Advent calendars are one of the very best things about December, and they also make for a great marketing opportunity. Who doesn’t like coming back to something every day for the chance of a great reward?

Chinook Centre is giving shoppers five hundred and ninety-six reasons to visit its Facebook page over the holiday with its ‘Christmas Miracles’ Advent Calendar app. The app divides the time until Christmas into 4-day pages, each featuring a tableau inspired by the stylings of the classic holiday film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Each day a new number in the calendar becomes clickable, and beneath it there’s always a treat. No “sorry, try again tomorrow” for Chinook Centre shoppers. Instead, those that don’t win are given a helpful holiday tip that might just point them at a center retailer. Or not: while some tips advise shoppers to, say, visit Hallmark or Papyrus before Christmas card delivery deadlines, others suggest things like Christmas carol karaoke for holiday gatherings.

No matter what shoppers get each day, at least they’ll be sure it’s something to make the holidays merrier. But the merriest will be taking home one of those five hundred and ninety-six prizes up for grabs: gift cards from center retailers, jewelry, electronics and a lot more.

Centro Bankstown has a new initiative that’s doing wonders for its Spring and Summer Fashion campaign: the Wardrobe. Now that’s no normal wardrobe—it’s the best thing since paper dolls.

The site lets shoppers take their pick of models and dress them up in all the season’s hottest fashions, mixing and matching to their hearts’ content. And it’s been very successful so far.

“As part of the three day campaign we featured free access to The Wardrobe via a bank of computer screens on level 2,” said Centro Bankstown marketing manager, John Klein.

“We received a terrific response during and since the launch with our data showing each visitor is spending an average of over 3.5 minutes on the site and the accompanying fashion competition has received almost 600 entries already.”

According to Klein, the Centre achieved a 2.4% increase in apparel sales in September as a direct result of The Wardrobe.

“We are delighted with the response so far and are expecting visitors to the site to continue to increase as we add even more fashion items in the lead up to the Spring Racing Carnival and Christmas party seasons.”

QR Codes have been something of a marketing mystery. Ideally, they should be used to lower the barrier to entry, giving shoppers the chance to react to your call to action right on the spot. That means mobile websites, simple sign-up forms, and more—making the process as easy as possible.

Vodafone has been using QR codes to make another part of life easier for commuters in Bucharest. In partnership with Humanitas, a book publisher, the telecom has created a digital library on the walls of the Victoriei metro station. Commuters can walk by, scan the wall, and borrow some quality reading for the ride.

49 books and 10 audiobooks are available, all until the end of this month. If they want to dig deeper into their reading material, they’ll be directed to the Humanitas website to make a purchase. The books aren’t just for Vodafone customers—any mobile user can pick out something to read. It’s all part of Vodafone’s attempt to reach out to communities and make life a little easier.

Mystery solved, at least for Vodafone’s marketers. QR codes can create novelty and utility for every passerby. What are you using them for?

Got a free wall or two in your center that aren’t going to any good use? You might want to keep an eye on the partnership between Taubman Centers and 20th Century Fox. It’s exclusive for the next year, but the two have come up with a great way to use otherwise unused space.

The Fox Movie Mall virtual storefronts bring window shopping back to the online world and the online world into the mall. Shoppers who pass by one of the virtual storefronts will be able to pull out their smartphones and snap a code next to elegantly displayed film covers. That will take them online, where they can instantly order the film for delivery to their door.

It ties in with the Fox Movie Mall app, available for iOS and Android. If shoppers use the app to order their films they’ll be able to save money, and they’ll also be presented with marketing for other films.

We seem to be in a year of experimentation for online/in-mall experimentation. With Amazon committing to more and more brick and mortar space and online retailers looking to the mall to offer fittings and more, this is just another step in the right direction. But it’s one that lets an online retailer cozy up next to traditional retailers without competing for space, a win for everyone.

For Fox, this is a convenient way to bring in the impulse purchases that online shopping doesn’t really encourage. For Taubman, the allure is similar. “We are always looking for partnerships with premium brands that enhance the shopping experience for our customers,” said Glenda Cole, vice president of sponsorship and center marketing for Taubman. “We welcome the addition of Fox’s multifaceted programming that entertains and rewards our shoppers and gives them a new, convenient way to shop for home entertainment products.”

Cupid’s arrow can be an elusive thing. We look for love all over, and sometimes we just can’t find it. But General Growth Properties hopes shoppers will persist long enough to win big at Northridge Fashion Center and many other centers nationwide.

The Where is the Love? challenge sends shoppers on a digital scavenger hunt for a little love. Those who find cupid, red lips and hearts adorned with QR codes are in luck: when scanned, they enter the shopper to win one of 30 $10 gift cards that will be awarded each day.

But that is, of course, not the ultimate prize. True romantics will get a chance to win a seven-day, six-night vacation for two to Kauai, Hawaii. They’ll be off to the new Kauai Marriott Resort on Kalapaki Beach with round trip airfare for two, hotel accommodations and airport transfers.

Persistence usually helps win hearts, and it will also help shoppers win the big prize. A shopper’s first scan awards one sweepstakes entry; finding a second code to scan awards five more, and the most persistant will get an extra ten for their third scan.

“Smartphones now play such a central part of our everyday lives, so we try to create fun and engaging promotions to keep our guests entertained while shopping at our malls,” said Keith Maladra, VP Digital Marketing, GGP. “This likely is the largest mall-based QR code promotion to date and just one example of how we’ll continue to use integrated mobile media at GGP.”