SeaWorld Orlando taps augmented reality for interactive South Pole experience

To help drive awareness for a new penguin-themed attraction opening this spring, SeaWorld Orlando has introduced an augmented reality app that offers users a sneak peek of the experience.
The new Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin attraction opens this spring and offers a penguin’s eye view of the South Pole. It is SeaWorld Orlando’s largest-ever attraction and to support the opening, the theme park has launched a marketing campaign that includes the mobile app as well as a seven city tour.
“Mobile plays a great role in that it allows guests to engage with SeaWorld and its newest attraction in ways never done before,” said Toni Caracciolo, vice president of marketing and sales at SeaWorld Parks & Resorts Orlando. “Every component of the campaign has a digital interactive element, whether through the app or in our actual travel show and mall appearance experience.

“Many guests carry with them a smartphone throughout their day,” she said. “By leveraging this technology, we can introduce a small part of what Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin will be like for guests once the attraction opens. Plus, it’s a lot of fun for both kids and adults alike.”
A penguin’s eye view SeaWorld’s Antarctica app features behind-the-scenes teaser videos and tour details, penguin fun facts and trivia. Additionally, users can immerse themselves virtually into Antarctica through augmented reality and enter the Family Voyage Sweepstakes for a chance to win trip to SeaWorld Orlando. Users can use the app to video a friend or family members for 10 to 15 seconds using visual cues. The video is then processed with the augmented reality content overlay to create a final file which can be saved to the phone, sent via email, or posted on the guest’s Facebook or YouTube account.
Users can record videos leveraging five different augmented reality scenes.

Empire State Building taps QR codes to activate multimedia exhibit

Visitors can access information such as what the building does to react to temperature and weather via the QR codes, which are displayed throughout the exhibit. Each pillar in the exhibit has a unique URL, such as http://esbtour.com that visitors can access via their smartphone. 
New York's Empire State Building has unveiled a multimedia display that incorporates QR codes to let visitors engage with the exhibit after leaving the physical space. 

Mobile initiatives
There are mobile calls-to-action – a mobile URL and QR code – that starts with signage in the pre-ticketing area of the queue and carries through to labeling on each of the pillars with specific links to relevant parts of the mobile experience corresponding to the theme of that pillar/exhibit.
“Browser equipped mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous even across traditional age/socioeconomic/psychographic segments,” Mr. Monberg said. “A business person might have a RIM device and a young person might have an old Sidekick. Here is an image of a transformational cube in the Empire State Building, where users can get a URL to find out more information:

“A major takeaway of the Empire State Building sustainability story is what individuals can do to effect change on a personal level,” Mr. Monberg said. “There is nothing more personal to us than our mobile devices.

“While there is much talk of cosmic augmented reality apps today, this is a way of implementing a real life experience augmented by a specific mobile-driven guide,” he said. “It builds anticipation for people waiting for tickets and it allows people waiting in the pre-elevator queue on busy days to more deeply engage with the exhibit – mobile content can have an intimacy that a large glass pillar has a tough time delivering comprehensively. 

IKEA 2010 Catalog launched on the iPhone

A couple of weeks ago I posted a video of a fake iPad with an IKEA application on it. Here is the real thing. IKEA UK has launched the 2010 catalogue on iPhone and iPad, which you can download from here. The mobile catalogue lets consumers browse through living rooms, check out different offers, search the catalogue and create bookmarks for products they would like to buy. I have not tried it myself but I really hopes that it comes with a shopping list feature. As I think I have mentioned before, I am really looking forward to when they port their kitchen creator app currently running on PC to the iPad. Thats going to be a killer application. Together with the launch of the 2010 catalogue IKEA launched a Guerilla campaign using 3d art in London. The idea was that a living room would pop up from a 3d art quilt, which then consumers could sit on, while their friends took a picture. Its moments like this I really appreciate finding videos that can illustrate it better than I can describe it. Have a look at below.

Toy Story 3 mobile app yields over 1,7 million downloads

Most of us saw the creative iAd Steve Jobs presented at his Keynote for Toy Story 3. Personally, I have not seen it pop up yet, so please let me know if you have seen it running on iAd.

Disney recently acquired Paolo Alto based app developer, Tapulous, to create the company's mobile apps. The success of the Toy Story 3 is a testament to a job well done. The game has had over 1,7 million downloads since its launch on June 15.

The game lets consumers find new toys, new activities and new adventures. Disney is also selling ad-on games in the app giving the opportunity to earn money from it. Finally there is a link to a mobile web site where you can see movie information, watch trailers and find out where the movie is playing. The app can be downloaded from  iTunes. 

NikeID continues on iPad

Niké is one of those brands how have taken iPhone and iPad to heart. NikéID as a concept is one that I am really fond of. It has a clear and measurable return on investment.

Playing around with this app I was able to design my own shoe and then purchase it through Niké. Whats crucial here is app quality. The application crashed on me and I had to start over my design. Then touch sensitivity led me to assume that you cannot customize the soles of the shoe, leaving it red. Not really my style. Quite surprising since you can on their website. Regardless this is one of my favorite appvertising concepts. It looks great, has a sharing feature through Facebook and a clear ROI, which I think are 3 core factors for a successful app. You can download it on  iTunes.

Layar is rolling stones with Exile on Your St.

One of the first bands to launch an Augmented Reality campaign is Rolling Stones for their release of Exile on Your St. With a creative use of the Layar application Rolling Stones is able to reach both Android and iPhone users. The application lets fans create virtual posters promoting the album on different locations.
When posting the locations fans are able to write a personal message and include a clip from the album, which Layar users can see from a radius of 2km.

The Rolling Stones specific layar was created by Howard Ogden who also created the Beatles Tour for the Layar application. You can see more of his work on  augmentedreality.co.uk. One great example of his work is for the Les Miss in London, where he illustrates how you can get a call to action from a poster at the theaters location. The video below illustrates how. 

I am a huge fan when it comes to Augmented Reality and I am really keen on seeing this industry take of when it comes to mobile marketing.

Lekar from IKEA is just brilliant!

IKEA has quickly stepped up their game when it comes to mobile marketing. We have seen some campaigns before playing with mobile coupons and Augmented Reality, but now they have launched a couple of really good looking applications. First of is the game Lekar.

I think this campaign is brilliant. It clearly shows that IKEA has given it an extra thought. The concept is quite simple. The game Lekar (=games, in Swedish) is a mobile game that have a couple of interactive games for children such as the classical chair game, charades and find the hidden treasure. The idea is that kids are playing around in your home and getting to know your furniture.

What I like about this application is that it can save you when you are planning games for your kids birthday party or sleep over. It lets the kids play around and be active instead of sitting in front of a computer. Targeted to kids but gives a great value to parents.

According to IKEA this application works both on your iPad and your iPhone and you can download it from here. To complete this campaign IKEA have created a nicely looking commercial with kids from several parts of the world describing the game. 

Sekai Camera in 2010 and beyond: API, iPad and Android versions, iPhone update, Sekai Apps

According to Tonchidot, Sekai Camera now boasts well over one million users worldwide, and the number is poised to grow soon. In May, Sekai Camera for the iPad came out (yes, augmented reality on the camera-less iPad/screenshot below). The iPad-optimized app (obviously) can’t deliver the full experience but allows you to “visit” cities around the world and view and create air tags that other iPad and iPhone users can interact with.

And just a few days ago, Tonchidot released Sekai Camera on the Android Market (screenshot below) That version offers a couple of Android-exclusive features and is available in 47 different countries. ISO 1, an Android smartbook made by Sharp for the Japanese market , just went on sale and comes with Sekai Camera pre-installed.

But Sekai Camera version 2.4.1 for iPhone is probably the most relevant for most existing users. The update, which hit the App Store just today, comes with iOS4 support and push notification.
But perhaps most importantly, it features the first game that works within the Sekai Camera ecosystem. Tonchidot says that the title, a casual game called “KA-BOOM” (screenshots below), is just the first in a series of “Sekai Apps” that will be launched in the near future. The basic idea is to roll out games that combine mobile, location, augmented reality and social elements within Sekai Camera. Augmented reality-based gaming is something that has the potential to become huge and that no other company has ventured into on this scale. Tonchidot calls this concept “SoLAR” gaming and has already signed on a number of Japanese gaming firms that will deliver more content in the coming weeks.

And Tonchidot is cooking up even more stuff. Sekai Camera will go to the web soon (users will be able to see air tags and connect Sekai Camera to other social networks through a web service)

How iPhone 4 Could Change Augmented Reality

When Apple announced iOS 4.0 earlier this year, some additions to the SDK (software development kit) caught the attention of augmented reality (AR) developers - specifically, open access to the phone's camera APIs. But with the introduction of the new hardware in the iPhone 4 made this past Monday, the possibilities for AR on the popular smartphone have skyrocketed. Today I had the opportunity to chat about the device's impact on AR with Stefan Misslinger, lead iPhone developer for metaio, one of the leading AR companies and makers of the mobile AR browser junaio.

Enhanced Image Tracking

For some AR experiences, image recognition and tracking are essential to a quality customer experience. The application needs to be able to analyze the data being taken in from the camera in order to properly overlay 3D objects into space, but previously this functionality wasn't available for iPhone developers. When Apple announced iOS 4.0, the inclusion of access to live camera data in the iPhone SDK provided AR developers with the ability to bring image tracking to the iPhone.

Other mobile operating systems, like Android, have had the capability to use image tracking for a while now, but the iPhone had been closed off from raw camera data. Last week, metaio introduced an image tracking application for Android, known as junaio Glue, and now with iOS 4.0, it will be able to bring this same functionality to the iPhone. The company also provides its own mobile AR SDK that allows developers to build apps leveraging metaio's technology, and Misslinger says metaio will include image tracking in the iPhone version of its SDK in the next few weeks.

New and Improved Cameras

But it's not just the software that will make image tracking on the iPhone easier and more available; the forthcoming iPhone 4 also includes a 5 megapixel camera capable of recording 720p video. The higher resolution of images captured by the phone makes the tracking of AR markers and image-based triggers much easier, but, as Misslinger points out, it comes with a catch.

Image tracking for AR requires that visual data be analyzed 30 times per second, and using a high-resolution image could slow down this process and make the tracking less accurate, or lag-ridden. To avoid this, Misslinger says the use of the full resolution will likely be on a case-to-case basis. For closer experiences, a lower resolution image should suffice, but for tracking markers that are larger or father away, the full power of the camera may be required.

The iPhone 4 also includes a second forward-facing camera, and everyone seems excited to see how Apple's vision for the future of video communication will play out. For augmented reality, however, the front facing camera opens up an entire new realm of possibilities on the mobile device. AR experiences traditionally developed for desktop webcams, like virtual mirrors that let users try on sunglasses and clothes, can now be experienced from a handheld device.

Gyroscopic Motion Sensing

One of the biggest surprises at the iPhone 4 announcement was the addition of a gyroscope to the device's arsenal of sensors. As Steve Jobs demonstrated, the gyroscope will allow the device to interpret its specific location as it relates to gravity - as the person turns in 3D space, the phone will recognize this motion based on sensed velocity. Most people immediately thought of augmented reality when this feature was introduced, and Misslinger says this is an obvious tool that AR developers will quickly adopt.

Certainly the gyroscope will help apps stabilize their results and track a user's movement, but there are additional uses for the gyro for AR. At the moment, if a user is using image tracking technology, quick movements of the device can cause the image to blur - interrupting the tracking of a marker or image. Misslinger says he is excited to use the gyroscope to help bridge the gap between when image tracking software loses and regains its capture on an image or marker. With the gyroscope working in tandem with image tracking technology, brief interruptions in tracking due to blurred images could be eliminated.

Faster Processor & High-Resolution Display

Call it what you will, but Apple's "Retina Display" on the iPhone 4 packs a serious high-res punch, and that bodes well for augmented reality. AR's success, in someways, relies on its ability to create a seamless merging of real and virtual worlds, and with a better display comes better graphics. Misslinger points out that the enhanced display will allow for the inclusion of better 3D models in mobile AR experiences - greatly enhancing the overall user experience.

Additionally, faster processor speeds on the device will allow these larger models to run much smoother than before. Apple's home-brewed A4 processor will allow AR apps to not only render 3D models faster and at a higher level of quality, but it will also help analyze the camera data at more close-to-real-time speeds.

iPhone 4 vs. The World

Apple is famous for admitting that it may not be first to include seemingly basic and simple functionality (like copy/paste and multitasking), but the company aims to do it as seamlessly and efficiently as possible. In the case of image tracking, Apple wasn't first to the game, but it is likely that with the ease at which developers can implement APIs from the SDK that the iPhone could soon establish itself as the leading platform for mobile AR. Add that to the phone's hardware additions and the large number of devices the company is likely to sell and you've got fertile soil from which AR can blossom.

Unilever's Bertolli builds email marketing list via mobile ads

Unilever-owned consumer packaged goods brand Bertolli is targeting food lovers via a mobile advertising campaign that aims to build an email list for future marketing. Bertolli is offering users of the Today Recipes application the chance to win a trip “into the heart of Italy.” The banner ad is part of a long term sponsorship that Bertolli has with the Today Recipes application, which was created by Zumobi. “The content is really critical here,” said Ken Wilner, CEO of Zumobi, Seattle. “Unlike traditional mobile ad networks we stress content and can marry highly relevant content with the appropriate brand very directly. “So a brand like Bertolli can be married up with particular content like video, recipes and shopping lists,” he said.  Currently, the Bertolli ad links directly to a microsite where consumers are asked to fill out their name and email address. Those who opt to are added to an email marketing list to receive special offers regarding Bertolli. Additionally, consumers that fill out the form are entered for a chance to win a culinary vacation to Italy and other prizes. Here is a screen grab of the banner ad within the Today Recipes application.

Nestle Purina bulks up mobile strategy with Petcentric app

Recognizing that pet lovers are increasingly relying on mobile technology for their information needs, Nestle Purina PetCare Co. has expanded the reach of its Petcentric offering.

The Petcentric application is now available for BlackBerry users, and a new version with upgraded features is offered to iPhone users. With the enhancements, the application is available to more than 66 percent of the smartphone market. “We wanted to provide Purina users with a high-functioning destination to access all of the Petcentric content,” said Alexandre Mars, Paris, France-based CEO of Phonevalley and head of mobile at Publicis Groupe. “With an app as robust as Petcentric – location-based functionality, user generated content, gallery, videos, news and tips – it made the most sense to start with apps. With the recent upgrades, the application now provides pet owners an even more engaging mobile experience through location-based utility, entertaining content featuring videos and photos, and relevant pet information.

“That being said, apps are only one part of Purina’s 360-degree mobile strategy,” he said. Purina's Petcentric is now available to 500,000 iPad owners. The new features offer a gallery of top pet news stories and videos every day, and new ways to search for professional pet sitters and pet-friendly places using GPS technology.

find pet-friendly places

“This localized and timely utility is the inherent great thing about mobile applications and the mobile Web,” Mr. Mars said. “Also, consumers love to look at great pet videos and pics and we’ve got all that in one location.”

Browse some pet photos

Pet lovers can rate and comment on pet-friendly locations and add their own favorite places. Petcentric has proven to be very popular with pet lovers who use smartphone technology. 

The application was developed byPhonevalley, a mobile marketing agency.

Agency Sites and Mobile Marketing

Some days I think to myself, “The kids don’t get it.”

Yesterday I tried to read a blog post from a mobile marketing agency on my iPhone. I read a lot of agency blogs. It’s a good way to get inside the minds of people who are shaping the future of online marketing, and provides me a lot of rant material. However, I was in a hurry and trying to read the post on my iPhone, but I had two wait a whole three minutes for the full website to load. You’d think, given the agency was talking about mobile advertising, they would have a mobile optimized version of their site.


No. You’d be wrong, you’d be very wrong.


I come across these sites three or four times A DAY. Agencies write about Foursquare and Gowalla, location based advertising, iPhone apps, yet they don’t have a blog optimized for mobile viewing. I’ve even come across a site that was entirely in flash. That one looked GREAT on my iPhone. It’s two-faced. It’s weak. You can do better.


Marketers, if you’re going to be bringing advertisements to my phone, prove to me you can do it right. Walk the walk. Make sure your site is optimized for mobile viewing. If I can do it, you can too! No excuses.

Expert Review: “AR: A New Human Interface and the Next Killer App?”

Before AR can become a new killer app, it must be understood for what it is, a new human interface. AR is nothing less than a new way of seeing, a new mode of interacting, of enabling us to explore scenarios that don’t exist in the “real” world. By inserting ourselves in the scene, being the hero of our own game, seeing ourselves in 3-D, a kind of “reality TV’ effect takes hold.


As an emerging platform, augmented reality doesn’t depend on mobile, kiosks, window displays, or breakthrough baseball cards, however magical and engaging these deployments may be. It depends on the technology being all those things referenced a few lines up. AR apps of course have to be unbreakable; but what they really have to be is unforgettable. And technology is fundamental to attaining that precious intangible. AR needs to be viewed in that context, a technology platform that is more than versatile enough to flourish beyond digital marketing. 


Certainly, enabling web-based AR quickly opened up an enormous array of digital marketing applications. Digital marketing is still the very visible tip of the iceberg, but below the water line, there’s a vast array of applications, many of them transformative, that are poised for development, even as marketing applications mature.With augmented reality proliferating on multiple screens and in various guises within such a brief period, the challenge now is to decipher what truly is AR from what’s being billed as AR, and to understand how these very different versions, and visions, compare. Bruno Uzzan is co-founder and CEO of Total Immersion.

Total mobile LBS revenues to reach $12.7B by 2014

While technical advances in handset screens, user interfaces, processors, memory and graphics-handling technologies previously contributed to the launch of high-cost mobile devices, their features – including GPS – are now migrating to mass-market devices. GPS unit prices and form factors have improved considerably, making integrated GPS much more cost-effective and design-friendly.Due to the growth of mobile Internet usage and the surge in GPS-enabled devices, Juniper Research predicts that location-based local search and information services will be used by nearly 1.5 billion mobile users by 2014.

“I suppose the key observation is simply that, after a number of false dawns, mobile location-based services are coming into their own,” said Dr. Windsor Holden, principal analyst at Juniper, Hampshire, England. “The confluence of the Apple iPhone 3G and App Store fundamentally changed the way that developers and users viewed applications for the mobile phone. “Indeed, location enablement is rapidly becoming a de facto feature of many mobile applications,” he said. “However, whilst it is easy to point to these events as being ‘defining’ in the development of commercial mobile LBS, in reality a far larger number of things came together at the same time: advances in network infrastructure and on-device positioning technology, improvements in digital mapping content and improvements in user experience. “The combination of these factors has been crucial to the recent upsurge both in the number of mobile LBS products on services that are available, and in their adoption by end users.”

The Juniper study found that growth in mobile Internet adoption is expected to provide further impetus to the adoption of browser-based local search services. The sharing culture of Web 2.0 is increasingly shaping the way many location-based services and location-enabled applications develop.

Starbucks taps mobile social media for Frappuccino promotion

Starbucks knows that mobile makes social media an effective marketing channel

Coffee giant Starbucks Coffee Co. is running the Frappuccino Happy Hour promotion, a location-based multichannel campaign offering discounts to consumers who express brand loyalty on social networks.

The Frappuccino Happy Hour promotion is being highlighted across all of Starbucks’ channels, including Twitter, Facebook, Brightkite, foursquare, YouTube, MyStarbucksIdea.com and Starbucks.com, along with an in-store promotion. Brightkite users have the opportunity to earn a Starbucks badge if they check into Starbucks during the national Frappuccino Happy Hour promotion from 3-5 p.m. “They can add this badge to their profile to show their friends how much they love Starbucks,” said Lisa Passé, spokeswoman for Starbucks, Seattle. “We're really excited to be trying out new and innovative programs with location-based services like Brightkite.

 “Finding new ways to connect with our customers in our stores and online, guides the progression of our social media strategy,” she said. 

“What’s great about Brightkite is that it links the real time in store experience to the online community.”Starbucks recently unveiled the largest combined mobile payments and loyalty program in the United States.

Volkswagen producing iPhone game again with the Touareg Challenge

Following the success created of the previous iPhone games developed by FishLabs, Volkswagen has continued the success with the Touareg challenge. On this version of the game you can customize your Touareg to look and feel the way you want it. If you are up for the challange you can download the game on iTunes. 

Key tips on mobile site design and search engine optimization

Going mobile right now has never been more uncertain. With the development of the iPhone and Android platforms, browsing the Web on a phone has never been easier. Therefore you may be asking yourself “If most users can view your full Web site with an iPhone, what is the point of creating a mobile webpage?”

While the mobile industry is constantly changing, one thing is for sure: you need to have a mobile Web site.

There are currently around 68 million mobile Internet users. This number is growing exponentially and will only speed up.

With the release of 4G sometime next year boasting speeds of twenty times faster than your home broadband Internet, 4G Internet will change the very existence of the mobile Internet. Therefore, yes, you had better get a mobile Web site and now.

Here are a few ideas surrounding the mobile industry and how you can set up your first mobile Web site.

Mobile site requirements• Your mobile site should be XHTML compliant
• Do not use frames. It is OK – most likely your site will look like one giant column. That is normal
• Create a mobile sitemap that tells Google which site is your mobile Web site and which is not
• Follow the specific mobile design guidelines and outlines
• Typically you do not want content deeper than three links. If you thought the attention span of a desktop viewer was short, try mobile surfing
• Use external CSS style sheets to speed up your mobile Web pages

Matt Smith is search engine optimization specialist at SEO.com

Read more at MobileCommercedaily.com

MicroSD A Solid Answer To Mobile Payments Using Near Field Communication (NFC)

Near Field Communication (NFC), and especially its use with mobile payments, is a concept that’s been promised for a while now but never really came to fruition as many had hoped.

Commercially available NFC-embedded devices haven’t hit the market as quickly as many anticipated, and combined with the rise of mobile handsets with microSD slots, a new approach to NFC is emerging that promises to bypass both handset vendors’ and mobile network operators’ core involvement.

New microSD offerings with NFC functionality are coming to market quickly, joining stickers as a way to bring contactless connectivity to existing mobile handsets and laying the groundwork for true mass-market mobile payments in the near term. The main problem still lies with MNOs, who remain the gatekeepers for mass NFC handset rollouts.  Over the next few years, however, the proliferation of MicroSD combined with other offerings such as active and passive contactless stickers should finally provide mobile users with true access to mobile payments using NFC.