Nintendo's Wii has leapfrogged its competition XBOX & PlayStation with its innovative game play & design. Now, Nintendo has announced Wii Ware, which opens up the gaming system to individual users, indie developers and large companies to create downloadable games & content.

Four smart things about this:

1) Unlike its competitors, Nintendo realizes it can't do it alone and has committed itself to being an open brand for its customers & partners.

2) This opens up the possibilities for other non-gaming brands & marketers to get involved and create all kinds of content for the Wii.

3) Zeus Jones suggests that it could become a place for brands to deliver services like H&M creating outfits for your Mii avatars or Nike creating workouts that use the Wii-motes to track your fitness performance.

4) Unlike the Burger King XBOX games, Wii Ware is wide open to users to create, The community is part of the branding and the experience -- instead of just receiving it one way.

Google partnered with Threadless.org to create an innovative marketing program for Gmail.

Threadless is an online T-shirt store where people (professional illustrators & amateurs alike) submit T-shirt designs that are voted on by the community. Each week, the designs with the most votes get made and sold on the site.

Gmail & Threadless created a contest where people are asked to submit a T-shirt design that is inspired by the theme: "Connect!" The winner receives an iPhone and a free trip on JetBlue. The theme "Connect!" and prizes reflect what Gmail is about and designed to do.

Four smart things about this:

1) Google understood what motivates the Threadless community and matched that up with insights into their own Gmail target -- Consumer & Context.

2) Google went out to where their audience is and involved people with content they helped create.

3) Instead of of marketing to the community, Gmail became part of the community and did not force people to use Gmail logos or corporate branding.

4) The marketing ultimately adds to the experience on Threadless -- it becomes a service with usefulness.