AB InBev reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice over its disputed $20.1 billion acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which faces inquiry over Mexico worker deaths.

GE to buy Lufkin for $3 billion in oil-and-gas-industry play.

PepsiCo seeks to patent novel high-protein nutrition beverages.

Adidas stops controversial sale of t-shirts around injured Louisville player Kevin Ware.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong to be honored for pro-women Makers series.

Apple's former advisor to Steve Jobs admits brand screwed up iPhone naming system.Continue reading...

Airbus and Boeing aim at each other in advertising spat.

CNN prospects weighed under Jeff Zucker.

Canadian Club launches "Join the Club" red-meat campaign.

Carnival apologizes to gay passengers after forbidding drag dress on cruise.

Chevrolet sees Volt ranked as best-loved car by Consumer Reports.

Costco to spend $3 billion on special dividend ahead of fiscal cliff.

Exxon faces short-term shortage of oil supplies.Continue reading...

Back at the start of the year, when consumers were asked what brands popped to mind when they thought of the Olympics, Nike was the number-one answer. Of course, it didn’t matter that Nike wasn’t actually an official sponsor of the event, but why quibble with such trivial details? In fact, Nike did a good job keeping attention on them during the Games themselves with the brilliant pushing-the-rules ad “Find Your Greatness.”

The point is, brands can shell out truckloads of cash to be involved in and event organizers can employ hundreds of “brand police” to ensure their paid sponsors aren’t getting screwed, but that doesn’t mean that when the Olympics end, people aren’t left saying, “I really should drink Coke more often!” or “Wouldn’t it be great to have a little more Panasonic around the house?”

YouGov BrandIndex, a daily consumer perception research service of brands, insists that only two of the partners for London 2012 “broke through in any significant way in consumer perception while a few had “very modest or no significant movement” or even “went backwards,” according to a company release. Continue reading...

Question: What was the first hotel brand to offer a pool? A restaurant? A lounge? Free ice? A "Kids Stay Free" program? Online booking?

Answer: Holiday Inn.

With the first Holiday Inn opening in 1952, the iconic brand is very much alive 60 years later. Owned by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Holiday Inn has over 1,200 hotels worldwide; it was the first international midscale hotel brand to open in China in 1984.

So how does a 60-year old brand stay relevant? Brandchannel spoke with Jim Anhut, SVP, Americas Brand Management for IHG, who told us about how Holiday Inn made a "tough decision" to relaunch the brand several years ago, which included refurbishing properties and instituting a new brand identity.Continue reading...

While some hotels may be considered trendy, you wouldn't think a major global hotel chain would watch lifestyle trends so carefully that it would launch brands around them.

But InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is different. Back in 2004, IHG introduced Hotel Indigo, widely regarded as the first of the boutique hotel brands that started a trend among large hoteliers. In 2007, IHG started refurbishing its somewhat dowdy Holiday Inn brand and gave franchisees until the end of 2010 to "contemporize" or risk losing rights to use the iconic name. Today, most Holiday Inns have been updated to reflect a whole new look. Holiday Inn Express, which pioneered the limited-service hotel segment in 1990, is one of the fastest growing hotel brands.

Now IHG is bringing a new hotel brand to the chain's biggest U.S. cities, bucking the trend of major chains making investments in Asia and Europe while avoiding a soft and saturated North American market. The just-announced brand, called EVEN Hotels, is all about lifestyle — a healthy one.Continue reading...

Among the Olympics sponsors celebrating the 365-day countdown to the start of the London 2012 summer games, Adidas taped this promo with rapper Snoop Dogg. The spot's description:

Snoop Dogg and Warren G joined British triple jumper Phillips Idowu in a 3 on 3 basketball match against GB basketballers in the Olympic borough of Greenwich, London, to mark the one year to go countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games. Snoop Dogg is all in, Warren G is all in, Idowu is all in. London 2012, adidas is all in.

The London 2012 site is sponsoring a Twitter promotion today, inviting fans from around the world to "fill its stadium" with tweets. According to Marketing Week, 2012 sponsors running "one year to go" promotions in the UK include BP, Lloyds Bank, British Airways and Holiday Inn:Continue reading...

Maria Shriver (who recently hinted she's in transition) and Arnold Schwarzenegger prepare to divorce as he announces movie comeback and their son Patrick responds on Twitter.

Bristol Palin lands reality show on History Channel's BIO cable channel.

Facebook asks to be exempt from US political advertising rules.

Audi launches roadside assistance app.

Australian advertisers face opposition on self-regulation and children's marketing.

BMW launches eBay store in the UK.Continue reading...

As the W Hotel officially opened its first property in London last night with a bash that included a performance by Mick Jones and Roger Daltrey (a pre-opening sneak peek shows its Leicester Square surroundings, above) another trend is sweeping the hotel world.

Rather than opening new properties, major hotel brands are using a new strategy to grow. Squeezed by rising costs and tight credit, they're "reflagging" or rebranding to convert an existing hotel property to be part of a different brand family.Continue reading...