Coca-Cola will send a team of three bloggers-cum-”Happiness Ambassadors” around the world in 2010, with the mission of finding out what makes people happy.  Can they find a role for Coke to complement that pursuit of happiness?
Coca-Cola announced that it is launching a new social media push that will send three bloggers to more than 200 countries in a year, with the goal of uncovering what makes people happy. The social media piece will be part of Coke’s broader “Open Happiness” campaign.
Ambitiously, the around-the-world journey involves stays of just a day or two in each of 206 countries.  The three [...]

A new executive team at MySpace is trying to reignite the brand by focusing on entertainment – music, videos and games – as users leave for “cooler” destinations.

New Balance Lifestyle has launched a campaign around a limited release of 480 of their 574 Clips running shoes in a direct attempt to solidify its standing with influential sneaker fans and bloggers.

In contrast to IBM’s unimaginative predictions, Microsoft’s Future Visions videos are actually a bit inspiring, pointing to innovations in technology we’d be excited to see and use. Their “future vision on manufacturing” concept video brings to life many advances that seem rather intuitive: ubiquitous touchscreen interfaces, holographic video conferencing, virtual paper, 3-D guided assembly processes, and a host of other efficiency boosting technologies. Watch the video below:

[via 360design]

At our Good Ideas in 2009: Digital salon yesterday, much of the conversation surrounded how our online identities are created, both actively – through our own decisions of what we share about ourselves – and passively – through the actions and perceptions of others. Given that we only have control over half of that equation, how do we ensure that the best and brightest portrait of ourselves is seen by the wider community?
Piers posited his “Red Coat, Black Coat” theory back in 2006, which proved to be a harbinger of conversations to come about approaches to online privacy [...]

Herman Miller’s heir apparent to the Aeron Chair, the Embody series, is a design that promises to promote clear-minded thinking by lowering the stress placed upon the body while sitting. With that in mind, they’ve created a microsite called Thought Pile that invites users to participate in an ideas forum by answering weekly questions that are meant to provoke conversation and innovation. The results are displayed visually in a mind map on the screen, the circles displaying individual concepts growing in real time as the audience votes. Interaction can be as simple as clicking agree or disagree based [...]

Fast on the heels of what many are heralding as the most successful presidential campaign ever staged, folks everywhere are hoping to be the first to uncover the valuable lessons that made this historic election possible. Those in the marketing industry choose to look at the Obama campaign from the perspective of “effective sales pitch to the entire nation,” able to cross all demographics with a single message. However, maybe this is view is too narrow and fails to see the broader implications as we move forward.
To that end, Gawker offers five realistic takeaways that paint a bigger picture [...]

The folks at innocent drinks, makers of tasty smoothies, have revamped their site to include a rating and review section. Hoping to foster a more robust brand culture and connection with their audience, innocent is trying out a consumer-centric website. The new feedback area provides simple ratings along with more detailed reviews. A built-in feature promises to randomly select comments to be highlighted on the homepage and further entices visitors by awarding funky prizes each month. The site layout was designed by Soup with a goal of pushing the playful nature of the company into the digital [...]

A visually stunning new advert from Nike has come to our attention.  The ad was created by Darbotz, an Indonesian artist best known for his monochromatic and intricate style.  Though it may not come across in the video, it’s a promotion for a new version of the classic Air Force Ones.  The video is supposed to reflect the evolution of the brand and give a taste of the reinterpretation and remixing in the Sportswear division.  It was animated by Randy Rais with music by Arianjie.  Here’s the video:

[via Limité Magazine]

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 [...]

MySpace and Viacom’s MTV Networks announced a deal that will partner them with Auditude, a technology firm that has developed a means of identifying whether uploaded video clips belong to a particular TV Network by recognizing unique electronic signatures.  Auditude approached these two companies with this technology, marketing it as a means of incorporating advertising.  Essentially, any content appearing on MySpace belonging to MTV Networks will be tagged, allowing either business the option of inserting ads.
This represents a significant change in attitude for both companies.  In the past, MySpace TV, the second largest video site behind YouTube, might have blocked [...]

  
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The way we influence and interact through the internet is constantly changing. We’ve all witnessed how user generated content has brought new creative potential to consumers and opened up the doors of online collaboration. But while UGC’s impact on marketing and the way youth consume and create web content is significant, some believe it still has a long way to go. Screenplay’s Strategic Director Helge Tennø offers a compelling argument on the limitations of the current means for online collaboration, deeming them too rigid and presenting “artificial barriers” [...]

Amazon.com has quietly released a beta version of a new web-browsing interface for its massive online shop.  The site is aptly named “WindowShop” as it allows visitors to survey popular items that might have been showcased if Amazon ever launched a physical storefront.  Users can either browse individual items and preview them or step back and view multiple items in a column display.  Not only is this an efficient way to find new products you may be interested in, but it’s also an effective way to get lost in a vast amount of material.
It is common knowledge on the internet [...]

Times Online reports that British Television network, ITV is investing in a new technology that will allow the network to embed advertisements into programming. According to Times Online:
The new technology, which is known as “automatically placed overlay advertising”, uses complex computer algorithms to find clear space, such as blue sky or blank walls, in video footage in which to display logos or messages.
The technology is currently being tested in news footage on the broadcaster’s ITV Local website. The rollout of the technology is currently dependent on the response from the viewing audience.
The cat and mouse game taking place [...]

Viking Line, a ferry service running between Finland, Sweden, and the Aland Islands, has recently introduced a new offering for its guests. In an effort to promote the on-ship dance halls, the company has created Dance Match, a purpose-built website that allows user to post videos of themselves dancing. There are several categories under which you can post your video including Disco, Boogie, and Salsa. When posting a video, you can rate your dance skills, and check out the moves of others, all in an effort to find the ideal dance partner. After filling out information [...]