Delving in to Nike+ territory, ubiquitous sports brand Puma are taking things a stride further. Launching later this month, the Puma Phoneis set to send tongues wagging with a hefty list of sporty features, housed within a beautifully crafted form factor.

Amongst other things, users will be able to track their run or bike ride using the integrated GPS, pedometer and compass, as well as listen to music and video chat with friends. And best of all it’s solar powered!

It’s been said that rivalry adds charm to ones conquests. Competition is good for the consumer and generally keeps everybody on their toes. Lack of competition impedes innovation, and lack of innovation leads to stagnation. Some rivalries become legend – Ali vs Foreman, Redsox vs Yankees, Pepsi Vs Coca-Cola – and there is much added media value attached to a healthy fight in public.

In celebration of this, Cream has released a How to Guide entitled "How to take on the competition". It gethers together the best examples of public brand spats:

(image from Mike Johnson - TheBusyBrain on Flickr)

Darth Vader has had some bad press in the past. The little megalomaniac scalliwag has been lambasted in his attempt to conquer the universe. But in this instance, he is putting his dark powers to good use by supporting Earth Hour:

Times are tough for job hunters at the moment, which means they are calling upon more and more extreme measures to ensure their CV attracts attention.

Copywriter Ed Hamilton has created his CV in Google Maps.

The internet offers a creative space of limitless possibilities. This is the age of the citizen journalist, director, photographer, designer or musician. So when Clarins teamed up with Thierry Mugler, the man we can thank for that heady scent - Angel - they probably thought they were onto a winner when creating a platform for the modern creative woman to express herself. 

So Thierry "Angel" Mugler has this vision of creating a brand that "reflects the beauty and energy of all young women around the world". There isn't a product yet, or indeed anything to actually buy (it must have been one hell of a pitch!). The womanity name has been trademarked in several catergories  - so Clarins are obviously keeping their options open.

This product-less vision has been dubbed "Womanity". Once on the site, you can choose your mood (I chose purple - but other colours were available) and there's a section where visitors can submit what "womanity" means to them, which is just as well as frankly I haven't the first idea. 

At least I didn't, but now I do. Apparently "Womanity" is a woman dancing with a cat in what looks like a bedsit.

As for eventual product development? My money's on Clarin's Womanity cat nip,

To celebrate Viagra's 11th birthday, Pfizer threw a Viagra-style celebration involving party whistles:

From Taxi Canada 

Animation has evolved a lot since the flip book. These days any TV ad worth its salt is rendered in hyper-detailed 3D (either that or is in a faux retro stop animation style with a whimsical musical accompaniment). The peeps at New Zealand animation shop Cirkus have explained how it is done in this video:

This video makes us almost forgive them for their strapline "The animation house where imagination takes centre stage".

The Cream Team has put together a little road map of Toyota's recall crisis, looking at how the auto giant managed the process and the events that caused it to get out of hand. The infographic is taken from our latest Cream Insight Report entitled "Calming the Storm: Marketing your way out of crisis 101".

The full 20-page report is available to Cream subscribers.