Right before our break, we took a deeper look into how corporate social responsibility looks in the world of the Reputation Economy, where a brand’s (or a house of brands’) seemingly disparate actions are judged by consumers as a single experience. In the post, we pointed out that Pepsi’s notable efforts as part of their [...]

We all knew that Pepsi’s Refresh project was a risky proposition. Their decision to ditch their million-dollar Superbowl ads opened the door for their rivals at Coke to advertise essentially unopposed during the country’s biggest broadcast. Furthermore, while many have commended Pepsi’s authentic, interactive approach to corporate social responsibility, there’s still no guarantee that this [...]

Most adults like to think that they’ve outgrown the petty motivators from their childhoods: the gold star, the cub scout/girl scout badge, the varsity jacket. But, judging by the way most adults have responded to services like foursquare and Farmville, it’s clear that things haven’t really changed all that much. And, as marketers watch these [...]

Not so long ago, we touched upon the idea (in posts here and here) that cause marketing efforts are heading in both bigger and smaller directions. Each tactic has its strengths: the big stuff grabs headlines and can drastically impact a particular cause, but the small stuff can be less daunting for consumers and more [...]

While we all hope that brands continue to think about the environmental implications of their packaging, let’s be honest here – it’s generally not a very sexy topic. Conversations about reduced carbon footprints are often communicated as stuffy PR pieces which, while commendable, are hardly worth sharing. That’s what makes the above video from Puma [...]

As we’ve tracked the Hometown’s Hero trend (#3 on our 10 Trends for 2010) over the course of the year, we’ve mentioned the unprecedented opportunity for marketers to fill the holes left by budget crunches at state and local levels. (You may remember KFC interpreting this literally.) As mobility continues to decline and folks are [...]

In case you happened to miss the two weeks we dedicated to our SXSW Interactive coverage, here’s a recap of what went down. Part 1: Setting the Mobile Stage. We talked about how the rise of the mobile web and apps are changing the physical way we interact with our phones. Can we still even [...]

Whew. We’ve had one heck of a SXSW Dispatch, haven’t we? One last post to tie up some loose ends, and we’ll get back to the non-SXSW world. (It still exists, y’know.) For starters, we told you to be on the lookout for QR news. Then, mid-conference, people started noticing that Facebook had rolled out [...]

With all our talk of the Year of Location and mobile web browsing and in-store touch technologies, something as “old” as online video might seem like a quaint topic to cover in a SXSW Interactive recap. Of course, video has proven to be an extremely engaging medium for interacting with consumers, and brands have recognized [...]

Some people go to SXSW to learn. Some people go to SXSW to play. And some people go SXSW to learn about play. We fit squarely into the last category, (no really, we got the Panel Nerd badge on foursquare to prove it!) but this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to regular readers. [...]