SPARK: The latest digital trends and unique thinking

SCOTCH-BRITE SPONGE: PAY THE BILL OR WASH THE DISHES

In Brazil, sponge brand Scotch-Brite created an amusing experience marketing initiative in partnership with several restaurants around the city of São Paulo. When people got their bills, they also received an invitation to wash their dishes. In exchange, they could leave the place without paying the check.

THE VILLAGE NEWSPAPER: PARKING DOUCHE

“Douche parking” is a huge problem in cities in Russia. Online city newspaper The Village has decided to stop it using digital media. The Village has created a free app that allows to take pictures of wrongly parked cars, recognize car number plates, the car model and color. The data is streamed live to banner ads that are targeted through IP addresses to locations where these cars were parked. These banners appear as pop-ups on web-sites, interrupting you while you’re trying to read an online article. When you roll your cursor over the banner it let’s you know that this particular car is annoying people in a certain street in your city right now. To remove the banner you simply share the douche in Facebook.

FOREVER 21: EPIC INTERACTIVE TIMES SQUARE BILLBOARD

When a popular fashion brand moves into an iconic location in the world’s most famous square, it calls for something epic. Something that the hundreds of thousands of people who pass through Times Square every day can’t miss. To avoid being just another fashion billboard, Forever 21 created a revolutionary digital billboard that features models interacting with Times Square’s ever-present crowd. Using innovative computer vision technology, the models snap pictures of people on the street, then pick them up, kiss them, put them in their bags, and more. The interactions change constantly. The billboard relies on technology that’s usually used in government or security surveillance, and the digital agency, Space150, had to consult surveillance experts to pull it off. Above the 61-ft.-high space, a high-definition Prosilica camera captures the crowd. But then, software picks apart the individuals in the crowd, and selects some for a digital composite built in real time, which is then used in the interactions with the virtual model on screen. The software even picks up the yellow of the Forever 21 bag, so that anyone holding one is more likely to get noticed by the model. (If someone actually goes into the store, there are a now heat sensors that detect their bags, and cause a bunch of flash bulbs surrounding the threshold to go off, simulating dozens of paparazzi.)

YOUR CHARITY DETERMINES WHAT FILM YOU SEE IN PEDIGREE 3D IDEA

Colenso BBDO thought up this innovative interactive way to increase the public's interest in New Zealand's Pedigree Adoption Drive, the brand's effort to rescue and put up for adoption abandoned dogs around the world.

Cinema-goers picked one of two types of glasses: Yellow, if they chose to donate, and red, if they didn't. Director Nic Finlayson shot two parallel stories, one showing a dog that was lucky enough to have been rescued, and the other showing the same one – who just wasn’t that fortunate. Partnering with production company Finch, the agency used 3D cinema technology to project both films on the same screen, so those who donated would see the benefits of their charity, while the others would probably cry a little and end up donating anyway.

GANG CHEWING GUM: THE CHEWABLE PENCIL

Chewing gum gets an upgrade with this brilliant product design stunt out of Age Isobar Sao Paulo for Gang Chewing Gum. Recognizing that in moments of despair or deep thought, people are likely to chew on the ends of their pencils, the agency created 5,000 "chewable pencils" - putting the gum where erasers should be - and distributed them in schools in Sao Paulo. The activation began in March and continues, in perfect time for the Brazilian school system's exam season in May and June. It was so successful that Gang is considering making it a real product.

GAME OF THRONES IS GETTING A FACEBOOK GAME

Disruptor Beam, a Boston-based game company, will be responsable for turning the mythical land of Westeros into a social experience for Facebook players in Game of Thrones Ascent. The game will be set in the world of the HBO show, which is based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of books.

Players will have a chance to play a noble sworn to one of the seven great houses — the power players like the Starks, Lannisters and Greyjoys — and then explore a land of political intrigue and danger. Set during the timeline of the show, the world of Westeros is at war as each of the great houses fight amongst themselves to claim the IronThrone, making it hard to trust anyone.

PROMETHEUS TRANSFORMS AN ABANDONED PARIS METRO STATION

Ridley Scott’s film, Prometheus, is currently being promoted in an unused Paris metro station. The abandoned Saint-Martin station has been transformed into a cave resembling the one found in the movie. As commuters pass by the platform on the train, they get a glimpse of the artifacts, and the iconic stone head in eerie blue lights.

IKEA PACKS ENTIRE STORE INTO A WEB BANNER

Swedish home products retailer IKEA has appeared on our virtual pages many a time, and recently we found cause to cover it again. The innovation this time? Something the company calls “the smallest store in the world” — namely, an entire IKEA store packed into a 10.5cm x 8.8cm web banner.

“With city populations on the rise, living spaces have become increasingly limited,” the company explains. “IKEA believes that no matter how cramped your space, there’s always a solution.” To demonstrate that belief, the company - generally known for its oversized retail spaces - has packed a full store with 2,800 products into the space of a small web banner. Shoppers who visit the diminutive store by hovering their mouse over it can then browse by department, choose what they want, and buy it online. “We targeted people looking for studio flats as well as one/two bedroom apartments by placing our tiny stores in the real estate section of community websites”.

CAMP NECTAR: JUICE-BOX SHAPED FRUIT

Brazilian juice company Camp Nectar appointed Age Isobar to demonstrate that its products use ‘all natural’ ingredients. The ad agency came up with a clever idea to naturally grow fruits such as guava, orange, and lime, into the shape of Camp Nectar juice boxes. Plastic moulds covered the fruit so as it ripened, it would grow into a rectangular shape with the brand embossed on the fruit. Around 1,100 of these clever all-natural fruit boxes were produced and are used as promotional products around supermarkets and fruit stalls.

PRADA: A THERAPY

Luxury brand Prada released today a short movie directed by Roman Polanski, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Kingsley. The film had its premiere this week during the Cannes Film Festival, right before the official screening of Polanski’s film Tess. It's a bit weird and the tag line ruins it.

BEYONCE LAUNCHES #BEYHIVE APP

The chart-topping songstress Beyonce sent her first tweet, launched a Tumblr blog and redesigned Beyonce.com on April 5. This week, fans of the singer have revealed an inspired #BeyHive app which is to be a new mobile home for fans. The colorful app — which looks like a mix of Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare — was built for Beyonce buzz. Users must sign into the free app with a Twitter account. Fans can access Beyonce-related news, her entire discography (with sample audio and links to buy tracks) and current concert schedule. Badges are also up for grabs with activity. Fans are encouraged to generate their own news. They can earn points for tweeting about #BeyHive, checking in at events and liking photos within the app.

MICROSOFT QUIETLY DEBUTS A NEW SOCIAL NETWORK, So.cl

Microsoft launched its own under-the-radar social network over the weekend. So.cl, pronounced "social," is a topics-based social network from Microsoft's FUSE research group, originally designed to be an academic resource for students and now open to everyone through either a Facebook or Windows Live account. More Google+ than Facebook, So.cl lets users surface and aggregate multimedia content into a single post that they can share with others. So.cl also provides users a slew of fairly standard social features, including sharing and re-sharing features and commenting on posts.

NIKE BARBERSHOP

Nike is extending the “Now Is My Time” campaign with “Nike Barbershop”, an integrated advertising campaign featuring Italian footballer Mario Balotelli receiving a hair cut in a traditional Barbershop accompanied by French player Mamadou Sakho and Argentine star Javier Pastore. Asked by the Barber what he’d like Balotelli simply replies “to be remembered.” A series of styles rapidly take shape on the sharp shooters head but nothing works until an artistically crafted Mohawk gets the nod from Balotelli.

A Nike Barbershop App, enables viewers to emulate their heroes’ hairdo by trying out ten famous footballers iconic styles and sharing them with friends. Choosing from the Neymar, the Sakho and the Ramos among others, the best submissions will also get the chance to visit one of six physical Nike Barbershop locations in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan and Paris where the latest styles can be fixed for real. A pop up Nike Barbershop will also be featured in Warsaw during Europe’s major football tournament this summer.

YOUTUBE TURNS 7!

May 21st 2012 marked the 7th Birthday of YouTube, and to celebrate they’ve compiled a video showcasing everything that has made them great to this very day, including a host of great statistics about what happens on YouTube.

SPRITE: THE ULTIMATE REFRESHMENT MACHINE

To try to bring to life the Sprite promise of ultimate refreshment, the brand decided to install refreshing beach showers on one of the busiest beaches in Brazil that looked like a giant drink dispenser. Nice idea.