In the last couple days, two more unique examples of brands tapping into the potential power of location-based, social networking tool FourSquare have emerged. First, The Wall Street Journal launched three badge opportunities for New Yorkers; The Banker Badge (for checking into the financial district three times), the Urban Adventurer badge (for hitting all five boroughs), and the Lunch Box badge (for twice checking into a restaurant reviewed by the WSJ’s Lunch Box column. Other than giving New Yorkers more incentive to use FourSquare, I am not sure what this gives The Journal, other than some buzz.

Second Jimmy Choo is going to run a real time treasure hunt around London during the next few weeks. Jimmy Choo representatives will use FourSquare to check-in at fashionable London hangouts and then hang around for just a short period of time. The first person to catch-up with them gets the sought after shoes.

It is going to be an interesting summer as we watch how other brands unlock opportunity on FourSquare.

David Stutts | E-mail | Twitter | Blog | SlideShare | LinkedIn

This is a really smart idea from Pepsi (and nice work introducing it on Earth Day). Pepsi plans to put thousands of recycling kiosks around the country to catch those elusive, on-the-go single cans & plastic bottles that usually get thrown away instead of dumped in the recycling bin at home. There is a nice WSJ write-up here.

We recently had the pleasure of completing a rebranding budget for the Auburn University College of Business. Instead of taking our word about how this project turned out, click here to go to our client’s Web site to read what they had to say and watch a short video regarding our work on the project. Then check out a few of the print pieces below (you can click them to make them larger).

David Stutts | E-mail | Twitter | Blog | SlideShare | LinkedIn

Each month we publish a series of four marketplace specific Trend Tracker newsletters that take a quick topical look into the banking, snacking, telecom and tourism industries. While we sometimes look at traditional stuff like new campaigns and promotions, we really tend to focus on interesting insights that relate to emerging technologies, digital and social happenings and consumer behavior.

Read below for the headline stories in each report and download the reports for free by clicking on the respective links.

Banking

• Paypal Lets Users Bump Phones To Transfer Money
• Only 30 Finance Category iPad Apps Available On Launch Day
• Capital One Runs Ads Within Menupages.Com Mobile App
• Verizon Ramps Up Online Payments
• Coke Vending Machine Uses Finger Pulse Recognition To Sell Soda
• Triodes Bank: Socially Responsible Banking
• Citigroup Faces Consumers On The Web
• Show Mi The Money: Latino Credit Union Making Loans
• Keybank Sponsors Snuggies Guinness World Record

Snacking

• Frito-Lay Creates Digital Collage
• Domino’s Recruits Online Fans To Sell Pizza
• Leafy Snack Foods Are The Latest Way To Get Veggies
• Snickers Ties Mobile Game To In-Store Marketing
• UK Dr Pepper Uses Social Media To Ask What’s The Worst That Could Happen
• Coke Vending Machine Uses Finger Pulse Recognition To Sell Soda
• Funky Monkey Runs Twitter Sweeps
• It’s One Stop Snacking With Beer Chips
• Odwalla Mixes Juice, Live Music And Facebook

Telecom

• Furniture Surface Charges Mobile Devices Wirelessly
• Verizon Wireless And Skype Intro Free Mobile Calling
• Sprint Urges People To Recycle Cell Phones
• Google’s Search Supremacy Takes On The TV
• Verizon Ramps Up Online Payments
• Docomo Introduces “Separable” Phone
• Fandango Sets Up Paperless Tickets In Eight Cities
• FiOS Reveals Mobile Remote For Consumers
• Smart Phone Meets Smart Charge

Tourism

• Everytrail: See The Terrain Before Booking It
• Fairmont Launches Online Photo And Video Sharing Portal
• Mobile Users Eager For Travel Apps
• Iceland Pushes Tourism Via Friend Requests
• Travelocity Takes Spin On Chatroulette
• Augmented Reality Travel Apps Bolster Smart Phones
• MapEnvelope: It’s What’s On The Inside That Counts
• Adventures For Non-Sighted Travelers
• Tennessee Tourism Pros Target Moms To Sell Attractions

For a free subscription to Trend Trackers — or our other monthly newsletter, Generational News and Views — just drop David Stutts an e-mail.

On April 5, Brian Pia appeared as a guest PR expert on the local Jox sports talk radio show.  Brian spent 90 minutes talking with the hosts and taking calls from listeners. He offered advice on a variety of topical PR issues, mainly focusing on the forthcoming Tiger Woods press conference that was scheduled for later in the day as The Masters got under way.

Click here for a two minute audio clip that gives a taste of how the conversation flowed. If you’re interested in learning more about what Brian and his PR team can do for you, contact him at brian.pia@luckie.com

Paying Homage to Earl, written by Brad White, Chief Creative Evangelist. This is the paper that started it all and helped lay the foundation for our continued pursuit of developing clutter busting ideas that get the attention of those who matter most.

We’ve written quite a few “white papers” over the last couple of years with a lot of insightful thinking. Most of which is still relevant, so we’ve decided to repost all of them here. This is #13 of 13. Enjoy.

Brad White | E-mail | Twitter | LinkedIn

Traveler2.0, written by David Stutts, Director of Brand Planning. This paper was written in the spring of 2008 and takes a quick look at the quickly emerging, extremely savvy, digitally and socially connected leisure traveler, whom we dubbed Traveler2.0. This paper coincided with the release of the Luckie50, our annual list of what we find to be the most interesting online travel-related sites.

We’ve written quite a few “white papers” over the last couple of years with a lot of insightful thinking. Most of which is still relevant, so we’ve decided to repost all of them here. This is #12 of 13. Enjoy.

David Stutts | E-mail | Twitter | Blog | SlideShare | LinkedIn

What About Gen X, written by David Stutts, Director of Brand Planning. This paper was written in early 2006 and takes a quick look at the generation marketers and advertisers seem to have forgotten as they shift their focus from the aging Boomer population to the abundantly youthful Gen Y population.

We’ve written quite a few “white papers” over the last couple of years with a lot of insightful thinking. Most of which is still relevant, so we’ve decided to repost all of them here. This is #11 of 13. Enjoy.

David Stutts | E-mail | Twitter | Blog | SlideShare | LinkedIn

Rethinking Mom Some More, written by David Stutts, Director of Brand Planning. Part three of our three part Rethinking mom series. This paper was written in the fall of 2009 and took a quick look at how the changing economic landscape might impact or alter how moms approached motherhood.

We’ve written quite a few “white papers” over the last couple of years with a lot of insightful thinking. Most of which is still relevant, so we’ve decided to repost all of them here. This is #10 of 13. Enjoy.

David Stutts | E-mail | Twitter | Blog | SlideShare | LinkedIn

This is smart. Domino’s Pizza UK is recruiting their online fans to place an order widget on their Web sites, blogs or social networking pages. For each pizza ordered via that widget, the fan gets a 0.5% cut of the purchase. This greatly increases the ordering opportunity universe. it engages fans and even rewards them for their efforts. Will be interesting to keep an eye on and see how it does.