The Cannes Films Festival is a huge event for both cinema world and the world of consumer brands, which is proved by numerous festival-related campaigns, brand promotions and long-time sponsorships. Some brands do not only launch campaigns and products dedicated to the event, but also tap recognized filmmakers to create short films to be showed at the festival. This year, Prada teamed up with notorious film director Roman Polanski to shoot a short film/commercial starring starting Helena Bonham Carter and Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival last week.

H&M has teamed up with another fashion personality for the new collection. The retailer, which has been collaborating with major fashion brands and designers, has tapped fashion icon and legendary Fashion Director Anna Dello Russo, who has created an over-the-top accessories collection. The new line, which includes a range of accessories mirroring Anna’s extravagant and flamboyant style, is expected to hit the stores on October 4, 2012 at 140 retailer’s stores around the globe.  

Sony is giving Australians a great opportunity to make use of bad photos they’ve taken during the holidays. The brand has launched a new advertising campaign dubbed ‘No More Bad Photos’ to promote its Cyber-shot HX20, which encourages people across the country to upload their bad stills for a chance to go on the holiday again and re-experience all the exiting moments worth capturing.

Kraft Foods Oscar Mayer has launched a humorous campaign in the U.S., which is promoting the brand’s Oscar Mayer Selects, the new line of meat products without preservatives. The new promotion, the largest one in the brand’s history, was developed by mcgarrybowen Chicago—it is dubbed ‘It’s Yes Food’ and is revolving around saying ‘no’ and ‘yes’ in daily life. The campaign is rolling out across multiple platforms, including TV, print and online, communicating the message of how easy it is to say ‘yes’ to  Oscar Mayer Selects—Hot Dogs, Cold Cuts and Bacon—without any artificial preservatives.

Consumers like when brands offer them more than they expect and amaze them with new product offerings, which could never be predicted. Following in the footsteps of Diet Coke with its nail polish and Virgin Atlantic with the lip gloss, Malibu Coconut Flavoured Rum has revealed its own make-up kit worth £20. The new set, which includes a mirror, coconut-flavoured lip gloss, eyelash curlers and eye shadow, is given to those who buy a Malibu drink for themselves and a friend at 4,000 participating UK outlets these months through the end of summer. For this promotion, the alcohol drinks brand teamed up with cosmetics brand, Models Own, which provided the make-up items.

H&M is continuing its philanthropic initiative ‘Fashion Against AIDS,’ launched back in 2008, which a new extension. This time the retailer is calling people from all around the globe to contribute to the cause by… kissing, which is probably the most pleasurable way to get involved. H&M is inviting to visit the www.fashionagainstaids.com digital hub and upload a picture of your kiss—for every entry, H&M will donate $1 to HIV/AIDS prevention. At the moment, there are already over 14,000 images from 109 counties uploaded, so the hub has already helped to generate over $14,000—the sky is the limit.

Facebook urges its community to donate something much more personal than clothing and more valuable than money. The number one social network has teamed up with Donate Life America to launch a large-scale initiative, which is calling users to support the national organization by sharing that they are registered organ, eye and tissue donors and can help save lives of people in hospitals across the country. The new life-saving commitment was announced yesterday, May 1, by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the exclusive interview on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’—he also was among the first to join the online philanthropic movement.

Just like people, body parts can be underestimated and remain in the shade, while all the glory and respect go to others. Unilever’s Rexona Efficient brand, which sells deodorant for feet, is rolling out a new promotion to put feet, ‘unsung heroes,’ into the spotlight. These body parts literally live under pressure and serve us all day long, but when it comes to rewarding, other body parts—hands, face, head—take it all. Whether you are a stylish woman, who wears high heels all day long, a soldier in the trenches, a ballet dancer, a marathon runner or a busy mom, your feet work hard but don’t win the glory, which is totally unjust.

Kitchen have always been the space where people spend a great deal of their time when they are at home, and things we do there are not limited to just cooking and having meals. Brands are doing their great part in developing smart, beautiful and efficient solutions for modern kitchens—such home comfort providers as IKEA, Electrolux and Philips to name a few are recognized leaders in the sphere, but brands from other fields have taken up the challenge, too. Diesel, one of the leaders in the casual apparel industry, is also contributing. The brand has teamed up with Italian kitchen furniture brand Scavolini to create the Social Kitchen, which have become part of Diesel’s ‘Successful living’ collection.

Clothing, footwear and accessory giants often team up with fashion designers to create a new collection, but collaborations of food brands and fashion are not that frequent. This fact makes people want to get such products even more. In Australia, Kellogg’s cereal brand Special K has unveiled a bag, which was created by fashion designer Kirrily Johnston, which became both the promotional piece and an item in designer’s new Spring/Summer collection presented at the Mercedes Benz Fashion. This handbag with a leather tassel is crafted for female consumers who always carry a snack with them wherever they go—it features a specially designed snack bar pocket, where ladies can keep her Special K snack bar.