These days a brand can't simply sell itself on its function, it has to represent a lifestyle choice. Thus Dove went from one quarter moisturising cream to "real beauty". So Pedigree has gone from doggie nosh to arbiter of dog welfare. Its Super Bowl ad sums it up - gone are the images of glossy golden retrievers galavanting in the park before chowing down on the latest range of reconstituted mixed meat. In its place is a comment on the whole idea of dog ownership, albeit a rather humorous one,  with no mention of the actual product.

These days brands love to do clever things online - be it webisodes, widgets, Facebook applications, games etc, they are sure to make a marketing director beam with a smug sense of new media achievement. So it is highly unusual to find a website that does absolutely nothing.

This is precisely the website that Kit Kat intended with its does-what-it-says-on-the-tin site www.thefirstworldwidewebsitewherenothinghappens.com. The page loads to reveal nothing but the time you arrived on the site and the KitKat branding, complete with the famous tagline "have a break".

visit www.cmdglobal.com for the full case study

The quintessentially new media concept of a blog is about to redefine the model of the ailing newspaper industry.

The Printed Blog is the first free newspaper created entirely out of blogs and user generated content. It has been launched in Chicago and San Francisco by publisher Joshua Karp.

The freesheet contains blog entries, as well as photos and reader comments. It will be funded by local ads. The idea is to have a tactile, tangible snapshot of a community-driven content that can be read easily on the move.

Readers are encouraged to participate and interact with the newspaper online. While it is unlikely to compete in terms of news-gathering, it certainly injects some excitement into print.

Super Bowl ads have reached their highest ever level, with NBC selling 30 second spots for a budget busting $3m. Will those brands achieve the cut through they hope? See our CMD Selection: All Eyes on the USA.

If you don't watch new UK TV channel Eden, polar bears will float up the the river Thames. That seems to be the message from the new UKTV natural history channel. Or maybe it has something to do with global warming. Either way, it reminds me of this MTV campaign

The outdoor clothes company Columbia leveraged its membership of the Conservation Alliance with a campaign against the use of air conditioning. Using the façade of a building, it placed the huge ad format over the top, but cut holes where the air conditioning units jutted out of the wall. The message translates as: “The air that cools your home heats up the world.”

A Catholic organisation has stretched the realms of Obama brand-association by turning the new US president's life story into an anti-abortion ad. The ad, sponsored by catholicvote.org, shows a foetus on the screen and the following words appear: "This child's future is a broken hom. He will be abandoned by his father. His single mother will struggle to raise him. Despite hardships he will endure, this child will become the 1st African-American President."
The ad reflects the worry amongst catholics that the new President will change anti-abortion policy put in place by his predecessor George Bush.
However it ignores the fact that Obama's parents were married at the time he was born and that there is no indication that an abortion was ever on the cards. It could also be used as an argument for pro-choice campaigners - if Charles Manson's parents had chosen not to keep the child, if Mark David Chapman had been aborted, if the September 11 bombers had been aborted, etc...

Philips has jumped at the opportunity to capitalise (or should it be Capitolise?) on the inauguration of Barack Obama with this print ad for its new USB charger.

But how long until these ideas run out of steam?