Recession-Proof Brands, Walking Dead Milestone, Coke Hits 50 Million Fans

The Content Strategist picks the day’s most relevant and interesting stories about the world of content from around the web. Here’s what you should be reading today:

Which Brands Are Recession-Proof?

Forbes.com’s roundup of Landor’s Breakaway Brands study highlights the companies that have managed to grow over the past three years, despite the challenge of a recession.

In order to make the list — which include Facebook, Skype and Keurig — brands must have certain qualities including an ability to connect with the customer beyond content.

“Today, consumers expect brands to be companions: trusted entities that are constantly within reach, helping to make life easier,” Landor’s Mitch Bergesen and Stephanie Simon wrote.

Walking Dead’s Facebook Poster Dead Ringer for Social Network

The Walking Dead just hit 10 million fans on Facebook, and in celebration of that momentous occasion, debuted a poster that looks an awful lot like The Social Network’s ads.

But with way more blood.

Coke Adds Likes

The Walking Dead may have a lot of fans, but it’s just shambling along slowly in comparison to Coca-Cola.

Mashable reports that the soft drink company is the first “first retail brand to pass 50 million fans.”  

In recognition, Coca-Cola is asking fans to submit inventions and Coke will pick one of them to sponsor.

Why Is Mitsubishi Running Down Your Friends?

Is the Outlander Sport the Christine of the new millennium?

In a new ad campaign Mitsubishi is using Facebook to calculate your friends’ level of pretension and if it’s too high — said friend is run over by a car. 

It’s sweet relief for anyone who is tired of reading the updates from friends who have far to much to brag about. Whether it connects consumers to Mitsubishi remains to be seen.

Is Twitter Losing Its Charm?

Gigaom’s Mathew Ingram has a love-hate relationship with Twitter and worries that as time passes, and Twitter grows, it looks less like the open-network he originally fell in love with.

Is Twitter’s move toward broadcast and bigger business making it hard for the average user to interact and find like-minded Tweeters?

“Most people never post anything to the network, they just follow celebrities or sports teams, and those kinds of accounts rarely interact with ‘normal’ people. The idea of Twitter as a conversational tool seems to be dying,” Ingram said.