This is one of the most amazing examples of great brand behavior: The Pepsi Refresh Project. Instead of putting money into a Superbowl ad, the soda company decided to refresh the world, by giving away $20million of the complete year.

Pepsi are giving $1.3million in grants to projects that ‘refresh’ the Gulf in the wake of the oil spill. Voting started today. 10 votes per day per person. Please vote!

If you need inspiration how you can ‘refresh’ the Gulf, check out Fast Companies top-5 projects of Pepsi’s extension of The Pepsi Refresh Project.

For any comments or suggestions, send an email to Ulrich Proeschel.

Here are two great eye opening talks about the impact that the blur of online games and real life could have.

Carnegie Mellon’s Jesse Schell gave a fantastic presentation about the future of pervasive games: how Facebook and interactive change the rules and psychology of games and how these lessons will change our reality. the talk moves into a half-creepy and half-inspiring vision for the embodied internet, the network of things and the culture of games (btw. Our Future will be a Real Life RPG).

To see the deck, click here.

Jane McGonigal talks about how Gaming can make a better world and asks: Why doesn’t the real world work more like an online game? Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how – by the the the 4 superpowers of online-gamers: urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity and epic meaning

“Instead of providing gamers with better and more immersive alternatives to reality, I want all of us to be become responsible for providing the world with a better and more immersive reality.” (Jane McGonigal)

If you have any comments or suggestions please email  Michael Zorn (Head of Digital Arts at TBWA\Berlin).

TBWA\Chiat\Day LA’s client Nissan, will be among the first companies and sole automaker to use Apple’s iAd mobile advertising network. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iAd, which is supported on Apple’s newly introduced iOS 4 software platform at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Nissan’s mobile ad campaign will feature the Nissan LEAF and incorporate a sweepstakes through which consumers can register to win a Nissan LEAF. The LEAF is the first affordable, mass market, 100% electric, zero-emission vehicle to hit the market.

You can view the demo below:

For question and further information simply email Carisa Bianchi.

In 2010 Pepsi decided not to run an ad during the Super Bowl. For over 23 years they had taken the conventional approach of putting their can into a superstar’s hand and hoping that others would follow.

But as a brand that believes every generation can refresh the world, they wanted to change something. The decision was radical. No Super Bowl ad, but 20 million US dollars to fund projects that would make the world a fresher place. People where invited to submit their projects, and the whole world could vote. The budget for a one day event now funds a full year of causes. 1000 submissions are accepted every month, but when the Pepsi Refresh Project was launched this figure was achieved after 2 minutes. Since then, over one billion media contacts have been generated during the first twelve weeks of the project – and as the web buzz continues, even more staggering numbers are round the corner. But the numbers are only one side of the coin. More importantly, this campaign is producing value every day. Value for the community, value for the planet and, last but not least, value for Pepsi in the hearts and minds of its audience.

For question and further information simply email Carisa Bianchi.

Rob Schwartz, Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\CHIAT\DAY Los Angeles. shares his thoughts on METAL POTENTIAL on his personal blog. This is what he said about Gatorade Replay:

This isn’t an ad. This is an idea. A big one. It was conceived to be the ultimate product demo. Here’s how it goes. What if you took two rival high school football teams and had them replay a significant game…15 years later. The teams would need to train and get back in shape. And oh yeah, they’d need plenty of Gatorade. Two teams on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border did this. Here’s the trailer, but got to MissionG.com to see more of the story. Also FOX has turned it into a series. You’ll find more info on that here.

One of the bright young teams at TBWA in Auckland are selling shares in their future to raise the cash to get them to Cannes. Invest in them at their website, click here.

The benefits for the investors are simple, as the team states on their website: By investing, shareholders can claim they where ahead of the pack, on the money, had their finger on the pulse or any other metaphor that means they were part of a successful social media experiment.

What a nice disruptive idea.

Heineken has been the ‘head’sponsor for 10 years of the Dutch supporters and builds on that tradition with the Pletterpet. Alfred Baloyi, creator of the Makaraba and inspiration for the Heineken Pletterpet, stars in this TV commercial. It seems that the Germans have responded with their World Cup Gadget as well with their ‘Gehörschutzstöpsel’.

If you have any comments or suggestions please email Jeroen Konings.

In 2009 Heineken rocked the boat with a fabulous film that first started on the web and ended up in more than two dozen countries around the world as the major TV campaign for Heineken: The Walk-in Fridge. Spoofed by countless fans and even competitive brands.

This year Heineken celebrates “Men with Talent” and again the fans are starting to ad their own parts to the story. Enjoy the latest work developed by TBWA\NEBOKO in Amsterdam – share it with the world.

If you have any comments or suggestions please email Jeroen Konings.