Click here to view the embedded video.

As I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, we've reached a point now where brands should no longer view social media as a cool new way to connect with consumers.

We must now view social media as a means by which we as brands can enable consumers not just to connect with us, but to each other. And not just in some virtual space, but in the physical world as well.

This initiative can help break the ice in a social setting - as well as continue the conversation (and/or flirtation) after that beer (or the many, many beers, as the case may be) is gone.

Cheers to Bud for the bold idea.

Read all about it, here.

Call it 3D projection writ small. Very, very small.

In January, I posted about an initiative we spearheaded to super-size a client's core message on a 12-story building through the power and magic of 3D projection mapping.

In celebrating its 10th anniversary, Ropongi Hills - a renowned Tokyo landmark, decided to use the technology in reverse - with a remarkable digital campaign called "Tokyo City Symphony," an interactive website where you can experience playing with 3D projection mapping on a 1:1000 miniature model of Tokyo.

According to the Mori Building Company, the handcrafted model is an exact replica of the cityscape of Tokyo in every detail. Three visual motifs are projected onto the city in sync with music: "Future City," conjuring futuristic images, "Rock City" that playfully transforms Roppongi Hills into colorful musical instruments and monsters, and "Edo City," or "Traditional Tokyo," that portrays beautiful Japanese images.

One very big small idea.

Check it all out yourself, here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

More importantly, what might they do with it?

An insurance company called RSA in the Middle East has created an interactive print ad that enables readers to ask for a quote, no mobile phone or other consumer device required, though the quote comes back via the reader's mobile phone (which obviously provides the brand with contact information it could use for follow up communications).

As PSFK points out, the ad, developed by OgilvyOne, is targeted to prospective customers in Dubai, and supports the brand's "Easy as Ever" promise.

Sure it's early days in this kind of thing - a first step toward some of the interactive print concepts we saw in 'Minority Report' a decade ago - and it will need to be enhanced before it gets truly compelling.

But here, the medium is quite literally the message - an innovative "wow" moment that directly delivers on the brand's positioning.

Read more here.

SI is taking this Strip thing to a whole new level - with a little help from Lexus.

On the heels of the duo's QR code-enabled interactive print ad, the brands used Caesars Las Vegas as the canvas for a rip-roaring 3D projection mapping experience last night, featuring models from this year's big Swimsuit Edition.

The event was managed by Pearl Media, and the 3D projection experience was developed by Go2 Productions - the same team we worked with to develop our big LA Traffic Jam with Train, presented by LoopNet last month.

There are lots of things for fans of the annual issue to like - including building-size views of Kate Upton and her fellow SI models - with 3D elements, no less.

My view: As SI's first 3D experience, this is a sure sign the venerable SI "Swimsuit Edition" brand means business - and that Lexus is more than happy to help it hit the accelerator.

But what's your view? Is this whole spectacle a sign of overexposure?

Or a major splash for what is becoming a powerhouse media event?

Click here to view the embedded video.

There was that 3D projection mapping experience on an LA Hotel a while back. And in October, the brand brought a print ad to life with the help of a handy iPad.

This time out, Lexus is going a bit simpler, keying into QR codes - the scanning of which reveals models kinda-sorta hidden in SI print ads for the new IS.

Still, the pursuit of perfection could have added a little more punch to the reveals than just having the models strut toward us. Integrating with the car in some fashion - or really just doing anything a little more interesting - would have been a better pay off for going to all the trouble.

Okay, it's still pretty cool. And it's apparently just the opening act. According to ADWEEK, the Lexus IS is also included in Sport Illustrated's first-ever 3D projection mapping experience on the facade at Caesar's Las Vegas.

Get the full scoop here.

How are you bringing B2C approaches to your B2B marketing?

Are you doing it at all?

For far too many B2B marketers, there's a view that never the two should meet. But as I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, it's critical that B2B marketers realize business people are just that - people. And their exposure to B2C marketing approaches in their personal lives sets expectations for B2B marketing, whether B2B marketers like it or not.

But some savvy B2B marketers have caught on - big time.

Case in point: Our client LoopNet, the #1 online marketplace for commercial real estate.

Over the last few months, LoopNet has launched an integrated campaign that's predicated on a simple, yet powerful message: If your commercial listings aren't advertised on LoopNet, they may as well be invisible. That's because only LoopNet drives traffic to commercial real estate listings like literally no other option can.

Print, direct mail and online advertising developed by has articulated this theme in compelling, brand consistent fashion.

So when LoopNet decided to fete the luminaries of Los Angeles commercial real estate, we got to thinking: What if we took our message and super-sized it? What if we used a full-motion, building-size canvass to drive home the LoopNet value proposition in an amazing new way?

In short: I wanted to bring 3D projection to our campaign.

So I reached out to Josh Cohen, the CEO of Pearl Media (and its partner Go2 Productions), which has worked on a number of 3D projection mapping experiences for B2C brands like Lexus, Perrier and Chevy Sonic.

I asked him straight up: "Do you think you can make a building in downtown LA go invisible?" He thought about it, and then said: "Yes, I think we can do that."

The concept began gaining traction, and eventually became LA Traffic Jam, Presented by LoopNet - a spectacular, VIP event featuring a private concert by TRAIN ("Drive-by") and our 3D projection experience.

Multidimensional direct mail invites featured cool, die-cut guitar bodies, iPods featuring TRAIN music and a call to action to join LoopNet "at the Corner of Epic & Mind-Blowing."

Fans, attendees and participants could join the conversation via mobile & online at the hashtag #looptrafficjam.

And video of the projection was placed on a special landing page and on YouTube. The client even decided to give viewers the ability to share the video via social media for the chance to win a $1250 Fender guitar signed by the band.

The event was last Thursday night - and it was a blast. Testament to a client who thrives on innovation and embraces a decidedly B2C approach to blockbuster B2B campaigns.

There's a making-of video in the works that I'll share when it's ready, along with more details of what worked, and what didn't, as client and team analysis comes in.

In the meantime, give it a view - and enter for your own chance to win that signed guitar.

Following up on our list of Top 10 Mobile Marketing Initiatives of 2012, it's time to look at some trends we'll see emerge and/or evolve in the year ahead.

Among the most prominent (not necessarily in this order):

5. Mobile Advertising Picks Up Speed (For A Time)

According to Forrester Research, mobile ad spend will boom next year - to $15 billion. Why? Because consumers now spend 10% of their media consumption time on mobile devices, yet mobile attracts less than 10% of ad dollars. The firm reasons that the old school Internet's ad growth from 8% of spend to 22% of spend means mobile must follow course (even though marketers get less and less from that increased Internet spend). But, the firm says, even a small step toward closing the gap will mean big dollars for this medium.

I'm not completely convinced. As a marketer, I find mobile advertising a bore (even some of the newer, much hyped expandable ad units). As a consumer, I find it all a snooze fest.

Mobile's far more powerful than just trying to replicate ad models from the old school Internet and slapping them on a small screen of a phone, or even the larger screen of a tablet. But there's just too much potential revenues at stake so, in 2013 at least, mobile advertising will be a hot topic. Until it's someday not (or is at least recognized as one small, nearly insignificant sliver of the amazing things you can do with mobile). But as Ad Age points out today, 38% of click-throughs in mobile are from fat, clumsy thumbs.

The pub goes onto talk about some ways mobile video and native mobile ads within apps like Foursquare may see success. But in my view, Coca-Cola's Re:Brief integrated campaign is probably the best example of mobile advertising combining with social & traditional media to work cohesively in a compelling manner.

And, as I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, using mobile to not just promote but enhance your product - turn it into a mobile service, ala Nike+ and other successful initiatives - is what will define winners and losers in many categories next year and in the decade ahead.

4. QR Code Stores Proliferate (Just Not in The US)

QR code stores in subways and elsewhere seem to have been the surprise hits of 2012, and could seriously take off in 2013. According to shop2mobi, 300 of these virtual stores launched last year - and 2,000 have already been planned for the next 12 months. Still, while these are huge in South Korea, China, Germany and elsewhere, QR codes themselves still mostly elicit quizzical looks from consumers, when they generate any notice at all. I could easily see commuters in New York or San Francisco taking advantage of these kinds of offerings. But it may be a while before they stand any chance in most of the US - and by the time that happens, we'll probably be onto whatever will replace QR codes next.

3. Mobile CRM Gains Strength As Transaction Capabilities Advance

Here's a winner: Use of mobile for customer loyalty programs like Starbucks'. Look for more brands to move beyond just using mobile to replenish cards to having mobile become the entire platform for loyalty. Look for transaction capabilities to advance, and adoption rates to follow suit.

2. More Brands Make the Mobile + Social + Local Connection

The big trend here is that more brands will stop viewing mobile and social as (just) cool new ways to connect with consumers, and start viewing these channels as cool new ways for brands to enable consumers to connect with one another - moderated and empowered by the brand.

In my piece the other day on social media trends for 2013, I point to early examples of this, including Vail Resort's Epic Mix app, which connects real friends in the real world in a highly social, physical world brand experience.

This past year, one look only at Heineken's personalized concert QR codes to see how ad hoc mobile + social + local branded experiences can take shape.

Look for more of this in the year ahead (especially as it pertains to things like social television viewing) - along with a new syllable, as we move from SoLoMo to SoLoMoCo with the addition of Co, which stands for Commerce. In a mobile roundtable I hosted this last August, SAP CMO Jonathan Becher and I discuss what this new dynamic might mean to brand marketers and retailers alike in the year ahead.

1. Augmented Reality Gets Really Cool

One look at my list of Top 10 Augmented Reality Initiatives 2012, and it's clear that AR - while quite gimmicky today - holds great promise for brand experiences via mobile and elsewhere. One of my favorite things about mobile AR is that it gets to the heart of the mobile ad debate.

In my view, mobile is far more powerful as an activation mechanism for communications we experience in other media - in print, television, radio, direct mail, outdoor and so on - than it is as an ad platform in and of itself. Mobile AR is an experience activated by the consumer, at his or her own initiative, at the point of communications impression. And it delivers something that literally can't be achieved in any other medium.

Not that many consumers are going to go download an AR app and start using it in 2013. But as standards emerge, these kinds of brand experiences will become more common - and will make up some of the cooler components of integrated campaigns in the year ahead.

First up: Five big trends to look for in the world of social media marketing.

5. Social Gets More Physical

In the year ahead, look for an increasing number of social initiatives to move away from pure-play digital to the physical world. Coca-Cola has been a leader in this, with efforts like the Happiness Truck and Happiness Vending Machines, which engaged consumers in the physical world, and helped those consumers propagate the experience via digital.

You also saw Microsoft use branded mobile game apps like "Dance Cam" to engage in the physical world by enabling folks to create dance videos on their mobile phones and then share them.

And ad hoc physical world social networks will become commonplace. Look at efforts like Heineken's personalized QR codes for music festivals, where users can create their own customized QR code stickers that other attendees can scan to spark up conversation.

Factor in augmented reality, and "liking" things in the physical world will take on all-new forms.

In a world gone mobile, having a desktop presence or experience becomes increasingly irrelevant.

4. 'Presence' Takes A Backseat to Campaigns

As I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, the first question to ask about social media is not "how?" It's "why?" When you think in terms of objectives, you begin to see the value of augmenting social "presence" - that much vaunted, ongoing conversation with consumers - with specific, short term and very actionable campaigns.

Look at Mercedes' "You Drive," a TV campaign that viewers could "drive" via Twitter. Or Mustang's "Dream Mustang" social media street fight. And of course, Coca-Cola's live social Super Bowl experience - in which the brand's popular polar bears comment on the game and ad bowl commercials in real time.

These are short-term efforts designed to engage consumers for a specific amount of time, around a specific promotion. Look for more of that in 2013, especially in the form of games.

3. Brands Bash Social Media

We're all finding ourselves starting to unfriend "friends" who aren't really, well, friends in an effort to get as authentic in our online relationship building as we are offline. With growth rates for Facebook leveling off in mature markets, attrition may come to the fore. Already, a huge bulk of brand "likes" are from inactive accounts.

Perhaps it's no surprise that more brands are using social media to poke fun at social media instead of glorifying it. Mitsubishi's "Unpretentious" app enables you to run over your most annoying Facebook friends, for instance. And DKNY recently made fun of social media by creating a fake success story to build actual buzz through social media.

Indeed, I've said this before and I think it will continue in the year ahead: For some brands in some categories, a premium will be placed on how few friends and follows you have, instead of how many. Authentic, high quality connections will begin to mean far more to brands than mass, unqualified connections.

2. More Standalone Branded Social Platforms Emerge

To engage consumers in social, marketers have largely turned to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and so on - with good reason. You should reach consumers where consumers congregate. But as mentioned in trend #5, that doesn't mean in some desktop Internet experience anymore. It's the physical world.

In 2013, more brands will move beyond viewing social media as (just) a cool way to connect with consumers, and start viewing social media as a cool way to enable consumers to connect with one another, enabled by the brand.

One of my favorite examples actually emerged a few years ago, when Vail Resorts launched Epic Mix, a mobile app that enables groups of real friends to connect with one another while they're skiing. They can see where their friends are physically on the slopes. They can automate status updates based on those activities. They can earn points that they can redeem back at the lodge. And once they're back home, they can review their performance and share it with the broader community.

One need only look at PlayStation Home, AMEX OPEN, and Johnson & Johnson's BabyCenter to see that social media is about lot more than Facebook & Twitter - and that brands can be the enabler of community, instead of just a participant.

1. Social Media Go Geriatric - While Teens Keep on Texting

In 2013, more brands will begin to realize that social platforms like Facebook and Twitter have profound value for reaching people over the age of 40, the fastest-growing segment of users. But millennials use social far differently.

I'll put it this way. If a parent wants to know what a teen wants them to know about, check out the teen's Facebook page. To find out what a teen is really up to, check his or her text messages.

As the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported this year, 63% of teens say texting is their preferred mode of communication on a daily basis, compared to just 29% for social media sites (regardless of which device they're accessed on).

Teens just aren't as into sharing their lives with the world as adults think they are. They're far more interested in closed loop systems like text messaging where they can connect with friends - and, sometimes, the brands they know and trust.

This is a little different than our other Tops lists for 2012 – a list of digital promotions that didn’t
involve consumers interacting with any kind of screened device, mobile or otherwise.

Here, the interface may be your voice, your body or your brain. All that matters is the fun.

5. Honda’s Life Size Paper Model of Its New Car

Sure it’ll crumple in a crash. But I hear it’s very light and picks up speed in a stiff wind.

4. Mini ID’s Your Driving Style & Offers You A Cup of Joe to Match

Crazy ass drivers get an industrial-strength espresso, while slow pokes may get a mild Americano.

3. VW’s ‘Up!’ Care Powered by Cheers (tie)

How many miles-per-cheer can you get with the Volkswagen up!?

2. Fridge Magnet Orders Pizza for You

What's not to love about a fridge magnet that orders your favorite pizza when you push it?

1. Coca-Cola Amplifier: Magazine Ad Turns into a Speaker System for Your iPhone

Bringing whole new meaning to the term “plug and play.” Yes, it does involve a mobile screen, but the promotional device itself is print. Brilliant (see video above).

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, QR codes were put to some creative use in 2012. And whether they disappear by this time next year as many predict, or morph into something else entirely, they did make a mark, pardon the pun, on several initiatives over the last year.

A look at five favorites:

5. VW’s Creative ‘Crate Code’

You’ll love the payoff (or payload, that is).

4. QR Code Bottles Sell More Beer While Helping Singles Meet at the Bar

QR Codes play Cupid.

3. Heineken Personalized QR Code Stickers Become Ice Breakers at Music Festival

You scan me, I'll scan you.

2. Axe Body Spray Uses QR Codes ‘Peepholes’ for a Mobile+Social Sensation

Drool not included.

1.Retailer’s Shadow-Activated QR Code Boosts Sales 25%

This retailer’s QR code is credited with a 25% increase in lunchtime sales (see video above).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Among the trends we liked this year - promotional games that bridged the digital and the physical, without requiring consumer devices to play. Not that we wouldn't be amped to try Google's Ingress augmented reality game if we get the chance. And Ingress aside, Google made our list this year, along with several major brands.

One interesting note: Many of our top pics this year mixed so many elements - social, mobile, location and so on - so well, that they made some of our other lists, too.

So without further delate, our list of favorite branded games for 2012. We'd love to know which made your list, too.

10. Google Wants to Rock, Tilt & Roll Your World in New Branded Game

Google wants you to go ga-ga over its new game.

9. Kit Kat Launches GPS-Based ‘Golden Ticket’-style Promo in UK

Kit Kat wants to do a heck of a lot more than just give you a break.

8. Mercedes ‘You Drive’ – A TV Campaign You Drive, Via Twitter

Call it a crowdsourced cliffhanger.

7. Magazine Cover Becomes Interactive Video Game

This is one way to make print relevant in the mobile age.

6. Kinect’s ‘Dance Cam’ Mobile App Lets You Create Music Videos on Your Phone

There are few things more entertaining (and, often, disturbing) than watching folks dance on the Xbox Kinect system on games like Dance Central. Now let’s take it mobile.

5. Social Media Street Fight: Duke It Out for Your Dream Mustang

Mustang's not horsing around when it comes to social gaming.

4. Coke Zero '007' Vending Machine Turns Passersby Into Bond

Hold the martini and make it a Coke Zero - shaken, stirred or otherwise.

3. Ford Pinball Park

Pinball wizardry inspired by the perils of parking on a busy street. And the worst driver wins big.

2. Coca-Cola’s Kinect-Powered Vending Machine

Call it the Happy Dance: Coca-Cola wants you to bust-a-move for a free beverage.

1. 3D Projection Game on Building Uses iPad as Controller

Very cool 3D projection game to promote Eristoff vodka. Absolut (or even Red Bull) should be doing this kind of thing, too!

Which brands scored big in branded viral videos this year?

On the heels of our Top 10s in Augmented Reality, 3D Projection, Mobile Marketing, Digital Outdoor and Social Media, we've put together our list for this catagory - and once again flirt with controversy for leaving out a certain elephant in the room.

That elephant: Kony 2012. With 96.4 million views, it is by far the most viral video of the year, if not ever. But we aren't covering cause related virals here. This list is strictly brand territory. And on that front, while many of our picks were indeed viral sensations, we're not choosing them based on views. Rather, it's a list of our favorites here at GEN WOW.

Hey, it's a personal thing. Let us know if you agree, or if not, what virals would make your list.

10. Procter & Gamble: Thank You Momma - The Best Job in the World

Being a mom is an Olympian task, after all. Gets you right there.

9. Red Bull: Fearless Felix Baumgartner - 'Stratos'

The pre-roll to the stunt of the year - and the second only to Kony for fastest video to reach 50 million views.

8. DC Shoes: Gymkhana - San Francisco

Anyone who's ever driven these streets would love to live this ride.

7. Irish Eyes Are (Really) Smiling to Promote St. Patrick's Day Parade

Creepy. Cool.

6. TNT Pulls Off Dynamite Street Promo

A total blast.

5. Chevrolet: OK Go

A little driving music.

4. Fake TED Talk from 2023 Part of Transmedia Campaign for
‘Prometheus’

Hey, it was better than the movie.

3. Red Bull Kluge: The Athlete Machine

Rube Goldberg done right.

2. Shafted: Elevator Riders Get Big Surprise from LG

Call it Schadenfreude in the
elevator shaft.

2. The Bark Side: Volkswagen Game Day Teaser

Doesn't bite.

1. Dollar Shave Club: “F***ing Great”

Straight from the WTF Dept (see video at top).

This list may spark a Twitterstorm all its own.

We know some people are going to disagree with our list.  Indeed, in some quarters, the fact that we didn’t include Kony 2012 is going to be enough to send some in the socialsphere over the edge.

It is, after all, arguably the most astonishingly successful social media effort ever. And everyone (everyone) is reverse engineering the campaign to see if they can replicate it.

It’s just that ultimately (again, don’t hate), we found certain aspects of the effort unsettling for
reasons we haven’t quite taken the time to fully puzzle together in our own minds.

But the other, far more important reason: This particular list is for brand-oriented social initiatives
versus cause-oriented efforts (or political, for that matter - which would have resulted in the Obama campaign's inclusion on our list this year).

And in that regard, like a few of our Top 10 lists so far this year, it is one that is dominated by Coca-Cola. It's no wonder the brand has been named the 'Creative Marketer of the Year' for the 2013 Cannes Festival.

So: Here’s our list. If you disagree, make your own list and share.

10. Social Media Street Fight: Duke It Out for Your Dream Mustang

Mustang’s not horsing around when it comes to social media.

9. ‘Dance Cam’ Mobile App Lets You Create Music Videos on Phone, Share & Vote Via Facebook

Not only fun, but serious blackmail material, too.

8.  Pepsi Next Internet Taste Test

Move over social celeb-crazy
Old Spice Guy. Comedians in this campaign impersonate consumers who Like the brand, based their sure-to-be-embellished Facebook Profiles

7. Dove Lets You Give Facebook Ads A Makeover

Turn downer beauty ads that feature negative or unrealistic imagery into uplifting ads that eschew beauty industry stereotypes.

6. DKNY Fakes Social Buzz to Spark The Real Thing

Why go to all the trouble of building social media buzz when you can just fake it and achieve the same thing?

5. 'Unpretentious' App: Mitsubishi Drives Down Your Most Obnoxious Facebook Friends

Obliterating your most annoying Facebook friends? Yeah, there’s an app for that.

4. Let’s Eat Together: Coca-Cola Happiness Truck

A new twist on sharing a Coke and a smile.

3. Project Re:Brief from Google & Coke

A mobile-meets-social take on Coke’s classic “Hilltop” spot. Oh, and winner of the 1^st ever
Cannes Mobile Grand Prix.

2. Mercedes Launches ‘You Drive’ – A TV Campaign You Drive, Via Twitter

Call it a crowdsourced cliffhanger

1. Coca-Cola’s Polar Bears React to Super Bowl (Even Other Ads) Live Via Social Media

Brought the ad bowl to a whole new level of social interactivity.  Oh and attracted 9 million viewers who spent an average of 28 minutes with the brand.

Is outdoor the new TV?

Thanks to digital, outdoor is quickly becoming that certain "had-to-see-it" element that, if done well, cuts through the clutter in a way most other channels today (digital or otherwise) simply can't.

One remarkable feature of this year's list is how many slots go to Coca-Cola, which simply owns experiential marketing these days. Another is the innovation in vending machines.

Here are our favorite initiatives of the year so far. Let us know if you agree.

10. Nokia Lumia Live Augmented Reality 'Angry Birds' Game

Flip the bird or just get your boogie on. It's all good.

9. Invisible Mercedes Benz

Not so much cutting through the clutter as phasing through it.

8. TNT's Dynamite Street Promo

Technically, the only thing digital here is the activation device. But the results are priceless.

7. Tic Tac's 'Bad Breath'

Kind of like a flash faint than a flash mob. But it's for a good cause.

6. Ford Pinball Park

Pinball wizardry meets the pitfalls of parking on a busy street.

5. 'Axe Anarchy': Outdoor Ads Visible Only If You're Wearing Sunglasses

Attention voyeurs of the world: Has Axe Anarchy have an ad for you.

4. Shafted: Elevator Riders Get Big Surprise from LG

Call it Schadenfreude in the elevator shaft.

3. Coke Zero '007' Vending Machine Turns Passersby Into Bond (tie)

Hold the martini and make it a Coke Zero - shaken, stirred or otherwise.

3. Let's Eat Together; Coca-Cola Happiness Truck (tie)

Talk about a Coke and a smile.

2. Coca-Cola's Kinect-Powered Vending Machine

Bust a move for a free beverage.

1. Giant Tourism Vending Machine Dispenses Kayaks, Bikes in San Fran

As if we needed any more reason to love British Columbia, this new tourism vending machine has hit the streets of San Francisco (video at top).

Mobile marketing is so much more than advertising.

As readers of my books THE ON-DEMAND BRAND and BRANDING UNBOUND know, I don’t consider mobile advertising very compelling. So it
won’t come as a shock that there isn't much in the way of pure-play mobile ads in this year’s list of top 10 mobile marketing initiatives.

For me, mobile isn’t about taking an ad model from the old-school Internet – namely a "ad banner" – and plopping it onto a business-card size screen, or even the larger screen of an iPad.

It’s about creating unique and differentiating branded experiences that drive home your value proposition in amazing new ways.

To that end, here are 10 of my favorite mobile promotional initiatives for 2012.

Agree with my list? Disagree? What initiatives would you ad to the list?

Let us know!

TOP 10 IN MOBILE MARKETING 2012

10. Heineken Personalized QR
Code Stickers Become Ice Breakers at Music Festival

Talk about a conversation starter.

9. ‘Dance Cam’ Mobile App
Lets you Create Music Videos on Your Phone

Because there are few things more entertaining (and, often, disturbing)
than watching folks dance on the Xbox Kinect system on games like Dance
Central. So why not mobilize it?

8. Starbucks Brings Mobile
AR to Valentine’s Day

It’s the AR, Cupid.

7. Red Tomato Fridge Magnet
Orders Pizza For You

Freaking genius – and no
mobile app, or even phone, required.

6. Retailer’s
Shadow-Activated QR Code Boosts Sales 25%

Effective? Affirmative.
Clever? Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

5. Axe Body Spray Uses QR Code ‘Peepholes’ For A
Mobile+Social Sensation

Not for the faint of heart.

4. Kit Kat Launches GPS-Based ‘Golden Ticket’-Style
Promo

Kit Kat will do a heck of a lot more than just
give you a break.

3. VW’s Creative ‘Crate Code’

You’ll love the payoff. Or
the payload, as the case may be.

2. Wonderbra Decoder App Gives You X-Ray Vision

School-age boys the world over might think an
age-old dream has come true.

1. Project Re:Brief App Lets
You Truly Buy The World A Coke – Anywhere, Anytime

You gotta love this mobile-age edition of Coke's
classic "Hilltop" spot (video at top).

On the heels of our big Top 10 Augmented Reality Initiatives for 2012, here's our list of the 10 best projection mapping projects from the year so far.

The big trend in 3D projection this year?  Moving away from projections on just buildings to, well, projections on anything and everything - indoors and out.

But what's you're view? Agree or disagree with us? What initiatives make your list?

One thing's for sure: We can't wait to see where this emerging tech takes us next.

10. Barco at Caesars Palace

What happens in Vegas sometimes goes viral.

9. 'Carmapping' Citroen DS5: 3D Projection Mapping on a Car

Putting 3D projection mapping in motion.

8. Samsung Gives Some Face Time to 3D Projection Mapping

3D projection mapping for the Galaxy Y Duos does double time with this dude's face.

6. 2012 Bud Lite Hotel

Okay, we'll drink to this.

5. 3D Projection Game on Building Uses iPad As Controller

Eristoff innovates. Why didn't Absolut - or even Red Bull - think of this first?

4. 3D Projection Comes to Haute Couture

One physical dress. Lots of different looks.

3. Lil Wayne Uses Projection Mapping to Promo New Fashion Line

Mannequin madness.

2. Skyway International Light Festival

How do you say "awesome" in Polish?

1. Invisible Mercedes-Benz

The winner of the Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival. A total gas (see video above).

First up, 10 (well, okay, 11) of the best augmented reality initiatives for 2012.

11. Net-A-Porter: Augmented Reality Meets Window Shopping 

Who knew fashionistas would go ape sh*t over AR?

10. Holiday Inn: World's First Augmented Reality Hotel

Just in time for London's 2012 Olympic Games, patrons of one hotel find the place crawling with athletes.

9. Nokia Lumia Augmented Reality 'Angry Birds'

For me, 2012 was really the year Live AR started to really take off - and this is just one way consumers get in on the action, no special glasses or mobile devices required.

8. Marco Tempest Makes Magic with Kinect-Powered AR at TED Conference

Say goodbye to PowerPoint; this is a glimpse of the future of live presentations.

7. Ikea Brings Augmented Reality to 2013 Catalog

This is a brand with 211 million ways to make an impact on how we use augmented reality to sell.

6. Angry Birds Augmented Reality Game

While Nokia's promo was just that - a promo, this effort shows us where gaming's going fast.

5. Boo-Boos Be Gone: Kermit & Piggy Bring AR to BAND-AIDS

If a BAND-AID and a kiss won't cut it anymore, maybe Miss Piggy can do the trick.

4. Wonderbra Decoder App Gives You X-Ray Vision

School-age boys the world over rejoice.

3. 'Mission Impossible's 'Action Movie FX' Mobile App Puts You In the Action with Big Time FX

Can't tell you how many hours of fun this created for kids ... like me.

2. Magazine Cover Becomes Interactive Video Game

This is one way to make print relevant in the mobile age.

1. BBC/National Geographic 'Frozen Planet' Live AR Promo

Very cool, indeed (see video at top).

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In part five of our August Mobile Marketing Roundtable, we move beyond mere Social + Local + Mobile to Social + Local + Mobile + Commerce, the ability to not just connect with consumers via the mobile channel based on where they are, but also to enable transactions based on that context.

This time out, you'll get some outstanding insights from Jonathan Becher, CMO for softare giant SAP, and Dorrian Porter, CEO of longtime GEN WOW sponsor Mozes.

At the heart of the conversation: A new report from ABI Research that by 2017, one quarter of all online sales will come through mobile. Retailers can choose to do what they can to stem this tide, or capitalize on it in powerful ways through the power of SoLoMoCo.

SOCIAL + MOBILE + LOCAL + COMMERCE: MOBILE MARKETING ROUNDTABLE (PT 5)

>> CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO: Social + Mobile + Local + Commerce & The Future of Retailing <<

(Approx 5:27)

Also, don't miss:

PART 1: SAP CMO: 'Digital is Dead' - And So Is Mobile

PART 2: Mobile 'Happiness': Coca-Cola's Secrets of Mobile Marketing Success

PART 3: Social + Mobile + Local & The Facebook Free-Fall

PART 4: Foursquare's New 'Promoted Updates' & The Race to Make Location Click

Foursquare has always been at the forefront of location-based mobile marketing, and it is always at the vanguard of what's next in this nascent arena. (Listen to my Q&A with Foursquare Co-Founder Dennis Crowley on the eve of the launch of Foursquare to get a sense of his early vision for the service.)

But as innovative as it is, even Foursquare is still finding its footing in what's possible and what's compelling for both marketers and consumers when it comes to SoLoMo.

In recent weeks, Foursquare has launched Promoted Updates, an advertising product that gives merchants a way to reach people who are near their stores, based on location and interest as indicated in past check-ins and other data.

In part four of our August Mobile Marketing Roundtable, GEN WOW sponsor and Mozes CEO Dorrian Porter, SAP CMO Jonathan Becher and Ignited LA VP/CD Jordan Atlas weigh in on this new feature and some of the current challenges in making location a vital part of the SoLoMo equation.

SOCIAL + MOBILE + LOCAL & THE FUTURE OF FOURSQUARE: MOBILE MARKETING ROUNDTABLE (PT 4)

>> CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO: Foursquare & The Race to Make Location Click <<

(Approx 5:40)

Also, don't miss:

PART 1: SAP CMO: 'Digital is Dead' - And So Is Mobile

PART 2: Mobile 'Happiness': Coca-Cola's Secrets of Mobile Marketing Success

PART 3: Social + Mobile + Local & The Facebook Free-Fall

In part three of our August Mobile Marketing Roundtable, Jordan Atlas, VP/Creative Director for Ignited LA joins our conversation with Jonathan Becher, CMO of software giant SAP (middle image) and Dorrian Porter, CEO of longtime GEN WOW sponsor Mozes (bottom).

As I open up questions to the group, we get a perspective on Facebook's challenges in mobile. In recent days, key mobile marketing execs have left the company, news hit that 83 million Facebook accounts may be fake, and the stock has been hammered in the runnup to the end of its first lock-up period.

Can Facebook effectively monetize mobile. And if so, what models might it employ?

Our panelists - a Fortune 100 chief marketing officer, an award-winning ad industry creative director and the CEO of one of the most innovative mobile marketing solution providers weigh in on this very hot topic.

>> CLICK HERE to Listen to: Social + Mobile + Local & The Facebook Free-Fall (Roundtable Pt 3) <<

(Approx 7:52)

Also, don't miss:

PART 1: SAP CMO: 'Digital is Dead' - And So Is Mobile

PART 2: Mobile 'Happiness': Coca-Cola's Secrets of Mobile Marketing Success