Over the next two months, PSFK will be hosting Redscout’s SPUR video series. It will explore the intersection of brands, strategy, innovation and the world of account planning. We hope to spark a lively discussion, and inspire those working in the field.

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

TBWA Uruguay recently produced an issue of Freeway Magazine in which all the pages were redone using only BIC Pens.

Part art installation and part marketing gimmick, realtors in New York City have transformed a new building into a kinetic light show.

One radical solution to the boost excitement within the fashion world and introduce an edgy element into retail is Ann Sofie Back’s “hostage store”.

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.

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

Alex Bogusky and John Winsor from CP+B have just launched their new book Baked In, which champions the idea that products and brands that have an intrinsic value will render traditional advertising methods unnecessary.

As part of a series of sophisticated concept shops in Japan, the Kamakura Starbucks is designed to resemble a wooden Japanese-style home.

Living in Boise. Idaho, one of the things I really look forward to is my daily New York Times. Yes, I can get it online, but I’m enough of an old fart that I like to relax with a hard copy over my morning coffee. The problem is, it has to be flown in from Seattle and doesn’t get here until almost midday, sometimes not even then as it is delivered by a notorious local family of drug addicts!

Image credit: Getty Images, Art, concept, people, objects/Flickr
For the past decade or so capitalists have struggled to maintain control over the distribution of music. We’ve seen the trend reports, multitudes warning about the demise of the industry. We’ve also seen artists like Radiohead and front man Thom Yorke demonstrating a little optimism by facing the situation head on; see paywhatyouwill pricing and their decision to quit the album format cold turkey. Innovation is present, Mos Def’s T-shirt marketing, leak strategy, and new perspectives on album art included. Quite simply, the business of music is evolving and it is important [...]

In an extreme bit of experiential marketing, and to celebrate Candy Land’s 60th anniversary, Hasbro transformed San Francisco’s winding Lombard Street into a life-size version of the board game.
Two teams of children competed in a round of the game, those from UC San Francisco Children’s Hospital versus Friends of the Children. The reward waiting at the finish line was dessert by Debbie Does Cakes.
[via laughingsquid]

I’ve just spent the last three days in bed with swine flu or something. Well whatever it was, I didn’t touch a drop of alcohol for four days, so you know it was bad. But throughout my ordeal, I did manage to catch on to the fact that due to a massive denial-of-service attack by the NKVD, millions of Twitterati were close to despair, if not suicide as they were unable to get their daily fix of every minute, on the minute, tweets. Apparently this also had a minor effect on Facebook, but not many people cared, as Zuckernozzle’s empire [...]

I sometimes have to laugh at how we in the communications industry, whether it be advertising, media, marketing, music, films, pop culture, whatever, actually have the temerity and chutzpa to think we have any kind of influence over what the great unwashed masses out there think about, spend their money on and do with their miserable lives. Listen up guys. We don’t.
In spite of all the grandiose claims made by BDA’s and the increasingly “reality TV” driven, and hopelessly irrelevant cable networks, not to mention the oompaloompa, “blob” like growth of social media… The “Adverati” and their deep pockets clients [...]

Toyota Motor Corporation has recently announced that they will be bringing their marketing and advertising efforts based out of Japan in-house – forming two as yet unnamed entities that will handle domestic (Japan) and global marketing, respectively.  The move is intended to streamline Toyota’s marketing activities, bringing them closer to their consumers and allowing for a more localized message.
In addition, the aim is to carry out marketing activities that also bear in mind ways to contribute to TMC’s product development and sales innovation by promptly and accurately gauging the needs of customers and then providing prompt feedback to TMC.
This move [...]