Today in This Is Actually Kind of Cool News: Disney‘s latest film, Wreck-It-Ralph, takes place in a time when video game graphics weren’t quite so hyper-realistic. Those with a fondness for the pixelated, two-dimensional days of “Super Mario Brothers” and “The Legend of Zelda” will love the company’s latest PR stunt:

In order to promote the film, Disney enlisted artist Aden Hynes and creatives at London’s Truman Brewery to turn the town’s “infamous” Brick Lane into “8-Bit Lane” by filling the block with old-school Nintendo-style reproductions of everyday objects like clouds, pigeons and taxi cabs.

The company then promoted its efforts with a hashtag push and a free public tour of the block. Video after the jump.

Read more

Today in Been There, Done That Media News: Walt Disney Co., fresh off its efforts to turn the once-stellar Pixar into a mediocre sequel factory, has announced plans to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. for a cool $4 billion, thereby taking ownership of the series that defined the childhood of every American born between…oh, who are we kidding? Every kid around the world loves the (original) “Star Wars” trilogy. We’ll just avoid mentioning episodes 1 through 3 (along with certain parts of “Return of the Jedi”), because we’d rather not get our blood pressure up this late in the afternoon.

Anyway: Get ready for more “Star Wars” rides at DisneyWorld!

The worst part of this announcement? ”Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future”–and George Lucas will serve as “creative consultant” on this monster of a vanity project.

Serious question: Did anyone anywhere in the world ask for another “Star Wars” movie? Or is George Lucas just making one last attempt to revive the embarrassing husk of what was once a promising career?

We leave you with the only appropriate response to this announcement:

W magazine has named its first-ever executive director of creative services and marketing, Ed Romaine, starting August 16. He was previously the director of integrated marketing at Elle. [via FishbowlNY]

MWW Group (which has been doing a lot of hiring lately) has brought on Traci Carpenter as its director of speechwriting and content, a new position. Carpenter has previously served as senior speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, the William J. Clinton Foundation, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Kathryn Kranhold has joined the Walt Disney Co. as SVP of corp comms. She was previously at Brunswick Group working with clients on crisis, litigation, and financial issues and was once a reporter at the Wall Street Journal. She’s reporting to Zenia Mucha, Disney’s EVP of corporate communications. [via Variety]

Read more

The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and Reputation Institute (there’s a whole center for CSR!) has released the 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Index, a report it has put out for three years. Johnson & Johnson tops the list followed by The Walt Disney Company and Kraft Foods respectively. For the entire top ten, click here.

The index is based on a survey of 7,790 consumers, who are asked about how the companies treat its stakeholders, including employees and the global community. The study also found that a good reputation for CSR also impacts a company’s reputation in areas like citizenship and governance. Financial services companies were at the bottom of the list.

Studies show that millennials are seeking out jobs and careers that have meaning attached to them. And, judging by some of the workshops at the PRSA conference this week – there were two discussions about cause marketing one day, both with packed audiences – CSR is still important to many organizations. Effectively implementing socially responsible programs is still a work in progress for many.