With the capability to offer a more interactive experience right inside the current Twitter service, Twitter eventually could offer brands more creative tools beyond surveys, such as rich media, video, commercial message sharing with followers or others on Twitter, or even the ability to buy products without leaving Twitter.

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While the desire to pair humor with a commercial message has a long history in advertising-- Burger King's creepy King character and Bud Light's "Real Men of Genius" being sterling examples--the PR industry has demonstrated a sluggish embrace of yucks as a vehicle to deliver a message about companies, brands or issues.

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Suzuki, meanwhile, wanted the key message of its minute-long commercial airing in 21 markets during the big game to be the all-wheel drive on the 2012 Kizashi sedan.

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As a sometime political activist, Rushkoff feels that he can no longer use Facebook for the kind of frictionless advocacy (and self-promotion) that it provides because doing so exposes his followers to commercial manipulations that are clearly at odds with his own message.

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The 2008 Obama folks, including the president himself, were relentless in staying on message, whether the message came by way of a speech, a poster, a television commercial, or a Web site.

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Sullivan figures viewers will welcome this novel blending of the creative and commercial worlds as a not-too-jarring way to connect a sponsor's message with a show.

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Although Lenovo serves largely commercial customers in the United States, the company expects to appeal to consumers as well with its message of simplified cloud computing.

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