At United Airlines, soon it will no longer be just the number of miles that passengers fly that helps boost their frequent-flyer standing but also how much they spend. 

According to the Chicago Tribune, those who hope to qualify for the lowest elite tier of United's MileagePlus program will need to either fly 25,000 miles or 30 segments and spend a minimum of $2,500 on United tickets, extra-legroom upgrades, or on partner airlines, such as United Express or Panama’s Copa Airlines. Those with MileagePlus co-branded credit cards are out of luck. Spending on those won’t count toward the minimum levels needed. Neither will taxes, fees, and charges on your bill. Only base fares and fuel surcharges are part of the equation, the Wall Street Journal reports.Continue reading...

Procter and Gamble is a gargantuan global force in branding, with such names as Bounty, Cover Girl, Dawn, Gillette, Pampers, Scope and Tide in its brand portfolio. So why not take over the biggest media city in the world?

In what P&G calls "the largest consumer event in the company's 175 year history," New York City is being blitzed on June 19 with 25 P&G brands as part of "The Everyday Effect," a new campaign. Throughout the city, P&G will distribute more than 40,000 products at strategically timed moments. The company will offer free Scope mouthwash samples to coffee drinkers, Febreze car vent clips to taxi drivers, and Iams dog treats to people walking their dogs.Continue reading...

As luxury brands look to get a better hold on digital-savvy consumers, Burberry has teamed up with Google's Art, Copy & Code to reimagine beauty advertising. 

The interactive ad, dubbed Burberry Kisses, invites users to send a virtual kiss-sealed letter to someone special. Users take a photo of their pout via the camera on their computer, tablet or mobile device, then add one of five Burberry lipstick colors, write a short note and send via email. The website show's a map that follows the kiss' journey and uses street and landmark imagery.Continue reading...

Almost two months after a building collapse in Bangladesh killed 1,127 garment workers, reports have surfaced that claim Walmart has continued to accept shipments from garment factories that itself has black-listed over safety and quality concerns, according to ProPublica. 

The largest retailer in the world, which was one of several major Western brands that refused to sign on to the Accord on Bangladesh Safety, released a list of rejected garment factories in May that the company says it refuses to do business with due to repeated safety and labor violations. However, according to import and export data, Walmart has been receiving product shipments from two of the factories on the list, Mars Apparels and Simco Dresses. 

Mars was supposedly black-listed in 2011, though was still shipping garments to Walmart as recent as last month, while Simco was placed on the list in January, and continued to ship to Walmart Canada into March of this year.Continue reading...

Facebook hits 1 million active advertisers and Zuckerberg talks partnerships with Samsung.

Tesla recalls some Model S cars for seat-mount defect. 

Dish Network drops pursuit of Sprint Nextel, clearing way for SoftBank.

Alcatel-Lucent plans to streamline.

Amazon rolls out Facebook social gift card. 

Chevrolet returns to Oscars with user-generated ad.

Dell sees Carl Icahn raise stake in company.

Johnny Rockets is acquired.

Lifestyle Lift changes national marketing practices after probe.Continue reading...

Because there isn't already enough Angry Birds-themed merchandise in the world, Hasbro and Rovio's Angry Birds have signed a new expanded licensing agreement that will find new Birds gear hitting the market before year’s end.

Since the original Angry Birds mobile game launched in 2009, more than 12 million copies have been sold through Apple’s app store alone. That has led to Angry Birds-branded T-shirts, pillowcases, cake toppers, pet toys, skateboards, and, of course, Duck tape.

Rovio, the creator of the brand, began distributing a weekly animated cartoon series, Angry Birds Toons, in March and a full-length animated Angry Birds movie is expected to hit screens in the summer of 2016, according to a release.Continue reading...

Amazon pounced on the opportunity to add Viacom programming to its Prime streaming lineup last month after the broadcast giant couldn’t work out an extension deal with Netflix. That loss is likely costing Netflix big-time as it saw the exit of popular kids shows like Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants and Blue's Clues, the very type of content that parents desire when they need to use the electronic babysitter. 

However, Netflix battled back this week by signing a deal with DreamWorks Animation, in turn setting itself up to stream a whole host of new kid-friendly content based off of the studio's popular big-screen hits. In another move that seems orchestrated to remind folks, particularly parents, that Netflix still has scads of family programming, it has launched a new site, Netflix Families, that highlights “information on the best ways to stream and videos on how families use Netflix,” as well as feeds of curated content perfect for kids, the company said in a new release.Continue reading...

Chrysler was looking for a fig leaf, and the federal government just gave it one. The company ended a dispute with US car-safety officials by agreeing to inspect older-model Jeeps and install a piece of equipment that would help them fare better in low-speed crashes.

The company stunned the industry recently when Chrysler defied a call by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 2.7 million remaining 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002-2007 Jeep Libertys that the agency said faced a heightened risk of fire from rear-end collisions because the vehicles' fuel tank lies behind the rear axle.

Chrysler insisted the vehicles weren't unsafe and had a performance record in crashes comparable to competing vehicles. A recall of all of the units in question would have cost Chrysler several hundred million dollars.Continue reading...