Smirnoff rolls out the Season 2 premiere of its reality television show, Master of the Mix that was launched last fall for the first time. To deliver the show on screens, the leading vodka brand is partnering with BET Networks, the US leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. 

Every successful brand or company has a team of people, who developed the winning strategy and helped it move forth—and, in its turn, every team has its leader. Adweek, the magazine dedicated to covering creativity, client/agency relationships and global advertising, honors world’s most powerful marketers, who contributed to strengthening international brands, which shape out today’s culture and in some way determine our tomorrow. This year Adweek will celebrate eleven individuals, who helped global brands continue re-imagining our world, with the prestigious Brand Genius awards (formerly known as Marketer of the Year) “for their success in genius concepts.”

The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project welcomes the world’s No.1 female artist, Madonna, who joins the brand’s one-of-a-kind program of swapping partying experiences around the globe. In its second year, the international initiative, launched by one of the best vodka brands in the world in 2010, is encouraging people to share their nightlife traditions through Facebook and swap the unique parties on November 12. The pop diva, who has turned 53 this week, has joined the ambitious program to find the most brilliant dancer, who will be invited to join her upcoming series of concerts.

The Smirnoff vodka brand, one of the biggest fans of club culture in the alcohol industry, brings back The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project, building on the tremendous success of the last year’s global initiative. Just like in 2010, the cult brand is encouraging its fans to share on what makes their nightlife original and vote for the best ideas, which to be implemented on November 12, the big night, in 50 countries all around the globe.

Now, with AR being probably the most powerful advertising tool in the set of ‘reality’ features used for promotion, let’s look back at another, traditional ‘reality’ promotional approach, which still works perfectly. TV commercials with their made-up plots, characters and dialogues can appeal for sure, but genuine emotions of real people are much more convincing. Building on the success of extremely popular reality programs, brands launch their own initiatives of this kind to entertain and educate audience while spreading the word about the goods—some of these projects are grandiose, the others are small-scale, but this format never leaves consumers untouched.

As the Royal Wedding falls just after Easter, many people in the UK will be enjoying an eight day holiday bonanza within a short eleven day period, and consumers will be looking to make the most of the holiday atmosphere, celebrating all that is great about Britain. Leading drinks companies Diageo GB and Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) are both activating plans to help GB retailers make the most of the opportunity presented by the much anticipated occasions, and are launching holiday editions of their iconic products.

Comparison stands behind any considered choice, and any confident global brand tends to provide its consumers with an opportunity to examine both the positive and negative sides of their products—and sometimes weigh its offerings against goods by other manufacturer. Sometimes, companies also step outside the product world and help compare lots of other things—sexes, automobiles, brothers, tastes, political parties, athletes and more—to help determine which of the two is better, stronger, messier, tastier, faster, more attractive, reliable, sportive, etc.  In this overview, we won’t focus on serious ratings revealing carbon footprint or social impact, like Nike’s Environmental Apparel Design Tool, Timberland’s Eco Index or GoodWill’s rating—instead, as tribute to April Fool’s Day, which was celebrated last Friday, we will focus on humorous and tongue-in-cheek projects.