Tipp-Ex has become the darling of the tech press after launching a viral interactive video that’s racked up millions of YouTube views since its launch two weeks ago. Not bad for a decidedly low-tech brand. But how does it stand up to some of the most successful virals we’ve seen lately. Can it outdo the Roger Federer Gillette video from earlier this summer, for example? The results may surprise you.

The video, which allows viewers to change the hunter-vs-bear story by “Tipp-Exing” its headline, has racked up 4.7 million views – 4 million of those in the last week. Its YouTube channel has 13,600 subscribers, and the company has set up a Facebook page called “Hunter VS Bear“, which now has 222 fans showing their support in a variety of European languages (as seen in the screenshot below).

For comparison, we put it up against Gillette’s viral video of Roger Federer’s trick shot. It now has 6.6 million views, but only one week after its release it was at 4.5 million views, neck and neck with Tipp-Ex today. Moreover, the Gillette video utilized the fame of a international tennis star, while Tipp-Ex has gained similar numbers by putting the fate of a no-name hunter into the hands of the viewers.

Once again, YouTube shows you don’t need to be a celebrity product endorser to get big results.

The Coca-Cola Happiness Machines are multiplying, even in a place where there’s little mirth today: London. That’s right, Coke has taken its viral YouTube video sensation to the other side of the pond, setting up its wondrous vending machine to a university campus in London with some predictably sweet results.

The first Coke Happiness Machine, as you may recall, was set up in the cafeteria of a US college campus earlier this year, and its corresponding video racked up over 2.6 million views on YouTube. The video, which shows a generous soda machine giving free Cokes (and munchies) to students, was seen as an attempt to trump Pepsi’s eco-friendly Dream Machine online.

The new one in London is a virtual copy. The machine generates smiles and approving laughter as it hands out (literally) free drinks, cake, even a Twister game. Check out the video here:

The battle between Coke and Pepsi to out-do-good the other is picking up momentum now here in Europe. Pepsi, for example, has recently exported The Refresh Project to Italy, asking young Italians to get involved in the virtuous crowdsourcing campaign to inspire others to build community spirit and affect change in their villages, cities and towns. Che gusto!

In the economic downturn, companies are doing everything possible to simultaneously cut costs and build a loyal customer base around their brands. The automotive sector has led the way in this, as it was forced to overcome the the two-pronged assault of a struggling economy and ongoing pressure from the eco-lobby. As we reported last month, electronic car companies like Tesla Motors are taking brand building to social networks to help build grassroots excitement around the new technology, and Ford ditched the traditional closed-door auto show for the release of the 2011 Explorer, which proved to be good for customer reach and cutting costs.

Now the latest report by Social Media Examiner’s Casey Hibbard shows how Cisco Systems is leaving behind traditional forms of customer outreach for an integrated and more personal social media strategy. It has effectively launched products exclusively through its impressive arsenal of social media channels – including a music festival product launch on Second Life – which drew 90% more impressions at only a fraction of the cost of a traditional media approach. And it has connected its executives directly to its customers through video conferencing and YouTube video CEO announcements. Consider it a case study on a huge company embracing the little guys through social business design.

Gillette has pulled a page from the Nike social media playbook with a super viral video on YouTube featuring tennis star Roger Federer, a Gillette product endorser. The video, which features Federer performing an amazing William Tell-like feat with a tennis ball, has gained over 4.5 million views since last week. Could this sport-stunt tactic become something for the marketing textbooks?

It’s certainly effective, as seen with the video’s viral status. The video, which appears to be taken by a behind-the-scenes camera, shows Federer hitting a water bottle off the head of an employee on the set of a Gillette commercial filming set twice in a row. General discussion online has been buzzing since the video was released on August 16, as seen on the graph bellow.

One of the major reasons for its popularity is the high level of controversy surrounding the truthfulness of the stunt. It does, in fact, almost seem too good to be true. Whether it’s real or not, Gillette has been quick to capitalize on the publicity it’s causing by stirring up discussion on its Facebook page.

As you may recall, this same type of social media stunt was performed by Nike back in 2006 with the Ronaldinho Crossbar Challenge, which featured the soccer star putting on a new pair of Nike football shoes and sniper-shooting the ball off the crossbar several times. For 2006, it was extremely viral with millions of views.

So, is it real? You be the judge.

Philips head of global internal comms, Cameron Batten, spoke to Simply-communicate recently about a new internal communications channel the consumer electronics powerhouse has implemented to bring its disparate and nearby employees together to collaborate, inspire and promote knowledge sharing. In the 3-minute video tour below, Batten describes the interface elegantly as Facebook lite, a “great way to give your organization the provision to see what’s going on in the outside world and connect it.” The results are impressive.

B2C social media initiatives get most of the attention, but that’s not to say there’s nothing innovative or interesting coming out of the B2B sector. In fact, business-to-business marketers are showing their savvy these days, even out-socializing most B2C players, as London-based Earnest Agency details. Check out their insightful (and jazzy) video here on what’s new in the social media B2B sector:

As far as social media integration on the enterprise level goes, these are early days. Scratch that. These are “scary”, early days for corporate executives, says digital pioneer Jeff Dachis, the founder in the 1990s of Razorfish, and now, the Dachis Group. Companies are still in the trial-and-error mode in terms of using the latest social media innovations and technologies to engage with customers and employees. Why the hesitancy?

Because social media integration involves more than getting sign-off from the marketing department. It involves top-to-bottom corporate cultural change and a profound shift in business processes and, yes, the organizational structure. Dachis and Dell’s Adam Brown spoke with us on the sidelines of Social Media Influence 2010 about what to expect from the business leaders of tomorrow about how they will tackle social media integration. Hint: it may involve a whole new generation of corporate leaders.

To view all the SMI video panels and keynotes, and for downloadable versions of the presentations check out our Social Media Influence 2010 page.

Not long ago we posted here the full video of B. Bonin Bough’s SMI keynote presentation where he detailed how PepsiCo had built an organization-wide social media structure and the profound impact it’s already having on the company’s day-to-day operations. But how do you implement such a strategy? Here’s PepsiCo’s head of social media explaining in a follow-up video interview with us the key: getting buy-in from the highest level of the organization. “That’s the win,” he says. And here’s what it means:

Reuters’ Leslie Gevirtz kicked up a bit of a fuss earlier this week when she reported how French winemakers are still a bit too snobby when it comes to social media marketing, particularly when compared to more net-savvy New World producers. She based some of her reportage on a recent study conducted by My Social Winery that detailed just how anti-social French winemakers are. The results may surprise you.For example, while 95% of French winemakers export their wines, the vast majority do not have a blog, Facebook or Twitter presence, and 37% have yet to translate their site into English. I’d be willing to bet Italian wineries aren’t much better. Grumble, grumble.

If you want to see the cutting edge of digital/social media marketing of wines, you have to travel to Napa Valley. Rick Bakas, director of social media marketing at Napa’s St. Supery winery, recently shared (video below) with a congregation of French winemakers a series of successful tips on using social media to boost sales, and, more importantly, build customer loyalty and grow profit margins. According to Bakas, margins this year are up 130% and they’ve managed to reduce churn for the St. Supery wine club from 7% a year ago to a 1% attrition rate today. How important is that? Bakas says an incredible 90% of margins come from the wine club. Gulp!

The video (again thanks to My Social Winery) reveals a host of important tips on using social media to build a loyal and engaged audience, regardless of the industry.

Video conference with Rick Bakas about wine and social media from Pierrick Bouquet on Vimeo.

Creativity can be a powerful force, particularly in the world of cause-related marketing. But can so-called “good creative” motivate us to change our rigid ways? What if it’s to make the world a better place? Andy Hobsbawm, founder of Do The Green Thing, thinks so. I had the chance to speak to Andy on the sidelines of our Social Media Influence conference (yes, we’ve been promising the publication of this video for some time now; we posted his presentation here a few weeks ago) to ask him about the role of social media in helping companies involve the public in their corporate social responsibility (or, CSR) efforts. Here’s what he had to say: