NBA star Jason Collins comes out as the first openly gay active male athlete in American sports.

Primark is first retailer involved in Bangladesh factory collapse to offer aid to victims. 

Chrysler earnings plunge on model changes. 

Samsung reveals 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3.

Burger King tweaks menu and message after first-quarter sales decline.

BYD of China plans to sell "made in USA" buses.

Bayer pays $1.1 billion for birth-control company.

Boeing returns Dreamliner to the air but must reassure passengers, as China is deemed likely to approve the plane in May.

Canon crowdsources short films.

Honda scores so far with mid-cycle remake of Civic.Continue reading...

The act of Tebowing, kneeling on one knee and putting one fist to a bent head in the manner of New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow, may be so last year, but the trend is still rolling across the globe. People have Tebowed at the Vatican, on top of the Empire State Building, as David Bowie, in Hong Kong, and even on top of an alligator.

Tebow, who is proud to be an ultra-religious role model, has called the fad “a blessing.” And now it may be a financial blessing as well.  The 25-year-old NFL pro now owns the trademark to Tebowing. So watch out, all you high school and Pop Warner football players. If you choose to Tebow, you could pay the price.Continue reading...

Anheuser-Busch InBev tries to get customers to return to its brands.

Annie's IPO surges.

BMW begins delivering fleet for use in London Summer Olympics.

Bertelsmann considers IPO.

BlackBerry-maker RIM plans to report turnaround progress today.

Bojangles unleashes "Chicken Cops" campaign.

Chevron and Merck disclose funding of attack-ad groups.

Depend campaign features non-incontinent celebrities.Continue reading...

The Twitter trending hashtag #tebowtakesmanhattan is one just one sign that Tim Tebow has arrived in the Big Apple.

The New York Jets held a press conference Monday to "announce" the acquisition of Tim Tebow via a trade with the Denver Broncos, but Tebowmania already has moved far beyond the team's control. Just ask the thousands of motorists who spotted the quarterback's sponsor Jockey's electronic billboard featuring Tebow's image (see above) outside the Lincoln Tunnel, on the New Jersey side, over the weekend. And there's already a new "Jetbow" sandwich at a New York deli.

"We Support Tebow & New York. Jockey" the sign reads. It's supposed to come down by Friday, but Jockey's broadside in support of its highly visible spokesman is only the beginning of the wars over Tebow.Continue reading...

Apple's iPhone beats BlackBerry in its homeland; and could one day be made out of glass and function as a universal remote control.

AT&T sued over alleged deaf calls scam.

Bank of America tests rental program as alternative to foreclosure.

Bit.ly ranks U.S. news outlets.

Credit Suisse cuts CEO's pay 55%.

Dove launches self-esteem campaign in the U.K.

Etch A Sketch owner capitalizes on Romney-spurred attention.

Facebook strips privacy from new user policy, reportedly buys 750 patents from IBM.

FedEx called to task by Obama administration.Continue reading...

Alexander McQueen brand expands to bespoke tailor on London's Savile Row.

American Airlines parent AMR reportedly eyeing bankruptcy court to void union contracts.

Angry Birds Space lands.

Apple antitrust suit would impact Amazon book monopoly.

Associated Press picks CEO successor.

AT&T reinvents the steering wheel.

Benihaha becomes target of takeover bids.

China factory activity shrinks in March.

Datsun revival seen as Nissan strategy not to devalue Infiniti.Continue reading...

What a difference a year — let alone a day — makes in the National Football League.

Last year, the NFL, owners, management and players were just settling in for what promised to be a long-haul labor dispute which essentially kept professional football out of the regular flow of news for months, during the crucial time after the April draft when fan excitement typically builds over prospects for the coming season. Its relevance and even the NFL brand faded for a while.

This year, however, the NFL's off season is pulling a 180-degree turn worthy of the league's nimblest scatback. Today's announcement by Commissioner Roger Goodell of very stiff penalties for head coach Sean Payton and others associated with the New Orleans Saints for their bounty-hunting exploits broke on the same day that the Denver Broncos traded the closely watched Tim Tebow to that media-wallflower team, the New York Jets.

And oh, yes — the signing of Peyton Manning by those same Broncos? That already is so two days ago.Continue reading...

The return to near-normalcy of the National Football League has helped legions of brand marketeers to breathe more easily, and has loosened a logjam of potential deals that were held up as the NFL and its players slogged through resolution of their labor dispute. Presumably, one of those deals now is coming out in the form of the formalization of MetLife's deal to purchase the naming rights for the Meadlowlands Stadium in New Jersey, which shall henceforth be known as MetLife Stadium.

It's a lot better deal for the insurance giant to be spreading its brand all over (and around) the playing field for the New York Giants and New York Jets than to be observing the action from high above in the MetLife blimp, as the company became known for doing. The 25-year deal for the Meadowlands -- the nation's most expensive sports stadium, at a cost of $1.6 billion, and the only one that houses two NFL teams -- gives MetLife interior and exterior branding on the venue as well as naming rights, extra signs and branded features at various spots in the stadium, and of course opportunities in print, TV and other media.Continue reading...