SPARK: The Dark Knight Rises campaign begins, Pepsi launches Live For Now and Pinterest designer creates a new type of e-commerce site called Gumroad?

3 May 2012

C&A BRAZIL PUTS FACEBOOK LIKES ON STORE HANGERS

C&A in Brazil has launched a Facebook tie-in for Mother’s Day, inviting shoppers to like their favourite items from a special collection in order to push the most popular pieces. The “Fashion Likes” campaign is then integrated into the retailer’s flagship store in the Iguatemi mall in São Paulo, with hangers that show a real-time counter. The gist of the description on the C&A Facebook Page is that by ‘liking’ an item, consumers are helping those who are in doubt over what to buy.

THE COLLAPSE OF MOORE’S LAW

If you’ve watched television shows about space or the universe in the last decade, chances are, you’ve likely seen Michio Kaku. He’s one of the more famous theoretical physicists in the United States and a co-founder of String Theory, which is the leading theory on how our universe works. He’s quite active in PBS, Discovery, and blogs all across the Web.

In this video, he speaks with Big Think to discuss what he sees as the upcoming collapse of Moore’s Law, which has pushed and guided the technology industry since 1965, when it was conceived by Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore. It states that the processing power of affordable computer chips will double about every two years. This consistent doubling of computer power has fed the computer revolution in the last few decades. It’s the reason why computers are now small enough and powerful enough to create smartphones and other tiny gadgets. Soon, however, Silicon Valley may have to change its name. Kaku believes we are reaching the limits of silicon. In the next 10-20 years, we may have to move to molecular computing and maybe even quantum computing to continue expanding the limits of our technology.

HEINEKEN: KEEP IT LEGENDARY

The Fever Keeper is a browser application that will cover all the online information related to the Champions League games, from news sites to tweets and Facebook posts. This way you will not get spoiled and you’ll be able to watch the game later at your convenience.

THE STATE OF THE INTERNET (ACCORDING TO THE OATMEAL):

Just brilliant.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES CAMPAIGN BEGINS

This week the latest trailer for The Dark Knight was released in cinemas and online, but prior to that it seems that fans could get their hands on it early if they helped to unlocked it frame by frame. The viral campaign kicked off by asking fans to search for hidden messages. On thedarkknightrises.com, a Batman dossier arrived that listed addresses marked with "Batman graffiti." Fans could email or tweet photos of the graffiti, and each successful submission unlocked a single frame of the final trailer.

COCA COLA: THE CHEERING TRUCK

Coca-Cola was able to take the support of Argentinia’s ardent football fans and bring it directly to the two-time World Cup-winning national team. The method of transportation for this precious cargo was a little vehicle known as The Cheering Truck. A familiar red Coca-Cola truck, this one outfitted with a recording booth, drove through 19 provinces in Argentina, stopping in select spots and inviting fans (sometimes whole school’s worth of them) to step inside and have their cheers captured on tape. As more sound files were stowed away, a digital sign outside the truck displayed their number, as it crept toward the one million mark. Finally, when it came time for game day, Coca-Cola’s cheering truck drove inside a stadium built to accommodate 50,000 people and played a multi-track recording of a million-plus voices melding together in a cacophonous roar of affirmation.

IMPROV EVERYWHERE: THE INSTANT DATE


Another brilliant idea by the guys at Improv Everywhere. They decided to surprise a random couple sitting on a bench in Central Park with a fancy dinner and a private concert by a wind quintet.

GOOGLE: THE MOBILE PLAYBOOK


PINTEREST DESIGNER SAHIL LAVINGIA AND HIS NEW E-COMMERCE SITE GUMROAD

At 19, Sahil Lavingia has already designed scores of apps and worked at one of the hottest startups in the world--but he's only getting started.

FACEBOOK: ORGAN DONOR STATUS FOR TIMELINE

After a promise of a “life-saving tool” announcement, Facebook this week revealed that users now have the option to add organ donor status to their Facebook Timeline. Mark Zuckerberg appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to talk about the newly added feature.

“What we hope will happen is that by just having this simple tool, we think that people can really help spread awareness of organ donation and that they want to participate in this to their friends,” Zuckerberg told ABC “That can be a big part of helping solve the crisis that’s out there.” According to the U.S. Department of Health, more than 7,000 people die each year while waiting for an organ transplant. Zuckerberg said that he was inspired to add organ donor status to Facebook in part by his girlfriend Priscilla Chan, who is a medical student, and also by witnessing what the social network accomplished in times of crisis, such as during the devastating earthquakes in Japan last year.

REPUBLICANS LAUNCH FACEBOOK APP TO DEFEAT OBAMA

When it comes to social media, the oft-heard narrative of the 2012 election season is that the Democrats are the “social party,” and are more adept at using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. The Republicans, however, are trying to turn that logic on its head with the launch of its “Social Victory Center” billed as a one-stop-online-shop for Republican voters to organize, plan events and volunteer in local, state and national elections.

And it’s all baked directly into a Facebook app, allowing the GOP to capitalize on the relationships that users on the social network have already built with one another.

AMPLIFY: FAN CULTURE

Marketing agency Amplify unveils its FanCulture film, featuring Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson, Charlie Dark of Run Dem Crew and Contagious' own Will Sansom. The film, which launched today in a series of screenings in Shoreditch's Aubin Cinema, is a piece of thought leadership which seeks to pick apart the intricacies of fandom - from Beatlemania to dedicated brand advocates and everything in-between. Questions raised include: Is there a formula to creating fans? How much can fans be worth to a brand or rather how much should a brand be worth to fans? Answers are provided by an eclectic bunch of contributors including Carl Christopher - sponsorship and special projects manager at PlayStation UK, Richard Martin - head of global marketing at Fred Perry, Kirsty Dare - commercial director at Protein® and even Kaiser Chiefs frontman, Ricky Wilson.

PEPSI: LIVE FOR NOW

Pepsi's biggest bid to re-assume brand and cultural relevance begins this week under the rallying cry and new global tagline of "Live for Now." Nicki Minaj will be the initial poster child for the campaign, the biggest element of which will be Pepsi Pulse, the brand's new website, which has been turned into a curated, Tumblr-like dashboard of popular culture, integrating tweets, photos and news items from the entertainment world by their popularity. Celebrities will offer online "challenges," while Pepsi will promote about 50 events in key markets throughout the summer. As part of the "Live for Now" platform in the U.S., the press release notes that Pepsi will present a series of exclusive pop-up, Twitter-enabled concerts this summer featuring major music artists:"Pepsi's first of its kind Twitter music partnership will enhance consumers' music experiences and bring them closer to what is hot in music today. The Twitter partnership will kick-off in the U.S. in early May."

KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE: LIKEAPELLA

Kraft Mac & Cheese on Friday rolled out a special thanks for Facebook fans — a nearly seven-minute song that name checks people who “liked” a post from the brand earlier this week. The brand enlisted the help of the YellowJackets, an a capella group, to thank all the 4,800 fans who “liked” the post on Tuesday. The post set a “like” record for the brand.

CALL OF DUTY USE POPULAR GUN VLOGGER FOR FIRST VIRAL PUSH OF THE NEW GAME

Here is a great piece of social outreach from Call of Duty in anticipation of the next instalment of the mega game franchise. Tapping into perhaps the most famous gun blogger on YouTube, FPSRussia who, with his almost 2.5 million subscribers seems to get his hands on literally every gun available) to review very latest in military technology, The Quadrocopter Machine Gun, controlled by a tablet and armed with self destruct!

It’s subtle, and not mentioned until the very very end of the video, but this is a sponsored post by Call of Duty to build hype for the upcoming release around what looks like a new in-game weapon. One week and 7 million views later, it looks like a huge success.

MTV GREEN PICKS RECYCLE MACHINE

MTV Brasil has launched the Green Picks Recycle Machine, a 3D poster that transforms expired credit cards into brand new guitar picks. The Recyle Machine has been installed in bars, night clubs and other places in São Paulo, Brazil.

10 OF THE MOST UNEXPECTED MEDIA PLACEMENTS

At a time when consumers are inundated with advertising while driving, using their phones, on planes or at the movies -- or in other words, every waking hour -- how does a marketer cut through the clutter? One solution to overcome ad overload is to throw an ad at them where they least expect it. With creative efforts now appearing on urinals, straws and shoes, here are 10 of the weirdest yet smartest media placements from the past few years.

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