Esquire Magazine just came out with an AR-featured (Augmented Reality) issue. David Granger, Editor-in-chief at Esquire, appears in the video above to explain how the technology works. This is an innovative and exciting option for print magazines, because (like I mentioned in the last post) today more than ever, people are getting their information online. So a print magazine can immediately become interactive when you point the QR code to your webcam on your computer. It takes a second or two to recognize the code, and then a world of additional multimedia content is unveiled.

There has been a lot of talk about the interactive advertising initiative. It’s a great idea, and not just because it got a lot of people talking about it and buying the magazine to discover it. It’s mainly cool because that form of traditional media is dieing right now, and they are scrambling to figure out ways to adapt to today’s digital environment. That being said, I see it more as an advertising campaign that includes several viral videos similar to this first one rather than an “enhanced editorial plan.”

The aspect that amazes me the most is the amazing job they’ve done building content with celebrities — who doesn’t love Robert Downey Jr?? Seriously the guy is an incredible actor and has a great personality to build a campaign around. This is the real added value of the initiative and possibly the hardest thing to replicate for other publications and creative agencies.

by Jonathan Marshall

The Sun Newspaper decided to go with a very unique twist on Apple’s commercials in their latest advertising campaign. In one of their viral videos, they basically used Apple’s personality and recognizable brand traits for the foundation of their video, and then inserted their appropriate content. They used a similar background music, the same basic format, a similar concept (explaining how to use the device), and then began bashing Apple by describing the advantages of using the magazine over the IPHONE.

Thumbs up to their creative agency that came up with this concept. It’s funny because I, like many people nowadays, get all of my information online. I realize this is somewhat generational, but it seems like I hardly ever see people read through all thte way through a newspaper anymore, our attention spans suck. And the idea of doing so seems more and more foreign these days.

As ridiculous and equally frightening as the premise of this commercial may seem — people really do have to re-educate themselves on how to consume their information through more traditional forms of media like the newspaper or print magazines. Just goes to show how Apple has contributed to that shift of social interaction with their innovative products, clever campaigns and solid brand strategies.

by Jonathan Marshall

The JTCG team had a fun and memorable Monday afternoon at East Village Tavern and Bowl. While our individual bowling performances were a thing of beauty, the team competitions were EXTREMELY evenly-matched and competitive. Awards were given, cheers and high-fives were abundant and even a new catch-phrase caught on like wild fire — “you got Rooped…” Sorry dude, had to do it. Anywhooo… back to our day.

Charlie was making a serious and competitive push towards winning the “Most Gutterballs” award, but ultimately came in a close second to Jess! Good job Jess! Da Jeweler got in a rhythm towards the end of the first game and never looked back…. like Da Jeweler does…

Cole (my recently-discovered enemy and ultimate office nemesis… highlander realization and now bowling… enough said) did a great job representing Team 2 and went home with “Best Performance” award. While I respect him as an enemy and a worthy bowling adversary, I still think I should have Nancy Kerrigan’d him mid-way through the first game…

Kristen won the “Most Team Spirit” award, received a Waylon Smithers doll from the Simpsons, and ultimately put on a bowling clinic for the majority of JTCG competitors. She showed her polished and veteran bowling skills, had a high score in Game 2 and finished strong as the winner of the “Best 3 frames” celebratory shot – YellowCake! Can someone say Ringer?? Bowling shark? Con-artist maybe? Just sayin…

Roop doesn’t even tie his bowling shoes until after he gets a few beers in him – winning the “Most Improvement after Two Beers” award… While his first few frames started off stiff and a little out of touch, he quickly started to loosen-up and knock down some strikes after Game 1… He was in the ZONE… The buzzed zone…

It’s usually pretty difficult to do exceptionally well your first time at anything… especially with a game like bowling for example. That combined with several pitchers of beer, and a nice cool White Russian makes it pretty much impossible… Our “Worst Performance after Two Beers” award goes to Liz!!! Her first several frames were a thing of beauty, many would call her a natural, but then the booze kicked in… Also…Snuggies and mini-reading lights that fold out like an alien arm using a crazy technology that none of us can understand ARE AWESOME…

To see everyone’s snuggie poses and more action shots, check out our Album on Facebook.

by Les Kollegian

Recently I was reading my December copy of the San Diego Business Journal and stumbled across the executive profile of Dave Brown from Holiday Matinee. As a fellow graphic designer in San Diego with similar experience, I am always interested in checking out my “local” competition and I must say I like his style. I bring this up because I want to mention that I completely agree with him on his assessment of the Vampire Weekend music video “Cousins” (shown below for your viewing pleasure). On the scale of low budget videos with HUGE impact, I have to say this tops the charts. I will say however, there is one video I can think of that MAY have been less expensive to produce and created a huge buzz in the video world would be OK GO’s music video, “Here it Goes Again” (also shown below for your viewing pleasure). I invite you to view and compare.

The bottom line is… these videos, unlike your typical Beyoncé large budget extravaganza are super creative. As well, even though they are very inexpensive to produce, the quality of their creative makes for not only an inspiring and impressive video, but for something that is extremely viral. Viral enough that I decided to re-post a post of a post to show it to you. Hmmm… does that make sense?

Check em out and grab your camera to start filming! These are certainly better than that ridiculously obtuse cat fight video we wasted your time with.