10 highlights of 2013

This year seems to have gone by at lightning speed but nonetheless we saw pretty exciting moves in the marketing realm. Here’s what caught your attention this year:LOOK An entire fake shopping districtChina’s northern city of Shenyang reached a new level of notoriety after a row full of fake retail, banking and lifestyle brands were discovered.Brands get witty with haze situation:While Singapore locals fumed over the haze hanging over the nation, smart brands worked it to their advantage. Here are the top five ads we found interesting.Agencies' worst digital horror stories revealedWe got agencies to speak up on the craziest digital requests they’ve received. And to be fair –  it looks like some of these crazy requests are coming from within agencies themselves!LOOK McDonald’s faces Minion toy rageIn conjunction with the launch of Despicable Me 2 , McDonald’s launched a set of Minions for its Happy Meal Toys. Oh the troubles it faced.LOOK Cadbury enacts flopped proposal for adOuch, rejections can hurt. Especially if it’s a public one. Here’s how Cadbury sweetened the deal.McD Malaysia attempts to clear the air [GALLERY]McDonald’s continues to find itself in a pickle, after having been bombarded with angry Facebook comments by dissatisfied customers.Starbucks gets hard lesson in spellingWhen a customer got her and her sister’s Starbucks cup back from the barista, her name written in the classic black pencil-crayon letters above the brown cup sleeve was slightly askew. Her sister – whose name was Virginia – was named “Vagina”.Crazy women video: GAB denies involvementA video titled “Crazy woman beats up Beer Factory waiter over Guinness” has flooded social media with some netizens asking if it was for real.Samsung restructures, lays off staff In a major restructure under new regional CEO, Samsung let some of its staff go. This included senior marketers. More on the changes here.Poorly planned Carlsberg event bombsCarlsberg’s first-in-Hong Kong “Where’s the Party” event last Saturday hosted by Edison Chen and Kevin Poon’s company, CLOT, was perhaps one of the worst corporate events this journalist went to. Find out why.