CLASH OF THE TITANS / ROUND UP

This week is mostly about gigantic corporate maneouvring. Microsoft have pulled its sponsorship of a special edition of irreverent animation 'Family Guy', complete with additional live action sequences, following some raised eyebrows at the taping of the show. The 'Almost Live Comedy Show' was due to be aired without commercials, yet with Microsoft marketing messages incorporated into the content itself, following the cementing of an partnership between News Corp (owner of Fox, the distributor of Family Guy) and Microsoft to promote the new Windows 7 operating system. Variety reports that according to a Microsoft spokesperson, 'after reviewing an early version of the variety show, it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand'.

Although the company will continue with a series of smaller associations with creator Seth MacFarlane and the show, this climb-down seems inevitable. Advertising alongside content which much of Microsoft's gargantuan demographic could potentially find offensive is beyond risky. At this juncture, we'd actually like to commend the marketers involved for appreciating the mistake and bailing, irrespective of what the Twitterati might make of the decision. Viva constructive failure! http://tiny.cc/MSad

In other Microsoft news, dedicated Windows 7 retail environments have started popping up all over the States. Our friends at PSFK report some innovative features, most notably a 'print your own games' feature. You request the game, and within 4 minutes you have a box, an insert, a cover and the game itself. 'On-demand' is a powerful pull in retail. Score one more to the Redmond massive. http://tiny.cc/gameprint

We're doing another issue of the magazine. Does your campaign have what it takes? Email greg@contagiousmagazine.com.

One to watch as the UK's football season ploughs on - Albion, London has developed an unscripted ad campaign for online betting exchange, Betfair. Through a series of street castings and via fanzines and club fan sites, over 1000 footy fans were auditioned and five chosen to argue it out each week in the BetFair Front Room. Here they will be given £100 each week to put where their mouth is - footage of their argumentative wealer dealings will comprise weekly episodes hosted at Betfair.com and will also be cut down for use in a constantly refreshed series of TV spots. Betfair's Global Brand and Marketing Director Oscar Nieboer said: 'This campaign really is a microcosm of our exchange and brings to life the fact that it is the fans that decide the odds and compete against each other on Betfair.' www.betfairfootball.com

Much as we'd love to think about Facebook and MySpace squaring off in some kind of Zuckerberg vs. Murdoch smackdown, as is often the case the monoliths of social networking are quietly considering working together. According to The Daily Telegraph, some preliminary discussions between the two 'could potentially see MySpace music and video footage being shared on Facebook via its Connect platform, which allows people to log into third party sites using their Facebook ID'. http://tiny.cc/bigchats

Awesome yet sinister recruitment ad for the Taiwanese armed forces comes across more like an ad for the country's CGi industry. Join the army and play with Transformers! http://tiny.cc/transformthis

Pointy fingers aloft, Nokia is suing Apple, for infringement of ten patents it apparently held for phone connectivity and which subsequently appeared as functionality on the iPhone. Whether the case is proven or not, the fact remains that Nokia's designers should have seen Apple's ubiquitous handset coming, and got there first. http://tiny.cc/hmmmm631

And more Apple. They're spending $4m to completely renovate a subway station in Chicago. Apparently it's located next to where a future Apple store might be located. That's dedication to the cause of retail.... http://tiny.cc/fixerupper