Combining two marketing fads rarely produces great work… but there are exceptions.

The first, Street Marketing, or rather train-station marketing, as high traffic locations like London’s Victoria station seem to be a location of choice for most flash-mobs these days.

The second, Augmented Reality, otherwise known as the art of pleasing geeks with improbable interactive experiences playing out on smartphones or webcam equipped computers.

Pair the two, and you get the latest stunt by Unilever’s Lynx (a.k.a. Axe in most countries), an extention of their latest TV advert “Excite”. 

The ad itself featured a flock of supermodels posing as fallen angels irresistibly attracted to the young male hero wearing Lynx’s latest scent. Tagline: “even angels will fall”. Subtle. Great work.

The recent stunt extended the idea through Augmented Reality and lets ordinary people, like you and me, interact with virtual fallen angels… even without the magic of Lynx body spray. Right in the middle of Victoria Station, a large sticker on the floor invited passers-by to look up at a giant screen broadcasting live footage from a camera pointed straight at them. As they did, a perfectly integrated video overlaid the scene, and let them interact (in true Kinect-style) with one of the ad’s angels.

Some of the participants interactions are not exactly safe for work, but that aside, I think this is a fantastic stunt.

A rare occurence of Augmented Reality in a scale, social context (usually, AR happens on individual screens)… and of street marketing that actively involves its audience, rather than let them be spectators of some flash mob.

Love it. Well played Lynx, well played.
Let me know what you think in comments.

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