CytoSport, the maker of sports drink Muscle Milk, is conducting a viral video campaign for Thanksgiving. The effort, which launched November 19, features a comical viral video in which a partying pilgrim sings about flirting his way to the New World. The spot is running on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and at www.sexypilgrim.com.

Adknowledge, an independently owned ad network, has acquired the advertising business of SocialMedia.com. Financial terms of the deal, announced this week, were not disclosed. The acquisition strengthens Adknowledge's position in targeting publishers and advertisers in the social apps and social games space. Adknowledge partners with more than 2,000 publishers and developers and has made four acquisitions in the social media space in the past two years.

Visitors spend nearly twice as much time, an average of 60 seconds, hovering over rich media ads with video than rich media ads without video — which get an average of 30 seconds — according to a recent study conducted by Eyeblaster. The online advertising company analyzed more than 100 billion impressions from about 30,000 campaigns worldwide between the fourth quarter of 2008 through the third quarter of this year.

Coca-Cola will run a social media campaign in which three brand ambassadors will spend next year traveling the world and documenting their trip on the Web. Armed with a blog and a video camera, the group's steps will be tracked on Expedition206.com, where fans can follow the journey and find out more information about the ambassadors and their efforts.

Israel-based aesthetic device manufacturer Home Skinovations is running an integrated DRTV and Web campaign for its Silk'n SensEpil product, an at-home hair-removal device. The ads drive viewers to www.Silkn.com and the company's 1-877-DO-SILKN toll-free number. Tom Goslau, VP of marketing and business development for Home Skinovations, described the ads as "brand-response television."

Trying to reposition its products' brand image from old and expensive to young and affordable, the Bordeaux wine region of France is running a campaign called "Life Goes Better with Bordeaux." The effort incorporates an interactive Web site, display ads and social media along with in-store and event marketing to acquire younger customers.

Guitar Center has revamped its online wish list feature to allow musicians to personalize and share their lists of desired gifts for this holiday shopping season. Musicians can create an online "wish list poster" and personalize it based on their favorite music genres.

Companies of all sizes and across all industries are investing in video cameras and editing tools, making videos and posting them on the Web. What many of them don't realize is that putting video on the Internet without tracking its effectiveness is tantamount to hiring a new sales rep, training her, giving her a customer route and then never checking in with her.

Bid management software-maker SearchForce has launched its "Cross-Channel Marketing Tracker" platform, a tool that agencies and brands can use to monitor online campaigns and conversions across numerous media. Search marketing agency Prime Visibility has signed on to use the tool.

Animal rights group ASPCA has added more than 1,000 e-mail addresses to its database since launching a lead-generation effort earlier this month. Lead-generation firm Pontiflex is executing the campaign pro-bono, after deciding to work on it instead of giving away free items at the Ad:Tech New York conference.