Coke Zero’s 007 Campaign, Branded Content on Target, Twitter Stories

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:

Coke Zero’s 007 Challenge

Coke Zero’s new campaign is a video featuring unsuspecting cola drinkers buying soda from vending machines in a train station.

Digital Buzz Blog reports, “An entire ‘chase’ style scene was set-up in a train station and activated by people buying Coke Zero from a digital vending machine. The moment you guy a Coke Zero, you are thanked with the chance to win tickets to the new movie, where accepting the challenge and entering your name starts a 70 second timer on the screen and the task to get to platform 6 in under 70 seconds!”

Branded content, Bond style.

Best of Branded Content from Last Week

Business 2 Community’s roundup of the best branded content from last week of course includes Red Bull and the Stratos project as the number one campaign. Also on the list is Target, which made a 12-minute film called “Falling For You.” During it, “viewers can purchase the Target merchandise worn and used by the actors.”

Google posted “Where The Internet Lives,” a look into its server network and “a special Google Street View offering anyone he opportunity to tour their facility in Lenoir, NC.”

Advertisers Using Twitter Comments in Ad Campaigns

According to the Wall Street Journal, companies are now looking to Twitter and the conversations brand fans are having about products in their own advertisements.

Samsung, for example, made a commercial that used comments from Twitter about the new iPhone’s features, which received 32 million hits in two weeks. For its Duracell Powermat device, Procter & Gamble studied what consumers were saying on social media about the color of their cell phone battery signs.

Preparing for Content Marketing Changes in 2013

Steven Van Belleghem from Content Marketing Institute put up a list of how companies’ content marketing plans for 2013 will likely look.

Brands should be using Pinterest over Instagram, the site found, because “41 percent of Pinterest users are currently sharing brand-related content on the site, compared to 35 percent of Instagram users.”

Since consumers follow an average of five companies online, brands need to involve them in the content creation process in order to make sure it’s correctly targeted. Consumers also trust their friends over brand ambassadors: “In general, this may be because consumers view brand fans as biased, so their recommendations may have a limited impact. This implies that our content should reach out to the average consumer, as well — not just those that have identified themselves as fans.”

Microsoft Introducing MSN News

Three months ago, Microsoft sold off MSNBC, and now it’s launching MSN News on Oct. 26, according to the Columbia Journalism Review.

“Visitors to MSN.com will see a blend of aggregated and original content produced by a large newsroom in Bellevue, WA, and another smaller team New York City, all tailored to the digital opportunities presented by Windows 8,” writes Hazel Sheffield.

The design will incorporate “headline size that corresponds to the importance of the story, smoother and faster loading, and a more ‘app-like’ experience.”

Hearst Releasing Holiday Recipes E-Book

On Tuesday, Oct. 23, the Hearst Corporation is putting out an e-book of its magazine’s recipes, according to the New York Times. Called “Let’s Talk Turkey,” the e-book will include 100 recipes and be available for $3.99.

Jane Friedman, co-founder of digital publisher Open Road, said the e-book will do well: ““This is a curated product that has come from a very trusted source. …It’s very, very timely.”

How Brands Can Make Interesting Content

On Forbes, CEO of Break Media Keith Richman gives pointers on how brands can create content that will stand out.

“If you’ve made a decision to create branded entertainment, then you’ve committed to developing entertainment which is a different breed from traditional 15- and 30-second spots,” he says. “Applying what worked in more traditional mediums alone does not take advantage of how the audience interacts with this new creative digital platform.”

Brands should find out where consumers are so they know on which channels to distribute the content, and realize that celebrity power is not always a guaranteed success. A good story is necessary, above all else.