Einstein Bros. Bagels cooked up a fresh-from-the-oven Facebook campaign. Through two single-day events, the "Bagel Bonanza" on January 25 and "National Bagel Day" on February 9, the brand offered up free goods to each new fan.  A familiar strategy for brands looking to beef up their social media presence, the question rises: are new “fans” really committed brand loyalists? Or are they just in it for the goods?

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Well, another Valentine’s Day has come and gone. This year, Skittles and its army of Facebook followers schemed up a special surprise for one lucky lady—and she really could've used it. It’s part of the brand’s ongoing Mob the Rainbow experiment. This was a way to mobilize the candy’s 3.7 million fans for fun, on-brand web antics, actively engaging this base without forcing it.

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Are you picky about the way your TP rolls? Yes, that’s the heated debate of Cottonelle’s new campaign. The toilet-paper maker is asking America how it does, in fact, roll.

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Loud, gimmicky, and crassly expensive, Super Bowl commercials have long epitomised old-school advertising. But there are signs that things are beginning to change.

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The fashionistas at ModCloth recently stitched together a new feature for the company’s online store that gets customers in on the clothing-selection process, ultimately letting consumer sentiment influence the e-retailer’s style direction. It’s a pretty well-made plan.

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The Kindle e-reader has been one of the hottest tech items of the past couple of years. Now, in absence of standalone displays, Amazon established a portal where the Kindle-curious can hook up with local enthusiasts worldwide.

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To many brands, listening to consumers means conducting a few focus groups and studying a report or two. But how much does that really accomplish? Are they just “protecting” themselves from the truth (which does more harm than good)? Because in the digital age, everyone gets to be heard—and Domino’s has finally perked up its ears.

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Get ready boys: Monday Night Football is in full swing. But before it premiered in early December, ESPN broke with tradition for the 40th season. Using body-responsive storefront displays, the sports network brought football (a brand, really) to fans. At certain stores, they could play catch with a virtual quarterback in an interactive game. Fully outfitted in Monday Night Football branding, the campaign rallied the crowd for the premiere, which led to the highest rating in ESPN’s 30 years and the single largest audience in cable TV history.

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HP's social media strategist, Tony "Frosty" Welch, aka @frostola on Twitter, has been getting mostly high marks for his handling of a YouTube video that dramatizes how HP’s facial recognition software tracks white faces a whole lot better than black faces. We’re not so sure, however, how well Frosty is really doing.

The vid that sparked the controversy is all over the web by now. (It's also here, of course, below.) It was made by two people—an African-American man named Desi and a white woman named Wanda—who appear to be co-workers in a computer store. It’s hilarious and avoids any mean-spirited charges about HP’s intentions, but Desi concludes the show by asserting that “HP computers are racist.” He has a right to complain. He bought one for Christmas and then discovered it wouldn't recognize its owner's face.

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