Sly Takes Over YouTube
Sly Stallone shows the Internet who’s boss with an explosive YouTube takeover based on his new movie, “The Expendables.” The video starts as an interview about directing the movie, but transforms into an action-packed battle when the related videos try to take out Stallone. “Don’t forget to share!”
Source: Adverblog 8/4/10

Crayola Using Solar Power to Produce Crayons
Crayola unveiled its new 15-acre solar farm with a special celebration on Thursday, Aug. 5 at the company’s headquarters in Easton, Pa. More than 26,000 solar panels are generating the electricity needed to make 1 billion of the 3 billion crayons that Crayola makes annually. The 10 members of the “Crayola Green Team” were on-hand to ceremonially plug an over-sized, colorful drawing of Crayola’s factory into the sun. The event generated nearly 400 hits including national coverage on CBS Morning News, ABC News Now and PBS Nightly Business Report. (Disclosure: Crayola is a Coyne PR client)
Source: NBC Philadelphia 8/4/10

Quirky Contest: Win a Year's Supply of Juice Boxes
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the juice box, the inventor of the infamous beverage container, Tetra Pak, has launched a user-generated video contest. To participate, juice box fans must submit an original music video for “Celebrate the Juice Box” – the juice box theme song, set to the tune of “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” – to http://www.juiceboxbirthday.com by Oct. 31. One lucky entrant will win $2,500 and a year of juice boxes.
Source: USA Today’s Pop Candy blog 8/9/10

Dior Brings Sexy to the Sidewalk
The Dior store on 57th street in NYC turned renovation into a marketing masterpiece by transforming the plywood construction façade into a Lady Dior purse.
Source: Retail Design Diva 8/4/10

iPhone Users Have More Romantic Partners Than Android Users
Online dating site OkCupid has released the findings of a major study on images and perceived attractiveness. The site reviewed more than 11 million photos to find out which cameras, smart phones, special effects, time of day and camera angles create the best photos. The site also polled smart phone users to see which users of each device had the most romantic partners, spawning controversy on tech sites across the blogosophere including Gizmodo, Mashable and Wired. The results were also picked up by mainstream news sources such as ABC News, CBS News, New York Daily News and The Los Angeles Times.
Source: The Huffington Post 8/11/10

Whiteboard Girl Stunt Taps Employee Frustration
Talk about timing – on Aug. 10, theCHIVE.com release a faux slideshow of disgruntled employee “Jenny” quitting her job via white board messages. The video tapped on the coattails of a real news story of an employee dramatically quitting his job, leading the Internet audience to believe the “HOPA’s” story was true and resulting in more than 40 news web site postings and 4,000 blog mentions for the comedy site.
Source: PRNewser 8/11/10

Happy Anniversary, The Wizard of Oz!
August 12 marked the 71st anniversary of the premiere screening of “The Wizard of Oz.”  To celebrate the occasion, Google changed its doodle to an Oz-like landscape featuring Dorothy and friends on their journey to the Emerald City. The word “Google” is hidden in the background of the image, made up of tree branches, poppies, the yellow brick road and the towers of the Wizard’s city. For more Wiz, check out Guardian’s list of seventy-one Wizard of Oz movie facts.
Source: TIME Magazine – News Feed 8/12/10

Fake Guitars Dropped into Real Volcano
To generate buzz for its new real-guitar video game, Power Gig: Rise of the SixString – which allows players to compete using a six-string guitar instead of button controller – Seven45 Studios dropped a load of fake guitar controllers into a live volcano in Iceland.
Source: BuzzFeed 8/11/10

British Police Craft New Interactive Guilt Trip
A new domestic-violence campaign from London's Metropolitan Police, “Make it Stop,” uses YouTube video links to lead the viewer to stop an overheard case of domestic violence. If the violence is ignored by the viewer, they become witness to a more severe crime and reminded that one in five murders in London are the result of domestic violence. This kind of interactive shock PSA is commonly used in anti-violence campaigns.
Source: AdFreak 8/10/10