This year, online advertising will have been around for 18 years and yet most digital ads are still being used to inform rather than entertain, connect and engage.
However, research has been ongoing for the past few years and is about to come to fruition. As demonstrated in Project Re: Brief by Google in the spirit of the original Hilltop Coke advertisement from the early 70s, users can record a message and send it with a Coca-Cola to someone on the other side of the world.
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Over the next few years, more people will access the internet from mobile devices than from computers. I read that by using AdMob, the experience can be brought to life on mobile devices, making it possible to send a Coca-Cola to a vending machine across the world from anywhere.
In 2011, Google partnered with four global brands in an advertising experiment: to send a Coke to friends across the globe (Project Re: Brief Mobile Ad Demo). It’s had 343,000 hits on YouTube so far.
Users can select a location, attach a personal video or text message, and then watch as the Coke is delivered to a specially designed vending machine on the other side of the world. The receivers at the machine can then send a thank you message back to the sender, right from the vending machine.
Aimed at youths aged 13-18, it sounds like fantastic, interactive fun that will soon no longer be the stuff of fantasy. However, it seems that although trials are under way, it’s a little too soon to send an actual drink. That said, it’s already possible to put your friend’s name on a Coke bottle and send it to them.
As the site says: We’ll be giving you all the chance to get your own bottle personalised when we go on tour later this summer. We’ll share more details of where we’re going and when soon.
I guess it won’t be long now until you can send your mate a Coke and see the smile on their face as they receive it via your phone.
See you at Avex 2013 for more display unit magic? I hope so.
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