• MSNBC/Entrepreneur, Friday, February 26, 2010 11:08 AM

Every now and then, a marketing idea comes along that not only generates huge, instantaneous buzz and moves plenty of product but also infiltrates the culture in subtle ways for decades to come, proclaims this byline-free roundup of 10 such rarities. "It doesn't happen often," says Michigan State's Bruce Vanden Bergh, "because it takes a combination of the right people with the right skills, the right climate and luck."

No. 1 on the list is NW Ayer & Son's 1938-birthed campaign for the De Beers mining company that gave us "Diamonds Are Forever." Michael Cody, communications professor at the University of Southern California, says that the phrase is so entrenched in our culture that some people don't know its commercial origins. Most, I'd venture.

No. 10 on the list is a little bit less obvious: Saatchi & Saatchi's 2009 "Life's for Sharing" YouTube video for T-Mobile that features a smartly choreographed dance routine in the middle of a London Tube station. In between, you'll find everything from Avis to the Marlboro Man to Barack Obama. Fun read.

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