Disney Appmates. The next toy revolution

Disney recently announced a new line of toys called Disney Appmates. These new toys and the iPad work in tandem to create a very new age play experience. Featuring the likenesses of characters from Cars 2, the Appmates are miniature figures with special sensors mounted on the bottom. The sensors work with the Cars 2 Appmates app to identify each figure when put against the iPad screen.

The Apple and Disney Stores will start selling Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Finn McMissile, and Holley Shiftwell in October. Francesco Bernoulli and Shu Todoroki will be launched in November and will be made available exclusively through the Apple Store.

What is actually new here

The interesting shift is not “toys plus an app.” It is the iPad becoming part of the physical play space. The figure is not only a character. It becomes an input. Place it on the screen, and the app recognizes it and reacts. That is a different play loop than tapping icons, or watching a video, or playing a standalone game. Here, play loop means the repeated sequence of placing a figure, getting a reaction, and continuing the experience through the object itself. That works because turning the toy into the input collapses the gap between physical play and digital response, which makes the interaction feel immediate and intuitive.

In kids’ entertainment and licensed merchandise, the scalable opportunity is not a one-off app but a repeatable toy-to-screen system that sells both characters and ongoing play.

Why this lands beyond novelty

This is an early but strategically important shift from screen play to object-based interaction. The real question is whether the screen stays the destination, or becomes the stage for a physical product system that can expand one character at a time.

Extractable takeaway: When the physical object becomes the interface, each new character can work as both merchandise and feature unlock, which makes the product line easier to extend without rebuilding the core experience.

Why the Cars 2 character lineup matters

The character list makes the product strategy visible. Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Finn McMissile, and Holley Shiftwell anchor the launch. Francesco Bernoulli and Shu Todoroki extend the line later. The Apple Store exclusive adds a distribution edge for a toy that is, by definition, tied to an iPad experience. It is a simple way to turn character collecting into repeat purchases inside the same iPad-led system.

What to steal for toy-to-screen experiences

  • Make the physical object the input device. The figure becomes the controller, not an accessory.
  • Keep identification effortless. Recognition on contact avoids pairing and keeps play fast.
  • Use characters as modular content units. Each figure is a new capability that expands the same base app.
  • Distribute where the audience already buys the ecosystem. Selling via Apple and Disney channels reinforces the iPad-first play pattern.

A few fast answers before you act

What are Disney Appmates?

A line of toys designed to work with an iPad to create a combined physical and digital play experience.

How do the toys interact with the iPad?

The miniature figures have sensors mounted on the bottom, which the app uses to identify each figure when placed on the iPad screen.

Which characters are part of the initial release?

Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Finn McMissile, and Holley Shiftwell.

What comes next?

Francesco Bernoulli and Shu Todoroki extend the lineup and are described here as Apple Store exclusives.

What is the transferable pattern?

Use physical objects as modular inputs, so collecting characters expands the experience without changing the core platform.

SNS Bank: I Want Interest on My Current Account

SNS Bank promotes a simple product shift. Paying interest on a normal current account. Instead of leading with rates and fine print, the work frames it as something worth protesting for.

People “join” the protest using their Facebook or Twitter account. Their profile picture then becomes the campaign’s moving unit, connected into live rich media placements running on Dutch publisher inventory such as msn.nl and telegraaf.nl. Here, the moving unit is the participant’s profile picture reused as the visible building block of the protest crowd.

How the protest mechanic is built

The mechanism is straightforward. Sign up with a social account, capture the profile image, then re-render that image as part of a marching crowd inside dynamic banners. The same identity asset travels from social sign-up, to landing experience, to high-impact display formats, including what is described as a homepage takeover on telegraaf.nl.

In European retail banking, feature-led propositions like “interest on current accounts” often need a memorable way for customers to visibly participate to cut through price parity and low attention.

Why it lands

It takes a boring benefit and gives it a human visual. A rate becomes a crowd. That shift matters because it makes the offer feel socially validated and easy to explain. It also turns ordinary display inventory into a live proof point, because the banners visibly update with real people rather than generic stock photography. This is the right strategic move because the campaign makes participation itself the proof of relevance.

Extractable takeaway: When your proposition is a small financial feature, convert it into a visible social object. One reusable profile image can power sign-up, storytelling, and proof across every paid placement.

What SNS Bank is really trying to achieve

The business intent is to make “interest on a current account” feel like a category change, not a marginal tweak. The protest framing gives SNS Bank permission to be louder than the feature itself, and it creates a participation funnel that can be measured from social sign-up to on-site conversion.

The real question is how to make a marginal banking feature feel like a public movement rather than a line item in a comparison table.

What to steal from this protest-led banking launch

  • Turn the benefit into a visual system. If the offer is intangible, give it a repeating picture that accumulates and grows.
  • Use one identity artifact everywhere. A single profile image can unify sign-up, landing experience, and ad formats into one story.
  • Make paid media feel live. Dynamic creative that visibly changes reads as proof, not just persuasion.
  • Respect permission and platform rules. If you are pulling profile images, ensure consent is explicit and the experience stays compliant.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core mechanic of this campaign?

People join via Facebook or Twitter, and their profile image is then reused as the creative building block inside a marching protest rendered across rich media banners.

Why use display banners for something that starts in social?

Because banners can function as visible proof at scale. The audience sees real faces moving through the ad units, which makes the proposition feel active rather than purely claimed.

What is the main advantage of the “protest” framing?

It makes a dry feature feel like a cause. That reframing increases memorability and gives people a simple story to repeat.

What is the biggest risk in copying this approach?

Using social identity assets without clear consent creates trust and compliance issues. If the sign-up step is not explicit, the same mechanic can backfire fast.

When does this kind of mechanic work best?

It works best when the product feature is real but visually weak. The participation layer gives the feature a public shape without changing the underlying offer.

Carlsberg: Bikers in cinema experiment

In a Belgian cinema, an “easy night out” turns into a small test of nerve. A couple walks in with tickets in hand. The room looks full. The only two empty seats are in the middle. The twist is that the audience is packed with intimidating bikers.

Carlsberg and Duval Guillaume Modem set this up as an experiment to reinforce the brand’s association with making the right choices. Reactions were recorded and edited into a viral film that rewards the people who stay seated rather than turn around.

The mechanism that makes it work

The mechanics are simple and deliberate. Fill the room. Leave two seats. Let unsuspecting pairs make a binary decision in public. Stay or leave. The tension is real because the setting is real, and the social pressure is visible to everyone watching.

Once a couple commits and sits down, the room flips from threat to approval. The bikers applaud, and the moment turns into a reward scene that makes the brand feel like it “saw” the better choice.

In crowded FMCG categories, social experiments work when they dramatize a value claim in a single, easy-to-retell moment.

The real question is whether you can borrow social risk to create attention without breaking participant trust.

Why it lands: social risk, then social proof

The audience experiences the same internal dialogue as the couples. Do I trust my instincts. Do I judge by appearance. Do I avoid discomfort. That tension is the hook. The applause is the release. Here, “social risk” is the fear of being judged in public, and “social proof” is the crowd signalling approval once the choice is made.

Extractable takeaway: When you borrow social pressure as the hook, you must also design visible approval as the proof, so the value claim is retellable in one line.

It also produces a clean moral without preaching. The brave are rewarded. The crowd is not actually hostile. The viewer walks away with a feeling that maps neatly onto the brand’s “good decision” positioning.

What Carlsberg is buying with this stunt

This is not about product attributes. It is about emotional territory. Confidence. Decency under pressure. And the idea that choosing Carlsberg is the grown-up, correct move when there are multiple options. This is a smart brand play because it turns “making the right choice” into observable behaviour, but it only works when the participants are treated carefully.

It is also engineered for sharing. The setup can be explained in one sentence, and the payoff is satisfying even if you only watch the last third of the video.

Design rules for your own brand experiments

  • Make the choice binary. The story works because there is a clear yes or no moment.
  • Stage tension, then earn release. If you create discomfort, you must repay it with warmth or justice.
  • Keep the “why” instantly readable. Viewers should understand what is being tested without narration.
  • Reward the behaviour you want to own. The applause is not decoration. It is the message.
  • Protect trust. If participants feel tricked or harmed, the brand loses the moral high ground.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Carlsberg “bikers in cinema” experiment?

It is a filmed cinema stunt where unsuspecting couples enter a theatre filled with bikers and find only two seats left among them. Their decision to stay or leave becomes the story, and the people who stay are rewarded.

Why is this more shareable than a typical ad?

Because the premise is instantly understandable and the emotional arc is clean. Tension, decision, payoff. That structure travels well as a short video.

What brand message does the stunt communicate?

That “making the right choice” is a real behaviour under pressure, not a slogan. The brand borrows credibility by rewarding the choice on camera.

What is the biggest risk with social-experiment advertising?

Breaking trust. If the situation feels unsafe, humiliating, or coercive, the audience will side with the participants, not the brand.

How do you adapt this pattern without copying the stunt?

Create a public moment with a clear decision, then design a surprising but positive reward that proves your positioning. Keep the stakes emotional, not harmful.