After filing for bankruptcy protection in November and laying off its workers, Hostess has finally found buyers to pony up about $800 million for the majority of its baked goods brands.

According to Associated Press, a bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of Hostess Brands' iconic Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos to two investment firms, Apollo Global Management and Pabst owner Metropoulos & Co., for $410 million. The judge also approved the sale of Hostess-owned Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, Butternut, Home Pride and Merita bread brands to Tastykakes owner Flowers Foods, for $360M.

Beefsteak, a Hostess-owned regional bread brand, also was approved for a $31.9 million sale to Mexico's Grupo Bimbo, which surfaced early in the Hostess bankruptcy auction as a potential buyer and acquired Sara Lee's North American bakery business in 2010.Continue reading...

In keeping with the frat boy humor that pervades Super Bowl advertising each year, behold the just-released Game Day spot for Carl's Jr. and Hardees.

The co-branded commercial (which is running in "many markets" as a local, not national ad buy) introduces a new sandwich for the chain and stars Danish model Nina Agdal, who replaces Kate Upton — who switched brands to star in a racy Mercedes-Benz Super Bowl teaser and celeb-studded commercial this year.

Click here to watch the NSFW (or home) "Director's Cut" of Agdal's spot, and here for a behind-the-scenes look.

Brandchannel will be back on January 2nd. Until then, happy new year and a safe and happy holiday to all!

Google's DROID RAZR M full-screen phone made its full-on debut with a new TV commercial airing tonight in the US. It's available starting Thursday (September 13th) at Verizon Wireless stores and online for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. No coincidence in being promoted on iPhone 5 Day, the new commercial debuted during The X Factor season debut on FOX. Motorola describes the 4G device as:

DROID RAZR M is the unbelievably compact smartphone that puts the world in the palm of your hand with an edge-to-edge 4.3-inch Super AMOLED™ Advanced display. You’ll be amazed with DROID RAZR M’s design, which is significantly shorter and narrower than the original DROID RAZR, yet includes the same size display, making it the most compact 4.3-inch 4G LTE smartphone. DROID RAZR M also features powerful Web browsing capabilities by combining Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network with the speeds of Chrome™ for Android™ mobile browser for an unrivaled mobile Web experience. All that speed and power combined with a long-lasting battery that gives you 20 hours of performance so you can get through your day.

Another new commercial touts the DROID RAZR MAXX HD: "With an HD edge-to-edge screen, 4G LTE and 32 hours of battery life, the DROID RAZR MAXX HD by MOTOROLA is the longest lasting smartphone available." More details in Motorola's press release, and Motorola's DROID RAZR Family promo below:Continue reading...

Zynga today released FarmVille 2 on its website and Facebook, described as "Zynga's next-generation social game that delivers a brand new farming experience through stunning visuals, beautiful animations and new ways to visit and interact with friends. FarmVille 2 allows players to create a beautiful farm and express themselves in a world that feels alive and reacts to every touch." More details in the video below.Continue reading...

BMW's new concept car from the automaker's F10 M5 European line is a one-off F10 M5 Polizei car. Based on the US spec F10 M5, the M5 police car above is "a show car only and not intended for actual police use." The brand BMW makes several models (including 3 series, 5 series and X5) available for the police, as well as security vehicles.

Kantar's new global survey – the largest soccer survey ever conducted – has named Manchester United the world's most popular soccer franchise, featuring 659 million followers worldwide.

The survey gathered 54,000 respondents from 39 countries around the world. Manchester United, which Forbes recently named the most valuable franchise in world sport, was identified as the favorite team of 659 million followers around the world. Kantar also found that soccer remains the world's most popular sport, with 1.6 billion followers globally, reinforcing the results of a recent FIFA survey which produced a similar figure.

"Manchester United is built on a tradition of iconic players, iconic teams and iconic achievements – Beckham, Busby, Benfica '68," stated Richard Arnold, Commercial Director, Manchester United.

"Now our games are broadcast to 1.15 billion households globally, to an audience of over four billion a year. Manchester United resonates with followers all over the world, and it's their passion and support that means year after year we can continue doing what matters most to everyone at the Club: playing attacking football and competing for trophies."

"The growth in our followers since 2007 correlates with what we have seen as we have rolled out our new approach to reaching fans.  From the increase in TV viewership from two to four billion last season, to the demand from millions of media subscribers in 72 countries through our media partnerships, to the way the footage of Wayne's overhead kick echoed around the world on social media, we can see that the connections to the club are growing exponentially." 

PepsiCo announced internally a number of executive changes in its global groups organization, established earlier this year, according to an internal memo obtained by Ad Age. The groups report to John Compton, president-PepsiCo. The changes:

• Salman Amin has been named global chief marketing officer of PepsiCo, from EVP and CMO of PepsiCo.
• Brad Jakeman, president-global enjoyment and chief creative officer, will take on the role of president-global beverages group, a role held by Massimo d'Amore until his departure in February.
• Lorraine Hansen was named president-global snacks group.
• Enderson Guimares will be president-global nutrition group.
• Sarah Robb O'Hagan will serve as president-global sports nutrition group while remaining president of Gatorade North America.
• Brian Newman was named SVP-strategy and finance.Continue reading...