What way to engage customers works more than a giant billboard? A giant interactive billboard offering food, no less!

This isn't a human version of the GranataPet dogfood-dispensing billboard in Germany. This one's courtesy of McDonald's in Sweden, which has been engaging customers Stockholm with a game of classic Pong via a mobile app.Continue reading...

Trending on YouTube: two versions of one very angry customer's voicemail message. Above, the bleeped version — and below, the (naturally) more popular expletive-laden NSFW (not safe for work) version, in which a moviegoer cusses out the cinema that ejected her.

The independent cinema in question, the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX, has a simple rule: If you talk or text during a movie, they will kick you out. And in this case, release it on video to remind other customers they're not kidding about protecting their brand experience.Continue reading...

The above video is going viral on YouTube, if only for the comical sight of Darth Vader in Disneyland. You might ask why Darth Vader is wandering around Disneyland with two Stormtroopers.Continue reading...

Trending on YouTube today: Donald Trump's response to a zinger (below) by Jon Stewart. The Comedy Central host took a swing at Trump for eating pizza with a fork while dining in New York this week with Sarah "Is She or Isn't She?" Palin.

It's the latest video blog (vlog) by Trump, who who caught vlogging fever in February (one of our favorites: his Geico rant) as missives from “From the Desk of Donald Trump.”Continue reading...

Our most-read blog posts of the past week include a number of celebrity brands, new USDA nutrition logo and Hangover 2 product placement:

#1 Will Justin Bieber Punish Urban Outfitters For Latest Ripoff?

#2 Take That, Newsweek: The Grand Rapids LipDub Goes Viral

#3 The Secret Product Placements Of Hangover 2

#4 Why Banks Need to Step Up in Social Media

#5 USDA Food Pyramid About to Crumble

#6 Look Ma! Lexus Is Going Fast!

#7 Does Twitter's Photobucket Deal Spell the End For Twitpic?

#8 Is a Kardashian by Any Other Name Still a Kardashian?

#9 "Brand Sharapova" Scores Off the Court

#10 Coming Soon: The Ryan Seacrest Channel?

Trending on YouTube today is the first official look into Microsoft's Windows 8. The video features a demo, which was revealed at AllThingsD's D9 conference yesterday.

The demo, on a Windows touchscreen PC, shows off some incredible new aspects of the new operating system.Continue reading...

Our most-read blog posts of the past week range from Justin Bieber's Perfume to Lady Gaga's marketing blitz for Born This Way, her new album:

#1 Justin Bieber's New Perfume Gives Back While Taking From Marc Jacobs

#2 U.S. Navy Finally Applies To Trademark "Seals"

#3 Yes, Nike Knows It Just Released The 'Air Croc'

#4 Zombies Ate My Marketing Plan: CDC Stunt Runs Amok

#5 Pepsi's Green Cups Square Off With Coca-Cola's PlantBottles

#6 Ashton Kutcher Gets an A+ for Personal Branding

#7 Brands do the Time Warp (Again)

#8 Thanks to "The King's Speech" Director, Captain Morgan is Now a Gritty Badass

#9 USAA Gets Top Marks for Customer Experience

#10 It's Lady Gaga's World (We Just Live In It)

Trending on YouTube today is one of the most impressive, and even world record-breaking lip dub videos to date. A lip dub, in case you were wondering, is a type of video that combines lip synching and audio dubbing to make a music video. The song of choice? Don McLean's American Pie.

Despite the length of the song, at almost ten minutes, the duration is not what broke the record, but rather the size and scope of the project. This involved about 5,000 people and a major shutdown of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, which was filled with marching bands, parades, weddings, motorcades, bridges on fire, and helicopter take-offs.

It was a feat of place branding and local pride that could become a case study for municipal and civic officials looking to elevate their own local branding.Continue reading...