InteractiveTV today had a post about an outdoor advertising campaign that uses shoppers own faces for a gigantic DVD promotion. It’s a high exposure campaign showcasing unique user experience design. And it’s a perfect fit for mobile.

Inwindow Outdoor, a company that does digital storefront and mall advertising, launched the interactive augmented reality display at Los Angeles’ The Grove, to promote the Blu-ray release of “Avatar.” The display is a free-standing structure of multiple digital screens. Using technology developed exclusively for this project, shoppers faces are morphed into the wide-eyed blue creatures from the film. Once the morph is complete, users can enter their email address via touch screen, in order to be sent a video of their transformation, along with information on where to purchase the Blu-ray disc of the movie.

Down the road, this will be able to happen via a mobile. Imagine getting a message from a friend with their facial expression (or their kids or boss or pets) mapped to a branded character. This is a great way to build a buzz for any animated or costumed character-driven film – think Iron Man or Shrek. Send it to yourself, friends and family and some transformations are sure to go viral when they hit the social networks.

The display was introduced last Friday and set to run for a month – if you’re in L.A., check it out.

Fast Company reported on a new promotion that might be a glimpse into the mobile design of smartphone commerce in the future – advertising that combines virtual goods and LBS to tap into on-the-spot purchases and promotions.

Location-based game start-up Booyah is introducing in-game, virtual goods placements, based on your real-time location. The Mobile User Experience Design will lead consumers right to the cash register of a “real” store selling real goods for very real cash.

The campaign stems from Booyah’s partnership with international clothing retailer H&M but this could apply to ANY consumer campaign – from liquor to cars to network television. This particular promotion pings mobile users near an H&M location on a piece of clothing or accessory that appears in Booyah’s MyTown location-based social game. Discounts and promotions reward the Booyah user that visits the actual store location.

Here are some ideas I have for additional location based campaigns. Again, any consumer campaign could benefit.

Users could be rewarded with free virtual goods if they spend a certain amount of time inside a retail location. The goods should have a high value perception and be unique to that store. If the user wore or showed off or used a virtual item in a social network, they could get real world discounts on that product line.

The biggest fans of a company – the ever valuable influencers – could receive limited edition virtual that are exclusive or awarded before general public release.

Feedback about the unique product could be analyzed and the most popular ones could turn into physical products.

Another way to engage users (and potentially spark a viral campaign) would be to give the consumers tools to design the next generation of virtual product ala crowdsourcing. Implement a voting aspect and social network exposure to build buzz. Winners could get a high value prize and their creations could turn into physical goods. Imagine a fashion oriented tween designing virtual fashion items and being rewarded for it.

Unique mobile user experiences and advertising seem to be made for each other – mobile is also a great bridge between the physical and the virtual. I’ll be watching the H&M campaign with interest.

A FastCompany post announced that HarperCollins has launched www.inkpop.com –an “interactive writing platform for teens.” Inkpop allows members to post books, short stories, essays, and poetry for review and critique by the community.

The website copy claims that inkpop.com will connect “rising stars in teen lit with talent-spotting readers and publishing professionals.” And that “members play a critical role in deciding who will land a publishing contract with HarperCollins.”

Pretty brilliant on the part of HarperCollins – they enlist the help of a narrowly targeted community to vet aspiring writers. My guess is that a teen who totally into literature these days might feel slightly isolated. So I’m happy to see a social networking site bringing kids together that promotes reading and writing.

This is perfect for mobile. Teens today can’t imagine a world without their mobile device and if this catches on, mobile apps to enhance the site will probably happen quickly.

HarperCollins is also benefiting from the ability to grab key demographics and has a perfect forum for targetted advertising. If the inkpop model catches on, I image it will move beyond a teen-only site. After all, it’s just teens that are reading a certain off-the-charts popular vampire series, right? And those books weren’t written by a teen but by a stay-at-home mother of three.

It will be interesting to see how other companies create interactive forums and social networks that enable their future suppliers as well as consumers.

An InteractiveTV Today post revealed that Verizon may have bigger plans for it’s recently launched Widget Bazaar applications marketplace than originally announced. Verizon’s software development kit is set to launch soon opening up a host of possibilities for creative mobile design outside of the television experience. A quote from Verizon’s Widget Bazaar press release states that the company is looking for tools to engage TV viewers and enhance the living room experience in new ways.  

Verizon opening up its television widgets is a good thing as consumers will get more options and will be more of a hot content ecosystem. More  choices = more revenue. It’s a win-win for developers and consumers. 

I’d really like to see Verizon promote more convergence between mobile and television. For example, a TV widget could come bundled with a discount on an equivalent or similar app for mobile. Perhaps there could be a variety of features exclusive to the device. In other words, the mobile device can do certain things while the TV has a different host of features. 

The widgets could eventually be tied into a particular network or a specific TV show.  When viewers are watching a favorite show, they could connect with other fans to chat, interact and purchase merchandise from the show. (An additional income stream for the networks outside of advertising)  

I’d like to see more companies embracing mobile design and convergence across numerous platforms to shape the future of entertainment and communication.

Textually.org noted an unusual campaign for the Google Android-powered Vodafone HTC mobile phone.  Users upload what they “wish” their handset could do to a website where the wishes are ranked. The brand says it will work to make one of those wishes come true. The Wish Factory campaign went live in June and early results have shown an average of 1,500 campaign site visitors per day. This is a clever way to get lots of input for mobile design.

Of course, getting valuable marketing information is one of the immediate benefits of this campaign. I think a reward system would make a visit to the website even more attractive – perhaps the end users who submit the most popular ideas could be rewarded with additional services, free devices or some type of monetary payment. 

It would be interesting to apply this concept to improvements for major handset apps or services. Users could submit ideas for the apps on their device about improving usability, features, or mobile user interfaces. Again, the reward system would be an incentive to participate. Power users or top contributors could be rewarded with special access to beta programs to get the features first. 

As devices advance, marketers could take this a step further by allowing users to access collaborative technologies to custom design their own features. For example, someone with a good idea could do collaborative whiteboarding – multiple users tapping into a virtual space together – to share skills to improve a device. This could be anything from sketching wireframes or creating a full mockup. 

I’m looking forward to more user input campaigns and the creative rewards companies will offer to get creative feedback.

Fierce Mobile Content had a post on Universal Studios Home Entertainment adding a ton of iPhone and iPod touch enabled features on upcoming Blu-ray releases, the first is Fast & Furious. One of the bonus features is a “Virtual Car Garage” where users can control 360-degree views of street-racing scenes. Integration with Twitter and Facebook is coming as well.

The feature I really like is letting users use their mobile devices as a “virtual remote” to control Blu-ray disc features. This allows you to design any mobile user experience as opposed to being restricted to hardware buttons. Interactivity can be more finite and each screen/device can have its own unique features and experience.

Unique experiences are key for attracting die hard fans of a film. They love the opportunity and ability to be creative with beloved characters (or cars or aliens, etc) and storylines. From a profit standpoint, this is a great opportunity to make money on a popular and costly release long after the domestic and foreign box office premiere. A few upsell examples for these high profile titles might be the ability to buy a video game, ring tones, soundtracks, etc. from your mobile device or console.

Viral promotions from within the title itself could infuse a “must buy” element for hard core fans of the movie. Imagine the user being able to customize a Fast & Furious car as an animated MMS or video with text overlay. They could then send it to a fellow fan and invite them to join you on the Blu-Ray experience. Additionally, if you send the content to a friend without the Blu-Ray release, they are given an ability for an easy one-click purchase from their mobile device. 

Integration with social networking apps works really well to promote the title also. Users can update their network while they’re in the middle of an experience without a break to go to another device. 

This is an excellent example of convergence. I like how the exclusive content will encourage users to choose specific mobile devices to access Blu-ray titles. And users will want to buy specific Blu-Ray titles with the exclusive content to access features on their mobile device.

How can virtual goods turn into cash? Check out this recent article from Fast Company that gives a detailed list of how corporations are turning healthy profit with virtual products. $200 million in virtual goods were purchased in the U.S. last year. Tencent, China’s largest internet portal, made over $1,000,000,000.00 last year. 88% of that billion was from virtual goods.

This made me think of ways, other than direct-to-consumer sales, that individuals and corporations can reap financial rewards. 

Interesting when more companies provide a virtual environment and virtual tools as well as a marketplace to sell stuff for financial rewards. Creative users could “co-creating” a product with an established brand or celebrity. Both could profit from the sale. 

For example, focus groups and consumer testing are invaluable for new product development. Instead of costly prototypes and time consuming market research, corporations can roll out brands in a virtual environment like Second Life. If there is anything true about today’s online user, they love to give feedback that can yield precious information from specific target audiences. A great response to new packaging or a concept could even help attract investors while a tepid reaction could save millions by scrapping a dud project early. 

When I think of the young and computer savvy, I can see how virtual experiences can have a direct impact on their future earning power. For example, imagine a fashion crazy teen designing virtual clothes and having online fashion shows for her high school friends. When she applies for design school, she’ll be way ahead of the game and already on her way with experience that includes material choices, budgeting, production and target audience awareness. 

Could the next media mogul use mobile technology and virtual goods to make their millions?

RealNetworks has introduced RealPlayer SP, it’s latest media player. S stands for “social” and P for “portable”. It allows users to record, download, and share DRM-free video via a browser plugin. (A free version of the player is available for download at Realplayer.com)

Now, in addition to recording videos, users can easily move them to other platforms. Say you’re browsing and find something relevant to a project you and a colleague are working on – you need to get the information to him immediately. If it’s shareable content, you can go easily pass it on via email. Additionally you can pass it on social networks like Facebook or Twitter. Say your coworker is in the gym listening to his iPod or at home relaxing with his Xbox? RealPlayer SP lets you send it there. 

I mentioned “shareable content” because RealPlayer SP is intelligent in recognizing material that can legally be shared while protecting content sites that prohibit sharing (such as Hulu.com). In short - Protected content can’t be shared – copyright holders will love this feature too.

One interesting aspect is the wide range of non-phone devices that can receive content from RealPlayer such as PSPs, Apple TV or the Xbox. These type of ideas enable convergence: Imagine when you could do this easily from any device. Again, it’s great for the industry to encourage innovation and personal media sharing.

Source: mocoNews article

Amazon is tapping into their user community even further with a contest to create a television ad. Your Amazon Ad Contest  asks customers to make a short video advertising the mega-shopping site. Two winners will receive $10,000 Amazon gift cards and a screening at a New York City film festival. This is another smart way the e-marketing giant is utilizing their fans and users.

What I like about this is that the company is not only leveraging user generated content for its purposes while also compensating the users for their contributions. Rewarding creators monetarily is one of the components that is lacking in today’s social media universe.  Advertising “by the people” goes back to the 1950’s when television advertisers relied heavily on jingles. Contests would give the general public a shot at writing a national commercial jingle. An interesting film about this part of advertising history is The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio starring Julianne Moore as a mother who enters jingle contests to support her ten children.  

I was skeptical that Amazon’s community could produce an advertisement that would match the high production value seen on the screen these days. However, they will only buy airtime and actually run the TV spots if solid, high quality creative is generated.

If this contest is widely successful for Amazon, it will be interesting to witness the disruption if companies start to bypass their agencies and tap into their user pool directly for advertisement. 

Similar contests are happening at Current TV, Al Gore’s Emmy Award winning cable network, with two huge companies - T-Mobile and Unilever. Unilever’s is asking Current TV viewers to create ads for Axe Hair Crisis products. The winner will get $2,500, but could collect $60,000 if the ad is broadcast beyond the network.  Similarly, T-Mobile is asking viewers to produce ads for their Sidekick LX phone.

As tapping into user generated content and creativity becomes more common, it will be exciting to see users rewarded and their work married with professional production.

Source: Brandweek Article Amazon Preps TV Return

Why do we buy what we buy? It’s a complex question about the psychology of economy and it’s not an easy one to answer. emarketer recently had an interesting post that explores how consumers utilize word-of-mouth recommendations vs. bloggers or chat room recommendations when deciding what to buy. Contrary to the post’s conclusion, I was surprised to find that I’m more likely to take recommendations and buy a product based on information from an on-line community. Strangers trump friends?

While I personally do seek out and listen to referrals from friends or colleagues rather than a random blog post, I typically tap into The Wisdom of Crowds mentality.  The Wisdom of Crowds is a book exploring the theory that information in groups leads to decisions that are often better than could have been made by any single member of the group.  The book has a great anecdote from the 1800’s describing how a crowd accurately guessed the weight of an ox when their individual guesses were averaged.  Statisticians at the time were amazed to find that the average was closer than every individual estimate and also closer than any of the separate estimates made by cattle experts. 

I tend to use this method frequently for making purchases online. For example, when searching for software, I noticed that the first pieces I’d research to potentially purchase were ones that had lots of reviews.  My assumption was that if the software was good, people would be compelled to post a review or comments. But under that assumption, I ended up reading pages and pages of reviews and comments. Now, I look for products that have the most reviews posted. Then I only read the top three or four positive and negative reviews. It’s a quantity vs. quality issue and now I can typically buy a product in five or ten minutes just by leveraging the popularity of the product as well as user generated reviews. 

Mobile devices are invaluable for making (or dissuading) on-the-spot purchases when you go shopping at a brick-and-mortar store.  Not only can you access information anywhere, you can tap into a variety of review communities as well as use the info easily due to advances in the mobile user interface presentation layer.

 So talking to friends and relatives about a purchase is fine…but tapping into a rich on-line community might help you reach your ultimate purchasing goal whether it’s to find the best product, perfect features or a great value. Don’t forget the “time is money” factor. Try out the “crowd” method the next time you’re comparison shopping and I guarantee you’ll save valuable minutes, or even hours.