Game on for ATTIK in The Onion’s new iPad edition

Last week, global creative agency ATTIK proudly announced the debut of its original interactive in-app game for Scion inside the new iPad edition of The Onion, America’s Finest News Source (http://theonion.com). The Scion “College Rebate Rally” game appears as an interstitial ad in the June iPad edition of The Onion.

“Together, with ATTIK and Scion, we were able to create a new kind of entertaining advertising experience,” said Michael Greer, CTO at The Onion. “This is a fun, new technology for us and it is always great to collaborate with brands who share an interest in pushing the limits to produce something innovative and exciting.”

More information on Scion’s College Graduate Rebate Program is available at www.scion.com/college.

Further project details are here: http://go.attik.com/2a2

Download The Onion’s iPad edition from iTunes here: http://go.attik.com/2a1

Play games, get lucky in Canada

At this very moment, and running on through Jan. 23, executives from Toyota Canada are hosting thousands of visitors at their impressive displays at this year’s Montreal International Auto Show. There, fans are simultaneously playing the Scion Canada Augmented Reality (AR) Racing Game developed for Scion by global creative agency ATTIK and its project partner, North Kingdom. In the addictive, award-winning game, fans virtually “take the wheel” of a Scion and navigate it through a menacing cityscape, for fun, bragging rights among their peers, and more importantly, a chance to win a 2011 Scion tC Urban Sports Coupe.

Promotions for the game will continue at shows in Toronto, Calgary, Québec City, Vancouver and Edmonton over the weeks to come, elsewhere at various lifestyle events across the country, and inside Scion’s 45 Canadian dealerships. For more specifics, please visit
Scion Canada’s official Events Calendar.

Meanwhile, for those Canadians who are snowed in or otherwise unable to catch these location-based promotions before the contest ends on April 25, the game is fully accessible online.

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Ralph plays with Number Four

Last week, Penguin Books UK released the sensational new thriller “I Am Number Four,” the first release in a trailblazing new science fiction series, The Lorien Legacies. Together with Penguin, the principals of digital creative agency Ralph proudly announced the launch of “The Legacy Test” online at www.iamnumberfour.co.uk.

An original sci-fi webisodic series for $500 an episode?

Creativity Magazine is reporting today on two brothers producing the pilot for their “slick VFX” science-fiction series, entitled Escape from City 17, “for under $500.” Hopefully this and other coverage on this cool project will position The Purchase Brothers for more success in the ad industry, and beyond….

read more | digg story

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UPMEmCqZo]

GTA to NYC: View to a thrill…

This week’s entry comes via kotaku.com (thanks for the Digg, CampfireMike): “For the likely millions of players embarking on tongue-in-cheek crime sprees in Grand Theft Auto IV’s Liberty City this week, it’s only a game. But a close look into some communities within New York City, the real-world inspiration for the Liberty City environs, reveals a different story.”

read more | digg story

Fun and games in marketing…

Going back several years now, I have subscribed to the ultra-informative newsletter The eMarketer Daily from e-business market research site eMarketer.com. When you put together The eMarketer Daily’s lead stories from April 4 and April 11, here’s what you get: First, telephone, TV and Internet offerings are rapidly becoming more sophisticated, and senior analyst Ben Macklin tells us that marketers should be scaling their efforts accordingly… and next, at this point in time, nearly three-quarters of the US population already plays video games, and that number is on the rise. If you’re interested in translating these developments into action, I am happy to share an excellent resource with you….

Neal Leavitt, the president of Fallbrook, CA-based Leavitt Communications, has contributed an amazing story to iMediaConnection which was published today under the headline of “Follow the clues to a marketing payoff.” In the lead for this expertly researched, information-rich article, the author relates, “Creating an immersive, multimedia game to promote your brand may seem like an out-of-reach pipe dream, but it could be easier than you realize — and worth more than you can imagine.” Check it out, and as you begin hatching your ideas for your own Alternate Reality Game, you might want to reference these two articles from Edge Magazine’s game developer columnist James Portnoy:
. How to Make Games User-Friendly
. Making Games User Friendly Pt. 2