US TV Channel Showtime drove awareness, engagement and virality with a widget supporting the launch of "the L word" new season earlier in 2008

http://www.sho.com/site/lword/downloads.do

Columbia Records offers a free widget loaded with songs from their latest published albums (Groove Armada, the Zuttons, Good Charlotte, Incubus, ...) in exchange for basic registration data (name, email, website, age) and an opportunity to opt-in for their newsletter.

a great way of collecting data in exchange for a well-aligned incentive

http://www.columbia.co.uk/mediaplayer/signup/JHFAVPYH16581J9H/

Back in January 2007, Justgiving was probably among the first movers to launch widgets as a way to turn their fundraisers into marketers and drive donations back to their site. Since then they have improved and launched a more interactive version, as seen on the left

From their blog : " Each Widget also has a menu that gives you options of what to display :

The My Charity option displays the Charity name, description and logo - a great way to spread the word about your cause.

Clicking on About Justgiving allows users to create their own fundraising page, search our list of charities and send us widget feedback.

The Share this widget option shows the html code needed to display the widget on any blog or website, enabling people to spread the word quickly and easily.

And the most important thing? The orange donate button, taking anyone who clicks on it through to the fundraising page on Justgiving where they can make a donation."

http://justgiving.typepad.com/charities/2007/07/justgiving-widg.html