China is the second largest economy in the world and every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse)—but who's got the time?! Here's the week's reads that will make you look like a keen China observer in case you find yourself immersed in a cultural conversation.

This week: Cadillac sales... stretching Jag... dim sum Puma... Met ball influence... Porsche... Luxury brands... Jets... Avril Levine's tea... Hyundai pop... Lenovo... Shanghai Disney... Bitcoin... LeTV... Tainted L'Occitane... Pearson Ed... Iron Man badminton... and more.Continue reading...

SAP moves into cloud computing as brand projects $10B boost from banking software.

Coca-Cola plans to invest $2 billion in Florida orange groves.

Disney second quarter soars 32% on theme parks, ESPN ad sales as company withdraws trademark application for Dia de los Muertos.

Alibaba IPO anticipation grows on revenue surge.

American Airlines launches Klout-based promo.

AOL profits boosted by advertising.

AT&T presses case in lower bandwidth spectrum case.

Bitcoin startups begin to attract real cash.

Burger King makes bold move with delivery expansion.Continue reading...

General Motors keeps expanding its investment intentions in China, the world's largest auto market, announcing today that Chinese authorities gave the company permission to build a $1.3 billion plant to make Cadillacs, which so far have held a paltry share of the Chinese luxury-auto market as the brand struggles to latch on to local culture.

But in going bigger and bolder in China than, arguably, any other automaker, is GM forsaking the American taxpayer and the US market that is its home? As GM continues to announce new ambitions for China, a mini-media tempest has broken out around the issue.

There's no doubting GM's intentions. Last year, Cadillac sold just 30,000 vehicles in China, but GM said in January that it aims to increase Cadillac sales in the country to 100,000 a year by 2016 and to cop 10 percent of the Chinese luxury market by 2020. One prong of its strategy will be to target affluent buyers in smaller cities that heretofore have been relatively unimportant outposts for premium-car brands. The competition—chiefly the German luxury brands—keep getting hit regularly with GM news like this.Continue reading...

Adobe abandons boxed software for the cloud.

Samsung keeps hammering Apple in new ad strategy for Galaxy S4.

Tim Tebow tops Forbes' new list of most influential athletes.

Acer plans to launch windows tablet in June.

Aereo asks judge to prevent new lawsuits by CBS.

Audi considers building plant in Brazil but seeks clarity from government.

Disney plans new Star Wars games through Electronic Arts.

Estee Lauder sets sights on big September fragrance launch.

Facebook made the Fortune 500 list for the first time.Continue reading...

China is the second largest economy in the world and every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse)—but who's got the time?! Here's the week's reads that will make you look like a keen China observer in case you find yourself immersed in a cultural conversation.

This week: Iron Man 3 inaccuracies... BMW... Casino frugality... Wanglaoji trademarks... Heinz baby food... Hugo Boss mini-movies... Sunning manga... China's first lady for Pehchaolin... Ashley Furniture... L’Oreal... Ad spends... Iron Man 3 product placement... and more.Continue reading...

With their racing heritage and ongoing participation in the sport, Mercedes-Benz and BMW know something about keeping close competitors in their rear-view mirrors. That's why it may take more than a new branding campaign for Lexus—which also races—to take back its US luxury-market leadership from its German rivals this year.

BMW took the American luxury-segment crown away from Lexus in 2011, when the Toyota-owned brand was dealing with short supplies after the earthquake and tsunmi in Japan, and the German brand has held on to it for the last two years. There's been a lot of speculation that Lexus might be able to regain the No. 1 spot in the segment this year because its supply situation is now fully resolved, and it's got some new products.

But that isn't happening—at least not yet. And actually, in April, Mercedes-Benz strengthened its 2013 lead over BMW in the segment, having finished in second place behind BMW for each of the last two full years. In April, the Mercedes brand widened its sales lead to nearly 4,700 vehicles for the year to date over BMW, with nearly 93,000 sold to BMW's more than 88,000.Continue reading...

"Cadillac could turn to a Chinese partner, like Xu Zheng, director and star of last year's mega-hit film Lost in Thailand. A risk taker, a self made superstar, Xu would be a perfect, fresh face for Cadillac in China."

brandchannel said that more than two months ago after Cadillac rolled out a new China campaign with Brad Pitt as its face. Well, over the weekend, Cadillac opened its showing at the Shanghai Auto Show and Brad Pitt was not there for it. But Xu Zheng was.

At an event on April 20 to kick off its XTS display at the Shanghai Auto Show, Cadillac welcomed special new "honorary owner" Xu Zheng. In a statement on Cadillac's China site, the brand connected itself to Xu through shared innovation, calling the actor-director "the most innovative power in China's film industry" and a "good example" of the shared values of Cadillac. Caddy's Weibo account was quick to whip up a Cadillac-branded image of Xu.Continue reading...

Netflix reports strong subscriber growth.

Amazon may be planning to open a store in London, reports say.

Ford is reaching record profit on growing sales of Fusion, as company extends programmatic ad buying to online video.

Twitter reportedly reaches deal with Publicis' Starcom MediaVest Group for hundreds of millions over several years.

Airbus strategy for big A350 is being vindicated.

Apple grapples with hardware-software identity crisis.

Burger King tests delivery in Los Angeles.

Cadillac eyes smaller cities for Chinese luxury share.

Del Taco debuts revamped menu.

DuPont more than doubles profit.

Fisker loses $21 million to US seizure.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt belittles importance of UK taxes.Continue reading...