Advertising as a game metaphor

British Telecom company "o2" has released a free augmented reality app to increase it's brand awareness , following in the wake of it's Facebook game. These "niggles" are all broadband connectivity issues, personified. (Think Saatchi for Denno Coil) .
Remember, all these Seuss-like creatures are anthropomorphic representations of all the technical (and human) issues we deal with in our dail connectivity.





"Niggles are all around you. They're where you live, where you work, they're on the streets, in the parks, they're everywhere you go. By downloading the free augmented reality iPhone app, the first app of its kind, you can help O2 nobble broadband niggles wherever you are."

The iPhone game completely immerses the player in a fun, unique and unexpected way. Using the phone compass and GPS we could plot the players postion. Then when they held up their phone they could see the niggles lurking around them Augmented Reality using the phones camera. "

The AR app lets you roam around (the U.K.), interracting with these whimsical characters.

And here's the app "in play":

The Great Niggle Nobble iPhone game walkthrough from Agency Republic on Vimeo.

It seems to me that the U.K. is fast becoming the "Tokyo of Augmented Reality". More often than not, "if it's ar, it can be traced to the U.K.". Hear that, "other countries"? Step up your game.

go, and see.