Since the 1980s, there is a rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. Back then, the two companies were fighting for the predominance of the computer market. The mockery of the rival in advertisements is almost a tradition which has been maintained from the beginning on. Especially Apple has attracted attention with snappy spots. But Microsoft knows how to counterattack. In a current spot, a Windows 7 notebook and a macbook meet in a plane.

Mentos and cola are a quite explosive mixture. You can find lots of videos on the internet showing how to make a cola fountain with a Mento. So it seems to be probable that this experiment would also work with a beer. In the follwoing video you can see a young man who tries to implement the assumption. The viewer curiously stares at the bottle of beer that seemes to be a random choice.

Christmas is just around the corner, so it is right on time to buy the first Christmas cards. But it maybe won`t be neccessary this year.  Schwarzkopf has just started a campaign that allow for very special Christmas greetings.  With a few clicks one can create a video that can be send via e-mail. The procedure is very easy so the average computer user is able to send his own Christmas greetings within a few minutes.

An interesting campaign has just launched on Facebook.  Japan, trying to get into the winter ski destination conversation has tapped McCann Erickson, Melbourne to produce a viral App, that allows you to choose your own snowboard and compete with your friends on a snowboard slide on Japanese powder.

With budgets being cinched for many tourism boards worldwide, they are increasingly turning to non-traditional media to reach their target audience and engage new audiences.  As long as the game works ands compelling enough to share, they may have a home run here.

Brilliant campaign that literally uses “disability” as a strength and further turns the focus of their campaign into a valuable asset that they then give away for the good of the cause. Unique Types is a special collection of fonts inspired by children suffering from physical disabilities. Each font was created under the Creative Common license and is free of rights and limitations on use.  As part of the campaign, they solicited creative directors all over Brazil, and requested them to  use their fonts in their advertising.  In turn, they just asked that they place their “button” as a post-script in their advertising as a sign of support for AACD.

Tomorrow, Skittles’ UK division will try to re-launch their confusing “ Update the Rainbow” social media campaign.  Through several of their past admittedly brilliant campaigns, they have managed to “friend” more than 12 Million people on Facebook, however, reading the posts today, most (Friends) echo my sentiment of “ I don’t get it.”  Since they first launched this campaign on November 1, 2010.

French Connection, the trendy retailer has come up with something new they hope will boost sales this holiday season.  They have launched a cross between a virtual shopper and a virtual stylist on YouTube.  A well known London personality will help you navigate dressing for any occasion from a winter wedding, the office to even a Sunday at home.

It is a commonly held belief that viral videos should not be longer than 2 minutes.  This was established as a precedent because of the belief that many Gen Y’ers had limited attention spans. DC shoes has shattered this long held belief by launching an over 7 minute video that has been viewed more than 7 million times.

Hats off to Cebu Pacific Airlinesfor making the routine safety instructions on their airline not only something that captivated their in-flight passengers, but almost 10 million of our worldwide citizens. Most of us go into sleep or read mode as soon as the tell tale “ding” in the passenger cabin announces that we are about to hear the five minute drone read safety instructions. Instead, in this passenger cabin, heads bobbed and their was an aire of anticipation before two attractive young women began to dance down the aisles captivating all with how to fasten your seat belt and pull down your life vest. There is no doubt this was a staged “accidental hit”, but a brilliant move on what is surely a shoestring marketing budget.

It occurred to me as I was reading about some of the latest videos that made it to rock-star status on YouTube and other video sharing sites, that although marketers are becoming increasingly adept at producing videos that reach a wide audience, they are falling flat when it comes to a strategy after it breaks the million hits or more.