Kinney Shoe store to pick-up my kicks w/my parents. Will the next generation of sneaker-freaks find 'em at Foot Locker or hipster boutiques like UNDFTD? i know, i'm not ready to sink-down $1000 for of Nike 6.0 Deloreans for my kid.

Sneakerpedia Trailer from Sneakerpedia on Vimeo.

[via Contagious]

Nike 6.0 Deloreans

insights from the outside

it's easy to get caught-up in the race to be the first to tweet, post, link, share out the latest and greatest shit that we find online. i'm guilty of it myself. when i used to have my office inside the client's office, it helped me be "that guy" when they wanted a creative spark of inspiration for a brainstorm. it was a defense mechanism that i had built-up to justify my reason for being. however, more and more now, i believe that as planners we need to be more than just "curators of cool" or finding ways-in for our creative teams. ultimately, we need to find ways to help our clients make money. [pause]. this requires more thinking, but there's some good discussion about it here from Faris' chat at the Boulder Digital Works/NY thing today.

what i really wanted to share was this post over at Rob Campbell's blog about the need to get our heads out of our asses and live in the real world. i've always been a big fan of getting outside of the office as often as we can to really see, observe and take note of what real people are doing. go to a walmart, a target, the local grocery store, or walk around the mall. look at what people are putting into their shopping carts. what items are flying off the shelf at the trader joe's? talk to the sales associates and see what trends they've noticed about their customers. i'll bet you'll find more interesting, insightful and relevant stories here than anything your cool-hunting sites will uncover. and if you do feel the need to tweet-out your found gem, go for it. you'll probably even scoop PSFK.

Jeep Puzzle Twitter Challenge

Very clever, and perhaps a bit nerdy Twitter game that gives you the chance to name your price on a new Jeep. I like these types of examples that demonstrate an understanding of the user behavior in the space and adds value to the experience.



[via @glueisobar

do stuff FOR people

Love this idea from ASICS posting words, pictures and video bits of encouragement to the runners of the recent NYC Marathon. Rather than throwing a lot of sponsorship money at a high-profile event to buy eyeballs, why not do something of value for the runners and their friends and family? Does this idea feel to similar to Nike Chalkbot? Probably. Does it try to make it better? Definitely. Bravo, ASICS! Oh, and BTW, here's some more awesome from the ASICS/Tiger Onitsuka.



[via AdFreak.com]

getting it right [sorta]

What I've seen of Hermès shoppers at the South Coast Plaza store, I can't imagine that any of them would care for this video. Despite the idea being a bit off target, I do give credit to the brand for nailing-it with the execution and choreography of the skateboarding moves.



It's almost as nice as this one from Nissan a few years ago. Lesson here: If you're going to borrow interest from board sports like skateboarding, surfing or snowboarding, do it right. Or end up annoying some people.

[via ThreeBillion.com]

a shiny new toy in the bag-o-tricks

3D Projection mapping on buildings.



On cars.


On snow.


And now on shoes.



Projection mapping is the new flashlight painting. It wasn't that long ago when we were all in love with the Pika Pika light painting made popular notably by the folks at Sprint. These visual gimmicks seem to come and go with some initial buzz and excitement for the brand that brings it first to market. But what about the others that follow thereafter? Are they doing anything that makes the technique better? Are they adding anything to the brand narrative? Or better yet, are they doing anything that adds tangible value to peoples' lives? Or perhaps, are these new shiny, digital, "techie" things created, just another way to create some interactivity and dialog with our audience? If not, then I'd say they're just poor imitations that has no purpose other than having something shiny to add to someone's reel and not really addressing a challenge in a creative way.

Delightfully Unexpected

One would assume that being in the ad biz for as long as I have, that nothing can get us excited these days.  I have to admit, I'm a sucker for anything clever and unexpected when it comes to brands interacting with people, on and offline.  It doesn't have to be a grand gesture or blown-out marketing campaign.  It's the little things that count.  Do it in a delightful and unexpected way and you'll get people to look forward to "having a conversation" w/your brand.  Sorry for this overused, social media cliche, but it's all I got right now.  You can punch me in the face later.   Brands should should be here to enable interaction, and not just a transaction.  Damn, was that another cliche?  Okay, I'll stop now.  But before I do, check out this Twitter reply I received from the @OCGoodwill today after a Foursquare post mentioning them over the weekend.  What I found really cool about this was that they didn't feel it was necessary to follow me just because I mentioned them in a tweet.  How often have you experienced brands on twitter quick to auto-follow or spam you with links once you mention them in a tweet?  Most of the time, it's taken out of context and the company starts to become really annoying.  This small, unexpected, no-strings attached reply was genuine and unassuming.  It had me feeling delightfully more positive about the brand than I ever would have, had they not reached out.  Now, isn't that what it's all about?

Kaption Kontest Friday #1

One of the reasons why my wife doesn't like the idea of me getting an iPad. 

via

beyond badges

Really, how many more badges do we really want?  It seems that most brands entering the location game think that badges are enough to get players interested?  Yes, they are definitely a way-in right now, however, players are going to want more from the interaction.  Starbucks is slowly testing out the waters with Foursquare right now by simply offering up badges.  Eventually, one would hope that they will roll-out other more tangible rewards for their customers.  Free Wi-Fi anyone?  Or how about a free breakfast sandwich?    I really like this latest example on the Gowalla platform with the New Jersey Nets basketball team.  In the "game" spirit of these location-based platforms, Gowalla will create a scavenger hunt encouraging players to find hidden digital tickets at various sporting locations around the NJ area.  The digital tickets can be redeemed for an actual ticket to attend the last game of the season.  Once there, Gowalla players will also be able to unlock badges that can also be redeemed towards Nets merchandise.  I don't follow the basketball, but I would suspect that there's a universe of people on Gowalla in the NJ area would find this compelling and perhaps get them to participate, no?  Brilliant.  You are giving me something of real, tangible value for my participation and making it fun for me.  Thank you.  As companies start to explore and experiment with these new location apps, the challenge will be to understand the playful-like behavior of people in this space and then providing them something of tangible value, beyond just a digital token.  Beyond the badge.

Live-Action Videogame Trailers

Last Fall, right before the videogame launch of Assassin's Creed 2, Ubisoft released a live-action web series that served as the prequel to the Assassin's Creed 2 story.  Although it was mostly shot against green screen, it does have the feel of a blockbuster summer action flick.  Now, Ubisoft comes back again with another live-action trailer, this one for the upcoming Ghost Recon: Future Soldier game.  With game samples surpassing movie ticket receipts in the past few years, is it any wonder that these game titles are putting this much support behind the launches?  Will we start to see big-screen movie stars play along as well? When will other game producers get into the mix?

What I also really dig about this and the AC2 example, is that the game narrative lives beyond the gaming console experience.  Gamers and fans can now get deeper into the story.  

4Square Offers

For some of us ad nerds who've been playing around on Foursquare this past year, one of the most frequently asked questions I get is the "so what's in it for me"?  When asked, I've described Foursquare as a mobile version of the loyalty punch card.  This new site answers that question even better, by showing what a tangible, real-world experience can be for players.  The site 4SquareOffers.com identifies locations of businesses that offer some type of freebie by simply checking-in or a really special incentive for mayors.   Although it does seem that mostly small businesses are using Foursquare at the moment, more and more big brands are playing along and finding new ways to make it interesting, for all of us, and not just ad nerds.