Vanksen USA has launched its latest viral video to support Lands' End's Big Warm Up campaign (great flash website created by Firstborn) aiming at enticing consumers in the Boston region to donate their gently used coat for Boston's 8,000 or so homeless people. Produced by New York based Caid Productions, the original viral video not only delivers what the brand wanted but also puts the user at the core of the experience, activating emotions as a powerful trigger to engage consumers.

In addition to the powerful creative concept and the flawless production, a new innovative technology was developed: a viral module for Twitter and Facebook, allowing users to easily post and spread the video through these leading social platforms. While the results of the campaign are confidential, it already appears that all the elements of a wildly successful viral campaign are present: creativity, execution, innovation and customer engagement.

As explains Thierry Daher, CEO of Vanksen USA, the results of the The Big Warm Up campaign were so heartwarming that Lands' End CMO decided to extend the campaign to a national level and to involve SEARS, their parent company into the promotional effort. In addition, a 30 seconds TV commercial version of the video was cut, to be broadcasted on TV in Boston. A great success for a good cause!

More information on bigwarmup.com.

Meet Kyle Overstreet. An ordinary man? Absolutely not. Kyle Overstreet, this marginal man appears on YouTube in a few videos in which he is wearing nothing but espadrilles, a pair of socks, and a little Tarzan style skirt. In these videos in question, Kyle runs in New York City, proclaiming himself to be the "the world's fastest nudist". He explains people's comic reactions upon seeing him to journalists: “The first time you run by, they're like, ‘Oh my god, that guy's nude'”. “But the next time you run by, they're like, 'That's the world's fastest nudist!'” Following his distinguished appearances, the videos of this out of the ordinary runner can be found on different blogs and have been seen 60,000 times.

It is true that the runner is in fact an actor hired by Zappos, a shoe and clothing store, to create buzz. The cat is let out of the bag in one of the last videos by the "almost nudist". In this video, Kyle runs with his normal clothes on. Then all of a sudden, a van stops and people wearing clothes by the famous brand get out of the van and force the runner into it. He emerges wearing a formal pants and shirt by Zappos.

The preparations for the Viral Film Festival are advancing at great speed, so mark your calendars now: the event is taking place on December 2 at "1515", 34 rue Marbeuf, 75008 Paris, France.

With over 1,000 submitted videos and a large amount of guests, the 2009 Viral Film Festival is the event not to be missed by fans of video, buzz, creativity, and viral marketing.

For an even larger, more festive, and crazy party, Vanksen collaborates with the FrenchiesParty by Barka Zerouali (La Chose agency) to bring together all the actors in communication: advertisers, producers, bloggers...

A prestigious jury, one that brings together the world of agencies, advertisers, and bloggers, will this year reward the best videos out of over a thousand submissions in 8 categories:

The Extreme Award
The Efficient Award
The Young Award
The Woman Award
The Music Award
The Sexy Award
The UGC Award (reserved for independent producers)
The Jury Grand Prize (which encompasses all categories)

To follow the festival's news in real time, visit viralfilmfestival.com.

No more watching your photos on the small screen of your digital camera, Coolpix projects them on the wall! It is through a rather original exterior event that Nikon has promoted their COOLPIX S1000pj digital camera. Two boys are acting out choreographies over stimulating music. At that point, nothing yet quite amazing. However, their stellar outfits are equipped with Coolpix cameras, which allows for the theatrical projection of images behind them. After the 14th of July, the Eiffel Tower wiggles its hips! This innovation offers new perspectives...

With the explosion of social networks, blogs, and microblogging, monitoring the reputations of one's brand has never been more important. TweetedBrands is an online service that publishes a list of 50 brands that are talked about the most on Twitter every day.

Here is a list of today's most popular ones:

1. Twitter (116357 tweets)
2. iPhone (29790 tweets)
3. Google (29169 tweets)
4. Youtube (29039 tweets)
5. Facebook (25258 tweets)
6. Myspace (14267 tweets)
7. Apple (11743 tweets)
8. Digg (7285 tweets)
9. Fox (6623 tweets)
10. Yahoo! (6121 tweets)

The German publishing house Eichborn Verlag has created a rather incredible street marketing campaign. During the Frankfurter Buchmesse, the big book fair held every year in Frankfurt, Germany, the company let loose 200 flies... carrying tiny promotional banners. Despite the playful nature of the campaign, it seems that this campaign is very real... as real as the buzz being generated during the event judging by the reaction of those attending:

So... what do you think? Creative or diaphanous concept?

Before owners Eleanor and Paul Kidd invented their sneaker for comfort, they considered their customer. Long strides were made easier for former number 42, James Worthy of the Lakers, who used his New Balance 790 Hi Tops to become one of the greatest players in NBA history.

Shoes have not only become essential since the cave men became bipedal, but according to New Balance, sneakers have adjusted our way of walking. They argue that it will likely help us live longer. Through craftsmanship, a dedication for pushing technology, and an intuitive future of the brand, New Balance shaped the practice of wearing official sports sneakers into a lifestyle.

The Soho NYC New Balance Gallery recently debuted a collaboration between New Balance and Nine West and showcased the iconic styles worn by former pro-ballers for affordable hipster-wearers. They forwent their competitors' use of direct product placement, opting instead for an interactive strategy to expose the re-release of this venerable shoe to a worldwide audience. Picking up a shoe and feeling it, telling a story through imagery, and inviting the cool kids to try on their shoes while slide shows project its powerful history in front of displays of their Classic 574 series and Mardi Gras Collection, lent to the realism of the brand's identity. Their distinction from other brands is their understanding of the dual importance of style and engineering, and this has made them a staple amongst both professional athletes and amateur marathon runners.

We were happily engaged with the coolness factor of their products while exploring the grounds of the gallery. As a former fashion stylist for celebrity, film and television, I have developed a critical eye for style, and while representing Caid Productions as the VP of Sales and Marketing, I brought along Vanksen's Emmanuel Vivier to gage the importance of the fashionable line of products in our 360 degree branding program for the re-release of the never before seen footage of Just For Kicks.

Hence, as a challenging economy looms, marketing agencies have to put more focus on the marriage between brand entities by building a deeper relationship with their target market. Virtually everybody becomes the audience and niche markets are shrinking rapidly. Meeting these challenges also requires more compelling and interesting stories from media outlets. So, after years in heels I have high expectations for comfortable shoes, they need both value and history. And as the head of the marketing department for our documentaries at CAID Productions, we have embarked on a two-fold approach. One is suited to pop sensibilities that will inevitably translate to a highly valuable tool of Word of Mouth while the second is to attract hipsters in reviewing our films. New Balance is hopefully that new brand to partner with us.

IKEA furniture can transform into works of art... discover this "domestic symphony" that presents the large choice and flexibility of the designs of the Swedish company in a very original fashion.

Discover the latest viral by Samsung, destined to promote the new Samsung Corby (AKA the "Love Phone"). In this fake newscast, people walking by in the streets of London had to give their advice on a cell phone sold with a contact list of 10 attractive males or females (depending on the preference of the buyer.) Also, this phone integrates a technology that determines whether a person you take a photo of is attractive or not... Not to everyone's liking, this video.

For those who did like it, more information is available on samsunglovephone.com.

The Viral Film Festival is the not to be missed event organized by Vanksen on November 26 in Paris. It is back this year for its second Parisian edition with a huge party specially organized with the FrenchiesParty by BZ.

Above all however, the festival rewards the creativity of independent and professional viral videos with its exceptional jury.

Under the helm of Olivier Altmann, vice-president of Publicis, the members are prestigious:

No videos, no rewards! There are only a few days left if you wish to participate, following October 23 it will already be too late! Until then, the action is on viralfilmfestival.com.