If God is in the details then its no wonder Apple Stores have become temples of cool. Apple created these marvelous interactive 3D video pillars throughout their Tokyo Ginza Store, which give a virtual tour and explains the contents of each floor.
...Tron meets Jonathan Ive.
Also, Daisy Uffelman at Goodby Silverstein pointed out to me that Apple has smartly kept its brand experience consistent even inside the cluttered disheveled hole of CompUSA, by creating slick "shop-in-shops" inside the retail giant that closely resemble the real Apple Stores.
Apple has also been rolling out tiny 750-sq foot Mini Stores. These remind me a bit of the Oxygen Bar craze...in case you need a quick hit of the Apple drug!
Over the last month "Old Media" has made some pretty big strides towards "New Media" and might be finally waking up to the future. Here's a few such headlines:
VW's standard production Touareg SUV has succeeded in towing a Boeing 747 weighing 155 tonnes. Watched by VW engineers, press and bemused passers-by, the Touareg completed seven complete runs on the runway at Dunsfold Aerodrome outside of London.
Brands can use the internet to get a stunt like this a lot more buzz. A missed opportunity would have been to put a video of the event up on YouTube.
Bond is back...and so are many of the brands that have been featured in previous Bond films, some as far back as the first film, 1962's "Dr. No."
Along with their prominent placement in Casino Royale, six brands -- Heineken, Ford, Smirnoff Vodka, Sony computers, Sony Ericsson phones and Omega watches -- have spent more than $100 million on promotional support for the latest movie, according to Reuters.
Bond was one of the earliest films to incorporate product placement. In Casino Royale the studio has approached it differently with less brands that are more naturally integrated into the story and who are doing their own efforts to promote the film.
"Interactive" doesn't just mean online. Here's a video technology that lets someone move the actual video being projected on any surface around through motion without ever touching a physical surface.
More immersive brand experiences can be created when you think of video in new ways beyond the typical rectangular box.
Hotspot Bloom is a wearable technology -- a brouch designed like a flower that glows and changes color to show the strength of the nearest wi-fi network.
So as a person walks through an area of Manhattan for example, the flower will glow from red-to-blue on a hot-to-cold scale.
In an iPod culture where white earphones give you street cred, there's a growing trend of making wearable technology that is both useful and aesthetically appealing.
People can now easily buy a can of Coca-Cola by just waving their mobile phone over a vending machine.
Coca-Cola is modifying its 200,000 vending machines in Japan to accept Sony's mobile phone payment system called Felica and will soon bring this technology to the US.
Porsche is giving owners a chance to add a little personality to their new cars.
Where the model type normally goes on the back of the car, you can now opt to have the wording of your choice in the same style of lettering.
Instead of Cayenne or Boxter you could have your name, a girlfriend or wife, a company, or a phrase like "My Seventh", "Not Leased", "Follow me" or anything at all.
With its own wording, a Porsche becomes a little more exclusive.
