But hashtags weren’t the only form of social media making waves in the coveted Super Bowl ads. Cars.com and Pepsi (among others) used Shazam’s audio-recognition software to promote secret offers, full-length videos and charitable donations. GoDaddy.com’s ad with Danica Patrick used a QR code to send viewers to “too hot for TV” extended content featuring The Pussycat Dolls (for the record, my hubby and a friend watched it and were unimpressed). And in perhaps their most popular spot of the evening, Bud Light’s ad featuring a dog named “Weego” that fetches beer used Facebook to generate awareness for rescue dogs by promising to donate $1 (up to $250,000) to Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation for every “like” Weego receives. Best Buy didn’t actually use any of the noted social media, but instead highlighted several mobile innovators, ranging from the sender of the very first text message to the creator of Instagram.

According to Bluefin Labs, the game generated more than 12 million (and counting) social media comments across sites like Facebook and Twitter, with nearly a million relating to the commercials alone, making Super Bowl XLVI the biggest social media TV event ever, by a wide margin. A perfect example of our Seamless Tech trend, marketers used social media to let users live in the moment and interact with the ads in new ways, without interrupting the moment—that is, the next big play of the game.

Which Super Bowl ad was your favorite?

The photo-sharing app Instagram is perhaps the most intriguing example of a platform built for Collective Curation. (Actually, it’s also a damn fine tool for establishing your brand as a Guru, but we’ll get to that later.) The app is popular among users because of its simple photo filters and incredibly easy sharing functions, but also because it implements a Twitter-like tagging system that lets the images do the talking in these conversations. For instance, The Washington Post has asked readers to document the local impacts of the recession via Instagram by tagging their photos with the #econdebate tag (a couple are shown above). The collected images spark a multifaceted and compelling debate far more effectively than a vitriolic comment section ever would. (We’ve used a similar strategy on Upshot’s own homepage to showcase what’s inspiring us – look for the filmstrip at the bottom of the window.)

But the app isn’t just simple for users. An ideal example of Seamless Tech, Instagram’s flexible platform makes it easy for marketers to compile (and curate) photo galleries into their websites, Facebook pages, or other digital properties. For instance, the band The Vaccines managed to crowdsource a music video by asking attendees at their shows to tag their Instagram pictures with #vaccinesvideo. The band selected their favorite shots and incorporated them into the video shown below. And if an indie rock outfit can pull this off, just imagine what big-time brands like GE, Starbucks, and Levi’s could do. We’ll show you in part two of this post, coming tomorrow.

But while Ariel was busy cleaning up a mess, Mr. Beam was dumping all sorts of colors into a plain white room. The clip below shows how their blank canvas was anything but limiting, even going so far as to seemingly manipulate the textures of the items in the room (perhaps most impressively when the couch “becomes” leather at the 0:34 mark). While this example is certainly visually appealing, it also speaks to projection mapping’s ability to overcome special limitations in finite environments. After all, this clip runs through as many rooms as you’d find displayed in some department stores, all within the confines of a modest space. Does this mean that future IKEAs could fit into a crammed storefront on Milwaukee Avenue? It’s possible.

Speaking of working within limitations, it’s no secret that projection mapping requires some incredibly precise alignment between the projected elements and the surfaces on which they interact. That explains why many of the more elaborate shows are stationary displays in a single location, never to hit the road. Well, apparently that era’s over. DJ Amon Tobin recently embarked on a tour in which he’s embedded in a gigantic wall of cubes, onto which an accompanying array of intricate projections swirl, explode, grind, and shatter in rhythm with the music. (See the behind the scenes clip below.) Holy crap, it’s definitely the future.

Recently Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound elevated brand/band pairing with the release of “When Fish Ride Bicycles,” a new full-length from Chicago hip-hop group the Cool Kids. What’s different than other brands playing in this space? Unlike Starbucks Hear Music—which is essentially a music publishing house and not necessarily a full-blown label—Green Label Sound is behaving like the real-deal: signing artists, handling distribution, PR, partnerships (read: iTunes) paid media, etc.

What can Green Label offer that traditional labels can’t? The better way to ask that question is to put it in reverse. With the state of the music industry going through its biggest shift in well, ever, record labels have become less effective at helping artists distribute their work, build fan followings, and evolve. Marketing is a major component of artist success, and Green Label relies on Cornerstone, a NY/LA based promotions agency to help run the label. By tapping into this agency resource, and genuinely committing to the artists they bring on board (imagine the bad PR if a brand-backed label treated artists poorly) Green Label Sound gives other labels a run for their money—especially considering their primary focus likely isn’t money—by promoting artists who in turn elevate the brand’s street cred.

In other words, it’s a perfect manifestation of our Brand Patronage trend for 2011. While consumer brands have played in nearly every area of media for nearly a century, I suspect we’re at the dawn of many deciding to go beyond sponsorships and carve out dedicated business units to support the creation, distribution and marketing of entertainment: whether that’s music, games, movies, apps, or books. Undoubtedly they’ll be no shortage of artists and agencies waiting to sign-up to help.

1. Temporary urbanism. It’s the new term for pop-up retail. We love pop-up retail. And we love its new moniker as well.

2. The new Crate & Barrel catalog. Just hit mailboxes this week, complete with a redesign. It’s visually and graphically appealing and has loads of editorial content.

3. 3D. I’ve avoided the reincarnation of 3D for awhile, thinking it would be seizure-inducing. But I have to admit, on games and movies it’s made for (versus added in post-effects), it’s pretty awesome.

4. Print’s finest hour. Brands are showcasing their finest print in all the huge fall magazine issues on stands now.

5. Jay-Z and Kayne West’s much anticipated collaboration album “Watch the Throne” was released on Monday. It launched on iTunes first (at-retail follows next week), a great example of how musicians are leading with embracing digital first and thinking brick-and-mortar second.

6. Target’s back-to-school ads. In a sea of back-to-school promotions, Target is running one of the few (if not the only) television spots that is not price-driven. Has a great emotional hook about school and teachers.

7. Craftsman Public Parks Rehab Project. It’s exciting to see one of our programs do so well and to see consumers truly engage with it. Self-servingly, it’s also nice to see someone else give it a shout-out, JeffBullas.com.

8. Paging System. Why is it making us happy? Because that’s how marketing runs at Upshot.

What’s making you happy this week?

You gotta love how the typical spokesperson has evolved over the years. Even the word has evolved from spokesman to spokesperson (gender neutral, thank you very much). Nowadays the successful spokeperson is no longer just an attractive face or a name in lights—it’s a person that embodies the brand. To ensure a perfect fit, the equities of the person’s brand must complement the equities of the product/service’s brand. So how does that happen?

A screening process or partnership evaluation is a great way to find a good match. Beyond budget and timing, there are five core components to consider: Brand Fit, Target Relevance, Awareness, Heat and Creative Potential. We could go into each of these deeper and craft a delicate ranking system, but remember, it’s Friday. Let’s keep it effortless and get into the fun stuff. With a simple “yay” or “nay,” let’s put the screens to the test by evaluating a couple of current partnerships.

Troy Polamalu and Head & Shoulders

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brand Fit: yay
Target Relevance: yay
Awareness: yay
Heat: yay
Creative Potential: yay
Success!

Patty Duke/George Takei and SocialSecurity.gov

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brand Fit: nay
Target Relevance: yay (maybe)
Awareness: nay
Heat: nay
Creative Potential: oh boy nay
Failure!

If a brand can’t find the perfect match in existence, well then, they can make one up! That way, the brand dictates the essence of the spokesperson (or puppet), ensuring that all essential brand characters line up for a successful fit!

Doug and Ford Focus

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brand Fit: yay
Target Relevance: yay
Awareness: yay
Heat: yay
Creative Potential: yay
Success!

Share your examples, whether they’re good, bad or just plain entertaining!

But don’t worry, we’re bringing the music.

Yes, Upshot’s SXSW Interactive coverage team has arrived in Austin, and just like last year, we’ll be covering the town with our QR-coded stickers. (Unlike last year, we’ve got a slick new design, shown above.)

If you’re in town – or if you’re just curious about what’s happening in town – scan the QR code above to make sense of Austin’s music scene during Interactive week. (Need a QR code reader for your phone? Shoot us a message with your handset type and we’ll recommend a free reader.)

And that’s not even the last trick we have up our sleeve…

Following up on Monday’s clever YouTube tweak, we wanted to pass along a couple of other tricks and treats we’ve recently seen around the web.

The first is an iPad ad for the USA Network’s show “White Collar,” which is featured in the video above. What appears to be your basic banner ad quickly turns into a decoder that can be dragged around the screen, uncovering otherwise-invisible clues that are hidden on the webpage. Once all the clues are compiled, the user gets access to exclusive clips and content from the show. It’s further proof that Game On! can make any experience a bit more fun and unexpected – even web browsing.

While the “White Collar” campaign takes a bit of high-tech trickery, designers can achieve just as much impact by reimainging the way we get around the typical website. Friend-of-the-blog Jaclyn Gordyan pointed us to the Beercamp invite for the SXSW Interactive conference, which rethinks the idea of vertical scrolling and replaces it with zooming into the center of the page. It’s a bit tough to describe, but takes only an instant to grasp once you see it – head over to 2011.beercamp.com and scroll as you normally would. Even this simple tweak really imparts a sense of unexpected delight for the visitor, especially when compared with the hundreds of other party invites that are circulating as the conference approaches. (Of course, we’re not saying we don’t want to keep receiving those invites…)

Along the same lines, after watching your 10,000th kitten video on YouTube, perhaps the site doesn’t have the same level of engagement and novelty that it once did. Fortunately, experiments like the new music video from UK rapper The Streets are trying to instill a bit of interactivity back into the format. The clip below is the first minute of the music video, and offers a Choose Your Own Adventure-style menu at the end, allowing users to decide upon their own path through the new album, Computers and Blues. See? Building-in engagement doesn’t have to be so complicated – it just takes a bit of cleverness.

Ever since Sao Paulo decided to ban billboards, ad folks in the US (and around the world) have nervously wondered, “Could it happen here?” While it’s hard to say, we’ll soon know what that scenario would look like, thanks to the latest project from Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me fame). He’s developed a platform called No Ad that taps the power of crowdsourcing to virtually erase billboards and outdoor ads in US cities. (Thanks to Jaclyn Gordyan for the tip!) He starts by filming a panoramic view of the area in question, and then asks fans to use the site (essentially an online, stripped-down version of Photoshop) to replace the ads in each frame of the clip. And Spurlock’s aiming high to kick things off: he’s taking on Times Square. While it’s unclear whether this campaign is reflective of a larger sentiment among Americans (one could certainly make the argument that the advertising clutter in Times Square is precisely the draw of the place), it’s certainly a reasonable discussion to have about the future of advertising. After all, knowing that consumers are seeking Primitive Simplicity in their personal lives, is it just a matter of time before this preference gets applied to experiences outside of their homes? It’s certainly a possibility.

But, as we’ve regularly restated, don’t mistake this desire for simplicity as an anti-technology stance. In fact, certain technological advancements are considered to be the solutions to these dilemmas, rather than the problems. For instance, let’s consider one of our favorite things in the world: interactive projections! (We’ll take any excuse to mention them, won’t we?) In this case, it’s MINI Cooper projecting virtual vending machines in a handful of Canadian cities, as seen in the video above. Passersby choose from nine different MINI paint jobs and text their selection to the projection, at which point the selected car is discharged in a very MINI-esque manner. But, in the context of our discussion above, does this kind of OOH experience qualify as clutter or enhancement? One could argue that it’s a shiny, distracting intrusion each city’s nightlife, while others could make the case that turning a boring ol’ building side into an interactive, engaging source of entertainment that enriches the participants’ evenings. Moreover, projection as a medium is inherently temporary, requires relatively little power, and leaves no lingering impact on the environment. If we can check those boxes off, does Spurlock’s complaint become spurious?

(Aside from the clutter discussion, we do want to note one other spot where the campaign falls short. After choosing their car, the recipient receives a text message inviting them to Like MINI on Facebook. Certainly, some follow-up is better than none, but considering the projection’s level of engagement, shouldn’t the SMS deliverable be equally engaging? Why not ask the participant for their zip code and provide them with the nearest dealer, or offer them a chance to schedule for a test-drive, or offer some promotional incentive to walk into the dealership? Seems like a missed opportunity.)

These kind of projections are only the beginning, especially considering what hack-happy designers are doing with the Microsoft Kinect system. The gesture-based interface is proving to be enormously versatile, delivering jaw-dropping interactive experiences without the need for wires, controllers, or other electronic clutter. One example that we especially enjoyed is the music video below, in which the German group Moullinex uses 3D motion-capture to show renderings of the musicians in action. Better yet, the group was kind enough to share the secrets behind their process, just in case anyone else has a hankerin’ to be Driven by Data. Knowing that these low-impact, high-engagement options are becoming more readily available, are critics of consumerist clutter going to view these solutions as resolving the problem or making it worse? If you’ve got an opinion on the matter, let us know in the comments below.

Here’s something sweet to tide you over in the meantime: a collection of wonderfully minimalist posters depicting different musical genres. The series, curated by Edit, assigned each designer with depicting a given genre using a single shape.

(Could we interpret this as a manifestation of Primitive Simplicity in the design world? I believe we could.)

Check out the fantastic work for yourself.