How often do you check your work voicemails and find the recording to be a radio ad? Better still, how often are your voicemails agency pitches in the form of mock radio ads? Not often, I'm guessing.

Mention Willy Wonka or his chocolate factory and chances are, you'll encounter children and adults alike with fond memories of Oompa Loompas, Violet Beauregarde and Veruca Salt. Combine social media with golden tickets hidden in chocolate bars and you have a daylong campaign executed last week in Boston.

Advertising in mall parking garages has been kept to a minimum, due to strict fire regulations. Until now. Carspaze launched last year in Europe with its transformation of parking garages into 3-D advertising backdrops. European clients included Toyota, GM, Mont Blanc and Bulgari. The company has brought its concept and technology stateside, and the inaugural client is JetBlue.

College students and alumni alike love college football. The levels of love and loyalty, however, differ from person to person. The University of Kentucky created a traditional campaign that rewards its hard-core, loyal fan base with added zip.

Often the best way to promote a movie or product is the most obvious route. Case in point: a campaign for the Disney/Pixar movie "Up." The film follows a crotchety old man who travels to South America in a floating house, Disney/Pixar promoted the movie with a Zeppelin airship.

Augmented Reality, the process of enabling users equipped with Webcams to interact with videos or 3-D images online in real-time, has made the cover of Popular Science.

How would you react if your friend sent you a virtual greeting card that said: "I hope a sexy, exotic woman we smuggle across the Mexican border never gets it in the way of our friendship." If you're an avid watcher of the Showtime series, "Weeds," you'll enjoy the reference. If you're a non-watcher, like me, you'll furrow your brow and wish you were in on the joke.

The majority of ad agency Web sites contain the following components: an "about us" section, executive bios, case studies and a portfolio of work, past and present. And Flash, don't forget the Flash. That being said, agencies are searching for a way to tell their story in a non-cookie-cutter format. We've seen Modernista direct site visitors to its online properties, like its Facebook profile, Wikipedia page, flickr page and YouTube playlists. Now, BooneOakley, Charlotte, has turned its Web site into a series of YouTube videos.

HBO loves creating fake brands to promote its original programming, as when four artificial brands were fabricated to promote the second season of "Big Love." Last year, a print, outdoor and online campaign promoted a synthetic blood nourishment drink to hype the series premiere of "True Blood." I wondered how HBO would put a different spin on fake brands when touting the second season of "True Blood," returning June 14. This time around, familiar household brands such as Ecko, Geico, Gillette, Harley-Davidson, MINI, Gillette, and Monster.com, promote fictional products to a specific, nonexistent, target audience: vampires.

When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade; when a sour economy contributes to you being laid off, you turn your old business card into something positive. That's the general concept behind CardsofChange, a Web site where individuals who lost their jobs can turn a negative into something upbeat and encouraging.