Sonia Andresson-Nolasco

American Express has added Twitter and Facebook to its Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week sponsorship. The multimedia activation kicked off in New York City last week and runs through Feb. 18.

In anticipation of the World Cup soccer championships this summer, Coca-Cola has revived its FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour, which is visiting 85 countries and concludes with festivities in South Africa where the 2010 tournament will be held in June. The tour gives fans around the world a chance to get up-close-and-personal with the tournament’s solid gold trophy as well as engage with the brand via a variety of celebration-themed activities.

On Feb. 21, loyal Bakugan fans will get a chance to compete in the game’s Baku-Con U.S. Championship tournament in New York City’s Roseland Ballroom. The championship is the culminating event of its 2010 national tour, which started hitting convention centers last month. Bakugan is an action strategy game that’s gaining the kind of popularity Pokémon enjoyed a few years ago. In the game, Bakugan spheres function like marbles, but once they hit their target they transform into monster-like characters.

REDUCING PAPER USE at events can be as difficult as making major lifestyle changes. Both require a real shift in mindset. Companies like Oracle and Microsoft are encouraging change by rethinking the need for thick paper show books and embracing digital methods of information delivery at its events through on-site kiosks, computers and mobile devices like smartphones.

For all of its events, Microsoft has a security and health mitigation plan in place. Until last year, it had rarely ever needed to put it into practice. Then came a case of the swine flu just days before its Imagine Cup 2009 event, held July 3-8 in Cairo, Egypt. Students from all over the world participated in a yearlong software design competition for a shot at presenting their ideas at the event and then traveled to the foot of the pyramids for the finals.