Category: Emerging Trends

Jameson Irish Whiskey: Blippar Space Invaders

Outdoor ads that turn into a game

Jameson Irish Whiskey recently launched a huge outdoor campaign, teaming up with augmented reality specialist Blippar for image recognition technology.

People with the Blippar app could scan any Jameson Irish Whiskey ad or bottle and immediately get immersed in a Jameson Irish Whiskey version of Space Invaders.

How the Blippar scan-to-play mechanic worked

The mechanism was straightforward. A phone camera scan triggered Blippar’s image recognition. That recognition launched an interactive AR experience on the device.

In practice, the physical media became the “portal”. The ad or bottle was the entry point. The phone was the display and controller. The game was the reward.

Why it landed, and where the interaction could be smoother

The win is immediacy. Scan and you are inside the brand world without a long setup. That kind of instant payoff makes an outdoor poster feel alive rather than static.

After playing the game myself, I found it would have been a better experience if they had allowed viewer control through tilting the phone around, instead of non stop tapping at the screen. However, it is still good to see more brands innovating like this.

What the brand was really buying

This was not just about novelty. It was about extending an outdoor campaign into a personal, interactive moment that people could not get from a standard print execution.

The intent was clear. Increase attention time. Add talk value. Create a reason to engage with the bottle and the ads beyond the first glance.

What to steal for your next AR activation

  • Make the entry point universal. “Scan any ad or bottle” reduces friction and increases participation.
  • Reward immediately. If the scan does not pay off fast, the experience loses the environment it depends on.
  • Design the controls for comfort. Favor natural motion and simple gestures over repetitive tapping when sessions run longer than a few seconds.
  • Use AR to earn time, not impressions. The value is the extra seconds of focused attention, not the novelty headline.

If you would like to give it a try, download the Blippar app on your smartphone and scan the below bottle to start playing.

Jameson Irish Whiskey

A few fast answers before you act

What was Jameson doing with Blippar?

They used Blippar’s image recognition so people could scan Jameson ads or bottles and launch an interactive AR game experience on a smartphone.

What was the core mechanic?

Scan the physical creative with the Blippar app. The scan triggers recognition. The phone immediately launches the game.

Why does scan-to-play work well for outdoor advertising?

It turns a passive glance into an active moment. The ad becomes a portal to content that holds attention longer than print.

What interaction improvement could make this smoother?

More natural viewer control, such as tilting the phone, can reduce fatigue compared to continuous tapping during gameplay.

What is the main takeaway for brands?

Use AR to earn time and engagement by delivering an immediate reward, and make the control scheme comfortable enough to sustain play.

Touch the Sound: 3D printed radio history

PolskieRadio.pl is described as a news portal with the largest radio recordings database in Poland. To promote it at Science Picnic in Warsaw, Hypermedia Isobar creates a special event built around one simple idea: make sound physically touchable.

Using 3D printing technology, they print out some of the most famous historical radio recordings, turning audio into tangible objects that visitors can hold and explore as “important sounds” of the 20th century.

In European public media and culture marketing, giving people a hands-on way to experience an intangible archive can outperform any “come visit our site” message.

How “sound you can touch” is staged

The experience works because it is instantly legible on a crowded show floor. You see unusual 3D printed forms, you learn they represent famous recordings, and you understand the invitation without needing a demo or instruction manual.

Instead of asking people to browse a deep archive, the activation turns the archive into a physical exhibit. That shift changes the audience mindset from “searching content” to “discovering artifacts”.

Why this fits Science Picnic

Science Picnic is positioned as a hands-on, experiment-first environment. A 3D printed sound object belongs there because it feels like a real scientific trick: invisible data becomes a thing you can touch, compare, and talk about with strangers.

What to steal from this approach

  • Materialize the invisible. If your product is digital, give people a physical handle on the idea.
  • Start with curiosity, then explain. A strange object earns attention before any copy does.
  • Turn an archive into a highlight reel. People engage faster when you curate “the famous 10” rather than expose “the full 10,000”.
  • Design for conversation. Installations that provoke “what is that?” get shared on the spot.

Last year tourists visiting the La Rambla neighborhood in Barcelona also experienced 3D printing technology. But at that time they were able to pose and create their very own three-dimensional statues.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Touch the Sound” for PolskieRadio.pl?

It is a live event concept where famous historical radio recordings are turned into 3D printed objects, so visitors can literally touch “sounds” as physical artifacts.

Why use 3D printing for a radio archive?

Because it converts an intangible asset into a tangible experience. People understand the idea instantly and remember it because it feels like a scientific reveal.

Why does this kind of activation work at a science fair?

Science fairs reward hands-on discovery. A physical “sound object” matches the environment, so visitors treat it like an exhibit rather than an ad.

What is the key strategic benefit for the brand?

It reframes a large digital archive as cultural heritage worth exploring, and it creates a memorable story people can retell in one sentence.

What is the most transferable lesson?

If your brand owns data, recordings, or digital history, curate the best pieces and give people a tactile, participatory way to encounter them.