So little of advertising is still advertising. But fortunately ideas are still ideas. I’ve collected a few examples here that show off some creative ways that ambient and social media have been used. These are brands that have gone beyond the standard Facebook product page or the CEO Twitter account to bring some creativity back to marketing.

Coffee Company PowerPoint Slide

This coffee company in the Netherlands offered a free cup of coffee to students who slipped a Coffee Company slide into their PowerPoint presentations. Pretty cool to have a word from your sponsor in the middle of your slideshow.

Terminator Salvation Twitter game

This nicely executed movie promotion enticed Twitter users to watch for tweets from @resistance2018 which contained fill-in-the-blank puzzles, word jumbles, and trivia. Players could rack up points by “decoding these transmissions” in a reply tweet.

Papa John’s Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is one of the most notable new media tricks around. It’s a way of getting a users webcam to trigger a 3-D animation on screen. It really gives you the illusion of a hologram. (Is that redundant?) Papa John’s, GE, and Mini are some of the brands who are already making use of it.

Green Works Reverse Graffiti

This eco-friendly mural was created for the launch of Green Works, a 99% plant-based cleaner. San Francisco’s Broadway Tunnel was the filthy backdrop for the artwork of indigenous plant life, which was cleaned with the product. Pretty amazing product demo.

Milky Way Movie Theater Line Barrier

Although it’s questionable whether or not this was produced, it’s still a really fun idea—a great example of why it pays to think about where your target spends time.

Flea Spray Mall Floor Graphic

This giant floor decal lets the foot traffic on the ground floor of an Indonesian mall become the fleas on the dog. I do wish they had rotated the dog image 180 degrees so he wouldn’t look like a pork chop. And the line could be better. But still-great idea.

Iams Frisbee

While we’re on the topic of dogs, take a look at this cool giveaway from Iams dog food. To promote the healthy and strong dogs message, they created these plastic frisbees to look like 10kg weights to be distributed at dog parks.

STA Travel Facebook Page

Few brands with Facebook pages support their fanbase the way this student-focused travel agency does. They give their page a human voice with lots of interaction, contests, giveaways, etc. Plus, they constantly create incentives for users to become fans, which, when they do, ripples through the networks of Facebook friends.

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There’s still so much discussion around marketing through social media and making the most of limited media budgets. We will have to not only master these media options, but continually find new touchpoints as well.

Let’s remember to send a postcard to our old friends Print and Television—let them know we’ll still visit from time to time.

Does the mention of dramatic prairie dogs, cheeseburger-loving cats, “numa numa” or Chuck Norris facts bring anything to mind? Most of us, at one point or another, have been exposed to it—probably without even knowing. Welcome to the absurd yet influential cultural phenomenon that is the world of Internet memes.

First of all, what’s a meme (rhymes with ‘team’)? Wikipedia explains the broad sense of this term as an element of culture that is transmitted from one to another through speech, action and expression. Put this in the context of the Internet, and you get the highly viral content you often come across in your  inbox or YouTube. Wikipedia has a separate definition for an Internet meme:

At its most basic, an Internet meme is simply the propagation of a digital file or hyperlink from one person to others using methods available through the Internet (for example, email, blogs, social networking sites, instant messaging, et cetera). The content often consists of a saying or joke, a rumor, an altered or original image, a complete website, a video clip or animation, or an offbeat news story, among many other possibilities. …Internet memes have a tendency to evolve and spread extremely quickly, sometimes going in and out of popularity in just days. They are spread organically, voluntarily, and peer to peer, rather than by compulsion, predetermined path, or completely automated means.

Venture onto YouTube or some of the top blogs and you’ll soon run into a meme. In fact, there are dedicated (and highly popular) sites created solely for the purpose of housing specific memes. Just to look at a few currently out there:

Lolcats (LOL meaning “laugh out loud,” one of the longstanding online/chat acronyms). Here, people take images, usually of cats, and superimpose humorous and quirky captions in a broken English dialect known as “lolspeak.” This meme has gotten to the point where its own ‘language’ has developed. To get a better idea, just go to icanhascheezburger.com.

FAIL. It’s simple, really. Take a photo (or video) that depicts something ironic, embarrassing or downright compromising and slap a big FAIL on it. Sometimes we’ll see an EPIC FAIL, and on the flip side, an occasional WIN or EPIC WIN. It’s merciless yet we find it so very funny.

See if you recognize any of these other ones:

On the surface, some of us may see these as silly, inane or even a sign of regression in human intelligence. However, there’s something to be said about the way these elements catch and spread like wildfire, the cult-like followings that are fostered and how it reflects our evolving behaviors and attitudes, both on- and offline. Internet memes have become an integral aspect of our web culture. It is an evolved form of viral where anyone can contribute, modify, share and have an effect. We witness the power of an Internet meme when we see one grow to the extent where it actually dictates a way of communication among thousands or millions (for example, lolspeak). Why do we love Internet memes? They are relevant on an individual level: anyone can find or create a piece of Internet meme that speaks to them and in turn share it with their friends, family or the rest of the world. It becomes something we feel we are a part of, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s just plain amusing.

At this point in time, it would be difficult (and possibly backlash-inducing) for marketers to create and propagate “branded” memes. Just as with any successful piece of viral, you can’t produce something with the intent of it being viral. Viral just happens. Whether or not this growing cultural phenomenon will allow marketers to have a place, it is important that we remain aware and plugged in to the methods of our behavior—even if it comes in the form of keyboard-playing cats.

So, do you have any favorite Internet memes? Please share!

What you don’t do for your dog says as much about you as what you do for them.

The new campaign for Alpo dog food capitalizes on this thought brilliantly. By showcasing the ridiculousness of pet owners dressing up dogs and paying for pet massages, it focuses on getting back to the basics of what it means to be a real dog and dog owner. It invites its target to laugh with the brand at other types of dog owners who go overboard with their dog pampering. It brings the realness back to dog ownership that these owners have never forgotten. Now I must admit, I wouldn’t buy Alpo even though I don’t dress up my dog. I am a very different type of pet owner that would never think of giving my dog anything but the best food and care possible. Said plainly, I see Alpo as a cheap and more importantly less healthy brand of dog food. Not good enough for my pup. But I am not their target. Their target buys dog food from a grocery store not a pet store. And they don’t let their dog eat better food than they do. But even though I am not their target, I find these ads amusing, honest and funny in a way that stories about peas and carrots could never be. After all, dogs were once wild animals forced to hunt for their food.

With everything from downloadable posters, stories about dogs lost to pampering that need to be “found” and even viral videos of people going into doggy spas to “rescue” the dogs by giving them Alpo, this campaign brings their headline “Quick, get that dog some Alpo” to life. The tagline “Real dogs eat meat” hits close to home for both the target’s way of thinking about feeding their dog as well as how they think about feeding themselves. Bravo to Alpo for truly understanding their target and how to talk to them.

Here is the campaign website.