"Half [of Guinness World Records Live] will be around practicing and preparing for the record, and the other half is about the show," Claire Burgess, representative for Guinness World Records, tells Marketing Daily. "This is the start of it, the opportunities are almost endless."

While Odwalla's marketing mix includes some traditional media advertising, as well as PR and in-store POS, a primary thrust in recent times has been making a splash at festivals that draw large numbers of young actives, and using social media to engage them before, during and after those events.

"We wanted to get people engaged emotionally with the car before we launch it," says Kevin Mayer, adding that some 60 blogs are pushing the content. "We are excited because this targeted more digital-centric consumers who are sharing information online. It's a social-first, traditional-second campaign."

"We are trying to tie everything together," says Glenn McClanan, account director at Matrix Consultants, the Big Bear, Calif.-based agency that developed the program for Suzuki. McClanan says that, besides generating social-media buzz about Suzuki, the program is designed to give people a reason to keep returning to Suzuki's consumer web site.

Smartphones are not just brilliantly nimble devices for reaching PCPs and specialists; they allow you to learn about and develop a relationship with the doctors who can mean the most to your marketing.

The Volkswagen Group reports "significantly increased" its profitability in the first half of 2010 and continued its growth path in all key international automotive markets. The Wolfsburg, Germany automaker said a 16% increase in deliveries has lifted global market share to 11.7%. The company reports strong sales revenue and earnings in China, Western Europe, and North and South America. The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand sold 1.9 million vehicles in the reporting period and Audi sold 660,000 vehicles up 16.4%.

The automaker says Chevrolet sold over 120,000 Equinox and Traverse models during the first six months this year, which GM said is an 80% increase calendar-year-to-date.

The General Motors division says it plans a nationwide rollout to Chevrolet dealers this fall. The Chevrolet Dealer app, which features the lineup of Chevrolet cars, trucks and crossovers lets a salesperson help a customer pick interior and exterior colors, search for a matching vehicle in the dealership's inventory and look up offers that can be applied to the purchase or lease.

For brand-related concepts, even better than just tossing open a contest for anyone, we suggest that you recruit a group to participate based on their vision for the project.

The promotion -- which includes a contest, sweepstakes and instant-win game -- runs through Oct. 8. People can enter the sweepstakes through the "That's Wicked Fresh!" application on Facebook or on the Tom's of Maine Facebook page. Visitors to the pages automatically receive one sweepstakes entry and one instant win game play per day.

The Moment of Truth site sits atop a platform that scours the web for anything Regal, filters out the dross and naughty verbiage and displays the resulting content on a visually arresting 3D billboard that displays video, tweets, comments, and blogs. Content ranges from consumer opinions and testimonials, to automotive reviews and critiques.

"It's a genius cross-branding move," Cathy Hotka, a retail branding consultant based in Washington D.C., tells Marketing Daily. "Target is known both for its high traffic and desirable demographic, and kiosks selling high-demand items do really well -- this seems like smart partnering."

Electronics retailer Best Buy and wireless broadband services provider Clearwire have announced a strategic relationship through which Best Buy will use Clearwire's 4G network to offer mobile internet service under the Best Buy Connect product name.