Kenneth Cole Is Using Google Glass To Advertise Its New Cologne

Kenneth Cole is now the first brand to use a Google Glass app in its marketing.

The app is part of Kenneth Cole's "Man Up for Mankind Challenge," which promotes the new Mankind fragrance by challenging men to perform a different gentlemanly deed each day for three weeks. People who complete the deeds, which include "bring donuts to work for everyone" and "offer to carry a lady's bag," are eligible to win a Mankind toolkit valued at $1,000.

After downloading the Google Glass app, users will receive an alert in their viewfinders reminding them of that day's deed. They can also take photos of themselves doing the deed and share it on a special website Kenneth Cole made for the challenge.

Ready Set Rocket, the digital agency that created the campaign, shared some photos with us of what the app looks like:

Ready Set Rocket partner Aaron Harvey said his company chose to extend the campaign to Google Glass because the people who own the product, still in a limited supply phase, are the sort of cutting-edge technology fans who fit well with Mankind's target audience.

In addition, Harvey said he felt that the competition would be a good way of showing that wearable technology can be used to perform acts of goodwill, rather than as an invasive toy for the self-absorbed.

"Wearable technology has a stigma of making you more self-consumed," Harvey said. "We're showing how you can use wearable technology to reach out beyond the glass and make a difference in your community."

Since Google Glass currently prevents software developers from running in-app ads for specific products, advertising uses for the technology are as of now limited to projects like the Mankind app that present a brand message but do not allow people to directly purchase products.

Harvey thinks that as time goes by, it will be increasingly important for brands to find ways to communicate with their customers via new technologies like Glass.

"I think as brands continue to invest heavily in content marketing, it's going to be really important for them to put themselves in different contexts of technology," Harvey said. "It's about figuring out how brand messaging and content marketing can integrate themselves off of the desktop and into more-progressive communication technology."