Branded entertainment has found a new home on the web, with collaborations between brands and media industries. From sweepstakes to sponsored videocasts, the growth of online content is being fed by partnerships with brands.
One of the most active participants are movie studios, and altough many brands are only trying to cash in on the big names like “Star Wars” or “James Bond”, some campaigns actually feel relevant to the film plot.

Such is the case for Mercedes-Benz and their latest van, Viano. Together with Hamburg agency Syzygy AG, they’ve accomplished a beautifully executed website, The Best Place For Heroes.

Mercedes partnered with Disney, and based on the story of the blockbuster movie “Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian” created a interactive narrative where the beauty of their online video navigation stands out.

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From becoming a Narnia mythical creature (yes, that’s me above) to a hero message board (aren’t these the new guestbooks ?) the whole experience makes you wonder if you’re in a movie website, in a theater or just enjoying a road trip adventure on the new van. Be sure to turn you audio on and explore the online chronicle.

Source: Ars Thanea Blog

I get a few emails presenting campaigns, projects or services. Most of them are lazy PR pitches (promptly deleted), but once in a while there’s some quality stuff, but yet they don’t get posted. Either i don’t have the time (sorry) or they don’t really relate to the core of this blog and their readers.

Catching up on several of those, here’s 2 recent inbox tips:

• Add-Art

  The Add-Art Firefox add-on has been released, with a short demo video.

  
  Introduction to Add-Art from Steve Lambert on Vimeo.

  AddArt was a 2008 Rhizome Commission, creating an extension to replace online advertising with artworks. Like Ad-Block but with art images.

• HUGO Say It

  A fragrance does express a bit about yourself, so Hugo is pulling another User-Generated Contest. Create a catchy phrase, a tag line, some remarkable slogan that expresses your opinion on the world, with the winning entry “sprayed” on a billboard in NYC.

  
  

  Hurry up to www.HUGOsayit.com, as the contest ends this June 19th.