To promote their latest movie, "Resident Evil: Retribution", Sony Pictures has released the "Street Invasion" interactive game. By simply providing a valid street address, users are given the opportunity to fight off undead invaders in their own neighborhood.

The mapping technology leveraged for this online game provides users with a personal and almost "too-close-to-home" game experience. Movie tie-in games have been a great opportunity for franchises to engage current fans, and gain some new (myself included).

So if you have any down time this holiday weekend, take some time to save your own neighborhood from zombies. Cheers!

If you work in or around advertising and you aren't following @leeclowsbeard on Twitter, you're missing a steady dose of practical wisdom that our industry sorely needs. This is the Twitter account that brought us such memorable Lee Clow quotes as these:

"Actions speak louder than meetings."

"People appreciate an ad packed with every possible message as it lets them ignore everything about a brand in one fell swoop."

"If you think different yet act the same, it doesn’t count."

Except that Lee Clow never said any of these things. That's right, they were completely made up by a writer in Texas and framed as the wisdom gleaned by Lee Clow's beard being in close proximity to the man himself throughout the years of his storied career. And that was the beginning of, as Clow himself puts it,  "a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, shrouded in…well, yeah, you get the idea."

At any rate, Lee Clow tells the story better than I do, so watch the video above and enjoy. It's nice to see a parody homage Twitter account done so well that the real person is flattered rather than offended by it.

For those die-hard Food Network fans, the long-time television network updated their mobile apps, In The Kitchen' and ‘Food Network On TV’, and introduced a new one, ‘On The Road’, this summer.  One of the first cooking networks on television, their mobile apps are a great idea for extending their brand presence beyond the television screen.

Each app helps incorporate the network in viewers’ daily lives in their own unique way. ‘Food Network On TV' offers popular full-length episodes, schedules, and exclusive video clips. The 'In The Kitchen' app organizes recipes from favorite television programs or chefs, and 'On The Road' is a travel aid app that organizes restaurant recommendations from the various television shows on the network.

The ‘Food Network On TV’ differentiates itself from the other apps by being more of a television supplement and works hand in hand for when you’re watching their programs. It’s great that Food Network is jumping into the mobile world because if anything, cooking shows are no strangers to the interactive entertainment that many other shows are now adopting. Cooking is naturally a social experience, which may be a reason why the earliest shows had live audiences. Now, the audience doesn’t have to physically be in the same room as the entertainer, they just need to have a mobile device. 

Food Network’s other two apps ...

Earlier this month Australia's Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) ruled that "an advertiser’s Facebook site is a marketing communication tool and therefore falls under the industry’s self-regulatory code of ethics" and that “the Code applies to the content generated by the page creator as well as material or comments posted by users or friends.” [emphasis added]

The ASB's ruling came about after examining the Facebook tactics employed by two large alcohol brands, Smirnoff and Victoria Bitter. In the case of Victoria Bitter, the ASB ruled that user comments on the Victoria Bitter Facebook page are subject to the same regulations as any other brand-generated advertising and as such must not glorify alcohol consumption in excess or express discriminatory or derogatroy sentiments.

Next, the ASB ruled that hundreds of event photos posted to Facebook by Smirnoff, a title sponsor for numerous concerts and music festivals, constituted micro-advertisements once they were disseminated thoughout users' social graph via likes, comments and photo tagging. As a result, such photos are bound by the same regulations prohibiting the depiction of excessive drinking culture and alcohol consumption by adults not clearly older than age 25.

It will be interesting to see if other countries adopt similar legislation using the same interpretations of what exactly consitutes "advertising" these days. You can read more about the ASB rulings here.

Norton has released a new technology which allows people to control the top result that appears when someone searches their name. Currently only availble in Scandanavia, Norton Top Search Result is an app we all could use in today's age of the search engine. Through a free AdWords entry, it allows people to implent the link of their choice to appear as a top result over the current one, most likely their Facebook. As the commercial above explains, it can also be used to steer away from some embarassing top results and drive to the results you want instead. Consider it a way of controlling "digital first impressions". 

Setting this up is very easy. Simply provide your name (as it appears on Facebook), a headline, and the URL that you'd like their top result to link to when someone searches for your identity. Have a personal website? This is the perfect chance to showcase it - front and center. Though there is no price or additional release dates listed, it will be interesting to see how this product rolls out. I am personally a big fan of these solutions that allow consumers to have more control over the way they are "presented" online. If brands are aware and able to control their reputation online, why shouldn't consumers be?