Brooks is a brand name typically known only to serious runners, but the company is out to change that. And while Brooks takes running seriously, its latest marketing gambit is anything but. Starting today, the "Brooks Run Happy Cavalcade of Curiosities" which the company calls a "running-inspired carnival experience" (and bears the delightful URL, runhappy.com) will make stops at running shops, events and Rock 'n' Roll marathons.

The mobile carnival, actually a double-decker bus, will include carnival games and a free running gait analysis. The bus also contains the "Arcade of Oddities," featuring the world's biggest shoe and "other strange and memorable exhibits." Brooks plans to take the bus across the U.S. over the next several years.Continue reading...

Dodge's new commercial today touts the 2010 Dodge Challenger in a 60-second spot created in honor of the World Cup match between USA and England tomorrow — a fact it played up in its teaser for the ad, after the jump.

The v/o: "Here's a couple of things America got right: Cars ... and freedom." Too patriotic for the brand, but par for the course at the World Cup? Tell us what you think, or flag a World Cup brand campaign that caught your eye with a comment below. Continue reading...

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicking off today in South Africa, it seems that the world's largest sporting event is also turning out to be the world's largest brand marketing event.

Now Yahoo! is getting onto the field with a co-branded interactive promotion, "Yahoo! Penalty Shootout for (RED)." This free online game "lets you challenge friends and fans from around the world in a virtual penalty shootout."

While the game itself runs through the end of June, Yahoo! is offering a one-day promotion — today — in which every goal scored results in a $1 contribution (up to $100,000) by Yahoo! to the (RED) campaign.Continue reading...

Nike wins social media buzz marketing for World Cup ambush campaign as rivalry heats up with official FIFA sponsor Adidas. FIFA has been targeting World Cup ambush marketers such as these, filing more than 2,500 cease-and-desist injunctions to protect official sponsors.

Twitter adds World Cup site and #worldcup hashtags including nation icon tags.

Tragedy strikes World Cup kick-off in South Africa, as Nelson Mandela misses opening after great granddaughter dies in a car accident.

Yahoo! and (Red) team up to raise funds to battle AIDS in Africa in today-only World Cup promotion.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola and arch-rival Pepsi are very much on the same page these days — and that page is all about social media.

As we've noted, Pepsi has been tapping consumers for ideas via such social engagement programs as DEWmocracy and the Pepsi Refresh Project. Pepsi Loot is its latest social and digital experiment, this time with a Foursquare-powered app to lure music fans with free songs in exchange for checking into establishments that serve Pepsi.

PepsiCo's SVP and chief engagement officer, Frank Cooper, feels a company can truly innovate when it decides to "harness the power of your consumer base and allow them to lead in brand decision making."

That's where Coke is headed as well.Continue reading...

ESPN launches its 3D channel tomorrow, in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup kick-off game with Mexico vs. South Africa. At launch ESPN 3D will be available to more than 40 million U.S. homes via Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T's U-verse service.

ESPN's Pardon the Interruption debated the merits of ESPN in 3D vs. HD (above) after it was announced at CES in January. 

Launch advertisers, including Disney's Pixar, P&G's Gillette, and Sony's new 3DTV, will promote their brands in commercials that will run during the World Cup coverage. Naturally, ESPN hopes the channel will spur more marketers to think in three dimensions.Continue reading...

Now this is a Google Earth 3D tour worth watching – even if you’re not a soccer, footie or futbol fan. As the world awaits Friday's kick-off of the 2010 FIFA World Cup at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, with baited breath, this video tour showcases technology at its best – and portends the drama about to unfold.

The virtual fly-by is eerily evocative of the Roman Coliseum, a.k.a., the Flavian Amphitheatre, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. The Coliseum seated 50,000 spectators who routinely gathered to watch gladiatorial contest and public spectacles – including executions, re-enactments of famous battles, animal hunts, and mock sea battles. (Some of those themes are echoed in World Cup brand marketers' ads, official and unofficial.)

For a more leisurely, stadium-by-stadium look, click here. At least it won't cause headaches, like Sony's 3D World Cup promotion.

It's a special World Cup Brand Bites, starting with the tiny streaker (above), who's also on Facebook. Can you identify what brand it's a viral for? (Still stumped? Click here.)

The World Cup by the numbers: "£120 Cost of the grey 'England' suit modelled by Theo Walcott in a Marks and Spencer ad that came out just before he was cut from the England squad"; "3,300 Trademark violations in 84 countries from the 2006 World Cup, according to FIFA."

What happens when a Hyundai overdoses on the World Cup?Continue reading...