Starbucks is officially kicking off its Christmas campaign by introducing the whole pack of festive offerings. Last week, the brand introduced its Cup Magic application, encouraging consumers in the U.S and Canada to animate the characters on Starbucks Christmas cups by pointing mobile devices on them. Now, the brand has launched the dedicated mini website merry.starbucks.com to help its consumers “make the season merrier with the ones they love”—in the online hub, one can learn more about the company’s winter offerings, get the link to the AR application for iPhone and iPad (it will be also available Android-powered devices soon), create an e-card and send it to family and friends via e-mail or Facebook.
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Integrated brand design agency Blue Marlin is proud to have created powerful branding for a cause close to its heart—an initiative to help get ex-servicemen and women back into the civilian workforce, which launches today, Veterans Day. Hire A Veteran is the brainchild of Viacom’s Spike TV, a Top 10 network with men 18-49, which is determined to help real life heroes find work and to promote the businesses that hire them.
Coca-Cola is rolling out the U.S. initiative to support polar bears, a multi-platform campaign with a range of elements including QR codes, which can be spotted on dedicated Coca-Cola cups distributed by 7-Eleven. This is the first QR program launched by Coca-Cola in the USA (previously, the company launched QR code programs tied to other campaigns in Japan and Germany), and it helps promote the message of the initiative, launched by Coke and WWF earlier this month to raise awareness about the need to protect polar bear’s Arctic habitat.
This fall, Smirnoff is treating its fans with a bunch of treats, both entertainment and drinkable. The iconic vodka brand, which has launched spinoffs of its two successful projects, The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange and Master of the Mix, is now introducing two new flavored vodkas, Whipped Cream and Fluffed Marshmallow—to toast the highly anticipated second installments of the initiatives. According to the brand, the new additions to its portfolio are “to offer adult consumers a line of premium spirits that, similar to that memorable bachelorette party or a classic guys’ night out, are fun, sophisticated, and cleverly wicked.” These new products are all about sweetness and female nature, which can be both sassy and gentle.
Starbucks is bringing more fun to consumer experience this holiday season by launching its first major augmented reality smartphone app featuring five Starbucks Holiday characters from the brand’s red coffee cups, Christmas Blend bags, in-store and more. This app, developed by Blast Radius, will be launched on November 15—it comes as a hilarious addition to the range of Starbucks’ applications, which includes the mobile payment and Card e-gift apps. It will allow consumers to play with the animated characters (they perform somersault and jumps when get tapped on) and win a prize for activating all of them (so far, the brand doesn’t unveil what exactly it will be).
It’s quite a usual thing for brands to release festive or commemorative editions when it comes to some big dates or holidays like the Royal Wedding or Christmas or any other notable occasion. But adidas decided to go further and created a new pack to pay tribute to a song—Run-DMC’s 1986 track My adidas, which has become the anthem of the sneaker brand. To pay tribute to the song about the iconic sneaker, which is celebrating 25th anniversary this year, the brand is releasing DMC x adidas Superstar ‘My adidas’ sneaker, which will cost $150, in just a few days—on 11.11.11 at 11 am PST at Shopadidas.com, adidas Originals Stores, and select adidas accounts.