QR codes and augmented reality are hot commodities for mobile marketing, bridging the digital and analog worlds, pushing the edges, out-of-the-box, smart, crazy and fun. A few new mobile promotions that caught our attention:

Austrian crystal purveyor Swarovski is bringing the bling to Facebook with an app that delivers the digital Warholian promise of “15 amazing seconds of fame” by inviting users to submit personal dance videos modeling sunglasses for a chance to win one of 15 pairs of Swarovski Amazing sunglasses.

Bloomingdale’s new Big Brown Bag app (click here for Android) is a play on the store's "Big Brown Bag" bags, letting users create and manage wedding registries and Loyallist rewards points and pay their bill, find discounts and promotions and scan products in-store to view promotions and find other locations. “The launch of our mobile application for iPhone and Android is part of our commitment to enhancing our customer’s omnichannel shopping experience,” said Anne Bridges, SVP site merchandising, Internet productions and planning, to Mobile Commerce Daily. "We’re now inviting couples to use their phones – instead of a gun – to scan items to add to their registry."Continue reading...

Have you gotten your Nature's Fix? If not, Nestle's new campaign is here to entice you.

Launching with three animated videos (and more to come), the campaign by America's largest bottle water seller is aimed at changing people's drinking habits from sodas and sugary sports drinks to a sparkling water alternative consisting of three natural ingredients: 100% spring water, fruit essence and bubbles.Continue reading...

Until three years ago, Nestlé’s bottled water business was booming. It boasted best-selling brands in Pure Life, Poland Springs and Perrier. Its San Pellegrino was the poster bottle for the health conscious. Americans per-capita thirst for bottled water was increasing, with average consumption growing from 16 gallons in 2000 to 29 gallons in 2007.

But the tides turned. Environmentalists began charging that water producers were misleading people about the benefits of bottled water versus tap, and started criticizing companies like Nestlé’s for the carbon footprint produced by the large amounts of energy used to transport the water from source to plant, not to mention the billions of discarded plastic bottles clogging landfills. Also at issue – increasing water scarcity as companies foraged for new springs to source.

To make matters worse, restaurants and the general public turned to tap water and cheaper brands of bottled water. Nestlé redoubled its marketing efforts, particularly for its lower-priced Pure Life brand, which sources water from municipal wells. Now, it's optimistic that a radical experiment can restore its water brands.Continue reading...