ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, is sharing how it was affected by the economic crisis in season three of its web series, managed by our agency Vanksen.

The season kicked off today with a video entitled "Emerging from the Crisis," which covers how the collapse in steel demand forced ArcelorMittal to consider how best to reduce staff costs (50% of its fixed costs) and make leaner decisions.

"This crisis was very unexpected. Personally it was very tough," CEO Lakshmi Mittal admits in the video. "It tested us: me as a CEO and ArcelorMittal as an organization."

The company reflects not only on positive lessons learned — like how well executives perform when empowered at smaller hotpoints to make crucial decisions in a pinch — but reflects on unhappy things, too, like the strikes that occurred during its general assembly. Both senior executives and ground-floor employees are interviewed.

Watch this video, and others, at arcelormittal.tv. Users can comment on each video; the company also streams a Twitter feed on the site.

"In the worst moments of the crisis and also now, we believe in communication. And good communication is a 2-way road," points out head of internal communications Stefan Schwarz. "That is why at the heart of Web TV 2010, and beyond the video episodes, we are allowing people inside and out of the company to participate in open discussions and criticism."

Read more about why ArcelorMittal decided to continue broadcasting its web show — despite sharing hardships that typically compel companies to cease this kind of activity. From the perspective of the agency, we're proud say we've helped create a meaningful bridge between ArcelorMittal and its audience — good times and bad.

Vanksen worked with ArcelorMittal to launch its web series in 2007; nearly three million unique users have watched the first two seasons. See our coverage of season two's launch.

Since the debut of The Fame, Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) has positioned herself as a wünderkind in personal branding and a social media adept — two traits that we don't consider mutually exclusive.

And as her rabid fanbase grows — with pretty heavy representation from the ad industry — she's proven she can meet expectations. The video for her much-anticipated "Telephone," featuring Beyoncé and the original Pussywagon from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, clocked a whoppin' 19 million views and 72,000 comments in six days.

Apart from the incendiary visuals your brain is thirsty for, a few brands make cameos too. Note the potshot of her Virgin Mobile phone in the prison yard; in the frame that follows, she's using Diet Coke cans as hair rollers.

But it isn't just in the realm of eye candy and epic mini-film-making that Gaga provokes and delights. Read Write Web recently published a useful article about how she's literally turning her album sales model into software-as-a-service. As RWW puts it, "Lady Gaga is hosting an interface party, and you're invited." Watch and learn, little monsters!

For more haut Gaga video action, check out LadyGaga.com.

The social media and viral marketing experts, of course!

This is the story of shustir.com (http://www.shustir.com/), a startup that provides online marketplaces to small businesses. Neat and notable features include a free storefront and low cost e-commerce options; it's kind of like a Facebook for small businesses.

When Shustir.com approached Vanksen USA, we were tasked with everything from brand positioning to SEO to online video. Taking into account the edgy nature of traditional “virals,” we came up with a rather aggressive creative concept, taking a hit at Big Business – not the nice ones, mind you; just the environment-polluting, golden-parachute-dispensing ones.

The result is an engaging video that depicts YOU as the culprit. Why? Because when you spend money on big-box retailers, you are not serving your community: 70% of all money spent on local businesses goes back into the local economy. What's that you said? You didn't know? Well then, this is for you!

You can also personalize it directly by going to: http://www.bbaa-shustir.com/watch.php

We also developed custom modules to spread the video on Facebook and Twitter (http://www.bbaa-shustir.com/spread-facebook.php), in addition to email and blogs. But the most fun in the campaign – for us, that is – was developing the creative for embeddable online banners. Fidel and Che did not mind our little twist… or so they told us. ;-)

Sixth Marketing 2.0 Conference co-organized by the Brand Science Institute and Vanksen on March 22 and 23 in Paris / Experts from Google, YouTube, Disney, Kodak, and Lufthansa discuss current developments in Social Media

The topic of Social Media is currently determining the discussions held in companies, media houses, institutions, and universities worldwide. But many companies are still unsure how to sensibly use social networks for their communication. What use will the examination of participation networks and word of mouth have for communication, marketing, and advertising? And how many resources will need to be invested in order to optimally take advantage of Social Media opportunities?

International leading experts in the fields of economics, research, and communication will be answering these questions on March 22 and 23 at the sixth Marketing 2.0 Conference in Paris. In March, more than 400 participants from 32 nations will join forces in Paris to jointly debate the future of communication. Co-organizer Emmanuel Vivier, CVO of Vanksen, underlines:"the rare opportunity Marketing 2.0 is for brands and consumers to get to connect and share their experiences with such an A team of speakers".

Indeed, speakers include experts from Google, Dell, Lufthansa, SAP, and the World Economic Forum as well as leading specialists from P&G and YouTube. Using case studies, they will present the use of apps, the opportunities that social networks have to offer for brand development, or how Social Media can be sensibly used in times of crisis. The extensive portfolio of speakers is completed with scholars from the Harvard University, journalists from The Guardian and Forbes Magazine, and bloggers from the leading worldwide technology blog Techcrunch.

Brand Science Institute Director, Nils Andre says. “We don't want to portray just one aspect, but rather an integral picture of current communication,” says Dr. Nils Andres, founder and managing director of the Hamburg-based institute. “The conference is therefore directed at both marketing experts as well as those in charge of the technology, media, advertising, and communication sectors.”

10% off for everyone that mentions : I(l)CBUZZ

About the Marketing 2.0 Conference:

When: March 22–23, 2010

Where: ESCP Europe University, Paris

Registration: www.marketing2conference.com

Program: http://www.marketing2conference.com/2010/program.php

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115445703471

Twitter: www.twitter.com/kateson

Contact: Jmaloy@vanksen.com

Axe-Lynx has blown its last few years of strength in the men's care industry — an arena in which it was fairly new and surprisingly successful — proving itself a one-trick pony: use our product, and the women will flock to you like helpless pheromone-enslaved heifers!

Added bonus: THEY'LL ALL BE STRIPPERS!!!

Anywho, Specsavers takes the much-needed piss out of "Billions," one of Lynx's more tiresome hormone-enslaved girl ads. Here is the original by BBH London, which we think of as kind of an Amazonian Survivor-meets-Patrick-Susskind's Perfume: an island of bikini-clad chicks race to the location of a dude who's standing in the sun, Lynxing himself for dear life. No word on if they end up eating him though.

Here's the spoof by UK-based Specsavers. The punchline is awesome and the protagonist reinvisioned with all the douchiness he deserves. But we also love how they made a sexist ad even more sexist: the girls are wearing high heels that obstruct them in the mud; some shy away from puddles, others drag shopping bags through the mire; and they're all kicking and shoving at each other in a manner most catty. Until they get within shooting distance.

Ever the good sportsman, director Daniel Kleinman of Rattling Stick, which realized the Specsavers piece, explained, "I wanted to make sure everyone knew which spot we were parodying with a few key shots and then take the mick. Of course, it would never work if the original was not a well known and excellent piece of work."

Naturally. Written by creatives Neil Brush and Simon Bougourd.

The most sacred moment guys have left is watching soccer with friends — a moment increasingly at risk.

To remind Italian men of the preciousness of this time, Heineken organized a fake poetry-reading and classical music event at the same time as the UEFA Champions League game between Real Madrid and AC Milan.

100 malicious girlfriends were used to talk their boytoys into missing the game for this squarebear-fest, as well as 50 professors that forced their classes to make a sacrifice and go expand their minds or something.

The fallout was broadcast on national TV channels in Italy, where unhappy-looking people were depicted filing into a concert hall, their eyes slowly glazing over as the violins kicked in and the calligraphy appeared over the projector.

15 excruciating minutes later, the words "Hard to say no to your boss, isn't it? ...To your girlfriend? ... And to the match?" appeared on the screen. The spark of realization is palpable; the audience bursts into contagious, hysterical applause. Right before the match appears on the big-screen, you get a nice sizeable screenshot of the Heineken logo.

1136 victims in total were snagged, with over 1.5 million users watching their reactions live on SKY Sport. The two weeks following the event, the Heineken subsite received over 5 million unique visitors, plenty of blog and news coverage, and some seriously heavy YouTube/socnet love. All in the service of its in-man's-interest slogan, "Made to entertain."

Bloody clever execution by JWT/Italy (@jwt_worldwide). The video runs long, but we had a good time watching it. As one commenter expresses,

"So good. It's definitely where advertising has to go to make people sit up and take notice. I hope they served everyone a keg of free Heineken at that event."

Us too. Because even after the punchline, we'd still need something cold and hopsy to calm the shattered nerves.

Of late, French actress Marion Cotillard is working hard for the money. She appeared in three films in 2009 alone in addition to serving as the full-time muse for Christian Dior, which most recently set its sights on making her a rock star.

But Cotillard still took a little bit of time out of her day to show us she's no diva. In this Funny or Die exclusive, she stars in a spoof ad for Forehead Tittaes: the French woman's secret to making men look them (roughly) in the eyes.

Forehead Tittaes w/ Marion Cotillard from Marion Cotillard

In addition to catalyzing the uncomfortable chills we seek out rigorously on the internet, "Forehead Tittaes" roasts ethnocentric lifestyle brands like French Women Don't Get Fat and miracle products named after megastars who, having made their money, now hope to peddle their brand equity into something they probably know nothing about, usually because they are neither chefs nor chemists not perfumiers.

We like an icon who can laugh at herself and the way her culture has managed to leverage itself in the media. Well-played, Ms. Cotillard, well-played.

IKEA's inviting users to test two couch models, namely Ektorp and Kalstad, in a few of the least comfortable places in Paris: its métro stations. Or at least four of them: St Lazare, Champs Elysées Clémenceau, Concorde and Opéra.

The couches are set out in pairs, divided by a lamp (to lend ambiance, Le Publigeekaire quips). Behind them are large trompe l'oeil ads, setting the stage for a nice domestic scene.

See complete shots of all four métro installations over at Le Publigeekaire, who also has photos of a similar but more elaborate comfort-invasion campaign IKEA did for the Japan tram that goes to Kobe.

Last Friday's LA Times features Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter for the feature film Alice in Wonderland, in vivid color and blocking most of the text on the front page.

"It's taking a concept that we normally apply to new media and reimagining it to a concept in a newspaper," says spokesman John Conroy for the Times. The style of the ad feels a lot like the occasional Rich Media effort that drops in front of your site content and can be engaged-with or closed. But you can't close this, and this isn't the internet.

Reporters at the Times, including top editor Russ Stanton and some of his deputies, were apparently "vigorously opposed" to the ad but were overruled by the company's business executives. And while Conroy calls this "stretching the boundaries," others are more skeptical.

"People are worried about what it does with the brand, the paper's name," one reporter, who wishes to remain anonymous, was reported as saying. "On the other hand, it's money that we badly need."

Defenders argue the ad can't be mistaken for editorial content, and it's a fresh and creative way to draw eyes to publicity that is inoffensive, family-friendly and (why not say it?) probably well paid-for.

The articles themselves are recent ones that did run in the paper, so you're not missing out on anything. In any event, cheers to the LA Times for trying something new, interesting and slightly disruptive; we doubt that the content itself is in any kind of pain.

In December, American Apparel asked users of Lookbook.nu, a real-people fashion site, to submit photos of themselves wearing outfits that incorporate the brand.

Over a thousand entries came in, enough that AA was able to put together a 64-page lookbook spotlighting 132 looks created by about 77 chosen users from all over the world. The results are kind of stunning. Peeky-peeky:

Particularly colorful submitters were spotlighted with their own spreads:

Curious about why American Apparel would go all artful-dodger after spending so many years trotting out images of chicks in compromising positions, PSFK posed the question. The brand replied thus:

Maybe this is better categorized as a resource than as an ad. What we liked about it is that it's 77 people who each have their own sense of style showing how they like to wear American Apparel. Our photographers and designers see the garments in one way and sometimes the customers and fans see it a totally different way. The book has both. That's a big reason why we're giving it away at the stores and we hope people take it and get inspired or interested in pieces they wouldn't have considered before.

Inspiration to impulse-buy! Good call.

This a pretty major 180 compared with American Apparel's more recent hot-bottom star search, but at least it's a tribute to the company's commitment to let users cocreate the brand image.

The Lookbook comes free with online orders or in any of 280 stores in about 20 countries. Swoop up a copy of yours before they go away.