The History Channel is riding its biblical success into car restoration with the return of its wildly popular Counting Cars series.

Star and self-taught mechanic, Danny “The Count” Koker, owns 58 cars and 78 motorcycles. This season, he’ll work with Ziggy Marley to restore and customize Bob Marley’s last car, a 1980 Mercedes 500SL Euro and customize a soap box derby car for a youngster. 

To build up enough hype around the series, a mobile marketing tour is showcasing a 1966 Cadillac Coupe de Ville—customized by Koker and filled with thousands of miniature cars—is scheduled to stop at auto shows, NASCAR races and festivals nationwide giving car enthusiasts the opportunity to guess the amount of miniature cars in the vehicle for a chance to win the Cadillac. Fans at home can submit a guess online thanks to interactive photos of the car.Continue reading...

The Esquire Network says it's ready for prime time.

The new network, announced today, aims to “capture the essence of the magazine,” David Carey, president of Esquire publisher Hearst Magazines, told The New York Times. "This is not the magazine on TV; that would not work."

The male audience is an ever-sweet spot for brands, as evidenced by offerings that vary from Spike TV to Discovery's Velocity Channel. The Esquire Network will replace the Comcast-created G4 video gaming channel (which gave Esquire fave Olivia Munn her start as co-host on Attack of the Show) on April 22, and be available in 62 million homes with cable or satellite service.

The rebranded network is a strategic partnership between NBC Universal and Hearst Magazines. NBCUniversal cable executive Bonnie Hammer positioned it as "an upscale Bravo for men." She added, "If this was going to come under my portfolio, I’m a little brand crazy, so I said, let’s create a real brand, define a space, understand who we are programming for."Continue reading...

Apple iPhone 5 sets pre-sale record, inspires queues outside stores.

Express Scripts members now can go back to Walgreens.

Ford becomes focus of talks with Canadian Auto Workers ahead of strike deadline at midnight.

Fox says Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban will join American Idol as judges.

GM is getting resistance from U.S. government over proposal for taxpayer exit from ownership.

HP emphasizes design in turnaround hopes.

Heineken makes over its bottle and enlists James Bond for global campaign.Continue reading...

PepsiCo expands into yogurt sales in the U.S. under Muller brand.

Marks & Spencer CEO's lack of fashion cred criticized as retailer overtaken by rival Next.

Valentino luxury brand in talks to be sold.

AT&T cuts ad spending.

Amazon sparks fears with "robo-pricing."

Billabong hits choppy waters.

Boeing expands new-orders lead over Airbus.Continue reading...

As TV gets more social, TV networks been wooing bloggers as social media influencers for the past few years. As a network primarily targeting women, the newly rebranded Lifetime owns and operates its own blog network, called Lifetime Moms, in the blog network, Lifetime Moms, and now counts more than one hundred contributors and over four million plus unique visitors monthly.

Lifetime's blog network not only connects viewers and women with each other, it also brings advertisers (billed as partners) into the mix for parent company A&E Television Networks, creating a digital opportunity for cross-network and -platform partnerships.Continue reading...

ABC News and Univision team up to launch 24-hour English-language news channel for Hispanic viewers.

American Airlines seeks more overseas flights amid US Airways bid, Bloomberg says.

Amtrak enlists iPhone as service tool.

Apple may be ready to settle iPad China trademark dispute. 

AT&T CEO regrets unlimited data iPhone plan.

Barclays enters U.S. banking fray with online service.

Budweiser sees boycott by NYT's Nick Kristof, while Bud Light tries to manage line extensions.

CBS steers younger viewers to 60 Minutes.

Chinese consumers are rejecting "Made in China."Continue reading...

This February marks the 36th annual Black History Month in America, and the marketing geniuses at Nike are showing that the brand's got the spirit by releasing three different BHM-themed shoes that are tied to three of their biggest basketball endorsers: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant.

Nike Blog reports that the release date and prices for the James and Durant shoes haven’t been named yet, but for only $140, fans of Black History Month can show it off all year long with a pair of Kobe shoes.

Of course there are plenty of other ways that marketers think you could be showing your BHM pride, too. 

And don’t think Heineken US doesn’t have the BHM spirit! The brand is sponsoring its second annual Black History Month art competition, which will garner the winner five grand and the opportunity to “have their artwork showcased in an upcoming marketing campaign” for the brewer, according to TrendHunter.com. We’re talking placement in national print, digital, in-store point of sale, and out of home advertising in 2013. And all you have to do to submit art is “like” the Heineken US Facebook page.

The judging of the submissions, of course, will be on originality and creativity as well its “representation of black history,” naturally, and, of course!, “the spirit of the Heineken brand,” TrendHunter reports.

U.S. cable TV networks (beyond BET) have long jumped on Black History Month for programming. This year, naturally, social and digital marketing is coming into play, too.Continue reading...

A&E has dropped The Kennedys miniseries, starring Greg Kinnear as JFK and Katie Holmes as Jackie O — bowing to pressure from Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver that it was historically inaccurate, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news.

"We recognize historical fiction is an important medium for storytelling, and commend all the hard work and passion that has gone into the making of the series, but ultimately deem this as the right programming decision for our network," A&E said in a statement. The eight-part miniseries may still air internationally.