Italian coffee maker Illy Caffe will challenge Starbucks Corp’s stronghold over the US out-of-home coffee market by expanding its reach within independent coffee shops, rather than opening up its own.

As further evidence of the increasing threat that crowdsourcing poses to advertising agencies, PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew will reward marketing duties for a $100 million-plus business to a consumer-picked player, via an online contest beginning in late November 2009.

Victors & Spoils launched today, touting itself as the “world’s first creative (ad) agency built on crowdsourcing principles.”

On October 31st, Kodak will launch its first new TV brand campaign since 2005 – “It’s Time to Smile” will focus on the moments and relationships that define people’s lives and are captured in photography, via TV and web ads.

George Parker is the perpetrator of adscam.typepad.com. Every week he shares his opinions on the advertising world with PSFK.

Non-profits like MarkProf Foundation are filling the marketing education gap in the Philippines and boosting employment while they’re at it.

ABSOLUT is going with the ever popular brandless branding for a new limited edition series of bottles.

Cereal maker Kellogg’s is planning to laser etch their logo on individual Corn Flakes in an effort to set themselves apart from imitations and generic brands.

OKCupid’s recent analysis of successful dating interactions got us thinking: what can these lessons of online dating teach us about relationship-building on a larger scale?

Only five days after announcing their new name for the Vegemite spin-off – ‘iSnack 2.o’, Kraft have ditched the controversial branding name.

For all the talk about timeless style and designs, the fashion industry can’t help but chase the latest trend. There are those who genuinely create them and those who shamefully knock them off, but when it comes to marketing, they’re equally stuck in a rut.

Over the past year we’ve noticed experimentation in Starbucks’ marketing, a reflection of an identity crisis in the industry as “mass-market powerhouses” McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts use the recession to rise from below. On the opposite front gourmet coffee startups are beginning to present the premium quality Starbucks once used as its primary selling point.

Artists Justin Gignac and his lady Christine have another inspiring project in addition to NYC Garbage that we covered earlier. It’s called Wants for Sale and the idea is simply this: painting things they want and selling them for the actual cost of the item. The works range anywhere from $5.85 for a painting of Pinkberry to $2,500 for a painting of Betsey Johnson and Bloomingdales’ iconic Big Brown Bag to represent their desire for a shopping spree in SOHO.
They’ve now expanded on the original idea to give back to those less fortunate, with Needs for Sale. This time they’re painting items such [...]

Burberry has created a social networking site that they hope will garner new fans of the brand.

A little while ago on PSFK we let you know about creative mastermind Rick Klotz’s new campaign to make Freshjive clothing logoless and brandless. PSFK spoke to the man behind the line…