Centered around the keyhole bottle icon, symbolizing Coca-Cola’s mysterious secret formula, the video has several overlays leading to unique digital experiences.

I’ll throw a few spoilers linked on the video overlays:

On Twitter, you can follow Dr.Pemberton, Coke’s 179 year old inventor, and ask questions about Coke’s secret formula.
On Facebook, send your friends a polar bear video message (and the chance to win a free Coke, US only).

Not to mention the video feed tracking the safe where the secret formula is probably hidden.

And by sending a Coke bubble on www.mycoke.com/smileizer , Coke will donate $1 to the National Parks Service for each laugh.

Something tells me that this is not the end of Dr. Pemberton’s adventure. There’s probably more to it.

Home and Away goes beyond the regular news reporting, showing real data that is now becoming a platform for participation, with “people using the map to post memories and share stories about their lost loved ones”.

I’m no Jay Rosen or Jeff Jarvis, but the future of journalism will be relying a lot on information visualization and social experiences, acknowledging that readers are not only consuming information, but they want to actually participate (beyond the regular comment box).

Source: Stamen Design

It’s a cross platform, open-source project, very similar to Processing or OpenFrameworks, but with better memory management and OpenGL support. Features include standalone applications and screensaver creation, Cocoa touch support (iPhone, iPad), OpenGL texture classes, webcam capture support and full Quicktime support. Besides the tech specs, what can it really do?


The most famous example is probably the Augmented Reality cover on Esquire but there’s lot of video goodness by Robert Hodgin (aka flight404) below.

For starters, the usual “Hello, Cinder” tutorial.

tip by Peter Kirn

Other highlights include a dedicated mobile website, a fan community an lots of (light)boxes :)

Well, not really. But it was really surprising the seamless personal experience delivered by MySpace, BBH and Domani Studios (which are becoming one of my new favorite interactive companies).

But better than the tech wizardry behind the thing is the “LOVEABLE MAGIC”, as @FranHazeldine calls it:

With the Myspace Fan Videos, the magic isn’t in the tech. It’s in the moment when 50 Cent hangs a picture of you on his wall, or Alicia Keys sings you a song. Sure the magic is tech-fuelled, but it’s the twisted cultural content, the playful reference to things I love or hate, that really makes it. Tech is the means, not a magical end in itself.

Tech magic is out. Loveable magic is in.

Details like the reflection of your Facebook profile pic in the glossy piano surface on Alicia Key’s video show that the magic is beyond tech and is more about making it simple, collaborative and easy to share.

Create your own video at http://www.myspace.com/fanvideo

Source: BBH-Labs

Thanks, Vasco.

To celebrate this escape from the smaller mobile and laptop screens, the Image Freedom movement was launched a few days ago.

You can find lots of video testimonials of people playing around this idea, with channels on Vimeo and YouTube feeding the large video experience on the website.

And just a few minutes ago, LG launched the product website at liberteaimagem.com, a full 3D experience, showcasing the borderless concept of the LG SL9000 model, the new high contrast LED with ultra slim design.

Go ahead, give the site a spin (literally) and check the gallery for some nice product footage. And maybe, just maybe, you’re free to choose LG when getting the new TV model for your living room.

So, if sometimes i don’t update this blog that often, then perhaps it’s because I’m actually working on stuff like this. Enjoy.

Credits:
Agency: Fulllsix Portugal
Creative Director: Rui Vieira
Interactive Design: Daniel Teixeira, Victor Afonso
Copywriter: Claudia Ribeiro
Web Strategy: Armando Alves
Account Management: Ricardo Costa, Sofia Delfim
Guerrilla marketing : Torke

The age of microsite featured the usual broadcast tactics, pushing “shiny flashy objects” and applying the usual recipes of “spray-and-pray” or “build-it-and-they-will-come”. From those days, the web graveyard inherited thousands of zombie pages that became lifeless, after broadcasting their ephemeral commercial message.

FWA 2005 Site Of The Month: 4 out of 12 are no longer online

The kind of campaign websites listed above, is pretty much careless of what happens after the “campaign” ends. Not even the decency of doing a simple 301 HTTP redirect, with users stumbling upon a parked page, filled with AdWords by someone with a sense of opportunity. Don’t tell me that a company can’t spare a lousy hosting bill for an old sucessfull campaign or $10USD for a redirected or masked domain.

But enough about microsites, that i personally call “the web’s non-recyclable garbage”. Fast forward to 2009, where one would expect that some lessons from the previous days would turn companies more wiser when defining an integrated Internet presence. Well, not quite.

Photo by Laughing Squid under Creative Commons

Meet the social zombies

These are the kind of corporate presences on social web platforms and services, created only to serve a temporary tactical purpose. As with microsite, they’re nurtured during a few weeks with fresh blood (regular updates, a widget, a viral wannabe), but then left dying on the same kind of web graveyard. But now with a more bloody consequence, taking with them all the community (fans, followers, viewers, etc) that they’ve built while alive.

Examples include the usual Twitter account created for the yearly event, a Facebook page activated only for a new product launch or a YouTube channel with the 500 views viral wannabe. This “social media bribery” is again leaving pieces of rotten digital flesh all over the web.

DharmaWantsYou.com (An ARG for TV series Lost) has won a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy, but is now defunct (or should i say lost)

A sustainable solution could be a wiki on the same domain, highlighting the narrative and interactions.

Sometimes it’s just brands experimenting and failing, and i’m ok with that. The problem is not caring to clean the mess once finished, on a bad example of interactive sustainability (how’s that for a buzzword?).
The social web is also about brands creating a sustainable presence on conversational destinations and managing the digital footprint for the long run (Google doesn’t forget). Once a campaign ends, don’t stick only to analysis, with the follow-up also including a post-mortem curation, by informing (updating the bio or description) or reaching out to the community (Tr.im open-sourced their service). And please, don’t just limit yourself to profile euthanasia.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs 2009, the film is narrated by Gord Downie, featuring music by Sam Roberts, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Rós, Robbie Robertson and Brian Eno.

Just enjoy. And think about it.

Source: Osocio