Local news cameraman David Newcomb and his brother recently put the finishing touches on this breathtaking time lapse HD video of Vancouver. It features the song "Vancouver City" by Linda Vanzini.

Click here to buy a copy from the production team.

It is with great pleasure that we announce the appointment of Mike Macadaan, recently hired as VP of Product at MySpace, to Strutta's advisory board.

MySpace recently added a number of new executives to their roster, foreshadowing big changes to the social network. With Mike Macadaan as the new VP of Product, we expect that those changes will be coming soon, and address one of the community's biggest concerns about MySpace- design.

Meanwhile, we are pleased to have Mike as a member of our advisory board, especially since he is a man of action and change, and not content to be merely the handsome figurehead that he appears to be (in the photo at right). His input will prove valuable while we continue to develop our suite of products.

Macadaan has been familiar with Strutta since our humble beginnings, consulting on our first ever set of wire-frames all the way back in 2007. Back then, his Twiistup events were already the toast of LA, and he was well establishedas an industry player in the realms of design and usability. And he has come a long way since.

From Mike's own bio:

Mike Macadaan has over 10 years of experience leading companies in the context of Product & User Experience Design. His experience spans product and content leadership for companies such as TechTV, Intuit, GO.com and most recently as Vice President of Design at AOL and Vice President Product & Design for Tsavo. Mike has recently joined the all new rockstar team at MySpace as VP of Product. He is also actively involved with the SoCal start-up community as the founder of Twiistup.

We are looking forward to the changes at MySpace under Mike's stewardship. But no one here seems to know whether it was Macadaan's influence that led 50 Cent to get so excited about a photo of our founder, Danny Robinson.

In a brave move that could prove to be a major turning point in big brand marketing, Pepsi has decided against doing a Super Bowl ad in 2010, and investing their $20M or so in social media instead.

Meanwhile, at Strutta HQ, we collectively raise an eyebrow. We used to point to Doritos' crowd-sourcing efforts to produce their Super Bowl spot as the ultimate use of user generated content in advertising. After all, that (now 3 year) campaign was birthed in part by our CEO, Ben Pickering. Now, a huge brand has publicly opted out of the bloated Super Bowl advertising one-uppance pissing contest, and is diverting all (not just some) of the funds they would have spent into connecting with Pepsi drinkers online. It makes you wonder whether the next step will involved abondoning tv ads altogether. Time will tell.

This news came to us in the form of a presser released this morning by our neighbors at Adhack. We also found this interview with a spokesperson for PepsiCo.

“Pepsi’s $20-million commitment to social media instead of its Super Bowl commercial is a substantial shift in where they put their marketing efforts, and a groundbreaking shift in how they can measure their return on investment," said Adhack Founder James Sherrett. "It’s a smart move.”

PepsiCo Spokesperson Nicole Bradley confirms that the soda pop company has given this some thought, and they expect it to be a better investment, long term. "...our beverage brands' marketing strategy in 2010 [is] less about a singular event and more about a movement, said Bradley. "We are always looking to further develop our two-way conversation with consumers."

So what comes next? How should Pepsi divert those funds to get the most out of the web, and best connect with fans of the syrupy, bubbly stuff? If you're asking us, we'd like to see some of that invested in online contests and with the talented creatives that make-up the Adhack community, for starters. Seems to us to be a great way to reflect Pepsi's fanbase, and help to distance them from the Britney Spears/Michael Jackson high budget spectacles of old.

If you want to know more about how to invest in marketing on the web and put online photo and video contests to work for you, contact us. We'd be happy to answer your questions. During office hours (Pacific time) we can be reached at 1-877-477-5717.

Take it from us, photo and video contests have become incredibly popular. At Strutta, we're proud to be responsible for some of the world's finest photo and video contests, and it is interesting for us to see which industries have been among the first to embrace the technology and services we offer.

The tourism industry is one of the first "trends" we've witnessed, with towns, cities, states and even countries employing our platform to promote their homeland.

It's no surprise either, since photos and videos are the best way to promote tourism (it's the closest you can get to actually "being" there). And the viewpoint of the public, through their lenses, is the most powerful and effective marketing message you can send out into the world.

Proving that our platform is flexible and scalable enough to accomodate all types and sizes of clients, we host all manners of tourism contests. Presently, we have the behemoth that is Tourism New Zealand's film competition, which is presently generating about 200,000 video views a day. Readers will also no doubt recall Tourism Queensland's "Best Job in the World" contest, a campaign that got the attention of the entire PR and advertising world last year (not one of ours, we're just fans).

At the local level, both Maple Ridge, BC and the tiny town of Bloomington, TN have used Strutta as well. Maple Ridge hosted photo contests, while Bloomington is looking for original video submissions to go with the new "unofficial" Bloomington song, recorded by Elizabeth Eckert.

The State of Wyoming is using Strutta for two contests consecutively; one for a Wyoming short film contest, and one for the Wyoming Rodeo.

Sunshine Village in Banff is hosting their second contest with Strutta- "Sunshine Village Rockstar" is a chance for bands to compete to be named the official band of the resort for 2010.

And of course, Tourism Vancouver has been hosting a video competition as well. There are still two weeks left to vote in that one, and it has generated some brilliant entries that reflect very well on the city.

For obvious reasons, we encourage other tourism boards to contact us to talk about how we can help with other promotions of this kind. Browse through the examples above, and click through the online tools we offer by clicking the green "Create a Contest Now" button at the top of this page.

As we wave goodbye to 2009, Strutta high-fives 2010 for an awesome start!  While we settle into our new digs, we're already taking on new projects and challenges.  It's been such a busy first week that Ben, our CEO, had to seek refuge in Vegas and help host the "Rat Pack" Penthouse Party at CES this weekend...

We just moved into a beautiful new space in the Flack Block, at the corner of Cambie and Hastings in Gastown.  Instead of looking out to the majestic North Shore mountains, Strutta's HQ now oversees the many interesting exchanges at Victory park (come by and visit us to witness them for yourself, or check out the virutual tour)!  We've got plenty of space to work/play, and are looking to furnish and decorate.  If you've got some cool design ideas or any suggestions as to how to fill our space, let us know.

Our first contest launch of the year is Portuguese! Diário de Notícia's photo contest is fully functional and translated in Portuguese.  In a few short days, this contest has already garnered over 650 great entries.  Is Portugal the home of the most enthusiastic contest participants? Did I just come up with a worldwide Strutta contest idea? Maybe.

Adorama's photo contest that is now live, and open for submissions next week includes a great new Strutta feature, e-mail upload.  This means contest participants simply send their photo to the given e-mail address to have it uploaded to the contest site!

Thanks to everyone who we've had the pleasure of meeting and doing business with so far.  We're looking forward to a successful and innovative 2010!  If you have a great contest idea or feature you'd like to realise, let's talk. Contact us at: info@strutta.com.