Fresh from winning the Association of Independent Commercial Producers' commercial of the year nod for The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, Old Spice brings back Isaiah Mustafa for its latest spot in the campaign. Click here for a "making of" look at its award-winning Super Bowl spot, and watch AICP CEO Matt Miller (and NBC's Matt Lauer) gush after the jump.Continue reading...

Brands are luring music-lovers with a variety of musical tie-ins:

• Adidas Originals is hosting a live chat with Snoop Dogg on its Facebook page tomorrow to celebrate reaching the 3 million fans benchmark.
• Converse is appealing to hipsters with indie music collaborations such as artists Cudi, above, and Best Coast.
• Keds is sponsoring performances at The Whitney (and taps artists such as Jenny Holzer for limited-edition sneakers) in summer collaboration.
• Levi's is promoting musicians such as Jason Mraz and John Legend & the Roots as part of its Pioneer campaign.
• VICE magazine and Intel kicked off their Creators Project collaboration in NYC, featuring the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner and other artists.
• Among luxury brands, meanwhile, Burberry is working with British musicians (and tapping some to model) to support its digital marketing.

More brands making news after the jump.Continue reading...

Comcast-NBC deal raises concerns in the U.S.

Facebook looks to boost ads; 500 million user benchmark tipped in new movie marketing?

Jeep "slowly" relaunches the Grand Jerokee.

Tiger Woods' lost endorsements cost IMG $4.6 million last year, according to CNBC.

Toshiba enters e-reader fray.

Toy Story 3 tops box office in biggest opening weekend for Disney Pixar.Continue reading...

In April, the new iPad was featured in its first Apple product placement ever, on the ABC comedy Modern Family. More than just a run of the mill product placement, the entire episode revolved around the spanking new device. Two months later, the producer of that show has admitted that this product placement "may have gone a little too far."

Producer Jeff Morton told the Los Angeles Times that the placement "sort of backfired on us." The real insult though? "The computer giant didn't even toss a few freebies the show's way." To make matters worse, Morton admitted that part of the motivation behind the iPad placement was "to get everyone on the staff an iPad." Boo! And boo hoo.

Even if Apple should not expect any more free exposure from Modern Family, don't fret about the in-demand tech brand. It already has replacement placements aplenty to hype the trendy product. See what we're talking about after the jump.Continue reading...

Starbucks will offer free, one-click, no registration Wi-Fi to all app-happy, wireless users at U.S. stores via AT&T, starting July 1st.

AT&T and Apple will sell iPhone 4 at Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart. (Separately: was AT&T's iPad breach enabled by layoffs?)

BP hires financial advisers and details oil capture plans ahead of CEO Tony Hayward's meeting with President Obama on Wednesday.

News Corp. buys Skiff e-reader platform (but not device) from Hearst, and takes a stake in Steve Brill's Journalism Online startup.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dissed his pre-release iPhone 4 (via Facebook's iPhone app).Continue reading...

It may be called DumbDumb, but there’s nothing dumb about this branded entertainment startup from comedians Will Arnett and Jason Bateman, as evidenced by its first longform video spots for Orbit gum.

The brand is not so subtly hyped on DumbDumb's site and YouTube to pitch Orbit as a product that can “clean up dirty situations.” Arnett and Bateman are the creators, directors and executive producers of the shorts, in which they also star.

It also marks a new direction for Orbit, the Wrigley-owned brand that spoofed its longrunning "dirty mouth" campaign at the recent profanity-filled MTV Movie Awards.

DumbDumb is co-producing the Orbit digital shorts campaign in partnership with CollegeHumor.com and Electus, the branded entertainment company started by Ben Silverman after he left NBC as its head of entertainment.Continue reading...

Besides unveiling the iPhone 4, Apple announced it will debut iAds on July 1st with more than $60 million in commitments from global brands including AT&T, Target and more.

PepsiCo announced PepsiCo10, a VC partnership with Highland Capital Partners to fund tech-based projects to enhance its brands.

President Obama's promises on BP monitoring criticized by public and press including NBC's Brian Williams.

Facebook's growth actually accelerated during last month's privacy flap.Continue reading...

NBCU head Jeff Zucker will reportedly step down, post-Comcast merger, with a $30M exit package (reports News Corp.'s media outlets). Comcast COO Steve Burke, a Disney/ABC veteran, is the lead contender to succeed him.

BP's Gulf operation hit a snag today; while director James Cameron was consulted about the oil spill in the Gulf. Seriously.

Diet Coke is promoting its European "Love it Light" campaign on Facebook.

Ford is extending its custom graphics program to all models.

Four Seasons cuts amenities but seeks to protect brand.Continue reading...