Toyota Corp.’s Lexus is giving consumers the chance to enjoy its fastest vehicles from the comfort of their homes with a virtual reality experience. The new experience will give viewers the thrill of driving a Lexus RC F on the Ascari racetrack in Marbella, Spain. Creating this virtual reality experience allows Lexus to reach consumers around the world and form intimate connections with those who might not ordinarily have access to its products.

Powered by Eventbase, the same company responsible for SXSW's iBeacon-enabled app, the Cannes Lions app leverages iBeacons installed throughout the festival grounds to deliver a variety of customized interactive experiences and real-time information to attendees. New for 2015 are built-in social networking features that harness Apple's iBeacon proximity-aware technology. For example, "Around Me Enhanced" provides a list view of nearby attendees who are also using the app, as well as venues and events. LinkedIn integration shows first degree connections in the area, while attendees can add new relationships through Cannes Connect.

Digital plays a bigger role in mothers’ shopping experience than it does for the general population, according to March 2015 research by Experian Marketing Services. When the poll queried US mothers about their attitudes toward digital shopping, they had higher response rates than the total population across the board. About seven in 10 said the internet had changed the way they got information about products and services, and 55.1% said it had reshaped how they shopped. Fully 44.5% also reported that they were doing more shopping on the internet than before—possibly because they were strapped for time. Pricing also came into play, as …

Car buyers on mobile are more likely to look at a specific car model and at local inventory listings, according to new research from Edmunds.com. More automotive retailers are turning to mobile to reach the plethora of consumers tapping their smartphones to conduct research while on-the-go, request price quotes and communicate with dealers via text messaging. Edmunds.com’s study also shows the top brands researched by those on iOS and Android platforms, proving that iOS users tend to skew more towards luxury car brands.

McDonald's is letting customers really have it their way. The fast-food giant has launched an expansion of its "Create Your Taste" program to a new location in San Francisco. The customized burger building system that allows customers to order from a tablet-like kiosk where they can customize everything from choice of buns and cheese to toppings and sauces. In upcoming months, customers will also be able to build their own customized chicken sandwiches from the Create Your Taste platform. McDonald's says it is rolling out Create Your Taste to appeal to customers who increasingly seek to customize their fast-food experience. Orders placed …

Convenience store chain 7-Eleven has partnered with mobile payment service PayNearMe to enable users of Nevada sports betting service William Hill’s application to deposit cash to the app within 7-Eleven stores, in an attempt to draw in more customers. The convenient store chain already has a huge draw for consumers interested in gambling, as many of its customers visit the store for scratch offs and lottery tickets. The partnership makes sense for all parties, as the companies have an overlapping consumer base and can drive sales for each retailer.

Buyable pins, announced earlier this month is the latest big development at Pinterest. The visual-based social media site now enables users to buy the products they see. Earlier this month, the buyable pins were unveiled at Pinterests headquarters in San Diego, as many other large social media sites and content providers look to develop new forms of monetisation. The feature is expected to launch this month, and Pinterest are working closely with Stripe to handle the payments.

India is undergoing something of a commerce revolution. The country has become a very prominent mobile market, with smartphone ownership skyrocketing over the past few years. As the mobile space becomes more prominent, retailers are beginning to change their approach to the digital space. Myntra, one of the leading fashion e-commerce companies in India, shut down its website at the beginning of this month, opting instead to become completely mobile-centric. Myntra is not the only company that is doing this, of course. Several others have begun shutting down their websites in order to focus their efforts on the mobile space. These …

To provide flight updates and related information to passengers in a more streamlined manner, the global air transporters grouping IATA is working on developing a central registry of beacons, a proximity sensing solution. Beacons, generally based on bluetooth technology, are mostly used within the airports to provide information to passengers through their mobile devices. Mostly carriers provide flight and gate information to passengers through this technology.   

Consumer packaged goods brand Heinz is recovering from some bad publicity over a QR code from an old campaign that now links to a porn site, underscoring how critical it is for marketers to provide ongoing support for mobile programs.  While QR codes were a much more popular trend several years ago, CPG brands continue to place them on their packaging to activate campaigns or provide nutritional information. With the Heinz news going viral, it is clear that brands need to put in the extra effort to maintain any links or risk a wave of negative publicity.