A 24-hour theater production has just wrapped — on Facebook, of all places. Stuff Theatre, a digital branded experience strictly for Facebook, was a first of its kind live, global event where performers took over Facebook for 24 hours straight. The curtain went up at 9 a.m. on Wednesday and wrapped 24 hours later.

The brand behind the stunt: Norton Securities, owned by Symantec, whose mission in life is to grab people's attention to what's happening online. Consider Stuff Theatre a mini-marathon of branded entertainment, a sponsored social campaign that can't be zapped (like TV commercials) and offers fresh original content in a space where consumers are likely to pay attention.Continue reading...

Adding to Saturday's blog post and today's FAQ about the status of PlayStation Network restoration, Sony exec Kazuo Hirai apologized in this video meant to mollify disgruntled PSN users. The good news that was announced to fans on Saturday: Sony Online Entertainment had restored game services (except i Japan), in addition to beefing up security and appointing a new chief security officer and tapping Symantec to help shore up its network. Today's updates detailed the global restoration of game services.Continue reading...

It's an interesting branding challenge for a little-known tech startup seeking to sway a consumer audience: How do you rise above technical jargon while still getting your message across in a compelling way?

One way is to make fun of its niche, and the technical jargon native to the category. That's what Webroot has been doing with a new branding campaign that aims to get its antivirus software noticed amidst much larger, better known competitors like McAfee and Symantec.

In a series of outdoor billboards, Webroot shows colors of paint, grass, and floorboards. All three are accompanied with headlines that almost dismiss the company's technology pitch. One billboard, for example, shows an image of grass and reads: "Grass growing. Admittedly more interesting than explaining spam filtration."

Oddly, its YouTube channel videos (such as the one above) are much more straightforward and not tongue in cheek — in fact, it doesn't even include the irony-tinged spots.Continue reading...

Iron Man 2 opens in America this Thursday at midnight. While we will have the full product placement rundown next Monday at Brandcameo, let's take a moment to review the film's larger promotional brand tie-ins. As Ad Age notes, it's a $100 million "marketing bonanza."

Brand: Audi
Tie-in: As can be seen in the commercial above, Audi's R8 is back for the Iron Man sequel as Tony Stark's sweet ride.
Grade 1-10: 9.2
Judge's comments: The product placement master has spiffed up its profile for the sequel with the convertible Spyder model and a spectacular microsite.

Brand: Royal Purple
Tie-in: A motor oil brand tie-in might seem obtuse. But with Iron Man 2's extended racing scene and Stark Motor Racing sub-plot, this placement makes perfect sense.
Grade 1-10: 7.0
Judge's comments: Extra credit to the brand for going the distance with a microsite and comic book tie-in.Continue reading...

“We live an increasing amount of our lives on-line, but what happens after we are gone? What will happen to all our photos, blogs and social network accounts? Until now our digital identities have lived on without us, leaving our loved ones powerless to control them or wind them down. Webwill is a new service to change that, putting you in control even in the afterlife.”

This first iteration of Swedish startup MyWebwill.com gives users the ability to edit their online profiles after they are gone: deleting accounts, editing status, removing blogs, and even emailing last messages to family and friends. Social media experts anticipate a new digital phenomenon: More and more people will use online sites to dispatch messages to one’s "personal village"… even from beyond the grave.Continue reading...

The phrase "brandjacking" has been lately been used to criticize social media plays, like Brands in Public, that seek payments for blocking negative feedback. But a genuinely criminal wave of brandjacking—ju-jitsulike phishing scams that use a brand's own recognition and trustworthiness against it—poses a growing threat to many brands.

Trusted brands—from PayPal to Amazon—are increasingly being leveraged by criminals to trick consumers into handing over sensitive personal information. MarkMonitor's recent Brandjacking Index revealed that phishing attacks hit a record high in the second quarter of 2009, with unique attacks numbering 151,000.Continue reading...