When it comes to headphones, it’s all about whose head they're sitting on. Last summer at the Olympic Games in London, plenty of companies shelled out millions to be official sponsors, but one that didn’t bother was likely the biggest winner. Beats by Dre headphones kept getting airtime on international TV as athlete after athlete seemed to be sporting them.

These days, the business started by one of the world’s most influential—and richest—rappers, Dr. Dre. is commanding top billing among audio equipment providers. Dre is sitting extra pretty after HTC bought a 51 percent stake in the company in 2011 to the tune of a reported $100 million. (HTC later sold back 25 percent to Dre and co-founder Jimmy Iovine for $125 million.)Continue reading...

Beats by Dre launched three new products at its pop-up turned permanent store in NYC's Soho today: the Beats Pill, the Executive headphones and upgraded in-ear headphones called urBeats in the brand's first solo product launches since parting ways with Monster Cable. Musician Trent Reznor is also joining the company as a consultant, while the recently acquired Mog music service is getting closer to launch. More details are here.

It's a well known fact that the brand value of dead celebrities lives far beyond the celebrities themselves. Bob Marley may have died in 1981, but his name has made him immortal, at least in terms of earning power. Elvis continues to have perennial brand presence, getting an extra boost from Graceland's year-long celebration of his life in this, the 35th anniversary of his death.

But this past weekend, a whole new form of dead celebrity worship came to life at the Coachella music festival in California. On Sunday night, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog performed "live" on stage with Tupac Shakur, the rapper who was killed in 1996. Of course, Dre and Snoop performed live; Tupac's performance was a holographic video with updated audio tailored to the crowd. Still, the image was so seemingly alive and so stunning that it may prompt a Tupac tour, according to The Wall Street Journal.Continue reading...

Amazon leads Klout list of most influential retailers.

Avon ousted CEO Andrea Jung's two-year exit deal criticized by former CEOs.

Bank of America settles fair-lending case for record $335 million.

Beats by Dre pumps up headphone sales.

Diddy plans to launch tequila brand.

Facebook tests private messaging between users and brand pages.

FedEx disciplines delivery man who tossed computer monitor.

Frito-Lay sued over "all natural" claims.Continue reading...

This afternoon, if you happened to be wandering in NYC's Soho neighborhood (where the temporary Apple store is located, in fact), you would have caught the opening of the Beats By Dre store.

What's interesting about this opening is that it appears that the only advertising or marketing that was used for this store was by way of pure social media. The special guest at the opening night party? Let's just say we'd be surprised if it didn't turn out to be Dr. Dre himself.Continue reading...

When Game Three of the NBA Finals tips off Sunday, there will be a very small group of fans that will be waiting for one particular commercial.

The ad (watch it below) is for the 2012 Chrysler 300S, a vehicle Motor Trends called “performance-tuned” and “muscle-bound.” But the main attraction of the ad won’t be the vehicle but the man in it: Dr. Dre. Once known as Andre Romelle Young, Dre is one of the most powerful people in the recording industry.Continue reading...

With its Eminem commercial during the Super Bowl for the new 200 sedan, and for the reinvented company, Chrysler brand CMO Olivier Francois put a stake in the ground around a bold new positioning he called “Imported from Detroit.”

It worked. The first of a series of planned new offerings under the Chrysler-brand wing-spread logo, sales of the 200 in April were up 23% over March, and Chrysler reportedly is considering adding a shift at the Michigan plant that assembles the model. Even more important, the Chrysler brand and product line has returned to the national buzz — in a highly positive sense — less than two years after the company took a federal-government bailout and turned itself over to Fiat.

Now, Francois is attempting to move that stake out a bit further with a new campaign for the new 300 sedan that builds on the "Imported from Detroit" positioning.Continue reading...

HP's new global marketing campaign celebrates how people around the world are using HP technology to pursue their personal and professional passions.

The launch of its worldwide "Everybody On"  tagline and branding campaign – "spanning music, fashion, community activism, business and more" – is being executed via an integrated marketing campaign featuring print, broadcast, online and social media.

It's timed to the launch of three new WebOS-enabled mobile devices this week: the Pre3 smartphone, a mini-smart phone called the Veer and its Touchpad tablet. 

The campaign also builds on the brand's “The Computer is Personal Again” campaign, and will be in evidence this weekend as part of its continuing support of the Grammy Awards on Sunday and Grammy-winning artist Alicia Keys.Continue reading...