Oreo, the 100-year-old cookie

It's not a corporate or product anniversary, because that might sound too serious. It's a cookie having a birthday, and we're all invited to the party. Celebrate the kid inside: That's how Nabisco has positioned the 100th anniversary of Oreos. And why not? The birthday Web page features games and invitations to upload your Oreo-eating moments to Oreo's gallery and Facebook page. (Note to Nabisco and its parent company Kraft: Don't hold your breath waiting for my pix.) That's a good variation on the usual About Us page. My preferred activity is to actually eat an Oreo, ideally crumbled onto vanilla ice cream.

In a good piece in The New York Times about Oreo's corporate history, Stuart Elliott observes the following (italics added): "The campaign is indicative of two trends reshaping consumer marketing. One, referred to on Madison Avenue as authenticity, involves responding to a growing interest among consumers seeking value in the provenance of brands as they search for products whose quality has been tested over time. The other trend involves efforts to present those heritage brands in updated ways to reassure consumers they can still meet contemporary needs."