Free Access To Disney For A Day

In a bid to inspire people to show more care to those less fortunate then themselves, as well as boosting traffic to Disney theme parks in the US, Disney has announced an initiative called "Give A Day, Get A Disney Day"Disney will be partnering with HandsOn Network to highlight a variety of volunteer opportunities with participating organizations across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Starting 2010, those who contribute their time need only have it verified by HandsOn; then, in exchange, they'll get a voucher from Disney which will allow them one day admission to a Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme park.

Via - Disney Parks

Football Gets Big

EA Sport's latest football-related communication campaign, called "How Big Can Football Get", aims to bring together football fans from around the world through the power of Twitter.

EA Sports has developed a new application, released on beta which uses data driven by an estimated two million Fifa10 games played each day, encouraging players to share their opinions, passions, and dedication for their team.

Fifa Earth uses data from Twitter, tapping into tweet mentioning keywords or hashtags such as goals, football, soccer and uses geotagging, to show how the world talks about and plays both real and virtual football. The application also aggregates game score from Fif10 matches, creating a live interactive competition. The better a user plays in Fifa10, the higher the team's ranking on Fifa Earth.

Via - Brand Republic

Audi's New Car Configurator

Audi has launched an interactive car configurator with Microsoft Surface as the main hardware to run the program.

For the initial launch, Audi will allow multiple users to configure and customise the A4 of their dreams in an immersive 3D environment. Through simple hand gestures or motions, one can virtually alter everything on the car. It'd be interesting to see whether the brand will make use of this latest technology in their dealerships, as opposed to the more traditional brochures.

Audi Car Configurator on Surface @ IAA 2009 from Neue Digitale / Razorfish on Vimeo.

Via - Neue Digitale

30 Years Of Hip Hop And Still On Top

Thirty years after the first mainstream rap song, Rapper’s Delight, hit the US charts, 13 October 2009, Hip Hop has become a dominant culture that has influenced the creation and advancement of many brands. In thirty years this genre of music and culture is a Multi Billion industry and includes: TV Shows, record sales, beverages, films, record sales, endorsements and clothing labels.

50 Cent and Jay Z, prominent hip-hop artist have collectively made $ 180 million in the last twelve months alone. How this brand of music has influenced the world of marketing is particularly interesting, brands like Ciroc Vodka and Patron have been launched on the back of Hip Hop mogul support such as P Diddy.

The culture not only promotes music, but also has been influencing hip-hop culture purchases and brand development for the past thirty years and Counting. "Despite the economy, hip-hop is just as powerful as it's ever been in the endorsement and licensing world," says Ryan Schinman, chief of Platinum Rye.

Via:BBC.com

Work On Your Guns With Your iPhone

Here's another innovative iPhone app which will no doubt contribute to iPhone owners' sense of superiority!

For a fee of £1.79, iPhone owners can download the REPS app which promises to turn your phone into a mobile Nintendo Wii. Users can set weight loss targets and view their progress via a real-time rep counter, which calculates how many calories have been burnt and alerts users to how many reps they have completed by vibrate or sound. Users can also use the app while listening to the iPod music on their iPhone.

There are also motivational audio clips from a personal trainer to further keep you motivated.

Via - Revolution Magazine

Levi’s: Back To The Future

New York based adverting agency Wielden & Kennedy has created a digital game that aims to link the past with the future. This game blends real and virtual worlds as the player goes on the ultimate treasure hunt across America.

The games narrative revolves around a historic character named Grayson Ozias IV who left message recordings in the 1890’s and the aim of the game is to hunt these messages and can ultimately win the $ 100,000 fortune Ozias buried. This campaign entrenched the heritage of the brand and celebrates the brands roots.

via:brandwise.com

Tap Water Resurgence?

Bottled water has been a marketing phenomenon over the past decade or so and will no doubt one day go down in marketing history as one of the cleverest new products - alongside tobacco marketing. The ability to have consumers willingly pay disproportionate amounts of money for a commodity is the holy-grail we're all after and perfected by various bottled-beverage companies world wide.

However, with fears of global warming and the negative impact the bottled water category has had in it's contribution, the past few years have been far more difficult for the industry with various projects aimed at discouraging consumers to purchase bottled water.

It would seem a similar initiative has recently started in London. The city will install various "hydrachills" - essentially water fountains - that will allow people to purchase 500ml of water for a nominal fee of 20p, a fraction of what's charged traditionally by bottled water brands. The 20p charge will go to a charity organisation called Waste Watch, whose aim it is to change people's perception and use of natural resources.

Via - Gemma Charles' Green Blog, Brand Republic

Surprising Service

PSFK provided an interesting new idea for restaurants who are looking to increase their word-of-mouth recommendations.

The restaurant in question is called Ogori Cafe in Japan. Apparently an innocuous enough looking cafe with an interesting difference in the way patrons experience their orders.

According to the post, "you get what the person before you ordered, and the next person gets what you ordered. Thus, if you’re in on the game, you can choose to be either a generous benefactor, and treat those that come after you – or try your luck at being cheap. Either way, it’s an interesting experiment that explores surprise, kindness and encourages interactions."

There's also an interesting account of their personal experience when they visited Ogori on the post which definitely makes you realise that unexpected generosity is possibly the easiest way to bring joy to those around us.

Via - PSFK

How To Spend It (If You Have It)

The UK Financial Times publication will be launching a standalone website targeting the well-heeled on the 3 October 2009, coinciding with the brand's 15th anniversary.


Howtospendit.com will offer advertisers microsite opportunities and has already secured several launch advertisers, the most prominent of which being Rolex. Included in the offering will be regular postings has well as weekly video bulletins highlighting the latest in the world of technology and gadgets.

In an environment where luxury brands are facing increasing cynicism from consumers in their brand messaging, the FT believes that they will meet the advertising requirements to an interested and targeted audience.

We'll wait and see.

Via - Brand Republic