Above, watch a video case study submitted to the Cannes Lions for Jeep-In, a mobile interactive game created for Chrysler's Jeep brand in Poland by Leo Burnett's Warsaw office. The mobile marketing promotion targeted young car-buyers by inviting them to hit the off-road and check-in along a virtual treasure map and collect awards along the way, with the player collecting the most awards winning a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Elsewhere in Europe last year, Leo Burnett Brussels tested a different spin on treasure hunts for a different Jeep model (the Compass) with a different interactive game challenge: to find Belgium's most deserted mailbox.

The NFL is the most sizzling property in TV advertising these days, and at the moment there seems to be no ceiling on fan and brand interest in riding the momentum. It's already clear that Super Bowl XLVI on February 5 in Indianapolis, to be broadcast by NBC, will go down as the single most lucrative advertising event in television history.

The Comcast-owned broadcast network has sold out of its commercial spot inventory for the Big Game, reportedly at a cost of up to $4 million for each precious 30 second unit of screen time, which is up from about $3 million a year on Fox last year — and about 60 percent since 2001. 

But a month before the Super Bowl, there's still speculation about other aspects of marketing in and around the extravaganza.Continue reading...

IKEA, The Life Improvement Store, has five finalists in the running to win a year-long sabbatical (valued at $100,000) in its Life Improvement Sabbatical Contest. Public voting ends today (click here) and the winner will be announced by January 17, with IKEA will donating $1.00 for every vote received (up to $50,000) to U.S.-based education programs.

“IKEA believes in creating a better everyday life for the many people and we continue to be inspired by people’s heartfelt desire to improve the lives of others,” says Leontyne Green, Marketing Manager, IKEA North America. “This year’s more than 1,000 Life Improvement Sabbatical contest submissions included thoughtful and passionate ideas and we can’t wait to see who the public chooses as the winner.”

The five finalists (in alphabetical order) are:Continue reading...

TED, the nonprofit devoted to ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ and a harbinger of intelligent and inspiring discourse, is adding an element of surprise to its ongoing call for Ads Worth Spreading.

Five agencies that enter their 2011 campaigns in TED's AWS call for entries will be randomly selected for a visit from TED and a one-on-one with each agency “to spark deeper conversations between TED and the global advertising and marketing community.” Better be quick — the deadline for submissions is Dec. 31st.Continue reading...

If you have a big idea, especially if you're a designer, the Industrial Designers Society of America (better known as the IDSA) annual competition is the place to show off your spark of creative genius.

IDEA® (International Design Excellence Awards) is an international design competition honoring design excellence in products, ecodesign, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts. Entries are invited from designers, students and brands worldwide.

The competition opened to submissions on December 1 and runs through February 10 (with a Feb. 17 late deadline already announced). Finalists start receiving notifications that they've made the first cut on March 20, and the final judging is from May 2-4. Winners will be announced on July 2, and the ceremony is on August 18.

At a whopping $300 per entry as an IDSA member, and $400 per entry for non-members, you may ask yourself why spend all the money? The short answer: the benefits of entering the contest and the experience gained are well worth it, not to mention the pay-off for winning.Continue reading...

Just in time for last-minute holiday shopping, Nike has teamed up with augmented reality specialists GoldRun, Akoo (an out of home TV network) and U.S. running apparel retailer Finish Line for an AR-based treasure hunt and sweepstakes. The contest's prize package is sure to please sneakerheads and runners alike: Nike’s Air Max Flash Pack, a collection of 15 shoe designs and colors.

Shoppers in 106 malls with Finish Line stores can download the free GoldRun app, find a virtual Nike shoe, snap a picture of the shoe in front of a Finish Line store and have a chance to win one of the 15 pairs of Nike shoes awarded daily.

“By sharing branded photos and earning rewards (such as winning a new pair of Nikes or getting a discount on a product), the consumer is incentivized and the brand wins, because they're seeing engagement in the mobile and social space while driving awareness and revenue,” GoldRun Founder and CEO Vivian Rosenthal told brandchannel.Continue reading...

In 1999, British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley launched Peace One Day, a non-profit organization to promote an annual day of peace and global ceasefire, encouraging nations at war to put down their weapons for just one day — and hopefully inspire them to keep them down. In 2001 the United Nations unanimously adopted Peace Day, making September 21 the day each year that Gilley's dream would take place.

For Peace Day 2012, Gilley's Peace One Day is hoping for not only a global truce, but the biggest reduction in global violence in recorded history. In order to achieve the biggest ever call for peace, the organization needs to brand its day and effort more effectively, and is reaching out to young people for help.

Peace One Day has partnered with D&AD, the UK's Design & Art Direction organization, on a student award inviting creative work to brand Peace Day 2012 and, on a bigger scale, the mission of Peace One Day. It's a creative brief designed to inspire tomorrow's creative superstars, and inspire real change in the world.Continue reading...

The Philadelphia 76ers last visited the NBA Finals in 2000 and won the whole thing in 1983, but there hasn’t been a lot of Brotherly Love for the Sixers in recent years as the team has either not made the playoffs at all or lost in the first round since 2003.

But now the team has new ownership, a new hope as the season is getting set to begin on Dec. 25, and a new mascot that will debut early in the year. That last one, actually, hasn’t been decided on just yet — so the team is asking fans to help determine the next face of the franchise will be, according to CSNPhilly. After all, whether it is Big Ben, B. Franklin Dogg, or Phil E. Moose, it will likely be around long after everybody on the current roster is gone.

The last mascot the Sixers had, a rabbit named Hip Hop, spent most of its time strutting around and doing crazy dunks off of trampolines. Last month, he was bounced out after fans told the new ownership that he had to go. So now the team is trying to figure out whether it wants a mascot in the form of Benjamin Franklin, a dog, or, oddly, a moose.Continue reading...