Here’s a rundown of our top ten innovative Marketing & Advertising ideas over the last year.

1. Magazine ad offers free wifi to readers

Smartphones are everywhere these days, but finding that elusive free wifi connection to use them can be much more difficult. To advertise its Office 365 software, Microsoft teamed up with Forbes magazine and T-mobile to insert a miniature hotspot into selected copies of its May 6 2013 issue. The campaign, created with advertising tech firm Americhip, simultaneously promoted the validity of Microsoft’s cloud-based program and gave Forbes’ readership an excuse to carry the publication with them – killing two birds with one stone.

Read more about the Americhip campaign »

2. In South Africa, drones repurposed to deliver beer to festivalgoers

Brand sponsorships at popular music festivals can be great for businesses, but often limit product choice for attendees. Looking to go that bit further to create brand engagement, Windhoek developed a system whereby revelers at the OppiKoppi festival – taking place in South Africa in August – can order a free beer through their GPS-enabled smartphone and promptly receive a can to their approximate location, delivered through the air via specially-repurposed flying robots. Going the extra mile to create a unique experience for customers isn’t dead after all.

Read more about OppiKoppi »

3. Shopping cart-mounted tablet detects nearby items and offers recipes in real time

Having made our Top 10 Food & Beverage Ideas list last year for its innovative Recipe Receipt campaign, Hellmann’s returned to provide another unique way to experience the supermarket. Trialled in Brazil, the initiative saw shopping carts fitted with NFC-enabled tablets. When users placed a Hellmann’s product in their trolley, the display showed potential meal ideas they could make with the other items on the shelves next to them. According to the company, sales rose by 70 percent. This is a marketing campaign with serious potential as a future option for in-store advertising.

Read more about Hellmann’s Recipe Cart »

4. Thailand billboards can be used to build homes when they’re not in use

It’s clear that in the age of internet, consumers know a lot more about brands and how they act on their social responsibility. In order to present itself as a people-centered business, Thailand’s HomePro DIY store collaborated with BBDO Bangkok to create The Other Side campaign. Since the country’s homeless population often reappropriate road-side billboards in order to create makeshift shelters, the company decorated the reverse of their advertisements with wallpaper and fitted them with practical shelves and hangers. When they’d served their use as marketing tools for HomePro, they could then be used to brighten up the lives of those less fortunate.

Read more about The Other Side camapaign »

5. Concept store enables customers to make and share their own digital ‘look book’

Social media has arguably become an integral element to any business’s marketing strategy, although there are different ideas on how it can best be used. For the launch of the new Karl Lagerfeld Store in Amsterdam in April, the fashion label tapped into consumer desire to share purchases with friends and family by placing iPads in changing rooms, loaded with an app that enables shoppers to take photos of their look, apply a filter and post online. The store also enables visitors to leave their comments on the Karl Lagerfeld Facebook page via tablets located around the space. A great example of the emerging trend for combining the online and offline worlds.

Read more about the Karl Lagerfeld Store »

6. Employees rewarded for getting involved in brands’ social media strategies

Many companies of a reasonable size dedicate part of their staff to promotional output – a team that is responsible for the creation and implementation of marketing ideas. Breaking apart this traditional way of working, Meevl set out to create a platform to help businesses include their entire workforce in online campaigns. Working on the premise that anyone engaged with the business might have positive ideas about how to promote the company, the system enables management to set competitions and prizes to encourage everyone to suggest ideas for social media initiatives. As well as boosting employee motivation, Meevl helps businesses to take full advantage of the creativity of their staff.

Read more about Meevl »

7. Site enables consumers to talk back to commercials

As any broadcast advertiser knows, sales figures only tell a part of the story of the success of television campaigns because the medium is essentially one-way communication. The social nature of the web is increasingly giving consumers a say and AdYapper’s platform aims to provide this kind of open communication for those working in television advertising. Visitors to the site can watch, up- or down-vote and give their opinion on creative ads. By letting viewers join the discussion, broadcast advertisers can gain insight into the reasons why their campaign failed or succeeded.

Read more about AdYapper »

8. At Rio carnival, beer cans recycled in exchange for train rides

A lot of social problems don’t have easy answers, let alone ones that truly engage consumers and alter their behavior. It’s probably rare that a promotional campaign for an alcoholic beverage can provide both solutions and benefits for its targeted audience. However, with its Beer Turnstile campaign, Brazil’s AmBev – in collaboration with advertising agency AlmapBBDO – did just this. Offering partygoers at the annual Rio carnival a free train ride home in exchange for handing in an empty can of its Antarctica beer, the company simultaneously avoided rubbish on the street, ensured the cans were recycled, reduced instances of drink driving by 43 percent, provided attendees with free transport and promoted the brand, the carnival and the train operators as socially responsible businesses.

Read more about the Beer Turnstile campaign »

9. In Brazil, campaign offers test drives to broken down motorists

Personalized and targeted advertising is booming online thanks to innovations such as Google AdWords, but what about in the real world? The Rescue Drive campaign for Orca Chevrolet set out to create a marketing experience only for those whose car had broken down. Working with a local tow company, the brand was able to target test drives at consumers in need of a free lift home. As well as enabling them to try out the model at a time when they might be considering purchasing a new car, the campaign also took advantage of the positive feelings associated with the act of kindness.

Read more about the Rescue Drive campaign »

10. In Spain, lemonade made cheaper when temperature rises

When the weather is hot, sales of lemonade go up – this is something that even entrepreneurial kids can understand. However, weather predictions aren’t the best foundation on which to base a business. In order to bypass actually knowing what the weather will be like, marketing agency Momentum Madrid worked with Coca-Cola to create a vending machine selling its Limon Y Nada beverage, fitted with a temperature sensor that detected how warm it was in the location it was placed. When the temperature rose, the price of the drink was automatically reduced in order to offer smart discounts at exactly the right moment.

Read more about the Limon Y Nada campaign »

Smart sports equipment has been emerging for a while now, and we’ve seen performance-monitoring tennis racquets, bikes, and even basketballs. Electronics and watersports don’t tend to go hand-in-hand – however, Instabeat is a waterproof display for goggles that measures swimming performance and provides feedback.

Where some swimmers may opt for a chest device that can monitor the user’s heartbeat, the Instabeat clips onto any pair of goggles and senses beats per minute from the temporal artery. Colored LEDs on the device let swimmers know how hard they’re working – blue for fat burning, green for fitness workouts and red for maximum performance. Instabeat also measures calories burnt and lap times, alerting users to when theyre close to reaching their targets as they swim. Once out of the pool, the headset can be connected to a computer via USB to upload the data for storing. The video below offers more information about the Instabeat:

The startup, which is based in Lebanon, recently raised over USD 50,000 through its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and those interested are still able to order one for USD 139, rather than the retail price of USD 149. Which other sports could do with their own wearable tech to provide monitoring and analysis of player performance?

Website: www.instabeat.me
Contact: info@instabeat.me

Spotted by: Raymond Neo

Regular readers of Springwise may remember Kisskissbankbank, the France-based site we covered back in 2009 that allows music fans to invest in artists’ future. The team behind it is now back with a new project called hellomerci, a peer-to-peer lending platform that uses Kickstarter-style crowdfunding elements.

The traditional means of getting a loan – involving credit checks and applications – can be frustrating for some, or could even mean being denied the money to get their project started. hellomerci users first set up their own page, describing what they need support for, how much and when and how they expect to repay their backers. When those browsing the site find a project they like and trust, they can choose an amount to help the user reach their goal. If the project is successful, the money is transferred and lenders receive monthly repayments on their loan for the duration set by the user. One benefit of taking a loan through hellomerci is that, rather than an applied interest rate, the site takes a one-off fee of three to six percent to cover administration costs. If funding isn’t successful, no money is transferred and users don’t have to pay any fees and avoid the black mark on their credit record they might get if a traditional bank loan application fails. The video below explains more about how the process works:

hellomerci is a system based on transparency and trust – there is obviously a risk for lenders that the individual they’ve supported may renege on their repayments, but the company works with France’s La Banque Postale and operates a friendly settlement policy that gives users the chance to pay the money. With distrust of large banking companies growing since the 2007 credit crisis, are there other alternatives to traditional banking?

Website: www.hellomerci.com
Contact: www.hellomerci.com/en/contact

Spotted by: Alexia Maury

Netherlands-based Sandwichbikes has already enabled consumers to build their own bikes from a self-assembly kit. Now UK’s Global Vehicle Trust wants to bring the OX – a lightweight flatpack truck that can be built in a day – to African regions in need of cheap transportation.

Designed specifically to cater for the kind of terrains found in the remote villages of the developing world, the OX weighs 1,500 kilograms and can carry up to 13 people at a time. In order to cut down assembly time, the vehicle is made out of simple parts, can be prepared for delivery by UK engineers in around 5 hours, and takes three people 11.5 hours to assemble the truck fully. It’s size when flatpacked is small enough that six packed trucks can be loaded into the assembled OX itself. It is hoped that the truck could be a cheap way to transport those who otherwise have to travel far distances for water and other resources, while also providing quick assembly when the trucks are needed for medical emergencies in the case of natural disaster, epidemics or conflict. However, as the Global Vehicle Trust points out, there has been demand for the vehicle even in developed countries – from farmers, estate owners and those dealing with rough terrain.

It is hoped that the OX could become an essential part of the infrastructure of village communities, vastly improving the quality of life for those in remote areas. Are there other complex vehicles that could be redesigned for flatpack assembly?

Website: www.globalvehicletrust.com
Contact: www.globalvehicletrust.com/contact

Spotted by: Murray Orange

Outdoors types are always innovating and looking for ways to make items more practical – as our recent coverage of the Earl survival tablet proves. Similarly, the Windcatcher is a portable air bed that can be fully inflated in seconds.

Traditional air mats for campers can be cumbersome and take time and effort to inflate and deflate. The Windcatcher takes advantage of the physics of air pressure – fast moving air has low pressure, and high-pressure air is drawn to it. When users blow into the airbed’s valve, which is much wider than typical plastic toggles, its size enables it to take in all of the high-pressure air that is dragged alongside the breath of the user. The creators of the Windcatcher estimate that the system is ten to 15 times more efficient that current models and therefore fills up the bed with air after around five short blows. Without need for a separate pump, the airbed doesn’t take up much space in hikers’ backpacks and is even smaller than a traditional roll mat at around 9 x 3.5 inches. The Windcatcher recently raised just under USD 150,000 on Kickstarter, and the product’s usual retail cost is USD 120. The video below shows that airbed in action:

What’s interesting about the technology behind Windcatcher is its multiple potential applications in other fields. The inflation technology could be used for quick inflation of temporary structures from tents to bouncy castles, and could even work for lifesaving flotation devices. Are there other superior alternatives to inventions we take for granted?

Website: www.windcatchergear.com
Contact: www.windcatchergear.com/pages/contact-us

For an industry that is currently undergoing a shift from analog to digital products, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen innovations that merge the two – such as Poland’s Elektrobiblioteka. Now the Booke app is a companion for readers of physical books, offering digital search, copying and note-taking facilities.

While e-readers come with the convenience and features connected with digital media, there is still a large demand for physical books and the tactile experience they offer. The team behind Booke take advantage of a large database of fiction and non-fiction titles, which have already been transferred to a digital format. When users are reading a physical book, they can take a picture of the front or type in the ISBN code into the app. Users can then either type or speak commands, such as searches for key terms, copying and saving specific paragraphs or sentences for later and make comments and notes on particular pages. Readers can also share their activity with friends, allowing others to read a book with their own personalized footnotes. The video below explains more about the app:

Booke combines the best elements of both analog and digital reading, and also donates half of the profit from every book it adds to its library to environmental charities. Are there other ways to merge the old and new world of books?

Website: www.booke.co
Contact: www.booke.co/#contact

Spotted by: Murray Orange

Platforms such as Gidsy have already offered a way for locals to find new experiences in their city. Now a new app called Commune enables event organizers to promote community projects and recruit volunteers to bring them to life.

Initially created for students at Colombia, and later launched at New York University and Oxford University in the UK, the app aims to provide a way to raise awareness of events among local communities. It is currently trialling its Neighborhood NYC Beta to expand its features for larger regional groups in order to residents become more aware of the projects happening in their area. Organizers can upload details of their event and then choose to invite individual friends, members of a network such as a college, anyone living in a particular part of the city, or the entire city. As well as recruiting attendees for their event, planners can also put out calls for help and volunteering. Users can potentially use the app to ascertain interest in an event before they even start planning it, making it a Songkick-style platform for community events.

Bringing event promotion and information to the hyperlocal scale, Commune hopes to foster better connections between the different communities that live in the same district. It is available for free on the App Store. Are there other ways to make it easier for local residents to collaborate on projects that will benefit them all?

Website: www.oncommune.com
Contact: www.twitter.com/followcommune

Spotted by: Jess

We’ve already seen Eu que Fiz help those in Brazilian favelas to start their own catering businesses. Now New York City-based FoodtoEat.com wants to get immigrant workers running food trucks to learn how to use digital technology to boost their businesses.

Founded by 26-year-old Deepti Sharma Kapur, the company is hoping to make ordering online from food trucks as easy as it has become for customers of large restaurants and takeaways. FoodtoEat.com has a large, searchable database of independent food retailers – both small restaurants and food trucks – from which its users are able to order meals for delivery or pick-up without hassle. Rather than relying on footfall, the platform opens up those businesses – which are often run by immigrants or workers without the resources to set themselves up online – to a much larger audience. When a customer makes a payment through the site, a ticket is printed on a GPRS device at the food truck with the order details. Diners can then simply pick up their meal after a short wait. The following interview with Fast Company offers more information about the project:

In order to build trust among the community of food truck owners in NYC, as well as run a sustainable business, FoodtoEat.com only charges USD 0.10 per order, rather than to ten to 18 percent taken by services working with larger food companies. Could this model work for businesses in other industries that rely on brick-and-mortar points of sale?

Website: www.foodtoeat.com
Contact: info@foodtoeat.com

We recently covered the SatSleeve, an iPhone case that turns the device into a powerful satellite phone capable of making calls from any location. Now the Earl is a tablet specifically engineered for rigorous outdoor use and featuring a built-in solar panel.

Running on Android 4.1 with an E-Ink screen, the rugged tablet is stripped back, but features precise GPS and orientation sensors to give users detailed information about their location, direction and elevation. The tablet also has internal weather sensors that offer accurate data about the climate and FRS, GMRS and MURS transceivers that provide resilient two-way multimedia communication with Walkie-Talkies and other Earl devices. The tablet comes with 16 gigabytes of hard-drive space, as well as a USB socket, and is equipped with useful survival guides in PDF format. Users can get over 20 hours of life out of the tablet battery, which can be charged with the built-in solar panel. The touchscreen can be used even with gloves on and the device is water, dust and shock-proof, withstanding submersion in three feet of water for 30 minutes.

The team behind Earl created their own crowdfunding platform to fund the development of the device, reaching 195 percent of their target. Although the campaign is over, customers can still pre-order the tablet for USD 299 in either the Coal or Snow design. Although designed for explorers and mountain climbers, it’s easy to see how a device like Earl could be used in emergency scenarios or in remote environments.

Website: www.meetearl.com
Contact: www.meetearl.com/contact

Spotted by: Dietfried Globocnik

Online platforms such as France’s CitéGreen have enabled consumers to receive rewards for eco behavior, but what about regions where the internet isn’t so readily available? Wecyclers is a project based in Nigeria that aims to incentivize recycling through text message points that can be exchanged for everyday items.

Recycling programs are under developed in countries such as Nigeria, where municipal governments process only 13 percent of potentially recyclable waste. Wecyclers is now encouraging citizens to take the matter into their own hands, separating their plastic bottles and aluminium cans for collection by the startup’s bicycle-powered trailers. Families signing up for the scheme receive points depending on how many kilograms of recyclable material they hand over, sent to them via SMS. Every three months, Wecyclers holds an event where customers can trade their text message points for goods such as cell phone minutes, basic foodstuff and household items. The biggest recyclers can also win more luxurious prizes such as clothes and books.

Wecyclers has teamed up with big brands such as Coca-Cola in order to offer the prizes, and has already gained the attention of the Lagos Waste Management Authority. Could other countries with poor waste recycling management implement similar schemes?

Website: www.wecyclers.com
Contact: founders@wecyclers.com

Spotted by: Raymond Neo

We’ve already seen portable transport upgraded from fold-up bicycles to the suitcase-sized Moveo motorbike. Now the Hovertrax is a Segway-like electric gyroscopic vehicle that is hands-free and can fit in the user’s backpack.

Similar to the self-balancing scooter, the Hovertrax features a platform that connects two electric motor-powered wheels, which use gyroscopes and accelerometers to keep users upright. After stepping onto the vehicle, users lean forward to start moving. The platform is split into two, enabling users to turn by putting greater pressure on one side than the other. The batteries that power the device allow riders to travel at up to six miles per hour for around four miles. Without handles users can step off the machine at any point and at nine pounds in weight, the vehicle can easily be carried by hand or in a backpack when not in use. The video below shows the Hovertrax in action:

Inventist – the company that developed the Hovertrax – has already surpassed its target on crowdfunding site Kickstarter. With greater development and more power, could this be the future of pedestrian transport?

Website: www.inventist.com
Contact: www.inventist.com/contact

Spotted by: Murray Orange

When it come to hospital stays – especially lengthy ones – it can make a big difference to help patients feel as comfortable as possible. We recently saw Scotland’s Hospital Passport scheme aim to put children at ease, and now France-based startup Hôpital Affinité wants to connect those in hospital with fellow patients that share similar interests.

Hoping to be implemented in institutions across the country, the startup offers a platform that enables patients to fill out their interests, alongside their time of stay. The service then offers recommendations of current patients who enjoy the same things. Users can chat over the system – on their laptop or smartphone – before viewing a map of the building to find out where their friend’s bed is. Since patients often rely on visits from relatives and friends for company, Hôpital Affinité aims to make patient stays more enjoyable by connecting them with like-minded guests. At the same time, hospitals can also communicate important announcements to their patients through the service.

The startup was recently named the winner of the Doctors 2.0 & You prize and is looking for hospitals to pick up the platform. How else can patients be made more comfortable?

Website: www.hopitalaffinite.com
Contact: www.hopitalaffinite.com/en/contact-2.html

Spotted by: Alexia Maury

With all of the resources the web has to offer, teachers can now go beyond the textbook when organizing their lessons plans, and tools such as Learnist have already made it easier for them to collect their online research. Now Linked2Teach aims to provide a way for educators to gain inspiration by seeing what’s going on in classrooms around the world through themed pinboards.

Users logging in can immediately search for terms related to their field, student age range or the time of year. Learn2Teach then loads a panel of images uploaded by other teachers showing some of the projects they’ve worked on that match the search terms. When they find something that could provide inspiration for their own lessons, teachers can then add to their folders for reference or simply click the heart button to like it. Images with higher numbers of likes or saves are automatically moved to the top of search results. Educators can also add images of their own lesson ideas.

Although still in the primitive stages, Learn2Teach could be the basis of a quick and easy tool for education professionals to glean what’s going on around the world and gain inspiration. Are there other ways to connect teachers in far flung corners of the globe?

Website: www.linked2teach.com
Contact: www.linked2teach.com/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1

Airbnb has opened up a new market for consumer-provided tourist accommodation, and we’ve seen other businesses such as EatWith inspired by the service. Now San Francisco-based Urban Bellhop is tapping into the Airbnb customer base by offering a check-in service for those hosting tourists.

For those who open up their property as accommodation for travelers while they’re away, or are simply too busy to meet up with their guests, Urban Bellhop has a team of professional rental hosts who can act as a middleman between the two parties. Hosts can register their property with Urban Bellhop and allow them to securely keep a spare key on their file. At times when they are unable to greet their guests, homeowners can then get the company to liaise with visitors, check them into the house and help them feel welcome.

Urban Bellhop is an example of a business that has come into being thanks to new industries and technologies opened up by innovators. Are there products or services that could cater for the Airbnb crowd?

Website: www.urbanbellhop.com
Contact: www.urbanbellhop.com/contact

Disabled residents of London have already been kept aware of some of the stylish events happening at locations with access for wheelchair users through the Blue Badge Style platform. In a similar vein, New York-based Ability List is now hoping to become the Craigslist for less able people.

The latter site has already become a popular way for local communities to advertise their accommodation, jobs and services, but those with special requirements often have to trawl through posts to find the ones able to cater to their needs. As Andrew Horn, founder and CEO of Ability List, told Fast Company: “Unfortunately a lot of those people live isolated lives unnecessarily simply because they don’t know about the programs, resources, organizations and individuals that are available to help them.” The site therefore aims to better connect communities of disabled people, making it easier to find others with similar needs, as well as the services that provide for them. On top of its search function, Ability List also provides users with tailored update emails covering the topics they’re interested in.

The site is already live in New York and Horn wants to licence the platform to local governments to help them improve the quality of life for disabled people in their region. Are there other ways to easily connect those sharing similar experiences?

Website: www.abilitylist.com
Contact: andrew@abilitylist.com

Customizations and personalization have been big themes in the fashion world in recent years, with platforms such as Keds Studio enabling consumers to design their own shoes and sell them. Now Bobbi-Toads is enabling young girls to alter the look of their footwear on a regular basis, with nail polish and remover that is applied straight onto the shoe.

The sneakers come in a variety of designs and colors, but all feature a white rubber toe cap with embossed ‘toes’. Along with the shoes, customers can separately buy Bobbi-Polish, which is non-toxic, hypoallergenic and cruelty-free, available in ten different colors. Girls can then use the polish to paint the nails of the rubber toes – just like they would their real toenails – or customize the shoes in any other way. Using the Bobbi-Polish Remover, they can clean off any designs they’ve made and replace them with others.

Bobbi-Toads make fashion more engaging for young girls, while also preparing them for when they’re old enough to paint their real nails. Are there other ways to encourage creativity through personalized goods?

Website: www.bobbitoads.com
Contact: www.bobbitoads.com/contact

It’s always exciting to hear about the progress made by businesses that we’ve previously featured. Here are some updates from founders who have all got in touch to share their latest news:

Hell of a Job

Back in July of last year, Israel-based advertising agency BBR Saatchi & Saatchi IL set out to recruit its next computer programmer in an environment they were likely comfortable with – within the realms of RPG game Diablo III. Hundreds of potential programmers applied to take part in the campaign, and the company had to limit the in-game interviews to the 100 most promising candidates. After offering a grilling about teamwork and programming skills during gameplay, the agency succeeded in hiring a computer science graduate.

mySugr

Given current trends for quantifying every aspect of life on smartphones, it was only a matter of time before someone realized how such data collection could help diabetics. Austria-based mySugr gamifies the task by treating the condition as a monster that can only be sated with information about the blood glucose levels and time of insulin injections. After receiving FDA approval, the app has launched in the US with a new sleek design and functionality that enables users to easily create PDFs of their data to deliver to doctors.

FlightCar

Rather than leaving their car in an airport parking lot when they travel abroad, FlightCar wants to let holidaymakers rent out their unused vehicles to others while they’re away. It’s been working hard at this project since we covered them last October, but it has now been faced with a lawsuit from the City of San Francisco and the city’s airport. While it’s fair to say that an idea such as this has potential to infringe on other companies’ profit-making, FlightCar insists it is operating within the law and already pays fees to the airport. The startup isn’t giving up, having now launched in Boston, expanding its facilities to those traveling by train or subway, and adding a complimentary concierge service to its roster.

TinyTap

We wrote about TinyTap when it was a fledgling startup and caught up with the company in our Where Are They Now? feature earlier this year. After rapidly expanding the number of features included in its personalized game-building platform for iOS devices, the startup has now launched its own TinyTap Social Market, an app store enabling users to sell their creations to others. The number of people downloading the app has grown to 200,000 and is set to expand even further in the near future.

Mapfia

One of the things that caught our eye when we first wrote about Mapfia last year was its mission to offer greater data to its users without affecting their privacy. The app – which enables smartphone owners to temporarily share their GPS location with friends and family – has now launched in Canada, UK, Brazil, India, China, Japan and Taiwan and was also recognized with a shortlisting for the Meffys Innovation App Award in September 2012.

Hot on the heels of our coverage of DOODAD, the SIM card that offers an alternative data plan for frequent travelers, we’ve come across another innovative package for telecoms consumers. Korea-based network T is offering the LTE Data Gift plan, which enables customers with leftover data allowance at the end of the month to donate it to a contact.

Smartphone users often have different needs – some like to use their devices primarily for calling, while others mostly take advantage of their mobile web capabilities. However, many tariffs offer both a set amount of phone time and data usage every month, some of which remains unused at the end of the 30-day period. Rather than let it go to waste, the SK Telecoms subsidiary has launched a plan that allows customers with excess data to donate up to two gigabytes to friends or relatives on the same network. According to the company, some half a million gifts were made in the first 40 days after its launch in January — mostly parents giving to their children.

The scheme has helped consumers to put the unused allowance they pay for to good use, wile also building brand loyalty. Are there other ways to engage users while improving data provision to mobile customers?

Website: www.tworld.co.kr
Contact: www.twitter.com/sktworld

Spotted by: R Steinberg

One way to encourage people to recycle their trash is to offer something in return – something that Mexico’s Mercado du Trueque scheme took advantage of. Now the Beer Turnstile marketing campaign in Brazil has seen carnival-goers hand in empty beer cans in return for a free train ride home.

Developed by advertising agency AlmapBBDO to promote AmBev‘s Antarctica beer, the project invited revellers at the annual carnival in Rio de Janeiro to hold onto their cans – rather than discarding them in the street – until the event had finished. When they arrived at the train station a modified turnstile – fitted with a barcode reader – granted access to passengers who scanned their empty beer can and deposited it in the provided bin. The collected rubbish was then donated to a recycling NGO. The video below explains more about the initiative:

According to the team behind the effort, the turnstile saw around 1,000 users per hour, 86 percent higher than usual traffic. The number of drink driving incidents that evening also dropped 43 percent. The campaign therefore succeeded on multiple fronts – reducing crime levels by encouraging drunk partygoers to take public transport, reducing rubbish on the street and getting it recycled, saving consumers money on train fares and also boosting the social responsibility image of the Antarctica beer brand.

Are there other ways to benefit multiple parties through innovative exchanges such as this?

Website: www.almapbbdo.com.br
Contact: almap@almapbbdo.com.br

Spotted by: Smith Alan

While startups such as Soma Analytics have given smartphone users the power to monitor their mood through data, our latest spotting aims to make emotion detection completely automatic. Beyond Verbal is a platform that analyzes vocal intonations in order to determine how speakers feel about what they’re saying.

According to the company, its software is the result of 18 years of research into what it calls ‘Emotions Analytics’, and is inspired by figures that suggest 90 percent of the meaning we communicate is not through the words we choose. Developed with its team of “physics, neuropsychology and decision-making experts”, Beyond Verbal’s system records voice and breaks speech down into 10 to 15-second clips, offering analysis in real-time. Developers can then use this technology as an API for larger applications. Beyond Verbal gives online dating, political truthseeking and marketing as examples, and it’s easy to see how such technology could also help those with social behavioural problems such as autism. The video below offers more information about the platform:

The company recently won USD 2.8 million seed funding from angel investors and has already launched its own Moodies app to demonstrate the capabilities of its emotion recognition engine. With voice and face recognition becoming increasingly powerful fields in mobile tech, could we see more efforts to get computers to detect our more human characteristics?

Website: www.beyondverbal.com
Contact: www.beyondverbal.com/about/get-in-touch

Spotted by: Smith Alan

LaunchKey has already helped web users to boost their online security with logins verified on their smartphone, but what about security in the real world? DoorBot is a system that aims to replace the doorbell with a camera that broadcasts direct to homeowners’ smartphones.

Created by tech developers Edison Junior, the device is a slim battery-operated doorbell that can be installed in the same way as a regular buzzer. Through a wifi connection, it is connected to the resident’s smartphone. When a visitor pushes the button, a video call is initiated through the DoorBot app, which the homeowner can either choose to reject or accept. After seeing that it’s someone they know – or after speaking to the visitor over the replacement telecom – they can then open the door. The system does work over a GSM connection, meaning that users can even answer calls when they’re not at home. Edison Junior has also partnered with Lockitron – the smartphone-enabled door lock – and has designed the DoorBot app with built-in compatibility, meaning that those with both can even let visitors in remotely. The video below explains more about the product:

Edison Junior recently successfully reached its funding target on Christie Street, and the DoorBot is available to purchase for USD 189, or in a package with the Lockitron for USD 339. Are there other ways to harness the power of smartphones to keep consumer property secure?

Website: www.christiestreet.com/products/doorbot
Contact: www.edisonjunior.com/contact.html

It may well have been eight months since Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of the US last year, but restoring the destruction it caused is still ongoing. Repair The Rockaways is a new platform that gamifies the donation process to charities rebuilding communities in the affected area.

Some 147 residents died as a result of the storm, while an estimated USD 53 million worth of damage was done to property. The Rockaways, a peninsula in the NYC borough of Queens was one of the worst hit areas, suffering floods and fires. Developed by creative agency Mother and digital media firm Casserole, Repair the Rockaways is an online platform styled similarly to Zynga’s famous Farmville game. Rather than attempting to build a working farm, the site encourages users to pay real money for digital coins, which they can use to buy building materials and place them on the map. If one person has placed some bricks on a plot, another can then add to that plot with the aim of completing a whole house. Videos documenting the repair work are unlocked depending on how much money is donated. The video below is a sample that details a personal story behind the Hurricane Sandy damage:

While the virtual construction projects don’t accurately reflect efforts on the ground, Repair The Rockaways offers an interesting way to visualize the progress of the campaign and adds a fun element to charitable giving for donors. It also serves as a way to promote rebuilding projects after the media has long since stopped covering the story. Much like the Lemonopoly game, Repair The Rockaways succeeds in enabling anyone to feel more connected to the community from their desktop.

The project has raised more than USD 3,500 for the cause since launching a few weeks ago, but hopes to reach USD 250,000. Are there other ways to use viral techniques to raise awareness of social causes?

Website: www.repairtherockaways.org
Contact: info@repairtherockaways.org

Having blood taken is never the most pleasant experience, but we have seen innovations to make it eaiser for those who need to take medication intravenously to keep track of their schedule, such as the Timesulin. Now Veebot aims to automate the process of drawing blood, making it more accurate and less stressful for patients.

Created by a team of Stanford engineers, the startup has developed a system that includes an imaging device which can detect the position on veins in the patient’s arm. After using ultrasound and infrared to select the best site for venepuncture, the robotic machine manipulates a standard butterfly catheter used to draw blood. The system also automatically removes the needle from the vial, caps it and labels it – making the healthcare professional’s job even easier. Veebot are currently keeping back the details of their patent-pending technology, and it’s unknown when the team intend to bring the device to market.

According to the company, 20 to 25 percent of all venepunctures fail to stick on the first try, resulting in two million injuries every year. By automating the process, patients can avoid potential injury and discomfort, while doctors can get on with other tasks – ultimately saving hospitals money. Are there other minor – or even major – medical tasks that could be carried out by precise engineering?

Website: www.veebot.com
Contact: info@veebot.com

Spotted by: Smith Alan

Smartphone cases are slowly becoming as smart as the handsets they accompany – take the SatSleeve as an example, which turns regular devices into powerful satellite phones. Now the AOptix Stratus is a case that adds biometric capabilities to any iPhone.

Current systems for fingerprint identity verification are either bulky or expensive, meaning that they aren’t suitable for companies that require mobile checks or can’t afford to implement the emerging technology. The AOptix Stratus fits any iPhone 4 or 4S and – along with an accompanying app – enables the smartphone to accurately and securely check the identity of users placing their finger on the biometric plate located on the back. Alternatively, the app also offers iris, face and voice recognition. The company is working with businesses to develop bespoke mobile systems depending on each client’s needs. The basic app is available on the App Store for USD 199.99, athough there is no word on how much the case will cost, according to reports. The following video shows the device in action:

The AOptix Stratus could have useful applications for a wide variety of industries, including security, government, emergency response and healthcare. Are there other ways to help bring emerging technologies such as biometric identification into the mainstream?

Website: www.aoptix.com
Contact: www.aoptix.com/contact

Spotted by: Smith Alan

When soldiers return home to continue life as a civilian, it may not be easy to reintegrate into society. We’ve already seen NY-based Incline offer help to find them tech work, and now TroopID is a platform that verifies users’ military credentials in order to offer them deals on consumer products, as well as learning opportunities.

According to the startup, most brands currently concentrate on offline methods to reach out to both active and former soldiers. TroopID has access to the US military database of army members and has developed a secure single sign-on for companies to enable the quick verification of military personnel before providing them with discounts or offers on their products. TroopID has already partnered with brands such as NFLShop.com, Zappos and Under Armour. The following video explains more about the platform:

The service saves those currently or formerly serving the US from having to fill out numerous forms in order to verify their identity. Perhaps this model be used to easily and accurately authenticate members of other groups online?

Website: www.troopid.com
Contact: www.troopid.com/contact

Spotted by: Murray Orange