Second QR Code developed for Louis Vuitton shows a new mobile trend: Branded QR Coding.

Fashion brand Louis Vuitton is investing in Branded QR Coding. Its second QR Code is intented to lead consumers to a exclusive Marc jacobs mobile site.

Amongst desgin agencies that are exploring this new niche, there is one promissing japanese group called SET Japan. See below some inspiring examples of how they are mixing arts and technology:

Being John Malkovich (or Michael Jackson, if you had the chance)

Some people have a unique way of understanding the world. Call them crazy, weird or simply different ones. Fact is: we as humans have the natural curiosity of wondering how their minds works. What do they think? How is the celebrity´s daily life?

The 1999 movie "Being John Malkovich" brought us a provocative plot: imagine that you discover a hidden tunnel right in your office which leads directly to the mind of another person. In this case, inside the famous actor´s mind. Once there, you´d be able to experience - in first person perspective - every physical and psychological aspect that surrounds the fame and professional success. Quite addictive, huh?

The need of public recognition is something that we seek. Pop Artist Andy Warhol said that we were suposed to have at least 15 minutes of fame...

In the movie, each experience only last for 15 minutes. After that, you were literally expelled. To repeat the process, you should go through the tunnel again. And the line of anxious and curious people was getting longer and longer.

See any resemblance with Twitter?

Just change the following:
- "Enter the mind of others" equals "Twitter Profiles";
- "15 minutes of experience" equals "every 140 characters post";
- "Line of anxious and curious people" equals "Twitter Followers";
- "15 minutes of fame" equals "one sucessful Twitter post".

MobileFest 2009 - Deadline approaching

Under the theme of “How can mobile technology contribute to democracy, culture, art, environment, peace, education, health and the Third Sector?", MobileFest – mobile art and creativity international festival – is selecting projects, products, solutions and mobile apps plus academic articles from independent researchers.

The final deadline has been extended to july 15th.

It´s worth to point out that projects sent in previous editions had, despite its strong artistical nature, a great social component. Selected authors will be informed by email on August 15th. For further information, visite the official website.

Mobile "gives voice" to the unheard - United Nations Case

During the Cannes Advertising Festival we come across with some interesting mobile marketing cases. One of them is “UN Voices” which won the Webby Awards 2009 and figures between Cannes Lions candidates.

Developed by The Hyperfactory and Saatchi & Saatchi, this United Nations campaign was deployed in Australia last year. The objective: let the minorities be heard by the society. Using image recognition technology together with traditional media, the campaign showed seven persons who suffer from AIDS, orfanage, homeless or domestic abuses. They were photographed, interviewed and had their faces printed in magazines, newspapers and posters.

And to hear their stories, you had to take pictures from their mouths and send them through MMS using a shortcode. Within minutes, you should receive a call with the recorded interview from the person you took the picture.

Visite the official campaign website: http://www.unvoices.org.au/

Here you can watch the case reel: http://210.48.79.22/awards/voices/

Freedom is an idea in your mind and mobile phone in hand

Mobilility. For the physically disabled guys, riding a wheelchair, this word has a much more profound meaning: it means freedom to move.

It´s no news that in great cities, difficulty of movement is huge. How can a mobile phone change this sad reality? That was the main concern that catalan spanish artist Antoni Abad faced. As a result, project zexe.net was born.

Just imagine a group of 40 physically disabled persons equipped with GPS mobile phones. They started to document - using photos and videos - every obstacle they found in their ways through the streets of Barcelona. With the help of GPS, theses rich content could be automatically uploaded and added to the Google Maps. Therefore, a complete inacessible Barcelona map became reality.

Zexe.net project was wideliy recognized and created a healthy social discussion in Europe. The same proposal was applied in Geneve last year. It´s really interesting to witness the mobile power towards social issues.

Read this article in Portuguese here.

What to expect from the GPS and Mobile combo

There are some exciting expectations about what GPS may bring to the mobile marketing. For example: Google Latitude is a breakthrough app that enable your friends to locate you in realtime.

There are some personal safety issues, I agree. However, as a marketer, it´s amazing to see geopositioning, personal interests and point of purchase interacting. What about sending personalized offers to the consumer, right when he is near the store?

For restaurants, movies, theaters and coffee shops - for example - it represents the opportunity to offer special discounts for groups. Everything according to the opt-in choice, of course.

Learn more about Google Latitude watching this video.

There are some artists developing new uses to the GPS: Imagine if we could watch a GPS-based movie.

Well, meet the GPS Film Project.

GPS Film makes use of GPS-enabled PDA or mobile phones. There are many videoclips that were shot in different locations. As the viewer travels, the hole movie is revealed. The narrative only develops if you are at the right location.

The first movie available is called “Nine Lives”, written and produced by Kenny Tan. The plot is quite silly, but there is a new marketing horizon before our very eyes.

GPSFILM "The Using Of" from GPSFILM on Vimeo.