ABC edges out NBC in the morning.

AOL pushes to grab TV-ad dollars.

Apple loses luster on its shares.

Audi set to buy Ducati, Bloomberg reports.

BlackBerry store sits as quiet marker of RIM failed strategy.

Coca-Cola profit beats estimates.

Coty says it has lined up capital for Avon bid.Continue reading...

Because it owned the house, it was predictable that Ford's new reality-TV show on NBC, Escape Routes, would find every angle to tout the automaker's new 2013 Ford Escape — the namesake inspiration for the show. And it did.

But what viewers of the first installment of the show might not have expected was to see a number of other blue-chip brands — including McDonald's, J.C. Penney, several Procter & Gamble marques, even Ford rival Volkswagen — go along for the ride.

The six-week Escape Routes series, which debuted on March 31st, is the latest way for Ford to push the envelope with new-era marketing formats, where it has demonstrated industry leadership.

And while the first installment was hardly Emmy-worthy appointment viewing, Ford executives tell brandchannel they're pleased with the social TV meets branded entertainment experiment.Continue reading...

Volkswagen has come a long way toward men with the Beetle from the days of installing a vase holder near the steering column. But has it gone too far?

The brand wanted to make the new, new Beetle, introduced late last year, more appealing to men (while not losing women). Only 29 percent of purchasers of the old New Beetle, a year ago, were men, and the flower-vase holder as well as the fully rounded styling and VW's own positioning of the model had a lot to do with that.

Fast-forward to today. VW signaled early its intention to tap more into the male market with the new, new Beetle that came out last fall. It has a more raked, not so round profile, for one thing. It had a broader, more aggressive — OK, more "masculine" — stance. It's no accident that the dog featured in the brand's 2012 Super Bowl commercial for the new Beetle was a big golden retriever.Continue reading...

Adobe gets more social.

Amazon wrings profit from fulfillment.

AmLactin taps Olympic swimmer Dara Torres as brand ambassador.

Angry Birds to launch retail partnership

Apple iPad users find high video use can crunch data plans as Consumer Reports finds that the new version runs hotter than the old one.

Arby's readies brand relaunch.

Boeing gains 787 Dreamliner clearance by U.S. regulators.Continue reading...

First Europe, now China: Before you know it, global automakers could be depending on the United States as the great growth hope of the worldwide auto market once again.

It appears that auto sales in China are slowing down this year even more than they were originally forecast to slow down. Factors include the disappearance of lucrative government-supplied incentives to the Chinese to buy automobiles, a slowing economy, and the same rising fuel prices that also are crimping consumers in America and everywhere else. In the luxury segment, especially, 'very robust' demand has become just 'robust' demand — and is catching up with supplies.Continue reading...

For a film with more than 25 identifiable brands on-screen, 21 Jump Street (the new #1 movie, taking in $35 million its opening weekend) does not come across as packed with product placement. As one would expect from a modern update on the 1980s TV series, there are a number of gags made at the expense of brand names.

The movie pokes fun at "Pop Quiznos," Taco Bell, Porsche and a pink VW Beetle. Not to mention Smith & Wesson police bicycles, Glock, Springfield Armory handguns, and other brands sure to resonate with a highly brand-aware Generation Y audience. There is even a gag about a new designer drug created with Doritos. (Incidentally, 21 Jump Street star Jonah Hill was last seen on-screen with Doritos in Superbad.)

But the cleverest product placement of the whole film was probably missed by a majority of the audience. Indeed, not one review or tweet mentions it.Continue reading...

In a city where bicycling was the dominant form of transportation a decade ago, Beijing is now home to over five million cars. That milestone was reached later than expected after officials instituted a lottery system for drivers license plates.

The massive increase in car ownership has China now seeing the development of the kind "car culture" details commonplace in car-dominated nations like the U.S. McDonald's just announced that about 100 of the 225-250 new China locations it will open in 2011 will have drive-thru access.

But the car-buying pace is slowing, up only 5 percent in 2011, a year with sales of 18 million autos. Now, the state is focusing on transforming the Chinese car driver to a driver of Chinese cars. It's an effort that has some buzzing about the phoenix-like rise of an iconic Chinese auto brand — the Hongqi.Continue reading...

While some automotive advertisers were toting up their marketing gains from ads that they ran during Super Bowl XLVI last month, some tech brands were gaining affirmation of their own strategies for Sunday's appearances in another "tentpole" TV event, the Oscars.

Volkswagen, for example, generated 1.9 billion media impressions through its Super Bowl advertising and associated activities, including 32 million views on YouTube of its much-touted video for the game, including the "Star Wars" canine teaser and its "The Dog Strikes Back" ad for the Volkswagen Beetle (above). That produced a "media-equivalent value" of $62 million compared with the estimated cost of $3.5 million to $4 million for 30 seconds of Super Bowl time.

"That was a strong payback from what was a significant investment in Super Bowl presence," Volkswagen of America CEO Jonathan Browning told reporters on Thursday.Continue reading...