I am on the Bagel Bites diet because I don't know how to cook and I hate wasting food. I once made a pseudo-Pad Thai and ended up eating a bowl of pure peanut butter noodles… that I threw away the next day. Thankfully, researches found a way to practice cooking with digital ingredients, so no more wasted peanut butter noodles.  

The Tokyo Institute of Technology created a simulator that makes you feel like you're cooking with real food. The system works by rigging a  frying pan with a number of pulleys and simulators that makes it look and feel like you're cooking a real steak. With the use of a screen above the pan and a half mirror, the steak and vegetables gets projected on the pan. There's a digital spatula that you can hold use to interact with the food. Everything the user does, from shaking the pan to flipping the food, gets calculated and the user can see and feel the effects on the meat and vegetables getting cooked. The simulator can even calculate how the moisture is affected by the increase of temperature. The experience touches on almost every sense except for, sadly, the sense of smell.

With today's fierce competition in the reality television singing competition category, it has been hard to to declare a show I’m dedicated to or prefer over the other. Between “American Idol,” “The X-Factor,” and “The Voice,” there are various elements that make one more interesting than the other. And as I learned at the #SXSW Top Chef Panel, reality television programs are now making it a focus to keep the audience engaged beyond the one-hour programming to 24 hours, seven days a week.

“The Voice,” currently in its second season on NBC, has successfully taken an accidental character that gained popularity via online conversation and ran with it. Meet ”Purrfect the Cat.” Purrfect first appeared on the season premiere during a testimonial with owner Cee-Lo (pictured above) and instantly became a hit (mostly because of its humorously silent nature).

Purrfect the Cat now has its own official Facebook page (11,684 likes) and Twitter handle (39,680 followers) where it regularly engages with fans and shares unique content, including personal photos. Purrfect even live Tweets during the show, making witty remarks toward contestants and even the judges (including owner CeeLo). Purrfect successfully carries on the same humorous personality fans who generated it presumed. See a few additional examples of this cat’s silly content below:

<...

1. It’s a love story
2. The Wilson brothers aren’t in it
3. It’s Anderson’s return to live action film
4. The (sample) soundtrack is beautiful
5. New talent from Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward
6. Old talent from Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, and Harvey Keitel
7. It’s coming out in less than 6 months

Regardless of your current opinion on Wes Anderson, any fan, new or old, is bound to find a sense of glee and excitement from the first trailer for Moonrise Kingdom. Who wouldn't enjoy a love story about two rebellious children, exploring the wilderness together and creating a storm of worry in their small New England town?

Brands can gain some insight from this feature. Anderson is most famous for the fact that he only directs a movie every three to four years, making quality over quantity one of his main staples. When it comes to content, or even overall campaign strategy, it's important to remember that if you don't have something worth saying, it's better not to say anything at all.

A secondary piece of wisdom in Anderson's spaced out productions is the art of building anticipation. Fans are willing to wait years to see one of his new films, and it's almost a guarantee that each film will eclipse the last due to old fans initiating new ones. When something's almost too good to share, that's when consumers are most likely to indoctrinate others.

It could be considered one of the worst beers that somehow still remains palatable but, like it or not, Old Milwaukee is a brand that goes beyond taste and taps into the souls of many Midwesterners.

“This is one of the quintessential old school American adjunct brews. It isn't great, but it is definitely drinkable.”

– FlannelAvenger, beeradvocate.com

“All that subliminal programming when I was a kid really paid off. OM is my favorite American Lager. Just a hint of hops, clean mouthfeel, goes down easy. This is a true American staple.”

– vikingstout, beeradvocate.com

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone without a favorite beer that gives them that warm fuzzy feeling inside, and tapping into that innate longing for comfort is a stroke of pure genius. Little would Old Milwaukee (seemingly) know that this insight would come not from an agency, but from a comedian who’s notorious for his faux-vertising antics on SNL.

Ferrell's decision to film and distribute the ads in Davenport is a solid tribute to the city who loves some "Old Mud." His subsequent commercials filmed in Terre Haute also offer a bit of a nod to the heartland of American culture. These free-of-charge, low-budget videos were all the idea and production of Ferrell himself, and even though Old Milwaukee is missing an opportunity by not having a YouTube channel, they're still creating quite a bit of buzz through the classic form of "You've gotta see this, it's hilarious," sharing. (Thanks @sarahleighbrich!)

Domino's is on a roll with their customers. First, the rebrand of the entire company, next the spoofs and jabs at their failures from the past, then a humorous take on their new Artisan pizzas, and now: Pizza Hero.

There's a certain level of respect you have to have for a company that understands their consumer's desire to "play." Their microsite Pizza Tracker was a huge success, letting users reskin their page with themed announcements as their pizza went through the delivery process. By adding a gaming component to their arsenal, they're beginning to come full circle with their proclamation: "Oh yes we did."

Fun is an aspect of food service that is often overlooked. Quality should obviously come first, followed closely by service, but the differentiating factor in all restaurants is atmosphere and/or fun. Since Domino's relies (for the most part) on delivery, taking the fun into their customer's homes (TV) and their hands (iPad) is one of the smartest moves we've seen yet.