Microsoft has today confirmed that the first of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable episodes is to be released exclusively for Xbox 360 this .

The platform holder notes that the Xbox 360 will be the “only console with new Grand Theft Auto IV content available this Christmas.

Biscuit maker Fox’s is to launch a TV campaign fronted by an animated character dubbed a “danda”, a cross between a dog and a panda.

Fox’s came up with the cross-breed using CGI digital technology in order to avoid any legal issues with Fox’s Glacier Mints’ polar bear Peppy.

The TV campaign, the first by ad agency Mother since it won the Fox’s biscuits business late last year, introduces Vinnie the “wise-guy Italian American” panda/dog who extols the virtues of company’s “biscwits” as the “good stuff”.

Vinnie, who has black-and-white colouring like a panda and a face like a dog, has been developed by the animation team at agency MPC, who worked on Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia.

If you’re not using these techniques for your online marketing yet, you’re increasingly missing out on an advertising revolution.

© Pavel Losevsky – Fotolia.com

Here’s a collection of useful articles I’ve found while researching the subject:

Social Networking, Blogging and Web 2.0

Marketers Start to Use Social Networks for CRM Instead of Ads
Real Promise of MySpace, Facebook Lies in Potential to Help Nurture Consumer Relationships — but How?

Blog It and They May Come
Small businesses find blogging can be useful — but awfully time consuming

How To Run A Corporate Blog
…offers a few tips on how to blog for your company without spilling secrets, getting fired, or putting your readers to sleep.

Web 2.0′s Top 1,000 List!
Everything Web 2.0

The top 150 marketing and advertising blogs
A dynamic directory of sites scored via social bookmarking sites

Publishing 2.0
Daily Blog, the (r)evolution of media, driven by the migration of media to the Web and new digital technologies.

Social Media Marketing Tactics
How to Leverage Web 2.0 & Social Media Sites to Market Your Brand & Control Your Message

101 Link Building Tips to Market Your Website
Link Building… Time-intensive. Frustrating. Sometimes confusing. Yet Unavoidable. Because ultimately, it’s still the trump card for higher rankings.

How to Get 6,312 Subscribers to Your Business Blog in One Day
A short but good-practice case study

The Top 10 Things You Should Know Before You Blog
Best practice blogging

10 Articles All Bloggers Should Read (at least once)
A great source of inspiration

Branding

Last but certainly not least – don’t forget your Corporate Branding!

The importance of Branding
Why you should take your branding seriously

Your feedback
There must be some great links I’ve missed here – if you know of any unique resources for marketing via Social Networking, why not share them here!

Alternatively, if you’ve found this resource useful and have had success using some of these techniques, please do share your experience.

[drumroll] … and the top 10 brands for 2007 are… Continue Reading »