Taking a page from their customer friendly food service model, Burger King recently took “Have It Your Way” into the realms of D.I.Y. fashion.  A collaboration between 5 designers and artists tasked with reinterpreting elements of Burger King’s icons and logos culminated at an event held in Chicago on October 24th.  The gathering invited participants to take part in the studio creation process by silk-screening the final designs onto their own clothing in any combination they chose.  Essentially, a clever form of marketing that allowed Burger King to subvert their own image, while at the same time maintaining recognizable aspects [...]

Fuel-Design recently published a collection of classic British football programs, entitled “Match Day.” The collection, compiled by Bob Stanley and Paul Kelly, includes more than 450 programs spanning the lifetime of the league from 1945 to the inception of the Premiership in 1992.

Nothing ruins an outdoor concert or film screening quite like sitting on the grass for hours, hunched over like a barely opened mollusk shell.  But with the GreenSeat, sore backs are now a thing of the past.  Made from corrugated cardboard, the chair is a cheap, recyclable way to alleviate long episodes of sitting.  At this point, it’s been pitched primarily to eco-friendly audiences, but considering that the chair’s construction offers great potential for advertising placement, we can only hope it will be popping up in venues worldwide.  The simple all-in-one design incorporates a seat cover and handle and when [...]

The PR industry as we once knew it is dead.  We’ve written about this topic before, but recently we came across some advice on creating the best PR through the social aggregator, FriendFeed.  SocialTNT explains the most efficient way to market yourself or your company in a well organized article.
The important lessons detailed involve staying current on the feed to maximize media research opportunities and taking advantage of the contacts you have.  In a new world that values usefulness over experience, staying current is critical.  Becoming involved is one of the central aims of FriendFeed and you can easily attain [...]

The popular UK milk drink FRijj has recently launched an ad campaign pairing their sponsorship of a film festival with user created content. The B-Movie themed microsite calls on viewers to film their own masterpiece utilizing the brand. While the festival includes classics like Jaws and Scarface, the user videos are encouraged to pursue a lower standard of film with the clips on the site parodying not-so-classic movies like The Blob. From The Digital Mainstream:
By encouraging users to participate in a movie-making competition based around the drink, Frijj have created a genuine brand experience – something that [...]

Lexus drivers in Philadelphia will soon be able to park in two priority parking areas at the Wachovia Center. As part of a new three-year advertising and sponsorship package between Lexus and and arena owner Comcast-Spectacor, Lexus owners will get to park in specially reserved lots that prominently feature Lexus advertising on the light poles.
[via Jalopnik]

Blue Monster Reserve is a special bottle of wine that has been made exclusively for Microsoft by South African winery Stormhoek. Blogger and Cartoonist Hugh Macleod of GapingVoid is the marketing strategist for Stormhoek and developed the Blue Monster image after meeting many of the Microsoft staff at various tech functions that Stormhoek was sponsoring. From there, he developed the little monster and added the tagline:
“Microsoft – change the world or go home”, which apparently has become somewhat of a mascot for some in the company. The bottle is only available to Microsoft staff, members of the “Friends [...]

Ben and Jerry’s are a great company with a fantastic heritage. This heritage provides plenty of opportunities for the brand to exploit. Despite being bought by Unilever the company retains its quirkyness and have made the previously local community day a global event. The ‘Free Cone Days’ provide consumers with the opportunity to sample the Ben and Jerry’s product for themselves. A free sample, it’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it’s beautifully executed.
The 17 April is the UK’s Free Cone Day.

An article looks at how brands are associating themselves with Fashion Week’s around the globe to raise their profile:

fashion.psfk reports that most car manufacturers at the LA Auto Show are highly unexciting and macho when it comes to displaying their vehicles (preferring to drape pretty girls around their stand as aesthetic accoutrements rather than trying to utilize the space to promote their concept). A couple of brands however caught their eye…
fashion.psfk : LA Auto Show- Creative Stands

Here’s a crazy list of the contents of the goody bags, MTV hands to presenters and artists at this year’s MTV Europe Awards:

Replay Blue Jeans – Fashion items from the premier denim brand. Replay also has a store backstage where the artists can select items of their choice got free.
Vauxhall / Opel Corsa – Artists will receive a set of car keys each to try their luck on the Opel Corsa car backstage. The artist whose key fits the door, wins the car.
Sony Ericsson – W950i touch screen walkman mobile phone, plus mobile phone accessories Adobe – [...]

The PSFK team loves Hulger phones. At the 100% Design Conference in Tokyo, they had this rather inspiring booth. Their blog explains:
HULGER were given a container at 100% TOKYO by ICON and asked to do something under the theme of this year’s event ‘LOVE.’ So we made Love Locked, a prison meeting room where people can feel what it’s like to see, hear (through HULGER HANDSETS), but not touch. You can find us in the container park at the baseball ground if you’re in the area.
Hulger

There’s something pretty interesting about this Soundbomb. It could be used for novel ways to create experiences. We’re sure it could be used for Urban Spam too. Anyway – one button lets you record a noise, another switches on the motion sensor which will play the noise when it is triggered.
Soundbomb

There’s a Flickr set of photos of the Stussy/Nike party at the Nike Blu House in Venice Beach, CA. Nice insight into how these parties play out.
World Tour: A Global Collaboration (10/06) – a photoset on Flickr

After a recent ‘discussion’ about the absence of women speakers at the Tokion conference in New York(and the subsequent introduction of some), maybe this list will help any event organizer find some innovative women to come and talk. The list is by Jen Bekman, a gallery owner, a writer, a New Yorker and a woman with opinions:
Personism List Of Women Speakers