According to an article in the New York Times the prolifieration of various forms of Urban Spam causes could cause irritation with consumers.

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Still, I think marketers are playing with fire by ambushing people at every turn. The more varied the places in which their ads appear, the more diverse the human situations in which they’ll be received. A result may turn out to be anger, not a sale. Any male computer owner these days who doesn’t associate reading his morning e-mail with nagging concerns about erectile dysfunction has a better spam filter than I do. I resent being woken up this way each day. Oddly, however, the target of my resentment isn’t the folks who push Viagra and its numerous herbal substitutes, but the big online portals like AOL that let these hucksters’ e-mail through their systems. I hear that AOL is sagging now, and frankly I’m fine with it. I think it’s fitting. AOL has been letting me know for years that I may be sagging a bit myself. It’s their turn.”

Source: New York Times

Catchyoo.com, a Japanese company is giving creatives a very cool new way of interaction between advertiser and consumer. This form of interactive advertising allows you to design visual, sounds, narrative and copy and promote them on floors, walls, ceilings anywhere on a clean white background.  The beauty of this soultion lies in the incredibly clear and crisp imagery and sound.

“Based on sensors installed in the projection system, people can physically interact with the ad by waving their hands or walking on the ad. Catchyoo has become the new trend to promote hi-tech products e.g. iPhone because it is immediate, colorful, playful, stylish and effective and it draws attention from a crowd. ”

I recommend you actually watch several of the videos which demonstrate this new product, it will inspire you!

Singapore - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has signed an agreement with ColorZip SEA (CZSEA) to launch Zapcode, a new mobile technology that allows instant retrieval of information thorough the mobile phone.

“Our aim is to make it a part of life in high-tech Singapore. Over time, we want these codes to be everywhere, in newspapers, on T-shirts, signages, name cards, birthday cakes, and so on, and zapping them will become as natural as breathing,” Leslie Fong, executive VP of marketing, SPH said.

According to Fong, the marketing and communication opportunities that the device opens up are “mind-boggling”. “For example, a department store may have a ZapCode printed in an advertisement. Any reader who wants more information or pictures or even a video of other items not shown in the ad has only to zap the code and these will be transmitted within seconds to his mobile phone,” Fong said.

Eyebeam has announeced a daylong Shopdropping Workshop led by the infamous Anti-Advertising Agency.

“Shopdropping (the opposite of shoplifting) is a tactic used by artists and activists to clandestinely place objects in retail stores. “Dropped” objects are usually versions of consumer products altered or recreated to detourn the retail experience. Shopdropping is a fun and easy form of culture jamming, gently subverting dominant cultural forms to create new meanings.

Starting at noon, participants will receive a shopdropping overview, including artists’ shopdropping projects information and demonstrations of the necessary tools for shopdropping, and time will be given to test out some of the techniques discussed. Immediately following, participants will head into the field to help distribute a new, unreleased Anti-Advertising Agency project (as well as some creations of their own) into stores around Manhattan. This workshop will begin at Eyebeam, 540 W. 21st Street (between 10th & 11th Aves), and is open to the public free of charge. If you have a digital camera of any kind, please bring it.”

More information available at:  http://antiadvertisingagency.com/news/shopdropping-workshop-at-eyebeam-nyc/

The best way to create buzz around an cause does not always require new technology. This is is one of the few ideas you will will find on this blog which really has very little to do with new technology. I can see it doing well for POS.

“Berlin-based Erento, a company that pairs renters with potential customers, offers an unusual lineup of products and services for loan. In addition to such rentals as snow machines, horse-drawn carriages for weddings, chicken-plucking machines and private jets, the site also now offers a unique service: protestors for hire.

Judging by their profiles, most of the 300-plus people currently listed in the “rent a demonstrator” category are young and attractive. Potential agitators looking for support for their public protests can choose, for example, Steffen, age 22, 190 cm tall (6 feet 2 inches), “athletic” and with a shoe size of 45. He’s available for gigs all over Germany, but says he prefers the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Or Manuela, who has green eyes and “very long” hair and is available within a 100-kilometer range of Berlin. Included in the extensive personal information — which at times seems more suited to a dating site — are skin color and “appearance type,” which can be for example “European,” “African,” “South American” or “Asian.”