• Cross-Media Case Study: Coke Zero: Zeroing in on the Grid
    When Coke Zero entered into a marketing partnership with Disney's Tron: Legacy last fall, the pressure was on to do something spectacular, particularly in the digital and mobile realms given that the film was sure to impress audiences with extraordinary 3-D visuals and computer-generated effects. "It was really important for us within the backdrop of such a breakthrough film to create a cutting-edge marketing plan that allowed for consumers to experience Tron like they haven't experienced it with any other medium," acknowledges Maurice Cooper, senior brand manager of Coke Zero, Coca-Cola North America. "So that was our brief - we …
  • Cross-Media Case Study: Clairol: Hair, There and Everywhere
    Clairol's Perfect 10 pairs up with Harper's Bazaar to inspire new hair dos and don'ts
  • Behind the Numbers: Social Gaming: Gaming in Real Time
    Either you love or hate Farmville. And that's why Farmville, and games like it, are good bets for advertisers - because the users who love social games are also often engaged with the games. And engagement is the magic word these days, because engaged consumers make for good marketing prospects. Brands know this and have taken note of the quick rise in time spent with social games in the last few years.
  • Creative Roundtable: knicksnow.com: Net Gain
    The torturous lost decade is behind us, and the New York Knicks have been reborn this season, with hotshots like Amar'e Stoudemire, Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler lighting up the court. Knicks fans, who had spent 10 years griping about the team, aren't complaining these days. They're hopeful and eager to connect with the new Knicks and other Knicks fans, and they can do so via knicksnow.com.
  • Search: Can Google's Free Model Pay Off?
    Google gives away search tools and Android mobile handsets in hopes of driving more traffic to search and display ads. That doesn't seem enough these days to drive profits. Don't misunderstand - Google outperformed earnings and profit forecasts in Q4 2010. Net revenue came in at $6.4 billion, about 4 percent above Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter's estimate.
  • 5 Questions for Paul Ratzky, Director of Interactive, OLSON
    Boasting over 10 consecutive years of double-digit growth and some 400 employees, OLSON, Minneapolis, now rivals any shop in the world. No doubt, Paul Ratzky knew it was special in mid-2009 when he left Yahoo as senior director of agency development to take the reins at OLSON's interactive division. Since then, the "brand connection" agency has done pioneering work in the areas of consumer packaged goods with www.betterathome.com - the Better at Home website for General Mills - and entertainment, arts and tourism for Target Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular Facebook Experience.
  • Agency Profile: MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER: Shape Shifter
    AgencyProfile_OM_0311MUH_TAY_ZIK | HOF-FER calls itself a group of "creatively driven professionals in the industry formerly known as advertising." The approach is not nearly as apocalyptic as it sounds.
  • Apps: Nike Training Club: More Function, Less Yoga
    Nike and its agency, AKQA, took a good, hard look at what women want in an app before coming up with a radically revamped version of the Nike Training Club app for women. Released for the iPhone and iPod on Jan. 1, the app is designed to be streamlined, sophisticated and useful - with an emphasis on the useful. In essence, more functionality and less yoga.
  • Social Focus: Facebook: Imperial Expansion
    The last two years have seen spectacular growth in Facebook's U.S. user base, comparable to the huge expansion of radio and TV ownership in the early days of those media. But inevitably, like its predecessors, Facebook will eventually begin to approach saturation - and indeed it seems to be reaching this stage now, judging by the flattening growth curve.
  • Fairy Tale, Ending
    In the fairy-tale version of the social media revolution, consumers have all the power. This is a swell story to tell children, in between assuring them that they are beautiful and unique snowflakes, but it massively oversimplifies the situation, even as it's a story business-book writers seem to love to tell. There are now shelves full of these empowerment fables heralding the brave new world in which everything is transparent and open and shared, and brands cower at the strength of a proletariat flexing its collective might.
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