"Unbig. Uncar." That's it? The slogan at the end of the the first-ever national TV spot in the US for the Smart auto brand is a little underwhelming — pardon the pun. The whole point of the ad seems to be that Smart is, well, different — that there's virtue in simply being small while everyone else emphasizes how great it is to be big.

Even so, this is no VW "Think Small." The proposition comes off rather unconvincingly, sort of like those Nissan Leaf commercials that lionize electric vehicles for the simple and unadorned reason that it would be awful if everything in the world ran on gasoline — although at least Leaf hired a winsome polar bear.

Yet the effectiveness of the campaign per se isn't of utmost concern to the brand, which is owned by Daimler AG. Awareness is the whole point of this commercial and another that is to follow it next month. Finally, Smart USA branders hope, Americans will be able to put into a larger and more familiar context those funny-looking, stylish little runabouts they see here and there on our streets and roads.Continue reading...

This story is beginning to look familiar to fans of Smart, the original mainstream mini-car.

A troubled new-age automotive brand is counting on Roger Penske for a rescue after its big corporate owners decide they can’t cover the weaknesses of the marque anymore. Penske is all in. But then he decides to get all out.

Of course, that is the story of the end of the Saturn brand, which Penske Automotive Group looked set to buy from General Motors in 2009 before reversing course and allowing GM to kill Saturn as part of a federally mandated brand house-cleaning that also victimized Pontiac, Saab and Hummer.

Will this kind of brand history be repeated with Smart cars?Continue reading...

YouTube jumped to 3 billion ad-linked views weekly, integrates with LG mobile devices. Online video viewing overall rose 47% in January, with Nielsen naming Netflix #1 for time spent per viewer on its streaming site, up 23% from December to over 11 hours.

Twitter looks to expand language versions.

Chrysler dealers will offer “Imported from Detroit” merchandise related to Eminem's Super Bowl video.

Allstate bets on soccer sponsorship.

Apple audit details changes at Foxconn.

Barnes & Noble woos Amazon affiliates burned by state sales tax.

Berkshire Hathaway pull-out a vote of no-confidence for Bank of America. 

CBS continues to deal with Two and a Half Men mini-drama.Continue reading...

Amazon's competition heats up.

CBS touts upscale viewership early in new U.S. TV season.

EA Sports’ viral campaign features NBA star Steve Nash.

Eebee takes on baby video market.

Gap ditches its classic square logo.

GE is buying Dresser for $3 billion.

Google adds New York state to roster of education partners.Continue reading...

Despite brand's global decline, China celebrates 60 years of Communism. [Reuters]

Kraft, L'Oreal and P&G capitalize on opportunity in China during the economic crisis. [Warc]

Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis will step down by year's end. [Times of London]

Behind the collapsed Penske deal to buy Saturn from GM, who will now shut the brand. [LA Times]

Comcast denies formal deal to buy NBC Universal from GE. [NY Times]

Coca-Cola plans ad campaign to fight "soda tax," obesity epidemic. [Warc]

Global ad market show signs of bottoming out. [NY Times]

(More headlines: Pepsi boosts ad spend, banks agree to bonus rules.)Continue reading...

CNN Money and other outlets are reporting that after Penske Motor's deal to take over the brand fell through, GM has announced it will "wind down" the brand and its 350 dealerships nationwide.

Under the terms of the sale, GM would have continued to produce the popular Outlook, Vue, and Aura models until 2011, after which Penske would have found a new manufacturer. But Penske's negotiations with an unidentified third-party supplier reportedly fell through, leading him to cancel the deal with GM that would have saved 13,000 Saturn jobs.Continue reading...

In a matter of weeks, GM's Saturn brand will be sold to Penske Automotive Group at a firesale price. Introduced in 1985, Saturn was thought to symbolize GM’s bold innovation, but turned out to be a giant money-loser and the “biggest fiasco in automotive history since Ford brought out the Edsel,” according to former GM director Jerome York.

Saturn's woes may have been masked by the industry's generally dismal performance during the current downturn. According to Interbrand's Best Global Brands 2009 report, “the economic crisis made 2008 the automotive industry’s worst year since 1992.” The report lists only one American automobile company in the top 100: Ford at number 49. But even Ford lost a swoon-inducing 11% of its Brand Value, and all automakers but luxury brand Ferrari saw declines.Continue reading...