To celebrate the 25th anniversary of “The Magic School Bus” book series, Scholastic this past October invited a class of second-graders from the United Nations International School to Pier 84 in Manhattan where The Magic School Bus rose from the Hudson River on a barge. Scholastic used its educational Magic School Bus, which tours the country throughout the year, as the backdrop for an oceanic themed lesson. When not in use, the bus is stationed in Connecticut.

Brand: Scholastic
Agency: The Michael Alan Group

In the United Kingdom, football, or soccer to we colonists, is the number one spectator sport, and EA’s FIFA soccer game is the biggest selling title for the game maker in that country, too. To keep the marriage happy and grow its market, the brand has established a permanent footprint called the EA Sports Blue Zone on the grounds of the Man City football club stadium. The glass-walled structure is designed to attract attention and sports fans inside to play FIFA 2012 and push the online gameplay at least an hour before and after the team’s home games.

Bacardi USA this year is celebrating its 150th birthday and to kick the year off right, House of Bacardi set out to crown the best bartender in the world through its 2012 Bacardi Global Legacy Cocktail Competition. The finals were Feb. 19 and 20 in Puerto Rico, where the 26 regional winners from all over the world spent a week learning about the history of the rum, visiting the distillery in Cataño where it is made, sharing their skills and techniques with each other and learning bartending philosophies and expertise from the brand’s tastemakers. 

Health insurance company Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida returned to the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami (Feb. 23 to 29) this year as a title sponsor of the SOBE Fun and Fit area where it encouraged families to pursue a healthy lifestyle through activities that focused on a healthy, locally based diet. The brand transformed its 900-square-foot area into an “edible” tent that resembled a mini farmers market where it held hands-on cooking demonstrations and educational seminars with celebrity Chef Aria Kagan.