Brands got serious about fun and games this year - on a number of different platforms.
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... Read more
Tagged 'gps' 
Location, location, location
Now that Yelp has joined the crowd in offering users "check in" functionality in their iPhone app, I'll be getting three times the push updates on my phone – not to mention three times the dirty looks from my significant other as I check in with the Yelp, Gowalla and Foursquare apps every time we go out to eat, or to grab a cup of coffee or
I guess I see the situation through a different lens that "winner/loser." (There I go again with my abundance mentality.) While it's clear there's no way to know who will vanish, be acquired or thrive in the long term, the commodification of check-in represents a powerful wakeup call for location-based social players to focus on their real reasons for being.
Yelp's deep venue information, Foursquares still-unsatisfying but intriguing points-based gameplay, and cutesy (OK, to me, anyway) Gowalla features, along with the ability to build "trips" that aggregate multiple locations around a particular theme – they all have features which, with further development (and integration with broad social platforms Twitter and Facebook) may show enough value to attract audiences and help them build scale.
From the business side of things, there are a couple clear opportunities to... Read more
