On cue, a monkey in an Evel Knievel suits walks in and ignites a confetti bomb.

But not for long. PETA, the powerful animal rights group, quickly let Dodge know how much torture they could inflict, and Dodge, instead of pulling the ad, had W&K rewrite it. Their solution: digitally removing the monkey – but not its suit!

Blink twice. And the absurdity is a minor hit on the internet.

But hits aren’t everything. (And they are not the only thing either.) True internet knighthood  is achieved when you get copied. Or messed with in any shape or form. E.g. by my dear friends at Taiwan TV-station NMA who create “The Sims”-styled reenactments off all things relevant.

So here you have it: The hop-step-jump of the Dodge Caravan youtube hit movie.

I’m sure W&K still can’t believe how lucky they got. But I wonder if PETA is any happier now.

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a TV production company that picked up Cannes Lions year after year. Over 40 of them. But they did not keep doing it happily ever after. Why?

Ask João Daniel Tikhomiroff, owner and president of then fabled and now defunct Jodaf production, and he mentions two events: BMW coming out with “The Hire” in 2001, and quite counterintuitively, JODAF winning five Lions in Cannes: “I knew I had to change”.

What exactly that change had to be, wasn’t quite clear then. But he knew he wanted to be able to embrace the opportunities that the media revolution brought with it. So he created mixer in 2003. And yet today, seven years later, Tikhomiroff is honest enough to admit,  it’s still impossible for him to predict where things are going. So instead of prediction, he choses openness: “Everything influences mixer.”

The reason he can afford to think freely is an unshakeable belief. For Tikhomiroff, the chief creative skill at the core of his undertaking is entertainment. No matter how this media revolution turns out, he says, “They need content. Good content.” Content that people will tune into and freely engange with.

With this belief in good stories firmly at its core, mixer has become one of the more original locations on the new map of advertising. The company is not even trying to become a specialist for the momentary constellation of media, but is doing the exact opposite: it has become a despecialized community of expert storytellers. They range from the the directors, the visual storytellers, to the researchers in the documentary department, who find fascinating plots in our everyday life. Because of this mixer can work inside the traditional patterns. But it also constantly messes with those.

There is a strange reality we all had to come to terms with in the last year or two: Yes, the media revolution is happening. But it’s happening in slow-motion. And the outcome is still uncertain. So, what used to be done at Jodaf is still a big part of mixer’s work today. They produce 30 and 60 second spots. And expect to keep doing it. But they also invent television drama series, write documentaries, and motion pictures.

Via the combination of diverse creative skills, mixer has become a producer as well as a creator of content. And product placement and branded entertainment have become an important part of this business.

To combine advertising and drama, dcoumentary and brands is not easy: An important part of managing this openness is the mixer table. Part real table, part mental tool, it stands for the abilty to bring together a wide range of talent on short notice – and to discuss and receive inspiring input from people who share your vision.

Of course, this needs a special kind of creative. Visit one of the drama writing rooms where the twists and turns of  a year’s worth of episodes are being developed: It takes only a minute to see that traditional ego-driven creativity will wreak havoc here. This work can only be done together.

This has a massive impact on the concept and the reality of the creative process: When getting exclusive credit for an idea ceases to be all-important, options open up. It is not surprising then, that mixer has also experimented with bringing in the audience and making them part of the creative process. For their  award-winning TV series Mothern, they even made it a regular weekly event to invite young mothers and share opinions of new storylines with them.

Mothern was not only an incredible successful series. Mixer also started deveoping new ways of product integration that crossed over into branded entertainment. Speaking of OMO, a laundry detergent, and one of the series’ sponsors, Tikhomiroff says: “We did not even show the product.” Instead, mixer wrote plots that involved kids getting dirty… and parents being ok with it, because that’s what being a kid is about. “That’s the Omo brand positioning.”

Of course, not all brand integration or branded content will go under the radar this far. And mixer is ok with that: All that matters is that the advertising does not get into the way of the story being entertaining. “In the end, that’s all that counts. It needs to be entertaining, exciting.” says Tikhomiroff.

Smiling while he says so, it definitely looks like he’s follwing his own advice.

It’s been a difficult year for tourism. Travelling is one of the first things private households cut in years of financial hardship. In an ironic twist, marketing is what the travel industry cuts in response.

But that isn’t even an option for small hotels who mostly depend on tourists being sent their way. Or, to be more precise, used to be dependent on that. The relationship to various middle men, i.e. travel agents, was the most important driver in small tourism, but that role is moving to the social networks fast.

However, while World of Warcraft might have a horde of community managers on standby, who’s doing the work at the small hotels? That’s what I asked Geinier Guzmán, the General Manager of La Cusinga Lodge in Costa Rica during my recent stay there.

Not every small hotel is hitting the social web with the vigour of La Cusinga. But Guzmán’s strategies probably don’t veer far from the path of economic necessity: Not enough money for a full time social media professional turns it into a trial and error process.

Of course, when engaging with the socialweb, it really helps to have something to say. Guzmán is not only the manager of his own eco lodge, he is also a local politician and an environmental activist. The news he shares with La Cusinga’s network are an engaging mix of hotel factlets and news about environmental issues and sustainable tourism in Costa Rica.

La Cusinga’s strategy of combining advertising and information seems to sit well with the social media audience. More than 2500 fans have joined their Facebook group so far. And bookings for 2010 are looking pretty good, too.

La Cusinga’s Chef David has returned from a trip to Panama, and that means that dinner at La Cusinga has become even more delicious.

But that’s not the reason why David Mahler will feature more prominently on Ideas will travel next week. The true reason is that he is an important part of the lodges web presence. In his blog “Chef of the Jungle” he writes about his general philosophy of cooking, and also shares the ups and downs of a gringo’s life in Costa Rica.

Maybe less literary, but more frequent are his activities on Facebook, where he posts this evening’s dish and a photo of the sunset taken from La Cusinga. In case you want to take a look at his Facebook page: there is more than one David Mahler, but only one lists La Cusinga as an employer.

Sharing pictures of food is always a nice idea, and just to make everyone just a little bit jealous, here is a picture of Thursday’s dinner. It’s roasted yellowfin tuna with pineapple salsa puree of camote (local white yam) and (if I remember correctly what he said) chayote or perulero squash. Because you won’t find any soda-cans or platic bottles at La Cusinga, each dinner is accompanied by either fresh water or some homemade fruit juice. In this case: carambole/starfruit.

As we’re talking eco-tourism, David’s dishes are also all-organic, and as local as can be. If you’re interested in the details, hang on. I’ll be joining David next week for some food shopping.

Until then, you’ll find me on La Cusinga’s community deck, counting the hours ’til dinner time.

PS: If there are enough requests, I will try and talk him into sharing some recipes.

And just so you’re not shocked, that trend/search will have a promoted tweet on top, too. For example, this one:

“You’ve waited 11 years to see Woody and Buzz again. Toy Story 3 – Share the experience with friends! www.disneyticketstogeter.com”

After coping with being slightly underwhelmed, here is what we can learn from this:

1. A Promoted Trend/Tweet isn’t quite the regular tweet that Biz Stone talked about.

Contrary to Biz Stone’s initial insistence, that their advertising offers would amplify valuable content by fellow twitterers, the Sponsored Trend has turned out to be a classical corporate marketing tool.

“Since all Promoted Tweets are organic Tweets, there is not a single “ad” in our Promoted Tweets platform that isn’t already an organic part of Twitter.” Twitter Blog

Yeah… that’s, like, totally organic if you are a very big company with a marketing department lots of followers.

2. Twitter is for old people,too.

If have the patience (and a life eventless enough) to wait 11 years for a sequel, you’re obviously well past puberty or youth. But of course, that was not the only promoted Toy Story tweet. Disney/Pixar must have actually promoted many different tweets for different audiences. Which eventually self-filtered and travelled to their relevant target groups.

Here is another Toy Story Promoted Tweet, found on Piers Fawkes’ PSFK.

3. Twitter understands reading behaviour and layout.

A promoted tweet looks indeed like a regular tweet, and is placed at the top. Twitter is obviously aware that our search result reading habits are incredibly impatient. We rarely go beyond the fifth result. The “Promoted Trend” however, goes to the bottom of the listed trends, but with a yellow highlight. It draws your eyes down to the end of the list, while seemingly being decent enough to not insinuate itself at the top.

4. DisneyPixar is serious about social business.

The URL in the Tweet, www.disneyticketstogether.com, does not take you to a microsite. It takes you to a facebook app, which allows you both to buy tickets and to connect with other Disney/Pixar fans. Well done, Mouseketeers, this does seem to make a lot of sense.

At the same time, it feels almost counterintuitive these days. So much news is centered around extending the reach of its Facebook’s social power beyond the facebook site. Levis’ social shopping site being a nice example. However, Disney is moving e-business inside the facebook “walls”.

Either way, it’s an app that helps Facebook reach a new level. The New York Times has a nice article and quote on why Facebook loves this move just as much as Disney/Pixar:

“What Disney is doing moves beyond just creating awareness to using the platform to acquire customers directly,” Mr. Rose said. “This is the first time that a movie studio has tried this, which we think makes a lot of sense because moviegoing is one of those activities that is inherently social.” Dan Rose, Facebook VP Platform Marketing (NYT)

We agree. And thus, weirdly, a boring link at the bottom of the first Twitter-Ad proves to be more “social”, than the new advertising technology introduced by the social-message giant. That said, we still like the Twitter approach to advertising. I am curious how smaller advertisers can use it to their advantage, but it seems less invasive and less insulting than anything Facebook is trying these days.

What they would have found is a FIFA supported effort to establish a combination of football and education facilities in communities that are usually too poor to afford either.

I had the chance to talk to Mike Geddes, the Football for Hope project manager who is working for streetfootballworld, the NGO that FIFA has teamed up with to organize Football for Hope. What I find rather interesting, is that FIFA made all the major sponsors participate in Corporate Social Responsibility projects, without prescribing what each and everyone could do. The Siyakhona project that I visited, is part of Sony’s commitment.

Most of the interview is about the steps involved in finding the right sponsor for something like Siyakhona. But of course, I also had to aske Mike about the option of using Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns to create advertising. :-)

BTW: Here is FIFA’s official page. (Who designed this?)

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/worldwideprograms/footballforhope/index.html

That’s why Naked London hired Creative Director Jim Thornton, who did some pretty nifty and original work at Mother and Leo Burnett, to set up an edgy little creative department. And that’s why I talked to Designer Lorenzo Frutta to see why a young creative would go to Naked, a place that’s first and foremost known for strategy.

Thanks, Nike.

(There you go, Jim. Didn’t take 15 mins. for Nike to prove you right. :-)