Depending where you were, you may have celebrated Halloween on Oct. 31st. At Procter & Gamble, they've been celebrating the company's 175th anniversary.

That's right: P&G – mother of such consumer packaged goods icons as Tide, Pampers, and Comet, among others – is now 175 years old, but a look back at the company's history reveals that the whole endeavor might not have started if an errant flame and a rapscallion hadn’t done their dirty work all those years ago — or if an opinionated father and father-in-law hadn't intervened.

Or put another way, Mr. Procter's failures in England led to P&G's global success today — and Procter took a Gamble that paid off.Continue reading...

Old Spice Man is back — this time, it's Terry Crews — in a trio of commercials directed by comic writers Tim Heideker and Eric Wareheim from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! 

Crews video-bombs other P&G brand spots: for Charmin, Bounce and, for fun, a vending machine full of snacks.Continue reading...

Our most-read blog posts of the week include Facebook's Timeline, General Mills Magic Brownie Campaign, The 2014 Super Bowl Logo, and more:

#1 What Was General Mills Smoking to OK Cheech and Chong Magic Brownie Campaign?

#2 Facebook Timeline's New Breed of Apps Lets Brands Get More Social

#3 Baseball Giant Brian Wilson Pitches Virtual VUE

#4 Facebook Unveils Timeline for 'Friction-less' Serendipity

#5 Do African-Americans Need Another African-American TV Channel?

#6 Target x Missoni: The Social Fall-Out

#7 Porsche Runs QR Campaign on Airline Tickets. Will It Fly?

#8 2014 Super Bowl Gets a Frosty Logo

#9 Angry Birds Live: The Legal, and Illegal, Versions

#10 With 'Rioting' at New Hong Kong Store, is Apple's China Strategy Off-Track?

Our most-read blog posts of the past week range from Justin Bieber's Perfume to Lady Gaga's marketing blitz for Born This Way, her new album:

#1 Justin Bieber's New Perfume Gives Back While Taking From Marc Jacobs

#2 U.S. Navy Finally Applies To Trademark "Seals"

#3 Yes, Nike Knows It Just Released The 'Air Croc'

#4 Zombies Ate My Marketing Plan: CDC Stunt Runs Amok

#5 Pepsi's Green Cups Square Off With Coca-Cola's PlantBottles

#6 Ashton Kutcher Gets an A+ for Personal Branding

#7 Brands do the Time Warp (Again)

#8 Thanks to "The King's Speech" Director, Captain Morgan is Now a Gritty Badass

#9 USAA Gets Top Marks for Customer Experience

#10 It's Lady Gaga's World (We Just Live In It)

Walk into a Target store any time through June 10 and you might think you got caught in the spin cycle of a time machine. That's because you'll find the venerable Procter & Gamble brands Tide, Bounce and Downy available on Target's shelves in limited edition retro packaging. 

"Surprising guests with vintage packaging speaks to Target's goal of keeping the weekly shopping trip fun and fresh," says Amy Cantu, a spokesperson for Target.Continue reading...

Perpetually in search of brand innovation since 1883, when it introduced its first major brand, Ivory Soap, Procter & Gamble’s corporate commitment to innovating is articulated in the June issue of Harvard Business Review, where P&G is dubbed the "new growth factory."

The HBR article, "How P&G Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate" (co-authored by P&G CTO Bruce Brown and Innosight managing director Scott Anthony) looks at how digital platforms have filled the branded content hole created by the collapse of TV soap operas, a branding medium that P&G helped invent with Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers.Continue reading...

Angry Birds maker Rovio aims for IPO within 2-3 years.

Arnold Schwarzenegger scandal seen as affecting his political, not entertainment, brand.

Apple and Google askeded to FCC location tracking forum.

Clearwire taps Ericsson to take over network management.

General Mills to buy controlling stake in Yoplait.

Hershey CEO switches to Del Monte.

LinkedIn sets IPO at $45/share for $350 million.Continue reading...

Renault brought its Facebook page to life — and directly to the brand's fans and other car buggs — at AutoRAI 2011, the Netherland’s biggest automotive event. Visitors can ‘Like’ the brand's with an RFID Facebook card.

Renault placed specially made "Facebook pillars" in front of its cars on display. By holding their pass in front of these pillars, a connection was made to users' profiles and the car was automatically "shared" on their wall — sharing their offline car experience with their online friends.

Other fresh twists on branded Facebook marketing below.Continue reading...