The concept of a mashup dovetails with the rise of social networking as websites like Digg or Reddit, acting as aggregators, pull together news or feeds from multiple sources. That platform is then often designed to be interactive, allowing users to share opinions, reviews, or update information in a fashion similar to Wikipedia.

The idea of creating web-based applications is also a popular choice for mashups as developers have used mapping software, such as Google Maps, to create everything from restaurant guides to real estate comparison sites. Mashups have also been popular in music as artists sample parts of another song to remix an entirely new song.

The mashup is indicative of the way we now consume media as traditional sources are intermingled with online campaigns in an attempt to discover what appeals to consumers.

Origin:

Mashups are considered a part of Web 2.0. The term was first used to describe a web application that pulls together content from a variety of sources to perform a specific function, whether it is comparing airfare rates or finding new restaurants.

Accordingly, the ways in which products are being marketed have shifted online. As brands accumulate information about consumers' preferences, they can place advertisements in front of customers who are more likely to champion their message. Companies are now becoming personalities on Facebook, with brands like Seventeen encouraging people to become fans online and promising insider access.

Corporations seek out fansumers to act as brand loyalists, translating the virtues of a product or service online into the new world of social media.

Origin:

Forrester Research introduced the concept of the fansumer in order to describe the evolution of the consumer online as they interact with targeted advertising on social networking sites.

The movie "Polar Express" was panned, with critics contending that the motion capture process created animated characters that were more disturbing than cuddly. And video gamers have remarked in recent years that digital characters are becoming unsettling.

The idea of the uncanny valley has even been extended to photo retouching, as consumers have difficulty reconciling digitally altered photos with their expectations of a subject's appearance. A recent advancement in photorealistic characters from design firm Image Metrics may have provided an answer by analyzing specific movements and timing gestures.

Origin:

Japanese robotics inventor Masahiro Mori defined the concept in 1970. He was looking to explain why people suddenly rejected his creations as they became more evolved. Mori based his theories on the philosophies of Ernst Jentsch and Sigmund Freud, in which both men expounded on the idea that something can be familiar and unknown at the same time.

Correction: One of our eagle-eyed readers noted that the connection between Mori's theory and the work of Freud and Jentsch was made after his postulate was released. Mori's work was not based on their philosophies, it is just a correlation that has been drawn by subsequent researchers.

The 2008 Summer Olympics was one of the most marketing and branding-dense spectacles the world has ever seen. Not only did brands from all over the world and from many different segments strut their stuff in Beijing, but the world also witnessed a large scale branding effort on the part of an entire country - China.

So now that the torch has been passed onto London for 2012, and we've had a few weeks to digest our victories (go USA!), we can really look back and see which brands struck gold and, well, those that did not.

Google AdSense is the most popular form of contextual marketing. A search engine bot, known as Mediabot, indexes the material on a website and determines which advertisements submitted to Google are a match. Search engines, including Yahoo! and Microsoft, display advertisements on search results pages. Those advertisements are selected based on the key words that a person enters into the search engine.

The idea of contextual marketing has been controversial because critics claim it represents an invasion of privacy. In 1999, when the search marketing company DoubleClick (now owned by Google) attempted to use the information it had collected online about consumers to create targeted promotions offline, the corporation was taken to court over its privacy policies. Public reaction led online marketers to focus on delivering marketing messages that drive responses without being intrusive.

Origin

Contextual marketing is based on the idea of personal profiling, where information about web surfers is collected via cookies. In 1995, permanent cookie technology was invented, which allowed servers to send packets of information to web browsers, and vice versa, in order to track the websites visited by the person at the computer.

Corporations reach out to brand evangelists to ask them to create commercials or new brand messages for products they love. The user-generated content is then uploaded to brand-specific websites or video-sharing sites like YouTube. By yielding brand control, companies like MasterCard and Converse have managed to engage customers in promotion across social networks.

Participatory advertising also involves the changing manner in which people consume marketing. Instead, customers are now interacting with brand campaigns, as the Internet has moved marketers away from traditional, static methods of advertising. Under this methodology, consumers are no longer willing to passively digest product information, but instead want to form a connection with a brand. In a recent successful example, Dove leveraged this approach with the Campaign for Real Beauty, which asks consumers to help change stereotypical ideals of beauty. 

Origin:

The first examples of participatory advertising were seen in the early 1990's as Nike parlayed a series of advertisements with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny into the creation of a feature-length cartoon, "Space Jam." Advertising evolved into a participatory model with the introduction of the Internet and a corresponding change in consumer culture.  

Apparently this summer, America has been put up for sale (mostly good deals), privacy has become a hot button issue and that huge French cycling thing got started again.

A successful murketing campaign is intriguing enough that potential customers will seek to discover exactly what is being sold or who is the one selling to them. The consumer then ascribes values to the brand and is the one to proactively establish a relationship. Critics are split on whether the murketing of viral videos, like BMW's "Rampenfest" ads, will ultimately damage or save brand reputations.

Origin: New York Times columnist Rob Walker coined the term "murketing" in an article for Outside magazine when he was seeking to describe the deliberately obsequious marketing of Red Bull. He regularly explores the relationship between consumers and marketers on his blog, Murketing.com and in his new book, "Buying In."

Why would a prospective student, faculty, donor or alumni want to live your brand? Why are you the first choice for some students? What gets your faculty up every morning? What keeps alumni connected emotionally and financially? It is the desire to be part of a unique community that shares a vision. It is participating in a differentiated experience that springs from the very soul of the institution. It is the university brand.

Administrators, faculty, and students all contribute, shape and help build a brand.   Traditionally, the university president's responsibilities have been focused on institutional planning, balancing the budget and exceeding university fundraising and endowment goals. Over time, the president has become responsible for student recruitment and retention and improving the overall student experience.

Who is the custodian of the soul of a university? Now, it has become a university president's responsibility.

Marriott International and American Airlines contend that this practice is potentially driving up costs and confusing potential customers. American Airlines filed suit against Google last year, arguing that unchecked piggybacking was a case of trademark infringement.

Origin
Piggybacking was initially a business term that referred to reducing costs by adding a new project to an existing one. It was extended to the online arena with wireless networks to refer to computer users hopping on an unprotected wireless connection.

As such, digital immigrants experience the same difficulties when they come into contact with digital technology as adults. Their learning curve is steeper and they may be reluctant to adapt to new systems.

The process of assimilation is always easier for those that learned the language of our digital world while growing up. Digital immigrants are often juxtaposed with digital natives, the younger generation that is accustomed to using the wealth of digital technology. The Digital Natives project, a collaboration between Harvard University and the University of St. Gallen, is looking to understand how different generations understand and apply information.  

Origin: The term digital native is attributed to writer and consultant Marc Prensky. He coined the term in a 2005 piece for Educational Leadership, while explaining what teachers have to do to reach students based on how they currently receive and process information.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has never been shy about speaking his mind, recently made the decision to ban all bloggers - major and minor -- from the locker room. In a post on Blog Maverick, justifying his decision as a move toward equality, Cuban argued that he didn't feel that a blogger from the mainstream media should have more access to his players than a person who blogs as a hobby.

His assertion that this was an effort to ensure equality was met with heavy criticism from writers, both on and off the Internet. It was seen as a heavy-handed attempt at censorship and the backlash was immediate and overwhelming. In light of Cuban's well-developed persona, the ban seemed particularly out of character. He's opened himself up to criticism for eight years as the most connected owner in sports. By listening to customers about how to improve the fan experience, Cuban has built a brand based on accessibility.

If you ever need a blueprint for viral video success (or even a new media approach), it's sitting on YouTube's most viewed list right now: Guys backflip into jeans.

The viral spot created for Levi Strauss by the advertising agency Cutwater has rocketed past 2 million views in just a little over a week's time. The premise is simple - a group of performers do a series of increasingly complicated tricks to step into their jeans.

Big headlines about the airline industry have graced the front pages of newspapers, magazines and websites recently. After two years or so of profitability and the looming threat of a US recession and rising oil prices, airlines are struggling once again. Rather than raise ticket prices, airlines have been creating new fees and will soon be asking passengers to pay for a second checked bag.  The key to surviving trying times is keeping your eye on your brand, and it seems as though only a few airlines are keeping that in mind.

On the heels of its successful generic prescription drug plan, Wal-Mart announced in 2007 that it planned to open several hundred medical clinics within its retail stores. Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott believes the number could grow as high as 2,000 by 2014.

The model was simple. Doctors or nurse practitioners provide routine medical care - testing for strep throat or giving flu shots at a fixed rate. CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid were quick to follow suit, saying that they were considering similar measures.

It's a classic example of Blue Ocean Strategy. Faced with slowing revenue gains, Wal-Mart decided to curb its expansion plans and focus on deriving more income from its existing stores. Rather than battle Target or CVS and accept diminishing returns, the company set out to get ahead of the curve and launch a retail, healthcare operation.