SPARK: The latest digital trends and unique thinking

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF iOS 6

Apple unveiled the next generation of iOS. iOS 6 sports more than 200 new features and upgrades - including the new Apple Maps, deep Facebook integration and improvements to Siri. Although iOS 6 won’t be available on compatible devices until sometime in the US fall, the first beta build is currently available to developers and Mashable have taken it for a test drive. Check out their thoughts.

BBVA FOUNDATION: THE LITTLE GUY INSIDE THE ATM

This is a smart creative idea out of Peru to get people’s attention on a problem that affects seven out of ten children in the country: illiteracy. A man was placed inside an ATM machine to deliver the message in one of the moments when people are simply forced to read what’s on the screen. At the same time, they also made it possible to make an immediate donation to the BBVA Foundation’s ‘Reading is Being’ program.

However, they didn’t really place the man in the ATM, but rather they filmed an actor who appeared only after showing an image on screen that was just impossible for consumers to read. The effect is still pretty good and the campaign reached a pretty large audience throughout the country.

EVIAN SMART DROP

Evian is sidestepping retail partners to sell its products directly to consumers with the promotion of a new online delivery service, and the release of a new digital device it plans to make available widely in 2013. The device can be tacked onto the fridge and enable water delivery with the push of a single button.

Initially, the website, called evianchezvous.com is only available in Paris and its surrounding suburbs, the target being single-family homes and small businesses. The website will also permit delivery of other water products in the Danonefamily, such as Badoit or Volvic water. The idea is for a consumer to set their preferences on the website, choosing the frequency of shipments and number of bottles delivered based on the home or company's size. Delivery is free with a 15-euro purchase and the company will pick up empty bottles for recycling. The device, which Evian for now is dubbing the Smart Drop, is a WiFi-enabled magnet about four inches long with an LED screen. By the time it rolls out, it is also expected to also have a mobile app to run on smartphones. Given Evian is owned by French food company Danone, the device and the app will be introduced first in Paris and then will attempt to move into other global markets.

TIVO + PAYPAL = CLICK TO BUY TV ADS

Removing a step or two between advertising and purchasing, TiVo on Tuesday announced it has teamed with PayPal so users can easily buy products they see in TV ads. The deal means that advertisers can now add a new dimension to their 30-second TV spots and interactive TiVo ad placements. Users who like an advertised product can do so with a few clicks of their remote after they set up their accounts. Such ads are not ones that typically run during broadcasts, but instead pop up during various interactions such as when shows are paused.

Ads sporting the feature will begin circulating during the fall 2012 TV season. The companies did not name advertisers that are using the platform. TiVo has about 2.5 million users. This is the company’s first integration with a payment provider, a TiVo rep says.

PADDY POWER TEN POUND NOTE

Absolute’s Blind Pig delivers their most recent triumph for Paddy Power in the form of three hilarious animations featuring the Queen and royal family. Created alongside Crispin Porter + Bogusky London, the whacky animations are accessible via augmented reality app Blippar and can be viewed when customers hold their phones over any ten pound note.

With fresh audio being released daily throughout the three-week Euro 2012 tournament, the app depicts the (very outspoken) Queen sharing her football opinions on topics ranging from England’s performance to Rooney’s hair. Now that’s something you don’t see everyday...

THE MINI STORE

Here’s a very clever idea from Mini in France. They recently announced the opening of 10 new stores to increase test drives for their Minis but they weren’t your traditional car show rooms, these were mobile Mini stores that could travel straight to the customer. Instead of building standard show rooms, Mini launched 10 actual Minis on to the roads of Paris so that more potential customers could try the car and enjoy an immediate test drive. These mobile stores could reach every area in the city and aimed to take the hassle out of the test drive experience.

APPLE LAUNCHES MAPS

We all knew it was going to happen, but Apple just launched its own Maps product, with “Flyover” or Apple’s incredible new 3D maps display, which quite honestly makes Google Maps look antiquated.

“We built an entire new mapping solution from the ground up,” Forstall said while demoing the product, “It is beautiful. We did all the cartography ourselves.” In addition to the 3D display, Maps will have Siri integrated turn-by-turn directions. Crucial to the new Maps product is local search, and Apple has taken in 100 million local businesses so far, in addition to partnering up with Yelp to provide the listings. The company is also building a Waze-like traffic service, so users can see where slow traffic is and see accidents — Apple will use using anonymous crowd-sourced real time data from iOS users to keep this up to date.

MAROON 5 GIVE AWAY NEW SINGLE VIA FOURSQUARE

Maroon 5, who’s most recent single is titled “Payphone,” has launched a foursquare-based promotion that encourages users to check in to — you guessed it — payphones in order to collect a free download of the track. Fans will also be entered in a sweepstakes for a signed guitar and other prizes.

The band has set up foursquare venues at payphones (yes, they actually found some) in New York, Miami, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, DC and Los Angeles. You can find the phones by checking their lists for each City on foursquare. When users check in, they’ll find a special that points them to a free download of a remix of Payphone. There’s also a special number you can call from the payphone to hear a message from the band.

PADDY POWER: ROY THE REDEEMER

Paddy Power has responded to the plight of anxious England fans who felt their team needed ‘divine intervention’ for success in this month’s European Football Championship, with the construction and unveiling today of Roy the Redeemer on the white cliffs of Dover. Standing a breath-taking 100ft tall, the stunning structure is a reproduction of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue which overlooks Rio de Janeiro. The audacious build, which replaces the face of Christ with a new ‘saviour’, England Manager Roy Hodgson, is visible from the coast of France, sixteen miles away. The inspiration for Roy the Redeemer was sparked as part of the Paddy Power’s ‘We Hear You’ initiative, which acts on comments and suggestions received from customers through social media.

COCA COLA: THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS WAY TO SHARE A COKE

In a bid to capture the eyeballs of the U.S. college-age market, Coca-Cola has partnered with Ryan Seacrest Productions, a group of engineering students and two YouTube celebrities todevelop and seed an online video.

In the three-minute video (above), YouTube personalities Justine Ezarik (iJustine) and Josh Chomik (TheComputerNerd01) narrate as 12 engineering students from Harvey Mudd and CalTech build an elaborate Rube Goldberg-inspired contraption — complete with the brand’s iconic polar bears, a Pac-Man and a double rainbow — designed to open and pour two cans of coke. After two days of construction, they invite other students (who were, at the time, in the middle of final exams) to the big unveiling. After Ezarik’s and Chomik’s cokes are successfully poured, bottles are passed out to other attendees amidst a riot of music, fireworks, streamers and cheering.

DIESEL: DOGGY STYLE

Diesel has released an online video featuring sunglass-clad model dogs promoting the brand’s Spring/Summer 2012 Eyewear collection. The film strikes the pose of fashion and fragrance cinematography, and transposes models for a rather unexpected cast featuring a style-conscious slo-mo afghan hound, poodle, doberman and terrier. Based on four of the designs from the new collection, each set of eyewear is given its own unique attitude and environment: the glamourous Flirtini, the rugged Bad Max, the retro Love Bug and the cold-as-ice Steeling Bullet.

ONLY JEANS: THE LIBERATION

This is incredible! To launch their new collection ‘only because we can’, Only Jeans decided to create an interactive film/game/catalogue/social experience all in one. The film follows a group of girls who descend upon a town to cause havoc, with the big twists being that you can pause at any time, hover over their clothes and be directed to the catalogue page where you can buy, tweet, share on Facebook or pin to Pinterest. In addition the film is also a game as viewers can direct the story and make choices (such as steal a pair of jeans), which could result in them winning the clothing item or another prize immediately. The soundtrack is also free and downloadable by an upcoming artist, and at the end of the experience you get a bespoke catalogue recapping what you watched, what you paused on, the clothes you viewed, the choices you made and the songs you liked. Talk about ticking all of the boxes!

JETBLUE CREATES A GAME SHOW FOR THE INTERNET AGE

For decades, advertisers were as closely associated with game shows as slick hosts eager to give away prizes. Now, an airline known for non-traditional approaches to advertising is sponsoring a game show with a couple of contemporary twists: It will be played live, and online. “JetBlue Getaways Presents Get Away With It” is the name of the game show, sponsored by JetBlue Airways.

The show is meant to be the centerpiece of a campaign, with a budget estimated at $2 million to $3 million, to build awareness of — and sales for — JetBlue’s vacation package travel service, known as JetBlue Getaways. It will be streamed live from a studio in New York — not coincidentally, a major market for JetBlue.

The show is scheduled to appear five times a day for five days, from June 18 through 22, and each episode will run about 15 minutes. The prizes are vacation packages and certificates for “the hottest destinations”. In keeping with a campaign that seeks to transfer the trappings of television game shows to the Internet, there will be what seem like 64,000 elements rooted in new media, mobile media and social media, involving, among others, AdoTube, Appssavvy, Buzzfeed, Facebook, SocialVibe, Twitter, Viggle and YouTube. For instance, in a deal with Viggle, a mobile check-in app, people will be able to check in to “Get Away With It” and earn Viggle points as they do when they check in to actual TV shows.