Budweiser, one of the best-selling beers in the United States, has introduced a new can design (the 12th since the brand first started using cans in 1936).

Interestingly, the focus of the redesign is Budweiser’s allegedly “iconic” bowtie. According to Budweiser, “there is no written documentation on the origins of the Budweiser bowtie,” but its integration within the new design is part of an effort to encourage people to order the beer by its full name, rather than just “Bud.” What do you think of the Budweiser bowtie?

Social media is powerful, no doubt. But, as all good things do, it has its limitations. Brands shouldn’t dive headfirst into a social media plan without considering the things that social media will not be able to do for them.

Creating a social media presence is not, in itself, the key to community engagement. Econsultancy points out 5 main things that brands are responsible for that social media can not do:

Make You Cool
As Econsultancy explains, “Long gone are the days when being on Facebook or Twitter meant you were ahead of the curve. Today… your social media presence is only as cool as you are.” It’s how you use it that makes you “cool.”

Create Great Products & Services
Social media may help your brand, but it can’t make up for poor quality products and services.

Quash Criticism
With a social media presence, you can respond to criticism more effectively, but criticism will not cease to exist.

Provide Free Marketing
As Econsultancy explains, “Building, growing and maintaining a social media presence always requires an investment in time, and for every business, time is money.”

Improve Your Customer Service
Social media has become a helpful tool for providing customer service, but the quality of your customer service is still as good as you make it.

And on that note, your social media campaign is only as good as you make it.

Leo Burnett (London) produced this whimsical brand video for McDonald’s in the UK, The A-Z of McDonald’s.

Back in June, Diesel stores in the UK brought QR codes to the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Now, a retail outlet in Seoul, South Korea, called the Q-Store is taking it one step further, adding QR codes to product tags.

Scanning these QR codes allow customers to view additional information about the products. Better yet, while shopping in-store, customers also have the option of purchasing online and having purchases delivered to their homes.

Online retailers, the landscape has changed. The back-to-school shopping season upon us – and online shoppers are expected to spend 40% more than in-store shoppers.

Of course, online takes the form of a few channels; two-thirds of online shoppers own a smartphone and almost a quarter own a tablet device.

According to a study by the National Retail Federation:

Over two-thirds of smartphone-using online shoppers will use the device in back-to-school shopping for product research, price comparisons, coupon redemption, and store information. A full third of those even plan to make purchases via smartphone.

Four out of five tablet-using online shoppers will use the device in back-to-school shopping for product research and price comparisons, with half planning to make purchases via the device.

This is further evidence why e-commerce websites should be optimized for mobile use. Is your brand ready for the back-to-school season?

Last week, apparel brand Abercrombie & Fitch offered to pay MTV Jersey Shore castmate Mike “The Situation” to stop wearing its clothing. Evidently, the brand does not want to be associated with Jersey Shore’s shenanigans, stating in a press release “We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino’s association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image. We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans.” Well, Abercrombie & Fitch’s stock price subsequently dropped 8%, prompting “The Situation” to retort (on Twitter), “Looks like Abercrombie got themself [sic] into a Situation!”

Well, MTV has officially responded, stating, “It’s a clever PR stunt, and we’d love to work with them on other ways they can leverage Jersey Shore to reach the largest youth audience on television.”

Well, what do you think? PR stunt or authentic brand image protection?

We’ll keep you updated if the bickering continues.

Imagine the possibilities of revamping an often overlooked branding opportunity and customer touch point: the sales receipt.

London-based design consultancy Berg did just that. As Matt Jones explained, receipts are printed by machines that already manage a variety of complex information – most obviously, purchases. Consider that a receipt from CVS includes coupons for products in categories you’ve recently purchased in; Berg’s concept goes even further, with more useful and engaging personalization. As Berg explained to Icon magazine, “We think the humble receipt could be something like a paper ‘app’ and be valuable in small and playful ways.”

A logo does not make a brand. So, why do marketers always want to make the logo bigger?

As Tom Fishburne wrote, “A bigger logo won’t fix a small brand. It won’t make a brand more remarkable. There is no direct correlation between the size of a logo and the effectiveness of an ad. But, in the qualitative world of creative review, it’s a tangible, quantitative response. So, marketers give this feedback a lot, even if it’s superficial and even if it detracts from the strength of the creative execution.”

Engaged consumers generally become loyal consumers, and we all want loyal consumers. So, how and why do consumers engage? According to a recent study, more than 97% of respondents said that an online experience has influenced whether or not they bought a product or service from a particular brand… so it would be wise to know what spurs engagement. For some insight, check out GetSatisfaction’s infographic.

With a new software update and new second generation hardware on the horizon, Microsoft has unveiled a new Windows Phone logo.

According to WinRumors, the logo features “a more square look, presumably to compliment the square tiles of the operating system.” This new logo will be used in all marketing and branding efforts for the upcoming Windows Phone 7.5.