Honda's "Innovator Series" attempts to position the automaker with envelope-pushing individuals.

With the Super Bowl over, many auto brands in the U.S. market are picking up in their marketing programs where they left off late last year. And while the eight brands that advertised during the game are all trying to extend those new advertising platforms in various ways (mainly through social media), others are turning — or rather, turning back — to associating themselves with innovation. Nissan, Honda, Ford and Lexus are among those employing the approach.

In fact, a new ranking of innovative companies across all industries, by Boston Consulting Group, gives automakers ten slots in the top 50, the highest total for the car industry since the consultancy began its ranking in 2005. Hyundai is ranked No. 10; Toyota, 11; Ford, 12; Kia, 13; BMW, 14; Nissan, 22; Audi, 25; GM, 29; and Renault, 34. VW dropped to 45th in this survey from 15th overall in 2010, the last time senior executives were polled.

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The London Olympics have been over for nearly a month and most Americans have pretty much forgotten – if they ever even knew – the names of such competitors as wrestler Jacob Varner, diver David Boudis, and boxer Claressa Shields.

Sure, they all won gold medals, but in sports that Americans watch by the millions. Gymnast Gabby Douglas and swimmer Ryan Lochte, who were two of the biggest American brands coming out of the Games, are lucky enough to have selected sports that more U.S. residents care about. So these two, along with the marketing geniuses assigned to them, are doing everything they can to help Americans stick their names into the permanent memory book that already features such folks as Bruce Jenner, Mary Lou Retton, and Eric Heiden.Continue reading...

Ad Age honors China's women to watch.

AT&T faced with technicians' class action suit; promotes anti-texting campaign.

Axe brand releases music track.

Ben & Jerry's gets a boost on Robert Pattinson's The Daily Show segment.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports next-generation toilets.

Condoleeza Rice and Serena Williams endorse new NFL women's clothing line.

Facebook tests promoted newsfeed posts for non-fans.Continue reading...

It’s a wrap for the London 2012 Olympics, and in addition to the new athletic records that were set, fans, brands and athletes interacting together collectively took the gold as the undisputed winner of the first Social Olympics.

From the opening ceremony on July 27th, which generated 9.66 million tweets (and in the next 24 hours more than all those during the entire 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing), a total of more than 150 million tweets were shared during and about the Olympics.

World's Fastest Man™ Usain Bolt was the most talked about athlete, inspiring a blinding fast 80,000 tweets per minute (TPM) during his gold medal-winning 200m sprint and 74,000 TPM during his 100m run, while the Spice Girls reunion at the closing ceremony inspired 116,000 TPM.

Twitter's recap highlights other social highlights of these games including: Michael Phelps and Tom Daley trailing Bolt as the most discussed athletes, and Andy Murray, third-highest at 57,000 TPM after winning the gold medal in men’s tennis singles.Continue reading...

Today's Brandlympics round-up is brought to you by table tennis, the London 2012 Olympics sport celebrated in today's Google homepage logo:

Romneys in Two Horse Races

Most folks around the U.S. didn’t know a smidge about dressage before this year, but now that the wife of an American presidential candidate’s horse is in the event at the Olympics, there are suddenly more than a few people who know a bit about the sport that features horses making different predetermined movements as if they are dancing ballet. And even those who don’t know a thing about it have made it a political symbol, trying to show that the Romneys cannot possibly understand everyday Americans when they are involved in such an upper-crust sport. Satirists such as Stephen Colbert have gone to town with it and it is certainly likely to continue no matter if the horse in question, Rafalca, brings home a medal or not. It is unfortunate timing for Romney, who has stuck his foot in his mouth more than a few times in the past week while trying to establish his street cred as an international statesman. And Romney’s announcement of a vice-presidential candidate could get slightly delayed if his wife’s horse gets into the Olympic dressage final. Then again, if Rafalca wins gold, he may have found his running mate after all.Continue reading...

As a top sponsor of Team USA, AT&T’s "My Journey" campaign highlights the path to the London 2012 Olympics for eight athletes, along with the mobile apps and content that helped get them through rigorous training. Condensed versions of the profiles are now running as commercials during NBC's primetime coverage of the Summer Games across America.

Fans can download each athlete's favorite app, such as gold medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte's favorite SuperMonkey Ball 2, song (Lochte picked "American Star" by Lil Wayne) and an item for a sweepstakes (Lochte signed a skateboard), now through August 14th.Continue reading...

Today's Brandlympics round-up is brought to you by fencing, as celebrated in Google's daily logo salute to the sports of the London 2012 Summer Olympics:

Nike "Greatness" Unchallenged by LOCOG

Nike pushed right up against all the rules that the Olympic organizers have been saying protect its sponsors when it released a tongue-in-cheek campaign last week that featured athletes in London across the globe (except for England) with a British commentator noting that greatness wasn’t just happening at one particular place. It was clearly a sly bit of ambush marketing, tweaking the Games in London (and rival Adidas, the Games' official sponsor) and giving a shout-out to all the average-Joe athletes around the planet, which is amusing since Nike is partially responsible for the insane-celebrity athletic culture we all live in. According to the Guardian, London’s Organizing Committee has said that it won’t attempt to take any legal action against Nike. Why not? Well, the ad campaign technically doesn’t break any rules because it never mentions the Olympics by name and doesn’t suggest that it is a sponsor of the Games in any way. Whatever consumers want to think, well, that is their business. Hello, halo effect.Continue reading...

Procter & Gamble had a good thing going with its mom-focused global campaign heading into the London Summer Olympics, and so like the world-class marketers they are, the company is trying to extend the string of positive impressions throughout the Games.

To that end, P&G CEO Bob McDonald and Global Brand Building Officer Marc Pritchard joined the mothers of several Olympic athletes and other P&G executives to virtually "ring" the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange "remotely" — from the P&G Family Home pavilion in London.Continue reading...