Head & Shoulders is... head and shoulders above the competition in its latest “Season of the Whiff” campaign breaking April 1, selling flake-free hair with a sweet but manly scent.

The Procter & Gamble brand, along with "Mane Man" Angels of Anaheim pitcher C.J. Wilson and his teammate Josh Hamilton, are challenging men “to take a whiff of what a double dose of confidence smells like” for the launch of new Head & Shoulders with Old Spice—the official shampoo of Major League Baseball for the past three years.Continue reading...

Subway named top QSR brand in new study. 

Google tests same-day delivery business.

Amazon plans to acquire Goodreads book site.

AOL teams up with coach Phil Jackson to punk Twitter.

Apple faces heightened oversight in China.

Audi aims at Mercedes-Benz CLA with new A3 sedan.

Deutsche Telekom runs into opposition over proposed merger of T-Mobile with MetroPCS.

eBay says it is "now playing offense."

FX pitches new FXX channel at Millennials.Continue reading...

It was embattled Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald's turn today to describe what he sees taking place at the CPG behemoth now and in the future, as he assured shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Cincinnati that "we're confident we're doing what's right and necessary to achieve [our] objectives, now and for the long-term health of our business."

McDonald pledged that P&G is focusing on the company's 40 largest businesses, 20 top innovations and 10 most important developing markets as well as its $10-billion productivity program to drive future growth. "Our plan," he stated in a press release after the meeting, "is decisive, simple and focused. Grow our core and win with innovation fueled by productivity."

The CPG executive has been taking more heat than any other recent P&G CEO because the company lately has stumbled in meeting its growth objectives, has been shown up by competitors, and seems to have fallen off in innovation compared with a few years ago, when an emphasis on new products, new features, line extensions and new brands was propelling Procter & Gamble to record growth.Continue reading...

This will be the most broadcasted, most publicized, most branded, and most ballyhooed Olympics ever. Just when you don’t think stakes can go higher, they somehow suddenly do.

Athletes Must Now Stop Promoting Themselves

Wednesday marks the day when all self-promotion by Olympic athletes has been ordered to stop. No more gear sold with their names on it. No more ads featuring their faces to run — unless of course it is for a brand that has paid out the big bucks to officially align itself with the Games. The moratorium will last till Aug. 15, three days after the end of the Games. As NPR points out, "To understand what this means, consider Michael Phelps: Subway has long sponsored the Olympic swimmer, but it's not an Olympic sponsor. That means no Subway ads featuring Phelps can air between July 18 and Aug. 15. But this Head & Shoulders commercial of Phelps washing his hair is fine — Head & Shoulders is owned by Procter & Gamble, which is an Olympic sponsor." Blame the IOC and London 2012 organizing committee's drive to protect official sponsors from non-sponsors piggybacking on their efforts. “Ambush marketing seems to be an issue that continues to rear its head in every Games,” said Lisa Baird, the USOC’s chief marketing officer, according to the Washington Post. “There are ambush marketers out there that want to imply an association with the Olympics. They’ll take terminology; imagery, and they will get very close or crossing the line to really imply that they are a sponsor. That hurts us.” That hurts all of us, Lisa.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...

American Airlines cuts flights, says not related to bankrupcy filing.

Avon looks to a new CEO to reinvigorate culture.

Chevron and Transocean encounter government suit over oil spill in Brazil.

Clint Eastwood signs on for E! reality show with his family.

Facebook tests coupon ads; embraces clean power following Greenpeace pressure.

First Solar scales back as demand for solar panels slumps.

Ford promises its new hybrids will leap ahead of Prius in fuel efficiency.

Groupon gets faint IPO support from its underwriters.Continue reading...

Wikileaks spoofed Mastercard's "Priceless" campaign this week. Watch the spot below, along with new perfume commercials featuring Scarlett Johansson and Christina Aguilera, plus place branding with a twist and more.Continue reading...

The Old Spice Guy isn't quite dead and buried yet. He made a new appearance today, of sorts — at the annual meeting of Procter & Gamble, where he was praised by company executives for helping boost fiscal-year growth.

The Old Spice Guy campaign, starring ex-footballer and rising actor Isaiah Mustafa, was cited by P&G in video vignettes (including the one above) that were played at the meeting in Cincinnati as a marketing coup that boosted interest in the brand, and sales, that contributed to organic growth of 4 percent and core profits of 8 percent for P&G during its fiscal year ended June 30.

"It's good but not yet great," P&G CEO Bob McDonald said about the company's financial results overall, according to the Business Courier Serving Greater Cincinnati. "We don't settle for 'good' in this company." Indeed. P&G didn't get to become the world's presiding CPG giant by settling for anything.Continue reading...