The solution: immersing the consumer in an action-packed chase – The Chase – across PC programmes. A heroine outwitting two thugs trailing her through YouTube, Facebook, and Microsoft Office, all the while demonstrating the amazing things Intel’s processor lets us do on our computers. The two-minute video was a big hit and was named an ‘Ad Worth Spreading’ by TED that you can watch here.

Following on the success of the video, Intel partnered with Microsoft Advertising to take elements of its creative and continue The Chase on a global scale across Microsoft platforms, spanning mobile, web and Xbox Live, and covering the UK, Germany, France, Russia, Poland and Turkey. To make this phase of the campaign a truly engaging experience, we kicked off with a 24-hour bespoke homepage takeover across MSN sites, created one-on-one games on Windows Live Messenger, and offered Intel theme packs for Xbox Live Spotlight users. And importantly, we extended The Chase experience to handheld devices with the use of expandable rich media.

The campaign was a great success for Intel. Research conducted by Dynamic Logic across the UK, Germany and Russia showed uplifts in the campaign association for the brand across all markets, with the highest spike seen in Russia. The campaign also boosted Intel Core i5 processor awareness, particularly amongst the Windows Live Messenger audience, which saw a 21% increase. We were able to help Intel, a giant company that makes products people don’t necessarily touch or see, bring its brand story to life.

By creating a branded experience with rich, interactive content across multiple markets and screens, we really demonstrated what Microsoft Advertising’s unique offering is all about. In a way, today’s consumer is like our heroine jumping effortlessly from screen to screen – our task as digital advertisers is to engage them holistically and tell a good story in the process.

*David Pugh-Jones is brand strategist at Microsoft Advertising

Players of the game will be able to explore the world of Panem – the setting for The Hunger Games trilogy – and complete missions that will take them to each of the ‘Districts’ and the ‘Capitol’ where they will interact with characters from the story. The game will be the first place fans can see the official Map Of Panem, and the Districts layout. Details for the Map Of Panem will be rolled out in the game with a steady stream of chapter expansions.

“Suzanne Collins’ amazing novel delivers an unbelievably detailed world that completely immerses the reader,” says Sam Glassenberg, CEO of Funtactix. “Fans want to enter this world, interact with the characters and truly become a part of it.”

As part of the marketing effort for the film, Lionsgate has also launched an online immersive games experience at TheCapitol.pn, where visitors can register as a Citizen are be assigned to one of the Districts. Users can head to the square and collect their gifts, as well as send letters of love and support to their District’s Tributes.

“We believe the result of these policies then will make the Chinese TV advertising industry hard pressed to find workarounds, such in the form of sponsorship and other special-ad formats to compensate for these regulation-induced challenges” says Zhini Xia, researcher, advertising and television at IHS Screen Digest.

China’s television advertising market was worth €24 billion in 2011, up from €21.4 billion in 2010.

The radio outfit is allying with outdoor advertising firms JCDecaux and Clear Channel to push a live RSS feed from the Absolute Radio studios and slot it on the boards.

And Zuckerberg retains lofty hopes for his social media baby, which he compares to the invention of the printing press and the television. “Today, our society has reached another tipping point,” he says in a missive accompanying the IPO filing. “There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future.”

Facebook currently has close to 850 million active users and turned a $1 billion profit on revenues of $3.7 billion last year. And sovereignty over that social networking machine will be with Zucekerberg, who, the IPO prospectus says, will ‘control all matters submitted to stockholders for vote, as well as the overall management and direction of our company’.

OK, we know who’s in charge, but is Zuckerberg to Facebook as Jobs was to brand Apple? Our culture loves to love the individual creator myth and Steve Jobs certainly was the classic returning hero – with his departure, Apple may yet need to re-work its brand story. But Facebook’s prospective $100 billion valuation leans far more on those 850 million global citizens than it does in the worth of the CEO, and Facebook would certainly still very much be Facebook without him.

Perhaps Zuckerberg‘s simply not been around long enough. That he’s a very different personality from the Apple chief. Maybe it’s because he’s had one big idea to Jobs’ many. However, a creator myth most likely attaches itself more easily to tangible objects of desire, such as Apple’s. And one could argue that Facebook is actually being constantly, persistently re-created by its users rather than its initiators, so Zuckerberg’s role is much more that of a backroom boy than of a creative force.

*Sabine Stork is founding partner of Thinktank International Research

CueSongs says it provides a simple way for anyone to find well-known, pre-licensed music recordings and immediately purchase the right to deploy them on their websites, on Facebook, YouTube, in apps, online advertising and other micro-usages.

“The old world of music licensing is still the exclusive province of the few,” said Peter Gabriel, co-founder of CueMusic. “It is too expensive for most, rarely available online and can be painfully slow and complicated.  By introducing low prices and easy online access, CueSongs is creating a new market for music, to satisfy a huge untapped demand that can begin to provide new income streams for artists.”

“This is good for everyone,” said co-founder Ed Averdieck, formerly of Nokia Music and OD2. “Artists can determine up-front which sectors they are happy to make their music available to, and access a new royalty stream. Websites and businesses will now be able to upgrade the music that they use in their web and digital marketing productions, while rightsholders gain access to a sector that is difficult and administratively expensive to reach.”

Averdieck told brand-m he envisaged digital agencies wanting to use CueSongs to deploy exactly the tracks they were after within budgets. Brands are also a target for the platform, as well as small businesses looking for affordable music.

“The most difficult thing for clients is finding the right music for them, which is why we’ve also created an online  ‘mood board’ to help them,” says Averdieck. “CueSongs really is about creating a one-stop hub to support people for whom the established music-licensing process simply doesn’t work.

CueSongs tracks licensed from a range of major and indie rightsholders including Sony Music, Sony ATV, Real World, MusicSales, Peer Music, Infectious, Cooking Vinyl, New State Entertainment, Kudos Records, Believe,Tummy Touch, Skint, BryanMorrison Music, A Songs / Southern Fried Records, Westbury Music, IRL, District 6 Publishing, Perfect Songs, Distiller Records & Downtown Music Publishing.

“For anyone interested in unlocking opportunities in China and succeeding in the next wave of China’s growth, understanding the Chinese New Year is a master key,” says David Roth CEO, The Store WPP, EMEA and Asia. “Evoking past traditions is vital but, as China changes, it’s important to be forward-looking in how this is used and communicated, and not nostalgic. Getting the right balance will be the determinator of success.”

The study, conducted in 2011, did not focus on consumers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but rather on Nanjing and Weifang. These are commonly known as tier two and tier three cities, respectively – urban areas of around 8.5 million which are enjoying rapidly rising spending. Such cities are crucial for any brand wishing to win the hearts of Chinese consumers.

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