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SapientNitro has launched the world’s first Tesla Coil-powered radio station, Sparkleradio.fm, which enables users to send personalised Christmas greetings via a musical card. SapientNitro London says it ‘Ideas Engineers’ got their hands on the two biggest musical Tesla Coils – resonant transformer circuits – in Europe and sent them, along with a film crew, into the ‘North Frigid Zone’ from where Sparkleradio.fm is streaming personalised messages within video.

Looking to see just what goes on inside an ad agency? You need The Anatomy Of An Agency infographic from Big Orange Slide. You’ll get the lowdown on the drawer contents of copywriters, art directors, developers et al, the various functions’ spirit animals – such as account’s parrot which repeats things back to clients – and the numerous bad habits. And more.

TED has announced that five agencies entering the Ads Worth Spreading initiative will be randomly selected for a visit, with the TED team curating a special session and meeting one-on-one with each agency. These visits – slated the first half of 2012 – are designed to spark deeper conversations between TED and the global advertising and marketing community.

It’s Christmas, it’s time for the Elf Love Project. What is it? It’s an online initiative which enables Twitter users to nominate up to five of their favourite followers to be on the receiving end of seasonal special treatment from a group of festive elves, courtesy of Euro RSCG Worldwide, Socialistic and the Philter Phactory, writes Maria Stadtmueller.

War artist Matthew Cook has launched a week-long takeover of Mother London’s Twitter feed, using his illustrations to depict life inside the ad agency. Over 20 images created by Cook will be tweeted until 18 November. The works will also be hosted on a separate Tumblr blog, and there will be an exhibition at Downstairs at Mother in the New Year.

Ad agency BBH and its brand invention unit ZAG have launched Playground Sessions, an initiative comprising downloadable learning software which aims to revolutionise the traditional piano lesson by incorporating gaming, pop music and social networking elements, says Maria Stadtmueller.

Brands like Gatorade and Dell have built internal social listening command centers as a means of identifying and addressing the needs of their customers – and potential customers – in real time. Others, like Xerox and Kodak, have built out their listening capabilities to drive specific business objectives like acquisition and product development research, all by paying attention to what their customers are saying on social media sites, writes Annicka Campbell, associate, marketing strategy and analysis at SapientNitro Chicago, in the marketing/design/tech agency’s  Insights 2012 report.

WPP’s insight and consultancy unit Kantar has made a $3 million strategic investment in Affectiva, a provider of tech which measures consumers’ emotional responses. Affectiva has two key technologies – Q Sensor, a wearable biometric device measuring emotional states such as excitement, attention, anxiety and relaxation, and Affdex, which interprets facial expressions.