Ai Weiwei's cat gives us a wink, Coca-cola saves the rainforest and Soylent replaces foodThere’s the bizarre, then there’s the bizarre. Often here at Protein HQ we see some questionable products and ideas. A post-apocalyptic fitness app that gets you to run away from zombies? A fashion label branching into electrotherapy headgear? In short there’s a fine line between innovation, genius and down right odd-ball projects. And day to day our team of sharp-eyed editors sort the wheat from the chaff. The fact international superstar artist Ai Weiwei is selling a ‘wink’ from his cat Garfield for a fiver is, technically speaking, ‘wheat’. It shows the Royal Academy has shaken off its dusty reputation, seen the importance of having digital klout and evolved into a forward-thinking institution. More on this in our Museum 2.0 observation. But what’s even more insane, and brilliant, is a campaign to stop Coca-cola advertising for a year. Its global marketing spend is over $3 billion – a sum that the people behind 'Buy the World a Hope' want to go on saving the rainforest. And they’re right, if successful it would actually make for the most compelling brand story ever told. 20 years ago none of these stories would have been possible. But today, thanks to global connectedness and awareness, ideas like these spread like wildfire. Brands like fashion label Patagonia have tuned into this new-age thinking for a while now, and consequently its campaign to remove dams that are proving to be an ecological disaster for the Snake, America’s greatest salmon river, comes across as entirely authentic.One futuristic startup, in particular, is showing the rest how it’s done. Soylent, an outlandish, but extraordinary liquid meal-replacement drink bypassed traditional routes to market. Instead it set up a Kickstarter page, and became the most successful crowd-funded food in history, creating swathes of PR as well as great customer awareness. It also listened to its audience; the latest version of the nutritious mix is vegan and will eventually be sourced entirely from algae (further boosting its green credentials). The takeout? People have the power to make or break a brand. Those that acknowledge that will undoubtedly thrive. Next week take a break and escape with us on Travel WeekRaise a glass to the finest brews as we celebrate International Beer DayJoin us for the electrifying launch of Sonos Studio’s magazine