Interactive car entrance

Here is an outdoor ad from Germany for Mercedes:

Digital ad displays in the Berlin Underground were fitted with a system that allowed passersby to use their remote key entry systems to interact with the ad.  Each time they triggered the system with their key fob, a little surprise came out of the Mercedes.

Extra large dinosaur purse

Here are some outdoor posters from China for Sanlitun Village in Beijing:

The billboards were part of the Let's Play XXL augmented-reality game.  After scanning the codes, visitors of the shopping center were able use their mobile devices to see 3D dinosaurs.

Shoppers who found all of the virtual dinosaurs received an XXL bag.

Your cover's blown... Abandon mission.

Here is the outdoor campaign for the International Spy Museum:

These metro ads show that "Nothing is What it Seems" with international spy work...  Some of the billboards include a SMS component where passersbys have been told "Your Cover's Blown" or "You've Been Spotted" and to text message either to Abandon or Carry On with the mission.

International spy museum poster disguises itself as you walk past it

An interactive poster responds to movement, and as people walk by it, the images change "their disguises."

An associated print portion of the campaign includes secret messages:

Keep our secrets safe under heat sensitive ink

Here's an amazing book by comic book artist Jordan Crane:

I've been a fan of Jordan Crane since his zine comic days and it's great to see he's going into the children's book market with this 28-page board book published by McSweeney's Quarterly.  This video is a bit long and could have used a lot of editing, but it shows some of the really great features of this book, where rubbing the black ink temporarily shows elements of the story, including a cat made out of mice and a man with banana hands.  It's a great interactive idea.

It's HIP to have involved parents

Here is an OOH campaign for the COA Youth & Family Centers in Milwaukee to raise awareness of the positive impact parents' involvement with their child's education has with success in the classroom.  They have done it in a very cool interactive way to show it is HIP to "Get Involved Your Child's Education":

These "guerrilla" classrooms have interactive learning displays where parents could see "how many centimeters tall you are," or "solve this puzzle," or "read a story," or "learn about angles" or "find out how much you weigh on the moon" with their child. 

The campaign included a bus wrap that looked like a safari jeep stressing that parents could "learn about nature" with their child.

Skate pinball

A skate park that looks like a big pinball machine was made in New Zealand for Mountain Dew:

Mountain Dew Skate Pinball on Vimeo.

Here's the Making Of video:

I want you to hit this print ad as hard as you can

Here is an amazing print ad for Peugeot 408 from Brazil:

To illustrate the vehicle's safety features, they created an airbag - that inflates in the ad.  The insert showcases the front of the vehicle with copy that roughly translates to:  "Hit this spot hard and find out why the new Peugeot provides a lot more safety."

When you punch the insert, a small bag starts inflating on the other side of the print.  The interior of the vehicle is pictured on the next page with the "airbag" and copy that reads "Six airbags and eight protection points to absorb any impact"

AR day

Here are a couple of AR apps.  The first one is created by Total Immersion and they tout the "Magic Mirror" as the "first AR app for the iPad."  The "magic" element is fun but I'm more excited with the fact there is finally a decent mirror app.

And here movie-tie in app with Rio:

There has been debate whether you should invest money in AR.  Some contend it is a big waste of $..., likened to QR codes being a waste of time/money*.  [*Also if you are going to do QR, don't fail like Jet Blue].  

There is a significant front-end barrier with users downloading augmented-reality apps.  I am fascinated with AR but there is a major assumption that users are going to waste their time to listen to your brand.  While AR is pretty cool, these technologies still present a massive moat to the brand message.  AR is still in its infancy, and it may become an easier, more integrated technology in the very near future, but the fact of the matter is we are not there yet.  It will be very exciting to see how marketers use this medium to communicate while reconciling the barriers AR presents.

Wonderful claw machine

This is a modified claw machine for Nestea:

This seems like a fun idea.  Users can interact online with a simulated claw machine and the video displays shows the actual claw machine movements they are doing online.  This video doesn't explain if the people who won a Nestea online got an actual Nestea in real life.  Not a coupon...  But a real Nestea in the mail!  That would have been great.

Goo things come to those who wait

For Easter, the Cadbury Cream Egg Canada site has a Cad-a-pult.  Very cute.  

Not to be confused with a Cat-a-pult.

The arrow on the site is marshmellow, eh?  [Nice touch].  So you enter the coordinates.  I chose the Empire State Building.  ...and this part does take some time to load.  They do things a little slower in Canada, eh?  Then you pull down the Cad-a-pult arm and then you GOO!  Actually I held down too long, and my Cadbury egg rolled away.  It actually took me five tries to properly launch my egg, and I missed the Empire State Building by a bit.

Interactive in the UK

So here's an interactive advert from the London: 

I guess Lynx is like AXE body spray across the pond.  I like this.  Interactive is always fun, but it seems like they were playing the same Angel video loop over and over again.  We do get to see the-man-on-the-Mac sitting in the sidelines initiating the video as commuters stand on the mat.  What would have made it truly brilliant is if they had "the Lynx Angel" in a secret room nearby set up with a telly so she could see what the crowd was doing and then give unique reactions to all those cheeky blokes trying to feel her up. 

Test drive a print ad

First off, I really like the concept of this print ad for Volkswagen from Norway.  Really I do.  It's hard to find really good interactive print ads.  

But I think what troubles me about this print ad is when you remove one element out of the equation.  If a reader sees only the print ad that's basically a picture of a road in a magazine [and they never show the copy in this little video.  Maybe because it's all in Norwegian and I wouldn't understand anyway] is the copy compelling enough for you want to take your phone out and actually take the five minutes to download the app?  And vice versa, if you're browsing the iTunes store and you see a "driving Volkswagen car game app," and download it ... what do you do if you don't have that particular print ad?       

So essentially what was designed was an iPhone app, and there happens to be an associated print ad also.  While I do like this idea, the print ad doesn't have to be present to operate the app and I think that's what I find bothersome about the video's description of "innovative print ad"... because the print ad in itself is ancillary and not necessary to the experience. 

Interactive store display swipe

Getting to where our audience lives... in the real world, and getting them to interact with the brand is always interesting.  That's why I like interactive store displays.  These things have such viral potential.  Here is one from France:

The window front for Repetto [a ballet-shoe company] was transformed into an interactive display.  People walking by could stand at the designated spot and swipe different scenes on the window, with a motion that is the same fashion found on touch-technology devices.  As far as interactive storefronts go, this is a little static compared to others where there are a lot of interactive points for users to choose from, but this one is still pretty good.  Repetto's product is seen in action with a dancing ballerina.