Record, analyse and share your ski track!

Take your phone out skiing!
One of America's largest ski resort companies is hoping to make the sport even more social this season, with a location-based gaming app it's calling Epic Mix.
Vail Resorts, owners of resorts in Colorado and California debuted the mobile and web-based application at a press event at the Ace Hotel in Manhattan.

When the mountains open in November, Epic Mix will allow visitors to the resorts to track the runs they completed, log their vertical feet as a score, unlock achievement 'Pins' and access several utilities, both in iPhone and Android apps and at epicmix.com.

The project combines lots of location-based service and gaming elements; rewards for varied experience, social sharing of vertical feet in a leaderboard and more.

RFID enabled
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Epic Mix tracking system is it works on the RFID chips in skiiers' passes. There's no fumbling with your phone on the lift to check in to a run. When your pass is scanned at the lift, you're checked in, and no constant GPS contact and battery drain is required, like North Face's Trailhead iPhone app.

Find free products with H&M's Augmented Reality app for iPhone

GoldRun is an app that enables users to locate, interact with and take photos of GPS-linked virtual objects positioned in the real world, coupled with an adaptive and easy to use CMS. The app is designed to drive traffic to physical and online destinations, increase product sales, enhance brand engagement and bolster viral impact.

GoldRun users can take pictures alongside virtual objects and immediately post these photos to Facebook. By helping brands tap into this sharing impulse, the platform turns social networks into even more effective distribution channels as GoldRun users share images of themselves interacting with everything from scenes in blockbuster films, to iconic sports figures and the season’s must have fashion items.

GoldRun provides a more interactive and customizable approach to location-based advertising than check-in games like Foursquare and Gowalla. Campaigns, in addition to distributing special offers, include an option for users to create interesting photos (items in the H&M campaign, for instance, were positioned in a way in which they could be virtually “tried on”). Users share these photos through their Facebook profiles, which is more valuable for the brand than shared check-in information.

Given how eager brands have been to adopt location-based marketing through check-in apps, it’s not a surprise that many are eager to run campaigns on the GoldRun app. VP of Business Development Shailesh Rao calls it “V-Commerce. Rao says that more than 40 companies from various industries have approached the as of now self-funded startup about running a campaign. It will be interesting to see if consumers respond with equivalent enthusiasm.

Location-based game as a marketing tool in Sweden. Win a Mini!

11.000 people were active with this game during the campaign.
The complete results are shown in this video here.
I think it's a great way to put a product on the map.

Looking forward to 2011 (and beyond)

At the end of the year everyone looks forward. Especially marketeers want to predict the future based on the latest trends.
This one is from the trendwatching group of global advertising agency JWT.

It sounds like exciting times that were are up to.
I wish you all the best in 2011!

Read an article on "location-based everything" from JWT here.

Megabrands Disney and CocaCola create a location-based game

Coca-Cola and Walt Disney, two of the most recognizable brands in the world, have teamed up to launch LiveCycle, a location-based mobile game promoting Coke Zero and Disney’s “Tron: Legacy” film.

Read the complete story about this case at MobileMarketer.

Just for fun...

Funny look inside the Microsoft Application Laboratory. Build your apps today and submit them to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile for distribution. from: mobilethisdeveloper.com