Who hasn't at least thought about trying to beat a train at a crossing? Union Pacific hired Bailey Lauerman to educate the Fresno, California, public to the inherent dangers in doing so. Targeting young, diverse, risk-taking men, it created :30 and :15 spots that deejays not only gladly aired but climbed aboard the effort, spreading the message even further with giveaways and events. How well did it work? Incidents were way down following the campaign.

South Walton, Florida, needed to pump up the love after the gulf oil spill. LKM invited deejays to find their own perfect beach. Along the way, they tweeted and posted on Facebook 250 times, uploading their South Walton moments for a chance to win prizes and to be featured on digital billboard in their hometowns. Back home, they told their stories more than twice what the agency paid for. Visits shot up (64%) in August.

When public transit needs a boost, you can expect chirpy jingles on the radio, harkening to the days when everyone rode the bus. But not this time. R&R Partners had to break through to a younger crowd, so it signed up local bands to create songs that described how to use the transit systems. Then the agency enlisted local deejays to help spread the word. Ridership was up 4.5% in March compared to a year ago.

As P&G expanded into social media space, it turned to MediaVest for insights about how it was impacting Millennial consumers of its beauty and grooming brands. The agency tapped into its proprietary youth network to gain insight into the "Paparazzi Generation." Among the traits discovered were: "Celebrity Me" which is the way Millenials create and manage their image moment to moment as their own PR agents; "Broadcast Me" their tendency to document and share their image constantly, as if they were journalists; and "Network Me" which is the compulsion they have to share their opinions. New rites of passage were …

The Exmark Pride campaign drew on the company's base of loyal Facebook and YouTube fans by creating the social site ExmarkPride.com, which gave users access to a host of Exmark-related material as well as access to key employees. The campaign also involved creating the Mark Awards - a contest with prizes including a trip to Hawaii. The company's unit sales increased 17.5% and demo requests jumped 25% over the same time period during the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

Spark Communications designed the first-ever opportunity for a branded character in Super Bowl programming by turning the famous hosts of FOX's NFL Today Show into E*TRADE babies. The E*TRADE babies made a "surprise" appearance on the 2011 Super Bowl pre-game show with famous sportscasters Kurt Manafee, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson, Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long. The sportscasters even helped to craft what each of their E*TRADE Babies would say on-air. Typically a brand must be an official NFL sponsor to pull something like this off, but as part of the media negotiation, the creative content was developed specifically to support …

MediaCom was challenged to differentiate the new Audi A6 from its competitors of luxury sedans. Instead of integrating their car into a hot TV show, they decided to create their own in collaboration with FX. The team worked together to create the Untitled Jersey City Project (UJCP) - a series of 8 two-minute episodes, designed to feel like fragments of an FX show. The campaign started by teasing the story through a series of trailers that premiered during the primetime Emmy Awards. All episodes and promos drove viewers to UJCP's Web site to view more episodes and additional content. Sponsored …

When Showtime launched THE FRANCHISE: A Season with the San Francisco Giants following the storied baseball team, they needed to get viewers to spread the word for a successful launch. To do this Showtime partnered with the MLB's Fan Cave in New York City, the mecca for baseball fans worldwide and used their storefront to create a unique out-of-home unit. Showtime used Foursquare's open API to create a custom machine that reacted to mobile check-ins by instantaneously dropping a co-branded MLB and THE FRANCHISE baseball autographed by legendary Giants Hall of Famer Willie Mays. Showtime took Foursquare beyond check-ins by …

In hopes of taking on FedEx and UPS, Campbell Ewald created a campaign that emphasized USPS's flat-rate boxes and envelopes. The strategy centered on generating leads by offering free shipping kits via interactive TV. People could obtain one simply by clicking their remotes. USPS used the interactive TV offerings of DISH, DIRECTV and New York's Cablevision, and used the emerging interactive capabilities of Canoe Ventures. The plan helped USPS increase shipping volume 49%.

This campaign aimed at convincing small and mid-size businesses of the benefits of Intel-powered Dell SMB Solutions. The initiative integrated articles and videos that were shared at high rates across social media vehicles, as well as Dell/Intel owned brand assets, like white papers. More than one in five visitors - 21% - to the company's brand page consumed multiple pieces of the ad's content. Each time a single user shared a piece of content, at least 2 additional users engaged with that piece of content.