Nintendo's first ever video game competition (can that be true?) launches July 16. Competing teams can be composed of parents, kids, teens, "super adults" (55+).
Love "super adults", ha. Stuff like Farmville has shown that the Wii target is interested in online multi-player gaming, so I think it makes a ton of sense for Nintendo to take it to a more sophisticated level. Interested to see how this plays out.
"Here at TechCrunch, we've heard Twitter is reaching out to TV producers and showrunners to find out ways that it can further integrate with the TV experience. That could mean Twitter-based voting, in the case of some competitive reality shows. It could also mean introducing interactive elements in scripted shows that viewers could use to unlock new content or web experiences.
For what it's worth, Twitter is hiring for a role just like this: One of the positions listed on its jobs site is a "Manager of TV Relationships" position based in Los Angeles. The purpose of the job is to act as a "Twitter ambassador/evangelist to TV celebrities," getting them to tweet more during their own shows and just in general. But the goal also to work with high-profile showrunners and producers to find ways to integrate Twitter into their programming. One listed responsibility is to "manage and execute a volume of creative content plays with TV talent, such as live tweeting of shows, talent Q&As, and other creative uses of Twitter.""
The centerpiece is "The Million Second Quiz," NBC's new live competition series. The show is being marketed as the first fully convergent TV experience, where viewers will be able to watch a 24/7 live stream and play along at home in real time. Contestants first compete online before being selected to appear on air.
It seems in the extremely competitive coffee marketplace of Seoul, Korea, Dunkin' Donuts wasn't the first place people thought of for their cup of joe. In a bid to correct what is surely an oversight, the Double D created "Flavor Radio" and placed it on city buses.
The device looked just like a normal air freshener, but inside lurked the alluring aroma of coffee. At key points during the ride, the air freshener would spill out the fragrance, coupled with a jingle for Dunkin' Donuts.
Perhaps not coincidentally, often times commuters would find themselves at a stop that had a Dunkin' Donuts nearby. Oh, you clever mad men!
While Dunkin' Donuts claims there are no plans to roll this out here in the States, I'll bet we see someone else using a version of "Flavor Radio" in the future. After all, the company claims visitors to its stores near bus stops rose 16% during the campaign, and overall coffee sales jumped by 29%.
It seems the future of advertising includes anything interactive that will get our attention. Not even buses are safe.
"McDonalds beacon case study (retail)
26 McDonald's franchises in Columbus, Georgia tested out iBeacon technology with its customers. Over the four week trial, the franchises were pushing special deals for McChicken Sandwiches and 10 piece Chicken McNuggets. The iBeacon powered promotions pushed McChicken Sandwich sales up 8 percent and Chicken McNugget sales up 7.5 percent.
Based on the initial results of the pilot it looks as though McDonald's will continue to explore the technology for an additional 263 retail stores in the southeast. "Everyone is looking at their phones, millennials especially, and that's where we've decided to engage," Jack Pezold, a McDonald's franchisee of 40 years, said in a statement.
Spotless beacon case study (enterprise)
Spotless is an Australian owned and managed provider of integrated facilities management services. In 2014, Spotless partnered with Lighthouse to build and deploy a custom workforce management solution with the goal of reducing litigation claims in the commercial cleaning service line.
The solution allowed Spotless to understand when cleaning KPI's are missed in real-time and produce employee location reports that can be used as legal defense against slip and fall litigation claims in shopping malls. Spotless has also been able to optimise their workforce and reduce operating costs by analyzing Lighthouse powered heat mapping of employee movements.
The solution has been so successful that Spotless are extending the capability across other service lines including facilities management, security and maintenance.
Read the full case study here.
Pause Fest beacon case study (events)
Pause Fest is Australia's premier digital event, aimed at supporting and showcasing the best in creative and tech from Australia and all over the world. In 2015, Pause Fest partnered with Lighthouse to deploy a network of beacons that delivered proximity based content and experiences to attendees, while enabling real-time event analyt