The same retailer who took display ads to places we’d never imagined is putting a new twist on tweets (in the UK). We’ve seen plenty of marketers rewarding consumers for tweeting about their brands, usually in exchange for free schwag or entries into a sweepstakes. Sure, consumers love free stuff, but that exchange isn’t exactly the start of an ongoing interaction with the brand (not to mention that it’s been done to death by now, and thus adding more clutter to the Twitter ecosystem).

But, Uniqlo wouldn’t be satisfied using the same tired tactics, would they? Instead, the retailer featured ten items on their Lucky Counter site and offered to reduce the price whenever users tweeted about a particular item. Residing somewhere between a reverse auction and a group-buying site, this campaign delivers a promotional incentive for tweeting about the items, but also keeps the participants coming back to follow the plummeting prices (or, drive them down further). Better yet, it’s a lot more fun for the participants than just churning out tweets – you could make the argument that this is almost game-like. As a result, there’s nothing lucky about Uniqlo’s continued success in the online realm.

Would a handful of location-based music videos do the trick? Of course they would.

Since television’s so-called “music” channels stopped broadcasting anything remotely musical many years ago, the music video has largely been relegated to the web. This ended up being a blessing in disguise for a number of reasons, including the ability to make music videos far more interactive (as we’ve demonstrated on multiple occasions) than traditional offerings. Now, with location data becoming integrated into web and mobile experiences, clever artists are using this information to personalize their music videos based on a viewer’s location. This added context creates a unique, and more deeply relevant, experience for the fan than a televised video could ever provide.

For starters, let’s take a look at the singer-songwriter Lissie’s new music video that responds to the current weather conditions in your location. (As you can imagine, the above image of the band donning sunglasses and summer dresses is based on Texas, not Chicago.) The various versions of the video do a great job of encouraging both viewer engagement and rewatchability, as visitors are likely to be curious about the band’s responses to the different weather conditions.

While Lissie’s video uses weather to provide context to her video, an interactive set of videos from the band Editors uses the city of London as the context for an entire album. Based on a clever mash-up of Google Maps, visitors are encouraged to virtually wander in and around London using Google’s Street View, with certain locations triggering specific songs from the In This Light and On This Evening album. (The band is even caught hanging out at one particular location.)

The virtual tour of London certainly adds an additional dimension to the music video experience, but the Arcade Fire takes it one step further with a heavy helping of personalized nostalgia. Their interactive video for The Wilderness Downtown asks for the address of your childhood home, and then integrates the Street View of that location into their video. (Warning, the video has a LOT going on, so it’s recommended that you close your other browser windows before watching).

Sure, the integration of location-based data in these videos benefits from a bit of novelty, but none of them are content with being a mere shiny object. In each case, the location information is used to make these videos more relevant, personalized, and emotionally-resonant for the viewer. And, frankly, these are the reasons why location matters. Whether your brand is trying to connect to a location-based service, or considering a mobile tour, or simply trying to create a more engaging web experience, these music videos demonstrate the way location-based data can create a more immersive experience for the consumer. And, that’s why we have high hopes for the Year of Location.

Of course, foursquare’s not the only game in town.

While the world figures out what to make of Facebook Places, Gowalla continues to be the best LBS alternative to foursquare. While both services have much in common, one dramatic difference is Gowalla’s disinterest in rewarding users for checking-in repeatedly at a single venue (i.e. foursquare’s “mayors”). Instead, Gowalla tends to reward users for checking-in at a variety of venues. In some cases, these are part of coordinated “trips” that are produced by Gowalla users and brand partners. (National Geographic‘s robust collection of trips is a particularly good example of brand-building via LBS.) For any brand looking to connect on a regional level, this Gowalla feature allows you to creating a walking tour of, say, bars in a given city with Negra Modelo on tap.

A new addition called Highlights promises to add another layer of personalization to this content, with users being able to label spots as the best nighttime views, best guilty pleasure, or best kept secret (I think I’ve found a flaw in that last one). Assuming that Gowalla has plans to integrate marketers into these Highlights, there’s plenty of room for partnerships – I’m sure a number of bridal products would love to get a piece of the “Hitched” highlights.

But, Gowalla perks work at individual locations as well. Gowalla users often receive virtual items for checking-in at certain locations (which can subsequently be dropped or swapped at other locations). For instance, you might receive a metal robot when you check-in at a toy store, or you might receive free tickets to an NBA game by checking-in to sportsbars and basketball courts. Huh, wha? Yes, the New Jersey Nets hid 250 pairs of virtual (but redeemable) tickets at various Gowalla locations in the area for their last game of the season! Our “athletically challenged” colleagues here at Upshot might be more interested in a similar giveaway from Adobe, in which virtual items redeemable for a dozen free copies of Creative Suite 5 were distributed across various Gowalla spots nationwide. (A summertime campaign from Eye-Fi spruced up this model by including a random sweepstakes for anyone checking-in at Apple Stores.)

The aforementioned Nets promotion brought up a particularly compelling way for brands to deal with unused inventory (a problem that the Nets had ample opportunities to consider – heyyo!). The same article that described the Nets campaign suggested that hotels could offer unsold rooms in a similar fashion, in the hopes that the winners would make additional purchases via room service or on-site bars and restaurants. (The same mentality could be applied to movie theaters and amusement parks.) Of course, the other benefit is that a LBS-user is almost certainly going to be an active participant in social media, so they are more likely to start conversations about your brand than a traditional contest winner. Why not focus your rewards on someone who’s likely to be a vocal brand advocate?

Before moving on to the next topic, we should add that, um, we’re still not done here. In fact, our coverage of marketers on foursquare and Gowalla is still overlooking brands who are doing great work on other LBSs. Before you get completely exasperated, yes, the slew of services is a problem, and yes, we’ll be addressing this at a later time. But no, this won’t undermine the impending “Year of Location” – in fact, it should help. That’s a whole ‘nother post, though. In the meantime, we’d like to call your attention to Red Bull’s work with Whrrl, simply because it’s a stellar example of a Niche Network in action. When people join the Red Bull Society on Whrrl, they’re privy to exclusive deals (including drink discounts at select bars and clubs) and access to Red Bull events (such as tickets to the Red Bull Air Race in NYC). When our previous post asked “what’s the point of checking-in?” this is about as good an answer as you can give: being part of an exclusive community with tangible benefits, organized around a set of common [and local] interests. We hope other brands continue to do the same. But if they don’t, you can always garner attention with wacky offers like free Virgin America airline tickets for checking-in to taco trucks on Loopt. Wait, wha?

Y’know, the one we called out back in March. But no worries, we’re glad you’re all coming around. In fact, we’re going to spend the next couple of posts sorting out the marketing implications these recent announcements, because we’re just that nice.

The reigning mayor of the location-based space continues to be foursquare, which recently hit its 3 millionth user. foursquare has maintained their lead over other location-based players largely because of their willingness to partner with broad range of marketers, who often end up promoting the service in their own ad campaigns (such as VH1′s foursquare commercial). To get us in the mood for tackling this location-mania, left break down a few foursquare marketing applications from the past few months.

Skeptics of location-based services always start with the same question: what’s the point of checking-in? Of course, the answer depends on a number of things, including whether the venue is offering a particularly compelling incentive. For retailers, rewarding check-ins and mayorships are clearly the low hanging fruit for LBS involvement. Radio Shack started providing 10% off of purchases for anyone who checks-in, and 20% off for each store’s mayor. In return, the chain essentially gets free advertising in the form of a peer recommendation. Likewise, Chili’s restaurants figured out that free chips & salsa are a small price to pay for getting their guests to broadcast each visit to their social networks. But, Kona Grill took this one step further with their Swarm Parties, playing off the badge that foursquare users earn when they check-in to events with 50 or more attendees. Kona encouraged these swarms to hit their restaurants by offering special items during the gatherings, and of course, provided them free of charge for the current foursquare mayor. Again, the free advertising angle is a pretty sweet deal for the restaurant: if they get 50+ diners broadcasting their attendance to their social networks at the same time, the potential reach is certainly worth the price of giving away a few meals (not to mention getting 50+ customers in the door!).

The Six Flags theme parks are also pretty darn good at getting people to check-in, thanks to a wide variety of promotions and incentives. For instance, whoever is still holding the mayorship of each park on September 7th will win a season pass (looks like you’d better take work off for the next week!), while anyone who checks in 10+ times will get a virtual badge and an entry in a sweepstakes for a 2011 front-of-each-line pass. We like the fact that Six Flags has staggered these promotions to appeal to different levels of foursquare users. After all, only one person gets to be the mayor, but anyone with a season pass has a shot at 10 check-ins. Six Flags also uses the often-ignored “tips” section for each park to communicate additional deals (e.g. bring a Coke can for 2-for-1 weekday admission) and tips to improve the visitor’s experience (e.g. where to find bathrooms with short lines).

Speaking of fun stuff on foursquare, we’re a bit perplexed why more brands haven’t used foursquare to provide a digital twist on the ol’ scavenger hunt. One of the few examples we’ve seen was Jimmy Choo using the service to give away shoes as part of an entertaining treasure hunt. Jimmy Choo shoes would “check in” at various foursquare locations, and anyone following the brand could hustle down to the spot to try to locate the pair first. Finders, keepers!

Checking-in at live events is nothing new – or at least, it isn’t new for readers ’round here. Heck, if you can get a variety of badges for checking-in at the Today show’s live concerts, shouldn’t every event offer this simple form of recognition? Why yes, yes they should. But, we like the fact that the Today show is introducing the concept of location-based check-ins to a different demographic than, say, the folks attending the Banksy movie. For these services to continue to grow, an introduction via trusted names like Today will make the transition much smoother for new users.

Phew. Consider yourself checked-in to foursquare. Of course, we’ve overlooked plenty of examples, too. If you’ve seen some fancy foursquare integrations that aren’t listed here, please share them in the comments below!

Delighting consumers. Hidden surprises. We’ve mentioned them once or twenty times here on the Awesome Blog. But, underlying this trend was the idea that brands touting “big happiness” would struggle to deliver upon that promise in a period of great uncertainty and skepticism. When we introduced the trend, we felt that brands would best succeed by delivering the kind of small happiness that could be realistically achieved on a consistent basis. Y’know, cheering up consumers at unexpected moments throughout their day.

Well, Kraft’s interactive window ads (shown above) certainly bring a smile to our faces. Partnering with Upshot Inform alumnus Monster Media, these displays featured a Macaroni & Cheese noodle that would bend in accordance with the smiles of folks passing by. Big grins = big bends, no grins = neutral noodle (and nobody wants that!). Kraft even integrated some gaming mechanics by tallying the total number of smiles generated across the campaign.

But, Kraft’s not the only brand committed to getting their consumers to smile. Across the pond, another CPG company developed a vending machine that provided pedestrians with free ice cream if they smiled big enough. This execution offers a particularly clever twist on traditional sampling by delighting consumers (with free ice cream) in the process. The only thing better than getting your sample into the consumer’s hand is cheering them up in the process!

In our Smartshot webinar on Radical Demography, we told you about four dramatic demographic shifts that need to be in marketers’ peripheral vision, including “DINK” (dual income, no kids) households and multigenerational households. Well, guess what? In Nielsen’s new Pop-Facts® Demographics report, they describe these shifts as an integral part of their five demographic key trends for the next century. And, they’ve got the numbers to prove it. (Contact us if you’d like a copy of the deck.)

Then again, that shouldn’t be new news to our frequent readers. What is new is that marketers are paying attention, particularly to the rise of multigenerational households.  A recent article from Ad Age shares a number of examples, including:

• Nintendo marketing their Wii gaming systems to appeal simultaneously to kids, adults, and grandparents, including games like Brain Age and Wii bowling
• Toys ‘R’ Us has offered targeted coupons to grandparents, since grandparents “buy one in four toys, four of every 10 children’s books, and one of every five video games.”
• Ameriprise Financial advisers have been trained to address the specific needs of adults who are now tasked with caregiving for their parents
• Even TV shows like “Modern Family” and “Parenthood” are starting to portray multigenerational households as the norm. And those shows are likely to have more multigenerational households watching them, providing advertisers with the opportunity to target this demographic more effectively.

Oh, by the way, don’t think our other two trends from Radical Demography (single person households and female-headed households) were left behind. In fact, they recently came together when single women lauded Lowe’s for positively portraying single women in their 30s in their TV spots. See, demography can be radical.

Speaking of radical, don’t forget to vote for Upshot’s proposed panel for SXSW 2011. Voting ends this Friday. You’ll need to create an account to vote, but we promise that it takes less than a minute. We appreciate any help we can get!

We figured our creative folks would appreciate Flavorwire’s 10 favorite user-generated typography music videos, including the Daft Punk tribute shown above. Of course, Flavorwire’s responding to the meteoric rise of a typographic video for the catchiest string of f-bombs ever (and here’s the link in case you have no idea what we’re referencing).

While these give us a good excuse to dance at our desks and whatnot, there’s also an interesting implication for brands looking to spice up their user-generated submissions. Look around Youtube, and you’ll see that there are a ton of these typography music videos, so people clearly have an interest in making them. If your brand has musical assets, asking fans to bring the words to life might stick out amongst the hundreds of other submission requests on the web.

You still have that Cee-Lo song stuck in your head, don’t you?

As part of Pacifico’s sponsorship of the US Open of Surfing, we rolled out a program via QR code for the event’s attendees. Better yet, we made sure we were delivering compelling content according to the recommendations from our QR code Smartshot webinar, in which we advised that QR codes should deliver convenience, entertainment, or exclusivity.

Fortunately, the Pacifico code nails all three at once.

On the convenience side, the code offers a Pacifico tap finder for USOS attendees, enabling them to map out their route to the nearest bars (which, presumably, will also quickly lead to entertainment). Speaking of entertainment, the mobile site also offers a calendar of events surrounding the USOS (viewable to the right), so that attendees can catch concerts and parties after the day’s work is done (and, yes, this doubles as convenience as well). Finally, the mobile site offers exclusivity by also directing users to Pacifico events during the USOS, providing access and benefits that are unavailable to people who haven’t scanned the codes.

This campaign shows that checking off the boxes for convenient, entertaining, and exclusive content doesn’t have to be so complicated. In fact, it brings to life our mantra here at Upshot: simple ideas, brilliantly activated. Good marketing is just that easy.

If you haven’t already, please don’t forget to vote for our SXSW 2011 panel, accessible here. You’ll need to create an account to vote, but we promise that it takes less than a minute. Voting closes Friday, August 27th, and we appreciate every bit of help we can get!

Stickybits is a smartphone application that allows users to attach content to pre-existing barcodes, and access content that other people have left on the same code. That “pre-existing” part is the key; Stickybits turns any product with a UPC (so, uh, basically any product) into a social media channel. The brand often delivers the first “bit” of content, much like other barcode applications. For instance, a clever campaign from Food52 partnered with brands like Domino’s sugar and Organic Valley Sour Cream to provide recipes when users scanned the UPC on each product’s package. However, consumers can then respond by attaching their own mp3s, videos, text, pdfs, and what-have-you to the UPC for anyone to see. Imagine the possibilities for abuse!

And that‘s exactly why we’ve been hesitant to jump on board. In the era of Consumer Controlled Conversations, we all know that marketers have to engage in open, honest dialogs with consumers in public forums. But monitoring Twitter conversations is one thing; having consumers tearing your brand apart on a forum that’s attached to your physical product can, understandably, be a tough pill for clients to swallow. Sure, consumers can have these conversations with or without your involvement, but if you’re not calling attention to your UPC, most consumers probably aren’t even going to think to scan the code in the first place.

Which brings us to problem number two with Stickybits. As we mentioned in the QR code Smartshont webinar, one benefit of a QR code is that consumers always know that there’s some content on the other end of the code – it’s essentially a sign that there’s something more to see. With Stickybits, your campaign is relying on a UPC that’s generally ignored unless you explicitly call attention to it via packaging, in-store media, or some other touchpoint. Are consumers really going to go around scanning every UPC in the supermarket looking for content? Of course not, which means unprompted conversations will almost certainly come from extreme fans and extreme haters. By no means is that a deal-killer for Stickybits, but it’s worth considering.

For instance, it makes perfect sense for Campbell’s new campaign to utilize the Stickybits platform, because the campaign itself is explicitly about the redesigned labels for their soup cans. (Campbell’s is dangling a $500 sweepstakes to encourage participation.) This is a clear example of connecting the medium to the message (and the product, for that matter), so the item being discussed doubles as the platform for the discussion. Also, by giving consumers a specific topic to discuss, it’s likely that Campbell’s has pre-emptively reigned in some of the more “colorful” anonymous comments that are to be expected in the age of Consumer Controlled Conversations.

Coke’s application of Stickybits uses similar logic. Part of their mysterious campaign surrounding the brand’s secret recipe includes “unlocking the bottle,” communicating to consumers that there might be a reason to scan the codes on the product. (P.S. There’s a fun little trick hidden in that linked Coke video – let us know if you haven’t found it yet.)

So, where does this leave us? Frankly, on the fence. It’s a compelling platform, as evidenced by the three campaigns above. There are certainly good applications in the right situation, and the Food52 example offers a particularly innovative partnership strategy. However, for now, there are also considerable risks and shortcomings, many of which can be avoided using other barcode and social media solutions. We’ll certainly stick around and see how the situation develops.

If you haven’t already, please don’t forget to vote for our SXSW 2011 panel, accessible here. You’ll need to create an account to vote, but we promise that it takes less than a minute. Voting closes Friday, August 27th, and we appreciate every bit of help we can get!

As always, a PDF version is available here, which we encourage you to share with clients and colleagues. But, if you’d prefer the straight text, continue reading below.

Code Read

Brace Yourself for the Barcode Barrage

Well, what do we have here? Is that a QR code campaign delivering exclusive content for FOX shows like Glee and Fringe? And do I see a Campbell’s sweepstakes where consumers enter by scanning their soup can UPCs? While, over here, I could’ve sworn I caught a Kelley Blue Book window sticker equipped with QR codes, allowing car salespeople to keep the same sticker in the window even when the price fluctuates. With everyone from beer brands to magazines to sports teams loading up these little squares with data, it looks like we’ve got ourselves a full blown barcode party on our hands, to which we say…

Well it’s about time you all showed up! See, we at Upshot have been hanging around the QR code punchbowl for years, checking our watches and nibbling on hors d’oeuvres while wondering what’s taking everyone so long to get here. (We’ve even used the codes in our own agency campaigns.) But, that’s given us plenty of time to get acquainted with the breadth of barcode applications, understanding what works and what doesn’t. We already went ahead and qrushed the topic of QR codes in a recent 15-minute Smartshot webinar (accessible by scanning the QR code above), so let’s head in to the party! Look for the balloons out front.

(Of course, the best way to get into this shindig is to try scanning some codes yourself. If you don’t have a barcode reader for your smartphone, shoot The Source a message and we’ll point you to one that you can download for free.)

While we prefer the flexibility and broad compatibility of QR codes, we’re admittedly using them as a proxy for all kinds of barcode marketing applications. It really doesn’t matter whether you implement a smartphone app that reads traditional UPCs or a code like JagTag that doesn’t require a reader. What’s important here is that barcodes should be driving consumers to compelling, valuable information when scanned, regardless of the format. Ultimately, these codes are just an efficient way to connect consumers to a wide range of content on the mobile web, whether it’s a link to the Double Rainbow YouTube video, the Double Rainbow remix mp3, a coupon for the Double Rainbow t-shirt, a calendar link to Double Rainbow viewing parties… you name it. The codes are not campaigns on their own. The real consumer interaction comes after that code is scanned and engaging content is delivered, much like the true measure of a party’s greatness isn’t what’s on the invitation, but how early the karaoke machine gets broken out. For instance, the QR code to the right will take you to an awesome art installation, in which portraits of classic movie stars are made out of a series of barcodes. When those codes are scanned, they play various video clips from their respective repertoires. Now that’s one heck of a barcode blowout!  (Hint: linking your QR code to your company’s bland homepage probably makes for a crappy party.)

These data-laden codes are ideal for any products where the consumer experience can be enhanced by accompanying information and education. For instance, there’s a lot to talk about when it comes to wine: food pairings, terroir, blends, vintages, and how to properly mock anyone garish enough to order a California Merlot in public. But, even for oenophiles, that’s a lot of stuff to put on the outside of a bottle. We’ve seen some brands try to get around this with bottle neckers, in-store media, packaging, and more, but none of these options really allow for the full story to be told. Compare that to the smartphone apps that Constellation Wines has developed for its brands, which include barcode-scanning capabilities. When consumers scan the UPC on the bottle, they’re linked to everything from reviews to tasting notes to streaming videos about the wineries. It helps that these apps also build personalized profiles for the consumer, since it gets a little tricky to remember your favorites halfway through a tasting session. Just ask Edina and Patsy (they’re waiting for you behind the QR code above).

Like the Best Buy example we covered in our Smartshot webinar, Constellation bakes the barcode readers right into their branded smartphone apps (along with other features). We think this is particularly crafty, and not just because it circumvents the problem of whether consumers have already downloaded barcode readers to their phones. When users scan the codes using the branded app, that marketer can exert more control over where that user eventually ends up. In Best Buy’s case, the retailer can link to movie and video game trailers, coupons, installation instructions, their Twelpforce staff, and more, without worrying that the barcode will take their shoppers to an online competitor. And this approach isn’t just beneficial for retailers; imagine how much more control a brand could exert over its shopper marketing programs via a similar technique.

In the end, it really doesn’t matter which code format your brand pursues. What’s important is recognizing the value of augmenting consumers’ real-world experiences with rich, immersive, online content. It’s part of the Online-Offline Convergence that is changing our consumers’ everyday experiences, and which happens to be another party that we’ve been crashing for a long, long time. Now that you know the code for the door, we do hope you’ll join us. We even left you a special message hidden – where else? – in the QR code to the right.

the hotspot for haute thought is the pot at upshot

we’re all hopped up on code-ing at theawesomeblog.net