Tag: Web app

Dungville: Klara the Cow Betting Game

Natwerk was asked to create something playful for the online-minded visitors of The Next Web Conference 2012. So they built an analogue prediction game featuring a real cow, then layered it with an online extension.

Klara, a grid, and a one-day “village”

The installation was framed as a tiny pop-up “village” at the conference venue. One real farmer. One real cow named Klara. A field laid out as a grid. Visitors could place bets on where she would drop her dung.

Mechanism: a physical event drives a digital game

As shown in the case film, Klara was expected to do her business several times a day, and the audience wagered on where it would happen. The web layer turns that unpredictability into a simple loop. Pick squares. Wait. Validate. Win or lose.

That mechanism works because one visible but unresolved physical outcome gives everyone the same reason to watch, talk, and check back.

In event marketing, the strongest activations turn a shared physical moment into a lightweight digital ritual people can join and talk about instantly.

Why it lands

The idea is memorable because it is absurdly literal. A real-world randomizer. A clear grid. A clear outcome. It also fits the conference crowd. People who live online love mechanics that are easy to explain, easy to screenshot, and easy to debate in real time.

Extractable takeaway: If you can attach your digital interaction to an offline moment that nobody can fully predict, you get tension for free, and tension is what keeps people checking back.

What this kind of activation is good for

The real question is whether the game gives people a simple reason to keep returning to the shared moment.

This is not about deep persuasion. It is about creating a shared story at the venue and giving the event a “small legend” people repeat after they leave. It works best when your goal is attention, conversation, and community participation rather than detailed product education.

Steal the event-game pattern

  • Use a single, visible game board. A grid makes rules self-explanatory and outcomes easy to verify.
  • Keep the loop simple. Pick. Wait. Result. Repeat. Complexity kills participation at events.
  • Make the offline moment the engine. When the physical world provides the variability, the digital layer can stay minimal.
  • Design for group talk. The best event games create debate and banter, not solo play.
  • Be deliberate about tone. Toilet-humour mechanics are polarising. If you use them, commit fully and keep it light rather than crude.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Dungville in one sentence?

It is a conference activation where a real cow on a gridded field powers a web game, letting visitors predict where she will drop dung.

Why does a real-world “random” trigger work so well?

Because it creates genuine uncertainty. People keep watching and checking because nobody can fully control the outcome.

What makes this an “online extension” rather than just a stunt?

The web layer turns the physical moment into a repeatable interaction loop, giving people a way to participate, compare picks, and track results.

What is the biggest execution risk?

Drop-off due to waiting. If results take too long, interest fades. The format needs clear timing and frequent enough outcomes to sustain attention.

What should you measure for a similar event game?

Participation rate, repeat participation, time-on-experience, social mentions during the event window, and whether attendees recall the activation as part of the event story.

Frijj: You LOL You Lose

Frijj, a UK-based milkshake brand, and Iris Worldwide developed a campaign to help people build their tolerance to the unexpected. The aim was to make Frijj’s new flavours, Honeycomb Choc Swirl, Jam Doughnut, and Sticky Toffee Pudding, feel like a challenge worth trying.

So they created an advergame, a branded game designed to promote a product through play. It pits you against friends from your social networks in a challenge of who can keep a straight face for the longest period of time while the web app serves up funny and weird YouTube videos.

A “don’t laugh” game that sells flavour confidence

The mechanic is straightforward. You start a session, the site throws escalating clips at you, and you try not to crack. The moment you smile, you lose. The format turns passive viewing into competitive viewing, which is exactly what makes it sticky. Here, “flavour confidence” means making unusual flavours feel safe and fun to try rather than risky or strange.

In FMCG launches, simple competitive mechanics are a reliable way to turn a product message into repeatable social behavior.

Why it lands

This works because it reframes product novelty as a playful test. Instead of saying “these flavours are bold”, it says “prove you can handle bold”. Social comparison does the rest. You want a better score than your friends, so you replay, you share, and you bring others into the same loop. The use of face tracking is also a smart constraint. If the system can “catch” a smile, the challenge feels fair and measurable rather than self-reported.

Extractable takeaway: If your product promise is “unexpected”, build a mechanic where the audience has to demonstrate composure or control. The brand benefit becomes the rule of the game, not the line of copy.

What Frijj is really buying with this advergame

This is a strong launch mechanic because it turns trial curiosity into repeatable social play at scale. The real question is whether the product promise can become a rule people want to test with friends. The game creates time spent, repeat visits, and a socially distributed invitation mechanic, all while keeping the brand message consistent. New flavours that might feel risky in a supermarket become a badge of fun online.

Design rules worth borrowing from Frijj

  • Make the rule binary. Smile equals lose. Simple rules travel.
  • Use content people already understand. YouTube “weird and funny” clips need no explanation.
  • Turn replay into the product benefit. Each retry reinforces “unexpected” as the brand’s territory.
  • Design social competition as the default. Friends, scores, and bragging rights beat generic “share this”.
  • If you use webcam detection, be explicit. Clear consent and clear on-screen feedback keep trust intact.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core idea of “You LOL You Lose”?

A straight-face challenge where the “payment” is composure. You watch funny clips and try not to smile longer than your friends.

What is an advergame?

An advergame is a branded game designed to promote a product by turning the message into gameplay rather than traditional advertising.

How does the game know you “lost”?

It is described as using face tracking through your webcam to detect a smile. When you smile, the session ends.

Why is this a good fit for launching unusual flavours?

Because it converts “new and unexpected” into a playful challenge, which makes novelty feel fun instead of risky.

What should you measure if you run something similar?

Repeat plays per user, share and invite rate, average session duration, and any lift in branded search or retail trial during the launch window.

NuFormer: Interactive 3D video mapping test

NuFormer, after executing 3D video mapping projections onto objects and buildings worldwide, adds interactivity to the mix in this test.

Here the spectators become the controller and interact with the building in real time using gesture-based tracking (Kinect). People influence the projected content using an iPad, iPhone, or a web-based application available on both mobile and desktop. For this test, Facebook interactivity is used, but the idea is that other social media signals can also be incorporated.

From mapped surface to live interface

Projection mapping usually works like a film played on architecture. This flips it into a live system. The building is still the canvas, but the audience becomes an input layer. Gesture tracking drives the scene changes, and second-screen control, meaning a phone or browser used as a remote, extends participation beyond the people standing closest to the sensor.

Extractable takeaway: Interactive mapping is most compelling when the control model, the set of simple inputs people can learn instantly (wave, move, tap), is legible at a glance and the projection responds quickly enough that people trust the cause-and-effect.

In large-scale public brand experiences, projection mapping becomes more than spectacle when it gives the crowd meaningful viewer control instead of a one-way show.

Why the “crowd as controller” move matters

Interactivity changes what people remember. A passive crowd remembers visuals. An active crowd remembers ownership. The moment someone realises their movement, phone, or social input changes the facade, the projection stops being “content” and becomes “play.”

The real question is whether your interaction model makes people feel in control within seconds, or confused for minutes.

Because the facade responds immediately to a person’s input, the crowd shifts from watching to experimenting, which keeps people around long enough to teach each other and try again.

That also changes the social dynamics around the installation. People look for rules, teach each other controls, and stick around to try again. The result is longer dwell time and more organic filming, because participation is the story.

What brands can do with this, beyond a tech demo

As described in coverage and in NuFormer’s own positioning, branded content, logos, or product placement can be incorporated into interactive projection applications. The strategic upside is that you can design a brand moment that is co-created by the crowd, rather than merely watched.

When social signals are part of the input (Facebook in this case), the experience can also create a bridge between the physical venue and online participation. That hybrid loop is where campaigns can scale.

Patterns for your next mapping brief

  • Pick one primary control. Gesture, phone, or web. Then add a secondary layer only if it increases participation rather than confusion.
  • Make feedback immediate. The projection must respond fast or people assume it is fake or broken.
  • Design for “spectator comprehension.” Bystanders should understand what changed and why, from a distance.
  • Use social inputs carefully. Keep the mapping between input and output obvious so it feels fair, not random.
  • Plan for crowd flow. Interactive mapping is choreography. Sensors, sightlines, and safe space matter as much as visuals.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “interactive projection mapping” in this NuFormer test?

It is 3D projection mapping where the projected content changes in real time based on audience input. Here that input includes Kinect gesture tracking plus control via iPad, iPhone, and web interfaces.

Why add phones and web control when you already have gesture tracking?

Gesture tracking usually limits control to people near the sensor. Second-screen control expands participation to more people and enables a clearer “turn-taking” interaction model.

How does Facebook interactivity fit into a projection experience?

It acts as an additional input stream, letting social actions influence what appears on the building. The key is to make the mapping from social action to visual change understandable.

What is the biggest failure mode for interactive mapping?

Latency and ambiguity. If the response is slow or the control rules are unclear, crowds disengage quickly because they cannot tell whether their input matters.

What should a brand measure in an interactive mapping activation?

Dwell time, participation rate (people who trigger changes), repeat interaction, crowd size over time, and the volume and quality of user-captured video shared during the event window.