Mention espionage and product placement and one name comes to mind: Zero Dark Thirty. Sure, Skyfall's James Bond used a Sony Experia and, in the other 2012 CIA thriller to feature waterboarding, Safe House, the agency man used an iPhone. Yet, in last year's true life tale spygame, the heroes killed Osama Bin Laden with the help of BlackBerry.

It's a placement the brand was involved with. But unlike other product placements—even some inside Zero Dark Thirty—BlackBerry faces a paradox when it comes to capitalizing on its role in Hollywood's definitive account of killing America's most hated enemy.

While there are many obvious details that Zero Dark Thirty suspiciously avoided, such as substituting the fictional Pakistan station chief "Joseph Bradley" for the real life Jonathan Banks, the production is also credited with paying obsessive attention to the smaller details. A precise replica of the bin Laden compound was built for Zero Dark's SEALs to storm. The film's SEALs wore four-prong GPNVG-18s, cutting-edge night-vision goggles favored by current "operators." And then there were the BlackBerry phones.Continue reading...

Brands are invited to the Winter Party Festival in Miami Beach, an annual six-day, 20-event festival fundraiser. Running Feb. 29 to Mar. 5 at venues throughout Miami Beach and Miami, more than 10,000 visitors from around the world are expected.

Produced by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Winter Party already counts major brands as WPF 2012 sponsors. 

Showtime, a longtime supporter of LGBT causes and programming such as Queer as Folk and The L Word, will be promoting Nurse Jackie and The Borgias. Office Depot is underwriting t-shirts and donating office supplies. Coca-Cola's brands and Grey Goose/42 Below vodkas are the official non-alcoholic and spirits sponsors, respectively, while Surfcomber is the festival's host hotel.Continue reading...

Facebook appears ready to go public with $10 billion IPO in early February, despite ire at leak.

Exxon Mobil sells Japanese subsidiary for $4 billion in move to cut refining.

News Corp. reportedly woos Bloomberg exec as Twitter-happy Murdoch sees weekend arrests at The Sun tabloid.

ABB buys Thomas & Betts for $4 billion.

Angry Birds boss doesn't fear piracy.

Apple aims to sell 40 million iPhones in China next year.

Altria sees tobacco users embrace discount brands.

Bank of America shakes up investment banking division.

Barnes & Noble takes on Amazon with fifth Nook device.

Beyonce sees university class focus on her.Continue reading...

AOL reports earnings, says brand has taken a "meaningful" step forward.

Budweiser tops beer advertising effectiveness ranking.

Channel 4 tests interactive advertising.

Comcast and DirecTV spat continues.

Disney theme parks concerns investors.

Facebook and Twitter users rally to clean up U.K. riots.

Fred Perry to release Amy Winehouse's final designs early.Continue reading...

The generational divide is in the Weeds, as digital gamers and baby boomers can now engage via a virtual haze of ganja gone Facebook.

According to a Bloomberg Businessweek report, urban fashion designer Marc Ecko and Lionsgate Films have joined forces for Weeds Social Club, a Facebook social game to coincide with the June 27th return of Lionsgate's hit original series for Showtime, Weeds, which this season brings pot-dealing soccer mom Mary-Louise Parker to the Big Apple.Continue reading...

Web video programmers are getting better at promoting their wares, borrowing a well-worn page from the analog playbook that TV programmers have mastered.

Case in point: Lionsgate and Hudsun Media signed a deal to run Trailer Trash (watch the trailer above) on Hulu, partly because the video portal is mastering the art of scheduling, programming and marketing.

"Crossing your fingers and hoping people will find out about a show isn't really a business model," commented Curt Marvis, Lionsgate president of digital media, to the Wall Street Journal.Continue reading...

Abercrombie & Fitch raises eyebrows with push-up bikinis for girls.

Adidas commits to using sustainable cotton.

Apple begins global sales of iPad 2.

BP pact with Rosneft blocked.

CBS removes Showtime content from Netflix as Starz delays programming.

GE avoided paying taxes in 2010.Continue reading...

Allstate targets college-football road-trippers online.

Boston Market upgrades image.

Conan ratings level off but stay solid.

Dell refocuses brand, stops chasing Apple.

Delta flights suffer mishaps over weekend.

Fox moves American Idol to Wednesday-Thursday slots.

Gap launches in Italy.

GE and IBM lead green social-media efforts.

GM unveils Baojun brand in China.Continue reading...