Foursquare on Mars, XBox Teams with L’Oreal, Ford Exec Praises Oreo Ad

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:

NASA’s Spacey Social Campaign

Wondering where the Curiosity Rover did while it was out all night? Well, it checked into Foursquare with a pretty cool picture … from Mars.

See it on Tech Crunch. The rover will be checking in over the 23-months it continues to roam around Mars.

L’Oreal on XBox … Black Ops Need Some Blush?

XBox 360 is trying to get beyond the unwashed masses of sweaty-palmed twenty-somethings playing Call of Duty. XBox is targeting their girlfriends via BrightLine’s interactive feature, The Next Level.

Ad Week reports that of the 20 million Xbox users, 40% are female. That’s a lot of mascara.

“This blurs the lines between programming and advertising content, including style tips and fashion advice with L’Oréal products organically woven throughout,” Rob Aksman, co-founder and chief of experience design at BrightLine said.

Is This a New Twist on Content?

“We need to create content that fits into the mindset of the consumer, not incessantly force the consumer to listen to our message all the time,” global head of social media for Ford Motor Company Scott Monty said.

In Monty’s opinion, the Oreo twist campaign sent a new standard for marketers and Monty argues engaging content comes down to “human nature — a common bond that unites every one of us.”

If that broad a definition seems a little overwhelming to you, there’s ten examples of what that means.

What Story Is Your Brand Telling?

This week during Advertising Week a panel debated the validity of Christopher Booker’s thesis in Seven Basic Plots, that no matter the spin, there are really only seven different types of stories.

“The challenge becomes finding which one best suits your brand, and then telling it skillfully, believably and — if you’re going to invite consumers to join in the story — extremely carefully,” Ad Week said. 

The Bald Truth 

Baldies everywhere banded together around yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article that suggested bald men were, overall, taken more seriously in the business world.

But the flowing locks are fighting back via Overstock.com’s chief executive Patrick Byrne, who told the WSJ, “To me, the people who are buzzing and recommending buzzing their hair to look masculine and dominant sound like a bunch of guys with control issues. Call me biased, but anyone who would change their haircut to score better on their next annual review … that strikes me as profoundly insecure.”

The subject of women’s hair never came up other than to suggest women might want to look feminine.