The world is experiencing the power of ‘Think Blue.,’ Volkswagen’s international environment-oriented campaign, which was launched in Europe in 2010 and over the last months has been rolling out in the USA, Canada and Australia as well. With a huge focus on ecology, the brand just can’t miss big days for those who care about the nature—ahead of Earth Day (April 22), in Canada the brand released a simple but smart advert encouraging to check the tires’ air pressure regularly, and on the occasion of World Environment Day (June 5), Volkswagen and DDB Sydney developed an integrated campaign with the ‘Why be environ-mental when you can be enviro-normal?’ tagline for Australia.

Volkswagen is now rolling out its ‘Think Blue.’ initiative in the United States. The aim is to encourage eco-friendly mobility and progressive ideas for responsible action in everyday life. The U.S. launch coincides with the partnership between Volkswagen and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York as well as today’s inauguration of the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee—one of the world’s ‘greenest’ automobile factories.

Some cars are the speediest, some are the most reliable, and the new Volkswagen’s Polo GTI launched by is the most musical model ever—at least, in advertising. The auto manufacturer teamed up with Tribal DDB Singapore to launch a digital campaign featuring Singapore’s top beat boxer, Dharni, and is inviting consumers to take up a challenge for a chance to win the ultimate prize, a weekend drive with the new Polo GTI.

Volkswagen has partnered with LinkedIn to run a contest for the users of the professional network based in Netherlands. In a new campaign dubbed ‘LinkedUit’ (LinkedOut) and intergrating LinkedIn API, Volkswagen encourages the users to challenge each other and see who’s got a stronger profile on LinkedIn based on such criteria as education, work experience, number of LinkedIn connections, recommendations, etc.

On the event of Earth Day, Volkswagen released a new video spot to bring attention of car owners around the world to the issues that require our personal attention and involvement. In a new 30-second video the car manufacturer encourages drivers to perform tire air pressure checks daily as sufficient air pressure in your tyres may save you from paying more for gasoline and at the same time helps save the environment.

In just a few weeks, Volkswagen will write another chapter in the history of an automotive icon. On April 18, the Beetle will be showcased to the public in its best remake—and with spectacular world debut staging. Volkswagen will be celebrating the new Beetle almost simultaneously as a world premiere in Shanghai with MTV’s VJ guest hosting an exclusive MTV Sound System followed by World Stage events in New York and Berlin.

The story of close relationship between brands and cinematography started nearly at the same time as the cinema itself was born—in the beginning of the  movie era, the big companies promoted their products though short clips which were screened before movies. Now it’s not that easy to tell for sure for which product the pioneer ad was created, but according to a range of sources (IMDB is one of them), the first filmed advertising for a today’s global brand was shot for Dewar’s Scotch Whisky (1897). Today, connections between filmmaking industry and brands go beyond this simple presence and include a lot of examples such as much discussed product placement, festival sponsorship and opening cinema clubs, cinema-related advertising campaigns, collaboration with filmmakers on commercials, and creating movies under brands’ supervision.

A city as a source of the ‘creative spark’. Urban streets as basis for bold and massive campaigns. For many decades, smaller towns and megalopolises have been inspiring advertising agencies behind multiple marketing projects, which on the one hand are targeted at promoting brands and, on the other hand, encourage consumers to compare different cities, unveil creativity and strong dedication to sport, cinema and quests, or even bring rural accents to urban settings. We at Popsop have reviewed global brands’ ad activity during 2010 and first two months of 2011 to see how they’ve been embedding city into their promotions. Now, we are presenting our 3-part study dedicated to the subject. The first section of this review will highlight competitions, cross-city studies, urban sport-related promotions, which have been taking place within big cities around the globe and in a way were dedicated to them.