Map of the Week: Volkswagen Street View Quest

Map of the Week: Volkswagen Street View Quest

Why we like it: We really like this creative approach to interacting with Street View imagery. This Google Maps API implementation shows us that are still many different ways to take advantage of the imagery offered in the API.



When I was kid, my friends and I would play a game called “Punch Beetle” (also known as punch bug, punch dub, piggy punch, slug bug, or beetle bug depending on where you’re from). In brief: the object of the game is to be the first one to spot a Volkwagen Beetle and call out "Punch buggy!" or "Slug bug!" while punching your opponent in the arm.



In many ways, this game is a real world viral meme that became popular without the Internet. Using Google Street View imagery via the Google Maps API, Volkswagen found a way to translate this old tradition into an online game that you can play anywhere in the world without actually having to be in the car or punching anyone. Head over to the Street Quest site for a cool YouTube trailer and to start playing (note: you'll need a facebook login to participate in the challenge).

In VW Street View Quest, players search Google Street View imagery to find and tag any VW vehicles (not just bugs) that have been picked up by our cameras. The person who tags the most vehicles wins the challenge. There are also bonus challenges where users are asked to find the location of a particular car using only a few degrees of the Street View panorama as a clue.







Currently, prizes are only available to residents of South Africa, but the rest of the world can still explore the site and follow along. The top four users who find the most VW vehicles in Google Street View get to compete against each in real life to find the most VWs in Cape Town, South Africa. Overall, this concept is a fun way to embrace the sub-cultures and memes that have sprung up around the VW brand and share them with the rest of the world.



Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager

Google and GroupM Fill Retail & Restaurant Marketers’ Carts with Digital Trends and Insights at Spark Event

The second event in our Spark education series we co-hosted with GroupM Next was hosted today,
focusing on trends, research and digital opportunities in Retail and QSR. Launched in June, Spark is a series of custom, co-programmed events created to deliver unique education and innovation experiences in an intimate setting for GroupM clients and media agencies.

Spark: Retail & Restaurants took place in New York with brand marketers from retailers and
restaurants, and media professionals from Maxus, MEC, MediaCom and Mindshare in attendance. After a welcome from GroupM Next CEO Chris Copeland, Google’s Torrence Boone, Managing Director, Agency Business Development, and Brett Goffin, Emerging Business Lead, Mobile, as well as Pat Monteleone and Jesse Wolfersberger from GroupM Next, Bryan Gildenberg of Kantar, Steven Rosenblatt of Foursquare and Tim Zagat, co-founder and CEO of Zagat, took the stage to share insights into the intersection of retail and digital, and ways that brands in these industries can benefit from what’s taking place.

Hot topics included:

• Shopper/consumer trends
  


• Converting consumer demand and desire into action
  


• New research from GroupM Next on showrooming and how to keep buyers in-store
  


• Using digital innovatively to build brands and reach customers 1:1 through marketing

In-store shopping. E-commerce. A digital footprint. Mobile. Local visibility. Price comparison…and more. These are all things retail and restaurant marketers should be factoring in their marketing strategies to maximize traffic, engagement and revenue. With these in the forefront, retail and QSR companies will prosper in today’s digitally-driven world. For the future, as brands engage more strategically and proactively via channels and emerging platforms that enable hyper-targeting across digital media, social interaction and location-based targeting, they’ll attract and retain loyal customers, while emerging ahead of the competition.

Map of the Week: Nature Valley Trail View

Map of the Week: Nature Valley Trail View

Why we like it: This map has a lot of great qualities. In particular: It’s a great example of custom Street View panoramas in the Google Maps API and it’s a great example of using the Google Maps API as the centerpiece of a interactive marketing campaign with a positive goal.



Launched in March 2012, Nature Valley Trail View uses custom Street View panoramas to take viewers through select national parks in the United States. What really impressed us is the number of custom Street View panoramas. Taking DIY to a whole new level, the developers of this site even created their own cameras to build upon the imagery that’s already available in the Google Maps API.



According to Nature Valley, the site is about supporting the causes that are important to its customers. This site is part of larger partnership between Nature Valley and the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit group that supports national parks in the U.S.







In using the Google Maps API, Nature Valley Trail View has proven that it’s possible to create marketing collateral that provides real value to a customer. Below is a short video from Nature Valley explaining the origins of the projects.







Above all, this Google Maps API implementation reminds us that many images can be shared as a Google Street View like experience. So if you would like to have your own Street View panoramas (to share with the world or just a small group of people) it’s possible to pick up a camera and create your own great imagery.



Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager

Google and GroupM Next Launch SPARK Education Series

Today we’re kicking off a partnership with GroupM Next, the innovation unit of GroupM, called Spark, a series of custom, co-programmed events focused on delivering unique education and innovation experiences for brands – specifically, clients of GroupM media agencies. We created this initiative together to cultivate education and dialogue for verticals that are under-represented in the broader digital media space in terms of data, research and opportunity. This partnership is the first of its kind for both Google and GroupM, in that it’s a series dedicated to client-focused education and is designed to address topics that directly impact brand opportunity and performance.



The first event, Spark: CPG, is taking place this afternoon in New York with nine leading CPG companies in attendance. In addition to discussions led by Google and GroupM Next execs, Kantar, Buzzfeed and Amazon are joining us as we, collectively as marketers, share insights, research and digital opportunities brands in the consumer packaged goods category can take advantage of.



A quick rundown of discussions on the docket at Spark: CPG in the context of marketing for CPG brands includes:

• Making the web work for CPG brands – our take on how the consumer, and world around us, has changed


• The digital enhanced path, exploring the ever-changing connection between consumers and brands and opportunities that exist through understanding new consumer behaviors and the role of technology


• Marketing and messaging innovation across multiple screens


• The power of video and building brands with the power of sight, sound and motion


• Developing ‘content gifts’ in the social world and capturing opportunities by engaging your brand’s super sharers


• How mobile commerce can connect shoppers to the places and CPG products they love


• Fostering fluid innovation across marketing and process to enable agencies and brands to meet the pace of change in consumer dynamics and technology

In most cases, Spark will provide brands with insights and education they wouldn’t have access to elsewhere. Additionally, through ongoing collaboration between our companies, GroupM agencies and clients, we’ll identify areas of interest and need for brands across digital media, and foster opportunities as they emerge.