QR codes are recognizable, but unfortunately generic-looking. Luckily, their designs are more flexible than you would think. With a 30% tolerance in readability, these codes can be customized while maintaining their technical effectiveness (and that customization will likely improve their marketing effectiveness). See a few examples below, via Mashable.

HBO’s True Blood:

Louis Vuitton:

Discover LA Tourism Bureau:

Progressive “choral symphonic pop rock” band The Polyphonic Spree have recently released the music video for its latest single “Bullseye”… and actually, it’s an interactive iPhone/iPad app/game.

Mashable appropriately described this innovative approach as “a very welcome change from most of the music videos you see on TV,” and TechDigest raised the question, “So, are we looking at the future of music here?” Good question. Are we?

From a branding/marketing standpoint, it’s certainly raising awareness for the band and its new release, as well as stirring up a healthy buzz.

Get the app, developed by Moonbot Studios, for just $1.99 on the iTunes App Store.

An older, but relevant as ever, cartoon by Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist.

The Canadian Olympic Team recently underwent a rebranding, led by Art Director Ben Hulse. According to the Team’s brand website, “The result is at once classic yet contemporary, timeless yet fashion-forward… The most renowned Canadian icon [the maple leaf] is back at the heart of the team’s identity. Unaltered, pure, proud and iconic — like the country and team it represents.”

As Hulse explained, “The brand strategy was repositioned to focus on the team rather than the committee, and our goal was to deliver a classic sports brand with fresh appeal. In everything we did, we attempted to balance classic versus current aesthetics and themes.”

“Based on the geometry of the maple leaf, the concept was inspired by Canadian artwork, iconography, the tradition of quilting, and Canadian athletes’ remarkable performance and pride. The tones are based on the five colours of the Olympic Rings, which represent the flags of the world. The extended palette infuses colours from Canadian landscapes. The whole, vibrant and dynamic, represents Canada’s cultural mosaic and the energy of the Canadian Olympic Team.”

For the first time, mobile app usage has exceeded both desktop and mobile web usage, according to a report by Flurry. The statistics say that users now spend approximately 81 minutes per day using mobile apps, 9% more than the 74 minutes per day spent using the web.

This growth in mobile app usage has increased 91% since last year. For comparison, last year’s statistics found users spending just 43 minutes per day on mobile apps and 64 minutes per day on the web. However, the report shows that the growth is a result of more sessions per user per day, as opposed to growth in average session lengths.

Certainly interesting, but Jeff Glueck, CEO of Skyfire, believes the results are inaccurate – he explains that the methodology used was “like conducting a survey at a comic book convention and announcing that time spent on comic book reading has passed all other books combined… It’s rigged.” Check out his arguments on the Skyfire blog.

Sometimes, it’s better to explain things visually.

As Econsultancy recently explained, “Animation is often overlooked when planning a marketing campaign, meaning that many organizations can miss out on using this powerful tool… animation allows [you] to explain a new idea in a succinct and clear way to a wide audience.”

Utilizing animation in web pages, display ads, and emails can have a powerful impact. If the concept for a product or service is complex, an animated explanation can usually help get your point across clearly. Even if the message is not complex, animation can still make it more compelling -  it can set your messaging apart from competitors, maintain your audience’s attention, and make your content more share-worthy. Consider Google’s increased usage of animation in its homepage doodles – the results are always viral. It may not be “selling” anything in particular, but it certainly enhances Google’s branding.

Advertising agency Proton has joined forces with Yale University to develop an advertising campaign for an audience of Capuchin monkeys. But it’s not as strange as it sounds – the campaign is being created in the name of science, as a study to “determine where advertising has innate primate responses.” That is, since primates have been known to behave in similar ways to humans, the study aims to discover if monkeys also have human-like responses to advertising.

The trial utilizes 2 “equally delicious” foods, Brand A and Brand B. Brand A will be advertised on billboards outside the monkeys’ enclosure, but Brand B will not be advertised. After exposure to the billboard campaign, the monkeys will be offered both brands of food. Keith Olwell, Owner and Chief Creative Officer at Proton, explains, “If they tend toward one and not the other we’ll be witnessing preference shifting due to our advertising.”

The challenge was developing an advertising campaign that could successfully appeal to monkeys. As Olwell described, “They do not have language or culture and they have very short attention spans. We really had to strip out any hip and current thinking and get to the absolute core of what is advertising… We wanted the most visceral approaches.” The outcome? The campaign includes 2 billboards; one features a female monkey with exposed genitals and the Brand A logo, and a second features the alpha male of the Capuchin troop with the Brand A logo. Olwell expects the monkeys to prefer Brand A after being exposed to the campaign. Elizabeth Kiehner, Co-Founder of Thornberg & Forrester, said, “Our motivation is to find out exactly how advertising works. We know it works, we just don’t know the hows or the whys.”

The final results were unveiled at the recent Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, but are not yet public.