Ambush marketing tends to pop-up in the most high-profile circumstances, and for Samsung, March 14 is D-day. While the mobile brand is busy heavily promoting its Galaxy S4 launch, it's obvious that competitors weren't going to sit on the sidelines and let Samsung have all the fun. 

LG took a swipe at Samsung in New York City’s Times Square, unveiling a massive billboard that directly rips off the Galaxy S4 ad. Not only does LG use a key element of Samsung’s design, but its sign is larger than Samsung’s and hangs just above it, neatly overshadowing Samsung's biggest announcement of 2013.

The billboard’s text also mirrors Samsung’s—which is set to unveil the Galaxy S4 Thursday in New York—reading, "LG Optimus G is here 4 you now" in a reference to the S4—while just underneath, Samsung's sign reads, "Be ready 4 the next Galaxy." The obvious implication is that you need to wait for the next Galaxy while the LG Optimus G is ready for the consumer right now.Continue reading...

Kia names first non-Korean as president and integrates Google Maps.

Avis to acquires Zipcar brand for $500 million.

Nivea woos investors as CEO admits Rihanna was the wrong brand ambassador and brand returns to NYC's Times Square as New Year's Eve event sponsor.

Amazon apologizes for Christmas Eve outage.

American Girl's 2013 Girl of the Year doll addresses U.S. arts education cuts.

Apple sees its store in Paris robbed.

BBC Worldwide appoints chief brands officer.Continue reading...

Earlier in the year, it appeared as through Chrysler might be abandoning its "Imported From Detroit" tagline. At least — in the wake of the controversial Clint Eastwood commercial during the 2012 Super Bowl, "It's Halftime in America," and with a spate of new TV advertising that didn't mention the Motor City — it seemed that way for a while.

But Chrysler's Motown sensibilities have returned through the course of 2012, and now they're back bigger than ever. First the gospel choir that co-starred with Eminem's iconic 2011 Super Bowl commercial for the auto brand popped up in Chrysler's current holiday campaign. And now, Chrysler is coming back with the ultimate tribute to its Motown home: a new campaign starring Berry Gordy.

In a new 60-second commercial titled "Who We Are," Chrysler showcases the new 2013 Chrysler Motown Edition by featuring the legendary Motown founder. As promised back in October, Gordy takes us through his humble beginnings in Detroit and ultimately to New York's Times Square and the home of the new Broadway show, Motown: The Musical.Continue reading...

What becomes an auto brand most? A reputation for speed and responsiveness certainly helps, and sometimes, a celebrity endorsement or two. And now, in the case of Mazda, perhaps even a move upscale.

Mazda executives in Japan and the United States want to convert the brand's small sliver of global sales, less than 2 percent of the industry, into a premium slice instead of simply a share of the mainstream. They also want to bump up U.S. sales to around 400,000 from a typical annual total of about 300,000.

"If we make ordinary products for the mass market, there would be no reason for us to exist," CEO Takashi Yamanouchi told Automotive News. Of course, the challenges in breaking into the near-luxury segment of any developed market are legion.Continue reading...

"Hipster Disney Princess: The Musical" has been going viral on social media and YouTube since it was posted on Oct. 1. Shot in Times Square (a la Enchanted) and dropping Urban Outfitters, Kombucha tea, Starbucks and Twitter references, the musical-a-week wags at AVByte present a quartet of geek-framed, F-bomb dropping, post-Disney princesses just in time for Halloween. Starring: Elizabeth Oldak (Belle), Tiger Darrow (Snow White), Molly Gallagher (Ariel) and Tanja Nagler (Cinderella).

The Oreo Daily Twist campaign is fulfilling the brand's mission to help people celebrate the kid inside us all and since June, has been offering a new visually punning "ad" each day to the more than 27.9 million people who “like” Oreo on Facebook or check in on Oreo.com, Pinterest or Twitter. 

The tongue-in-cheek graphics, ideal for pinning, sharing and tweeting, riff on topics in the news and pop culture, ranging from the iPhone 5, Emmy Awards, and Mars Rover to rainbow-striped gay pride, Psy's Gangnam Style phenom and the just-resolved NFL substitute referees blow-up.

The campaign spanned 100 days in honor of the 100th anniversary in March of Kraft's "World’s Favorite Cookie," and as the final day approaches on Oct. 2nd, Oreo will set up a “virtual office” in Times Square on Oct. 2nd to craft the final Daily Twist ad in mere hours based on real-time suggestions from fans.Continue reading...

GM's former CMO Joel Ewanick may have pulled the plug on any plans by GM brands to advertise during the 2013 Super Bowl in favor of Manchester United before he abruptly left the automaker in July, but that isn't stopping the GMC brand from redoubling its long-running interest and investment in the National Football League.

Just consider the 30-some GMC Sierra pick-up trucks that just took over Times Square for the NFL Kick-Off (check out the pictures on Facebook). "Nothing changes for us" in terms of the GMC brand's association with the nation's most popular sport — and a brand marketers' best friend — Chris Hornberger, GMC national sales promotion manager, told brandchannel. It's been three years since the GMC brand or vehicles have been featured in a Super Bowl ad anyway.

GMC is one of a chorus of brands that continues to increase their bets on professional football with this week's kick-off of the official season "like children anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus," as New York Times ad columnist Stuart Elliott put it. Nothing else comes close to matching NFL games as a prime-time TV-advertising vehicle, but there are doubters.Continue reading...

There's nothing new about crowdsourcing product varieties anymore, but Frito-Lay is bringing an interesting twist to a promotion that it launched today: offering the winner of a new-flavor contest the option of a prize based on sales of the new potato-chip flavor that he or she inspires.

In its "Do Us a Flavor" campaign headlined by actress and restauranteur Eva Longoria and Food Network Iron Chef Michael Symon, the PepsiCo unit invites fans to submit their potato-chip flavor ideas via a Facebook app for a chance to win $1 million in grand-prize money — or one percent of their flavor's 2013 net sales, whichever is higher.

"We [already] have a lot of flavors that would make the one-percent option a bigger payout than the $1 million," Ram Krishnan, Frito-Lay's vice president of marketing, told brandchannel. "We're opening it up so that consumers can have a winning proposition."Continue reading...