Alibaba names next CEO.

Denny's cancels franchise deal in China.

Google shows off sample apps for Project Glass a SXSW.

American Airlines and U.S. Airways prepare for merger bumps.

Apple and Samsung values soar.

Barney's New York rebrands Co-op stores as regular Barney's.

BlackBerry stock jumps on Lenovo takeover interest rumor.

BMW to build sub-brand for China.

Boeing sees investigators focus narrowly on batteries in Dreamliner probe.

China's Spring Airlines adds cars to in-flight sales offering.Continue reading...

Walmart philanthropic director Sylvia Mathews Burwell expected to be nominated Monday as Obama's budget chief.

India develops a taste for premium beer while officials approve $2 billion Diageo deal.

HSBC set for $23 billion profit as turnaround gains traction.

AB InBev takes to Twitter and newspaper ads to fight watered-down-beer charges.

AIDS drug breakthrough sees infant evidently cured through early use of virus-blocking drugs.

Alfa Romeo reboot marks tough road for Fiat.

American Airlines drops below 60,000 employees for the first time since 1987.

AOL's new Brand Group CEO Susan Lyne lays out her goals.

Asos joins brands using Twitter's Vine for short form social video marketing.Continue reading...

At top, Brad Pitt phones in his new role as Cadillac China spokesman.

China is the second largest economy in the world and every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse)—but who's got the time?! Here's 10 reads that will make you look like a keen China observer in case you find yourself immersed in a cultural conversation.

This week, the cat cafe... bodyguards... WeChat... Ikea's horse meatballs... Victoria's Secret... HTC... best selling sedans... Hollywood... Yum!... Bradillac and more. Continue reading...

The good news for Detroit's three automakers is that Chevrolet and GMC managed to get some of their new models recommended by the influential Consumer Reports. The bad news is that just about every other brand fielded by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler is still placed near the bottom in the magazine's new rankings of the best light vehicles on the market.

Just like every year, the new rankings—listed in the April 2013 issue of Consumer Reports—finds that Japanese brands, especially those made by Toyota, continue to dominate. Toyota landed three of the top seven spots, with Lexus as CR's best overall brand as well as Toyota at No. 4 and Scion at No. 7.

Subaru and Mazda finished second and third while Acura and Honda finished fifth and sixth. Audi led its German rivals to finish No. 8, followed by Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz to round out the top 10. Continue reading...

With the hiring away of Tim Mahoney from Volkswagen as Chevrolet's global chief marketing officer, General Motors appears to be moving one more step closer to a long-discussed goal of obliterating the GM "brand" altogether.

Mahoney—who has helped VW achieve strong double-digit sales gains in the U.S. in each of the last three years—has been named to the newly created post of global CMO for Chevrolet and of global GM marketing operations leader.

Because Mahoney, a three-decade veteran of automotive marketing, will report to GM's interim CMO, Alan Batey, his addition bulks up the Chevrolet brand that Batey also has been heading up for the last year, including recently replacing the "Chevrolet Runs Deep" tagline with the "Find New Roads" positioning.

Batey was vice president of U.S. sales and service and then took over as interim CMO for the corporation when GM's global CMO Joel Ewanick departed abruptly last year.Continue reading...

It's a rough start when your new China spokesman is banned from China—but it appears Cadillac is going ahead with a new deal to make Brad Pitt its face in the world's fastest growing auto market.

Though with sales plunging in China and Audi and BMW eating its lunch, the brand needs to do something. It's too bad that even Brad Pitt won't likely be able to sell the Chinese an angry car they don't want. 

Cadillac's new $3 million dollar endorsement with Pitt (Bradillac?) may add some perspective to Pitt's recent, less than smooth entry to Chinese social media. In January, Pitt joined microblogging platform Weibo and posted "Yep, it is the truth. I am coming…"

The news was forwarded tens of thousands of times by those wondering if China's ban on the actor—following his film "Seven Years in Tibet"—had been lifted. Just a few weeks later, Pitt's account disappeared. It's unclear if the actor himself deleted it or if Weibo shut it down, something the platform is wont to do. Continue reading...

Jeep today became the second major brand in as many days to have its Twitter feed hacked, with the perps joking that the brand had been sold to Cadillac. The message was similar to Monday's Twitter hack of the official Burger King account which said that McDonald's had taken over its rival.

"We're aware of it and working quickly to resolve" the situation, Chrysler Group spokesman Rick Deneau told brandchannel on Tuesday afternoon. The Twitter feed was restored and the erroneous postings and content removed.

Chrysler had managed to restore some elements of its official Twitter site by mid-afternoon but not all. In the hack, the background image of Jeep's official Twitter account was swapped out to show the Cadillac logo and an old sedan was painted with McDonald's logo and colors. That specific "creative" would imply that the same party hacked Jeep and Burger King.Continue reading...

Pope Benedict XVI plans to resign due to poor health in move that hasn't been seen for centuries.

Grammys honors Mumford & Sons and FUN, as Chevrolet bows new "Find New Roads" campaign, Honda launches music-related campaign with the show, and Miracle Whip launches video campaign.

American Airlines and U.S. Airways are seen as likely to obtain U.S. approval of a merger.

Apple sees buzz develop about potential "iWatch."

Cadillac targets 35-percent gain in retail sales this year.

Chrysler donates $1 million to Future Farmers of America after Super Bowl spot scores with viewers as its dealers hunger for more Jeep Wranglers and Grand Cherokees.

Coca-Cola plans to relaunch Vanilla Coke in U.K.Continue reading...