♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V27.0]

State Farm is reaching out to a younger audience on YouTube and Facebook in order to promote Weezer's cover of the brand's classic jingle, "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there." Ouch - BrandChannel 

Hugo Boss let you design the F1 racing overalls worn by the Hugo Boss F1 team at the Formula 1 grand finale. The winner gets two free airline and event tickets. Better still? They also will meet Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in person in Sao Paulo, Brazil - Case Study 

The Future of Social Commerce - An interesting look (Skive/Soup) at selling products and virtual goods using FB –  Slideshare

Åkestam Holst's (Sweden’s Rockstars) work for the SWEDISH POST to get more people mailing Christmas Cards over the holidays? Swedish Post had Åkestam Holst's (and some Reindeer) innovative platform makes it unique again - Video 

GM, Ford, and BMW are bringing social media to the Chicago Auto Show by inviting bloggers, tweeters, and Facebook fans to tour and test drive their featured vehicles - The Detroit News 

Taco Bell is turning a lawsuit about their beef (or lack thereof) into a social media strategy by giving away 10 million free tacos to FB "likers" who download and print a coupon. Te quiero en absoluto - ClickZ 

The 'Gutpod' by Åkestam Holst (Sweden) - Fredrik Hjemquist CEO of Pause Home Entertainment Store, successfully swallowed the tailor made wireless sound system gutPod and transformed himself to a Human Jukebox - Video 

Hallmark is engaging with FB fans by inviting them to share special moments and personalize cards to send to friends online.  - Facebook 

The latest (2010) Demo Reel of augmented reality projects by Total Immersion - the global leader in Augmented Reality Solutions - Goodbuzz

MIT's FLYFIRE, a project initiated by the SENSEable City Laboratory in collaboration with ARES Lab (Aerospace Robotics and Embedded Systems Laboratory) aims to transform any ordinary space into a highly immersive and interactive display environment using an army of location-aware mini-copters to form 3D LED art - Video

SEALY's new "In Bed Tagger" mobile application allows fans to transform their photos into the ultimate fortune cookie joke and share them with friends on just about any social network  - Facebook 

GE is using an internal social networking community called MarkNet to connect their employees (get everybody on the radar) and leverage their knowledge and experience for the benefit of the company - Social Media B2B 

JEEP - Leo Burnett Worldwide (Iberia's) clever use of Twitter called #jeeppuzzle - the idea was that users would follow the jeeppuzzle profile, and inside that profile, jeep would be following a total of 12 other profiles. Now, in each of those profiles, they would be following a further 36 profiles, with each holding part of a puzzle - Overview

Augmented Reality 2.0 – some (hopefully inspiring) examples of where we’ve been and where we’re going -  Examples

TOYOTA PRIUS Grammatical YouTube video lessons, real-time Facebook polls, and Twitter debates are all part of Toyota's "Prius Goes Plural" campaign that challenges fans to decide on what the plural form of the new Prius should be.  - Saatchi & Saatchi 

Kraft Foods' Oreo is attempting to enter the Guinness Book of World Records with the title, "World's Most-Liked Cookie," by gaining over 45,000 Facebook likes in twenty-four hours.  - BrandRepublic 

Mattel, Victoria's Secret, and CBS all turned to social media for their Valentine's Day campaigns. Promotions included interaction with Barbie and Ken on Twitter, racy e-Valentines, and a Facebook virtual gift application.  - USA TODAY 

Discovery Channel used social media to turn up the volume and engagement for its fans during Shark Week.  - Vimeo

MATTEL - Barbie can't resist Ken's co-branded wooing - More

EXPION's Social Media Management Solution allows large brands with multiple locations (or franchises) to control all social messaging and much more - www.expion.com 

SUBARU WRX by DDB Canada strapped four High-Definition cameras onto a Subaru WRX rally car, so now you can control the action. Choose between four explosive angles to watch Subaru take on the tough Stage 4 of Tall Pines - http://bit.ly/gHRfHF 

GlobalWebIndex 2011 Annual Report - How the world’s biggest events are getting bigger and how brands need to respond. The - 'Welcome to Social Entertainment' 

DENTSU (LONDON) - Exploring playful uses for the increasingly ubiquitous ‘glowing rectangles’ that inhabit the world. We use photographic and animation techniques that were developed to draw moving 3-dimensional typography and objects with an iPad - Video

The Complete Guide to the New Facebook Brand Pages Redesign (WILDFIRE) 

FAST COMPANY - The Future of the Agency - Advertising is on the cusp of its first creative revolution since the 1960s - but the ad industry might get left behind - More

Hipster brand Converse comes to the aid of legendary London rock venue the 100 Club - which was due to close - More

For Valentine's Day AT&T let’s Social Media users submit love messages to be shouted from a mountaintop - http://youtu.be/hUFuyApqckc 

Map your Valentine - Ahhh the endless possibilities of how this could have been branded and tied into a campaign to amplify http://www.mapyourvalentine.com/ 

(Digital Rockstars) Jung von Matt’s latest project: Heat MWC for Google. It features a new search and cluster technology -http://fb.me/ABl45Vwq 

Dribbble is show and tell for creatives. - http://dribbble.com/ 

NUJI - Remember, share and discover the products you love with like-minded people - http://www.nuji.com 

If you have other good examples, feel free to post -or- send to info@goodbuzz.ca 

♔ The Evolution of Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified to enhance one’s current perception of reality.  For any of you (luddites) who still haven't seen some of the things brands can do using AR, we've compiled a few examples below.  


The first example isn't really AR at all. It is however the first example of mixed/ augmented reality in the midst of an otherwise formally conventional feature film, but also in relation to the recent proliferation of text treatments in motion graphics work.  The overlaying of text on screen in this scene from David Fincher's Fight Club bears an uncanny relationship to recent experiments with information graphics in augmented reality research. It also offers a clever and self-reflexive meta-commentary on the conventions of product-placement that is increasingly common in contemporary feature films.  (See below)

[ Fight Club Ikea Catalogue Scene ]

Transformers - We Are Autobots AR

Augmented Reality (AR) Promotional used to build excitement around the launch of the latest Transformers movie. It was the first good example I’ve seen where facial tracking technology is mixed with Augmented Reality to enhance the experience.

Mattel: Avatar Toys

Toy maker Mattel’s solid AR example that got some serious hype with the launch of Avatar.  It can be used with Mattel products or as a product itself, and as the technology becomes more advanced, we’ll be able to have toys like this interact in a very “game like” way - making them even more appealing.

Adidas Originals Shoe AR

This Augmented Reality Shoe App provides one of the most detailed AR models while combining a lot of functionality and interactivity into the app. However, the downside is it’s so detailed that it seems to be a little slow (just sayin’) in the gaming area.

Stella Artois Le Bar Guide

Stella’s Augmented Reality App blends real world places with directions, promotions, and other useful features. 

GE’s Smart Grid AR

As featured on the front cover of Popular Science magazine in early 2009, this robust app is responsible for sparking the big push from brands and agencies into Augmented Reality last year.

Rayban Virtual Mirror

Try on the entire range of Rayban sunglasses from your very own computer. Like the Transformers AR app, it works with some facial recognition.  The app maps key points of your face then utilizes these as the directional markers to track and size the sunglasses perfectly on your face.  Perfect to enhance sales and introduce new product lines.  It’s even tied into an e-Commerce application.  Smart.

BMW Z4 AR

This Augmented Reality Example was one of the first to allow you to take an AR model in your hands, place it on your desktop and then control the car from the keyboard and webcam while you drive it around your desk!  The AR app also allowed you to save out the graphic you created and share with your friends on Facebook & Twitter.  It’s really the BMW of AR apps. Go figure.

Although the correct description "mobile markerless tracking algorithm optimized for dual-core chips" sounds very complex, the demo shows how easy life can be with AR.

The Future - AR 2.0
Currently in the prototype stages, this technology demo by researchers at the University of  Tokyo are using ultrasound technology to give holograms a solid feel. Sensors detect when you’re touching the hologram making the whole experience truly interactive. 


2011 Mobile World Congress MWC Teaser 
Here is a taste of what we’ll be seeing at this 2011 Mobile World Congress (MWC). This video demos the world`s first integrated markerless 3D object tracking on a smartphone. Or, to you and me, it shows us where Augmented Reality is heading: robust, smooth and useful everyday experiences. 

Iron Man 2 Augmented Experience 

Much like the Trasformers example, users can use their webcams to get suited up with either an Iron Man or War Machine helmet, as well as take a look at what the HUD (heads up display) would look like through Iron Man or War Machine’s perspectives.

Microsoft Live Labs

Blaise Aguera y Arcas TED Talk on Augmented Reality (AR) Maps.

Have examples of great AR you'd like to showcase?  When we say great, we mean at the level of say a North Kingdom or Total Immersion.  Still not sure?  Take a moment and check out Total Immersions Reel on their website.  Send examples to info@goodbuzz.ca

♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V26.0]

Virgin Mobile is attempting to gain over one million Facebook likes with a contest to become an official VIP tour blogger for Lady Gaga's next tour - Portfolio 

The Old Spice Case Study (by Wieden+Kennedy) talks us through the insight around targeting men & women at the same time to generate buzz around body wash - More. 

Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Kraft Foods' Oreo brand have all shown steady growth on their Facebook pages due to engagement, interest, and constant connection with their fans. - eMarketer 

Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) 2011 Digital Marketing Outlook - Report 

The VW GTI Project (by Tribal DDB London) fun, viral advergame promotes the new Volkswagen Models - Website

Remember the Harlequin Romance? The brands new site (www.patentyourkiss.com) breathes new life into the brand by letting you patent your kiss. Also integrated with FB - http://on.fb.me/gby7Gh 

Mobile brands Samsung and HTC are looking to broaden their social media efforts by going global and experimenting with new platforms for social media campaigns. - BrandRepublic 

Coors Light’s (by Razorfish) used SnapTag technology (by SpyderLynk) to allow consumers to interact with branded tags using their mobile - More

Chili's promoted a coupon for a free brownie sundae on their Twitter and Facebook pages that did not require customers to like their fan page. - ClickZ 

Mutual-fund companies Putnam Investments, MFS, and Vanguard are using Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to build brand loyalty, educate investors, and help with customer service. - The Wall Street Journal 

The BMW ActiveE campaign (by Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners) drives an ethical movement to reorder our priorities - Website

Kellogg's Crunchy Nut cereal debuted in the U.S. with the world's biggest cuckoo clock comedy event. Fans were encouraged to follow the action, interact with the performers, and watch streaming videos of the event on Kellogg's Facebook page. - Drinks Media Wire 

By combining Microsoft's Surface with this new Apple iOS app, Razorfish's latest innovation that change the way you share and interact with digital content - http://vimeo.com/18859503 

NPR's Facebook page's success is driven by the 1.4 million fans who comment and share stories regularly. - Nieman Journalism Lab 

We had to add this - A QB telepresence robot that allows you to roam the halls of your empire and bark orders - no matter where you are!? Awesome. The self-balancing robot is controlled from a web interface and runs about $15,000. - http://www.anybot.com 

Since it linked Windows Live Messenger with Facebook, Microsoft has been responsible for powering more than 2.8 billion minutes of Facebook chat. The software has also led to doubling figures in connections with LinkedIn, YouTube, and MySpace. - Softpedia 

The Power Of Social Authenticity - Volkswagen’s latest clever campaign “The People’s Reviewer” (by Tribal DDB London) crowdsourced reviews using YouTube, Blogs, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter - http://bit.ly/hefHKD 

Online condom store 'Condomerie' leverages Chat Roulette's large number of exhibitionists - More 

Pfizer is communicating via social media with a well-developed and implemented social media policy. - Vimeo 

TAT - The Astonishing Tribe explore the future of captive touch screen technology - and what our lives may look like in 2014 - More

Esquire Magazine and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with augmented reality platform GoldRun to launch a campaign that allows fans to take a seemingly real picture with Brooklyn Decker on their smartphones. Images from the app are shareable on the brands' Facebook pages and Brooklyn's Twitter account. - Promo Magazine 

Honda's innovative interactive TV Ad (by Wieden+Kennedy UK) uses “screen hopping” whereby the TV's sound is recognized (and synced with the mobile App) essentially giving you the ability to interact with the TV ad in real time - http://youtu.be/UbDYdjhnfEg 

For ten days Lingerie retailer Aubade Paris got a female model to strut, strip and tease - all in full view of a window in central Paris that was only concealed by a gauzy screen. Crowds gathered in the street below staring at the sexy silhouette. Once the 10 days were up, the model removed the screen (revealing her Aubade Lingerie) and replaced it with a banner showing the URL of the brands site - http://frenchartofloving.com/ 

One cannot underestimate the power of the “wow” factor – that elusive element that disrupts, amazes and creates real buzz. Hand it to Hyper Island students tasked with connecting a streetwear brand to music/art (hosted by rockstars @NorthKingdom) and B-Reel - http://vimeo.com/18815585 

The New York Times iPad App (HTML5 Game banner) adds a new dimension to a tired format by embedded ciphers - http://vimeo.com/19033123 

The gameification of advertising, automated geo-location, social curation, and more - Social Media Marketing Trends Redux (Y&R-2011) - http://slidesha.re/fBUf0V 

Check out the latest addition to NIKE’s Kobe's Black Mamba site (by EVB). Clever use of FB Connect - http://bit.ly/hW0Vv2 


Branded Entertainment - M&M’s (Denmark) creative browser enhancement lets you trash ANY website using M&M’s. ;) http://bit.ly/fKQYHl 

Have Case Studies to share?  Please send them to info@goodbuzz.ca 

♔ The Power Of Social Authenticity

Unless being demonstrated in activities like professional sports (where you actually can see the product in action), celebrity product endorsement has become pretty irrelevant today.  Add to it you can get Snoop Dog, Mark Cuban or any number of Kardashian’s to tweet about your brand (ad.ly) for as little as $5,000 – and it becomes pretty clear – authenticity is king today.  Savvy advertisers are recognizing the power of social authenticity.

This transition has taken place over the years because consumers enjoy watching and empathizing with people just like themselves.  Why? Simply because its easier to connect and identify with them.  Average (real) looking people seem more inviting and suggest an authentic back-story.  Fueled by our desire for authenticity, life itself has effectively become the ultimate reality show – and social media our broadcast channel. Brands today are making their customers the hero and primary focus.

A phenomenal example of this is Volkswagen’s latest campaign (by Tribal DDB London) “The People’s Reviewer”.  Volkswagen crowd sourced reviewers for their new Tiguan, across a range of social mediums including YouTube, Blogs, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.  The campaign started with thousands of YouTube auditions to find interesting people who’d potentially make a good reviewer. Then, they were split them up into heats and taught how to use Twitter, Facebook and Flickr to build buzz around their review of the Tiguan (to win votes) while they were driving it for the week.  The incentive? The winning reviewer drives away in the Tiguan they reviewed.

This is a great example of an integrated (through the line) campaign that leverages social media to create good buzz, while also employing a participatory vehicle that forces users to utilize and demonstrate knowledge of the product’s features and benefits to generate content.  Moreover, to vote for the winner, users had to review others reviews – thus viewing the same content over and over again.  This has to influence sales. Check out the website here or the YouTube auditions.

The results? After over 1000 applications, 3 entertaining heats and 1 challenging final, users decided who should be crowned ‘The People's Reviewer’.   From the finalists users chose their favorite reviewer – 33-year-old Harriet Gore.  Watch her winning video below.  

♔ Using Chat Roulette to Increase HIV Awareness

Chat Roulette brings the risk element of its Russian namesake to the world of instant messaging. For the uninitiated, Chat Roulette is somewhere between Skype and StumbleUpon, the site pairs random strangers from around the world together for webcam-based conversations. Participants can choose to either chat to the person they have found themselves talking to or press next to be partnered with another random person, with most 'chats' lasting a few fleeting seconds. As could probably be predicted, the site has attracted a large number of exhibitionists and as such users can expect to be greeted with the sight of a penis with every 5-10 clicks.  

So far, a few brands have tried to take advantage of Chat Roulette as a marketing vehicle, including French Connection and Giffgaff. Now online condom store Condomerie has taken the initiative to create an HIV awareness campaign using Chat Roulette. The brand recruited a woman to sit semi-naked in front of a webcam and play Chat Roulette. Covering her breasts was a sign that was illegible when she was holding it close to her chest. Once she had got her fellow chatter's attention, she would move the sign closer to the webcam so that they could read the message "Bingo! You are now in touch with an HIV infected person. Don't play Russian roulette in real life", along with the URL condomerie.com. 


Most of the men the women ended up chatting to are at first visibly turned on by the sight of the attractive woman, before taking a closer look to read the message.  This piece of guerilla marketing has been turned into a viral video (below) to encourage condom use.

♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V25.0]

Simon Sinek's brilliant TED Talk on brands and people who inspire - http://bit.ly/dcDsbx  

Audi, E-Trade, Budweiser, Teleflora, and Volkswagen are all centering their 2011 Super Bowl campaigns around social media. - Ad Age

The Girl Store (by Strawberry Frog) makes a powerful statement on behalf of Nanhi Kali, a project that provides primary education for underprivileged female children – www.the-girl-store.org

Intel's first mini web-movie, "Chase," has made it to the top of the viral video charts online. - Intel Newsroom

ABC is turning the Oscars into its own social network with interactive maps, behind-the-scenes video footage, user voting and sharing, and a live Twitter feed of the nominees' tweets during the show. - Fast Company

USA TODAY's Social Media Editor, Michelle Kessler, shares how social media is impacting gathering and reporting in the newsroom. - SocialMediaToday

Lipton's SXSW promotion is encouraging fans to tweet their Instagram self-portraits with hashtag #briskpic for a chance to be featured on the new Brisk cans. - CNET News

Sweden's North Kingdom’s marriage of creativity and technology – KarmaTech demonstrates what’s possible when you embed RFID tags in shoes - http://vimeo.com/19192547

Red Bull's BlueCasting Mobile Coupons Promotion at Point-of-Sale (by Toronto's iSign) – http://bit.ly/gFxGlJ

Procter & Gamble is bringing back their Old Spice Man campaign and giving one "superfan" the opportunity to debut an ad on his or her own social networking profile before it airs on TV. - ClickZ

Dagens Industri (Newspaper) - Making the point that Social Media Activities Need to Reinforce the Brands Attributes - http://youtu.be/UNKLGEQJV8M

Netflix is integrating Facebook to allow for split household accounts. This will let individual users share their personal viewing history and recommend videos to friends online. - All Things Digital

The UN’s ‘Voices’ Campaign lets you take a photo of the person's mouth on the print piece, text it to the number using your mobile and hear their story - http://vimeo.com/1854851

This Orange - France Télécom Twitter promotion (by POKE London) stopped by users homes to hand out hot chocolate and scarves - http://youtu.be/L5fUdvQMnFM

TurboTax is taking over NBC commercials during tax season with the airing of their new microseries, "All-Star Celebrity Treasure Hunt." The show-within-a-show will encourage viewers to play along online to win cash and other prizes. - The New York Times

Bud Light's ‘Unlock the Spot’ campaign invites Facebook fans to guess what its Super Bowl ads will be about (based on a static image). If the plots are correctly identified, Bud will "unlock" a new commercial - http://bit.ly/hebOGi

IBM is releasing their new Social Business Toolkit that will help guide the process of incorporating social elements into their products and solutions. - CMS Wire

Europcar's clever ‘Crush Hour' Campaign (France) – crushes peoples cars into cubes and captures the surprise – http://youtu.be/M_lIpsgiRHQ

Yahoo! 3D Gesture Control Installation - The brief to Tronic / Brandfirst made note there was to be no instructions or screen prompts, as they wanted people to experience the response patterns by accident - http://youtu.be/2X7ef8MMBZA

The Australian Open's iPad App by Ogilvy (Sydney) is a great example of branded utility - http://youtu.be/5OPyarlt7lc

KIA amplified their new Optima launch and sponsorship of the Australian Open using an Augmented Reality (AR) Mobile App. Any time users captured the KIA logo (tied also to event print materials) it activated an interactive 3D experience featuring the Optima - http://youtu.be/tTyXG4TBLiE 

The Pepsi Refresh Project (aka the best Social Media Campaign ever) has received over 150,000 idea submissions, 76 million votes, 17 million unique visitors, 1.6 million comments and more then 3 million Facebook "likes" - all in the first year - http://bit.ly/gMrWu2 

Alex Bogusky's 'Fearless Revolution' and Reforming Capitalism - http://bit.ly/fYfehl

The Goodbuzz difference-  http://bit.ly/eaZ8j1

Have Case Studies or examples to share?  Please send to info@goodbuzz.ca