An amazing Virtual World, fueled by YDreams technology and design, recently opened to the public at Istanbul’s Marmara Forum on December 15, 2011. YDreams conceived and developed an enchanted realm inhabited by friendly eccentric creatures called Marmarians for the Multi Mall Management Group shopping center, whose aim was to offer young guests a space for creative expression while simultaneously connecting with shoppers, and enhancing customer loyalty.
Young guests to the center are invited and encouraged to let their imaginations run wild and “give life” to their own exotic creations. Two touch consoles, located at each end of the video wall, comprised of fifteen 40” monitors, invite shoppers to create and customize creatures that ultimately become a type of virtual pet. Guests use the touch screens to create their new Marmarian from scratch – they decide on the shape of the body, its texture and color as well as the color of its eyes and stripes or spots. The variables available enable guests to create up to 30.000 distinct creatures, so the risk that any two will be identical is minimal! After determining what their new Marmarian looks like, guests name it and release it into the brand new Virtual World!
Creating their new pet creature is only half the fun; to make sure they grow into happy, healthy Marmarians, they need to be fed and visited, a task that can only be accomplished by checking in at the touch consoles at Marmara Forum. The more you visit your virtual pet, the bigger and happier it grows, and the more you are able to further customize it by adding new features.
In addition, a dedicated website (http://www.virtualworldmf.com/front/web/index.php) is also available so that guests can regularly check up on their Marmarian from home to see how it’s doing. Furthermore, a point system which gives way to discounts at selected Marmara Forum stores and restaurants has been implemented, so by checking in at the center to feed and visit their pets, guests are also increasing their eligibility to win great discounts.
What do YDreams, former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso have in common?
All will be Guest Speakers at the 2009 edition of the Curitiba Marketing Forum!
António Câmara, company CEO and Miguel Remédio, YDreams International Operations Officer, will be addressing how companies today can use technology and interactivity to their advantage, consequently strengthening their brand and image.
For many people interactive branding is still only about the Web.
It’s true that the Internet is full of exciting new possibilities, like viral marketing or the social media channels. But outside the two dimensional web there is a real world full of interactive possibilities.
The creative use of technology and new interfaces are changing the way people can be digitally approached in the physical realm. Intelligent Billboards, Digital Signage or Interactive Catalogs, controlled by gestures or multi-touch systems, are some of the solutions that we are starting to see on the streets, stores and public spaces that are part of our daily routine.
If the Internet was a milestone in the development of Permission Marketing, this new tangible interactivity allows us to go even further. You don’t force people to touch an interactive shop window or play a game at a cinema venue. So the challenge is on for marketers, copywriters and art directors, to create engaging content that people choose to activate. The result is a dynamic dialogue between the consumer and the brand. And this dialogue takes place within the physical world, making it even more remarkable than interacting on the virtual world of the web.
It is exciting to think that we can integrate some of these new tools with what web 2.0 has to offer. Particularly, the power that consumers are developing in defining the terms and conditions by which they want to be approached by brands, which will hopefully grow online and offline.
Imagine, for instance, having an online store’s characteristics in the physical world. Innovative interfaces would allow you to instantly compare items, browse suggested related articles based on datamining and other people’s suggestions. Clients could even write and leave reviews for others. Products and brands risk being more vulnerable, but quality standards would sure go up - and in the end we’d all benefit.
Blendtec is a great example of the viral video ad phenomenon. Reportedly starting with around 50 dollars, these blender manufacturers created buzz and hype all throughout the web, establishing their product as a synonym of high-quality blending in a fun and appealing way.
The concept of the Will It Blend? videos was quite simple: Blendtec’s CEO wears a lab coat and proceeds to blend anything to test the company’s machine. Marbles, golf balls, even the iPhone was blended.
The videos were a big success and began spreading around the Internet carried by one of the top advertisers in the world: the people. People were even keen to suggest items to blend. Blendtec’s videos and product were then pushed to the mainstream, with appearances on Jay Leno and the Today Show. All they needed was some basic video equipment and a great idea. Of course, some smart online PR strategy doesn’t hurt either.
There are other examples of course, one of my favourites is Draftfcb/paris’ funny spoof on second life, now counting more than half a million views on YouTube.
Neverthless, in these kind of campaigns some problems are bound to occur, and Blendtec found this out the hard way when they tried to blend Chuck Norris:
