For all of my rants on the sad state of marketers' desperation, I just ran across some good branding. BMW sponsors TED, the Technology Entertainment and Design conference and they couldn’t be more on code. While “The Ultimate Driving Machine” was a force fit German engineering POV into more "identity" conscious car buyer cultures like the US, this transition into turning their passion for design into sponsoring an innovation centric event and organization is right on the money. I hope more brands see this as a way to bring in positive change to marketplace that needs solutions, NOT more messages. Well done!

On another note, I love this UI prototype. Ted talks rocks! Check out the rest of their site when you get the chance.