This is the latest in Consumer Generated Content. One commissioned by the actual company, the other not. Both are great examples of New Marketing.

COKE & MENTOS

Two ordinary guys, some creativity, a lot of Coke and Mentos and we have the very essence of consumer generated content. Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe, A.K.A. EepyBird, created and performed what they dubbed Experiment #214 and earned the attention and respect of The Coca-Cola Company. Coke loved it so much, they invited the guys to their Atlanta HQ to perform the experiment for the entire staff. Now we’re writing about it. View the experiment.
Via Jaffe Juice

JEEP & MARVEL

Jeep have launched their “Jeep Patriot Comics”, a microsite dedicated to the creation and evolution of an interactive comic book for one of their cars. The hook is that readers mould and determine the outcome of the story under the guidance and pencil of Marvel comic’s Bing Cansino. The site has all the bells and whistles, so much so that it looks a little congested if you were only looking to read a few pages of the story as opposed to digging in and contributing. Whether the online creativity and offline reality successfully converge will be the real challenge and determine whether this idea is a winner.Read the comic so far.
Via Random Culture