Google confirmed speculation that it would launch a music service at its annual I/O developer conference Wednesday. The internet giant announced Google Play Music All Access, a subscription-based service that is a little bit of Spotify, Pandora and Twitter #Music all in one. Apparently, the internet behemoth's announcements went over well with Wall Street, as Google's shares closed at a record high of $900, putting the company's market cap over $300 billion. 

Unlike Google Music, its cloud music service that lets users upload up to 20,000 purchased songs to listen to on Android devices or on the web, the Google Play Music All Access subscription service launches it into direct competition with music streaming services like Spotify—which has 24 million active monthly users, 6 million paying subscribers and more than 20 million licensed songs in 28 countries—as well as Pandora. Though unlike either of the other services, Google's All Access won't have a free option. The service, which will be available across the web, mobile and tablets will cost $9.99 per month after a 30-day free trial. 

“It makes lots of sense for both YouTube and Play, which was built for Google’s Android devices, to sell music subscriptions,” notes AllThingsD. “YouTube is the world’s biggest free music service, which could make it a fantastic funnel for a Spotify-like paid offering, which can also help solve some problems with the music labels."Continue reading...

Coca-Cola promises to reduce marketing to kids as part of global anti-obesity commitment.

Levi Strauss buys naming rights to planned new stadium of San Francisco 49ers.

Lay's reveals chip-flavor contest winner.

Abercrombie & Fitch draws fire for stocking only "skinny" sizes for women.

Activision Blizzard warns "World of Warcraft" is losing subscribers.

AT&T severely slashes Facebook Home phone prices.

BT enters British-sports broadcasting.

Claire's IPO will test market for debt-laden companies.

Ford takes over as title sponsor of Detroit's annual fireworks.

Google Maps will reportedly unveil new interface.Continue reading...

Happy April Fool's Day! If you thought your favorite brands were too serious and focused on great products and innovation to have a laugh or two, think again. Here's a roundup of some social media jokes from YouTube, Honda, Twitter and even the little town of Ely, Minn. 

Be honest: did you fall for any of them?Continue reading...

A good marketer never misses an opportunity to spread the word, right? Well, a  public relations consulting firm in Austin, Texas, Phillips & Company, has found a way to place ads in a spot where lots of people are traveling every day: Google Maps and Google Earth.

San Francisco Business Times reports that Phillips (which is interested in the ultimate in outdoor marketing — the "space economy") is now able to place extremely large QR codes on the tops of buildings that will be photographed by the satellites that feed Google Maps and Google Earth its images and read on computers as an image. It's working with another local business, mobile marketing firm 44Doors, as the Austin Statesman reports:

For the service, which is called Blue Marble, Phillips' fee starts at $8,500, with a recurring $200 support fee. To install the codes, (Rich) Phillips said his company has a method of "physically engineering" a QR code onto a rooftop "to ensure it's permanent or temporary." He declined to get into specifics on the exact method. After a customer scans the code, 44Doors essentially handles the rest. The Austin mobile marketing company designs a variety of content — such as videos, coupons and mobile websites — where QR codes can send consumers.

Phillips says “that a company, such as a big box retailer with lots of roof space, which has one installed, will be rephotographed by Google within three months,” the Business Times reports. “The QR code will be digested by Google’s mapping systems and will cause a logo of that company to appear when someone looks at their building’s images.” 

The sleeper hit of the summer, The Help, does not have much by way of product placement. But what it does have, it works, weaving various iconic products from the 1960s into the plot about the struggles of black maids in white households during the turbulent Civil Rights era Mississippi.

Cadillac, Corvettes and Coca-Cola: is there a trifecta of brands more emblematic of America's era of the economic ascension? Coke probably scores the best placement of the film in both prominence and role, as two cold bottles are shared by characters during a heartwarming moment of racial transcendency. In the book, Coca-Cola plays an even more important role, as one maid gets one for her employer to calm her after a miscarriage.Continue reading...

Subway passes McDonald's as the world's largest restaurant chain.

Morgan Stanley may drop "Smith Barney" name.

YouTube acquires web video creators NextNewNetworks, making Google "officially" a media company.

AOL shares sink as Huffington Post deal closes.

Ben Affleck teams with Cindy McCain to raise awareness about the Congo.

Bing speeds up search results to keep pace with Google.Continue reading...

M&M is going interactive up north. The candy brand looks to leverage popular social media with its “Find Red” campaign in Canada, which challenges consumers to go scavenger hunting in a virtual Toronto for M&M “spokescandy” character Red.

The campaign invites participants to use a version of Google Maps Street View to look for three virtual Toronto locations where Red is hidden. Clues are given out on the campaign’s dedicated hub, in a video on YouTube, the brand’s new Canada Facebook page, Twitter, Foursquare, stickybits and on downtown Toronto posters whose bar codes can be scanned to reveal clues. For every 30 virtual kilometers each participant covers on the digital map, a new clue is given to find Red at the location closest at the time.Continue reading...

If you or someone you know is one of the estimated 25.2 million adult Americans who "have trouble" seeing, even with glasses or contact lenses, or are blind or unable to see at all, technology has leaped forward with a visionary app for you. And the branding industry – from makers of digital devices to design and packaging experts – may also be seeing the light as apps are changing the way people shop.

LookTel is an app for the visually impaired and the blind. Combining “artificial vision” software and Smartphone technology, LookTel can scan and identify objects as varied as medicine bottles, money, physical locations, DVD’s and packaged goods. The user points the hand-held device’s camera at an object or place and the response is an audio prompt in common speech.Continue reading...