Two major marketers known for their traditional approaches to advertising are trying some new tricks, as are their creative and media agencies, which the two companies happen to have in common.

General Electric Company and Pepsi-Cola North America, along with Omnicom agencies BBDO Worldwide, New York (creative) and OMD (media), have been experimenting with new media, reports the New York Times.

Pepsi-Cola North America is launching offbeat, consumer-generated commercials online (staysharp.tv) and on TV for its Mountain Dew MDX soft drink. The clips have appeared on YouTube and use excerpts from popular TV shows, such as Futurama. For the campaign, "the lines between creative and media are blurred," says Bill Bruce, chief creative officer at BBDO New York. "You'll be seeing more and more of this from BBDO."

GE is introducing on Monday its Imagination Theater - four humorous live-action and animated short films promoting the idea that imaginative approaches can solve challenging problems; after running on cable, they'll go online on GE's site (ge.com/imaginationtheater), Google Video, YouTube and MySpace. BBDO and OMD are working with Blitz, the online agency for GE.