There are few images as recognizable throughout the world as the Coca-Cola
brand. Travel to the furthest reaches of the globe and you will probably
encounter it on a clock or a sign, if not on the drink itself. Marketers today
look to the Coca-Cola brand as a model of marketing power. Its image has
transcended national borders and cultural barriers to reach almost everyone on
earth. How did the Coca-Cola symbol become such an omnipresent image? Today Coke remains a powerful brand with over a century of history behind it. As
a result, items featuring previous incarnations of the Coke image have become
classic pieces of Americana. The success of the Coca-Cola brand has made it an
icon not just in the world of brand marketing but of American history. It's the price we pay for such free services, the Faustian pact into which we have entered in order to survive in an age of constant connectivity where the tentacles of Facebook — with its ambition to be the "identity platform" — are extending to every corner of the internet.Facebook's power continues to grow (800 million users and counting) and, on the face of it, the only real alternative left open to us is to either beat a retreat into a self-imposed disconnected world or total surrender.
Take-Two Interactive reported earnings for the fourth quarter and the end of its 2011 fiscal year, earlier this week. The developer of Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands, and Sid Meier's Civilization had a great year.Net revenue for 2011 was $1.14 billion, up 49% from the previous year. Take -Two Interactive enters the next fiscal year from a position of power. L. A. Noire appears to be a hit, both critically and in terms of sales. Good grief, according to Take-Two, it's the "first video game ever chosen as an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival."