American Airlines and United 9/11 lawsuits may finally get resolved.

Andy Murray is poised for endorsement deals after historic U.S. Open win.

Apple will boost carriers and U.S. economy with release of iPhone 5 as Samsung is ready to sue and iPad Mini pictures leak.

Burberry rocks luxury sector with warning of lower sales and profits.

Chevrolet disputes Reuters' Volt report.

Chrysler unveils new models to dealers, prices new Viper around $100,000.

Dallas Morning News launches social-content marketing company.

FedEx and UPS gain ground in China.

GM stops deliveries of several popular 2013 vehicles to fix OnStar glitch.Continue reading...

It’s a wrap for the London 2012 Olympics, and in addition to the new athletic records that were set, fans, brands and athletes interacting together collectively took the gold as the undisputed winner of the first Social Olympics.

From the opening ceremony on July 27th, which generated 9.66 million tweets (and in the next 24 hours more than all those during the entire 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing), a total of more than 150 million tweets were shared during and about the Olympics.

World's Fastest Man™ Usain Bolt was the most talked about athlete, inspiring a blinding fast 80,000 tweets per minute (TPM) during his gold medal-winning 200m sprint and 74,000 TPM during his 100m run, while the Spice Girls reunion at the closing ceremony inspired 116,000 TPM.

Twitter's recap highlights other social highlights of these games including: Michael Phelps and Tom Daley trailing Bolt as the most discussed athletes, and Andy Murray, third-highest at 57,000 TPM after winning the gold medal in men’s tennis singles.Continue reading...

Olympics sponsor Adidas customized the red adiZero shoes worn by Britain's Olympics darling Jessica Ennis in gold, following her Heptathlon win on Saturday. (Check out how they did it below.) Adidas is also touting the Barricade 7.0 shoes that Andy Murray wore to beat Roger Federer in the men's tennis final on Sunday — marking Great Britain's first Olympic gold medal in tennis since 1908.Continue reading...

Jamaica Celebrates as World's Fastest Man and Woman Retain Olympic Titles

Jamaica celebrates its 50th anniversary of freedom today and it couldn't be better timed. Coming on the heels of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's 100-meter gold medal on Saturday to retain her title as world's fastest woman, Jamaicans continued the celebration after Bolt won his fourth Olympic gold medal Sunday, this one for the 100-meter dash in London. Before Bolt defended his World’s Fastest Man status and showed off all his post-race antics and unbelievable smile, the Puma-sponsored sprinter had himself a chicken wrap from McDonald’s, according to USA Today. This admission bodes well for Bolt’s wallet as he will likely be a much-sought-after pitchman in the wake of the Games, even as he disagrees with LOCOG's controversial Rule 40 governing athletes' personal sponsors. Only 25 years old, he may have another gold in him four years from now in Brazil. He's certainly not shy; having just passed one million Twitter fans, his bio reads: "The most naturally gifted athlete the world has ever seen."Continue reading...

There are fewer than 75 days left before the start of the XXX Olympics in London and sports marketing will no doubt be in the faces of consumers for most of that time and certainly during the Games themselves. But it won’t just be the big-bucks brands sponsoring the events or their big-name ambushing competitors that will be benefiting from the Olympics. 

“You’ve got a month’s worth of free advertising for the sports and sports-related industries,” commented Vincent Mitchell, professor of consumer marketing at Cass Business School in London, to Bloomberg Businessweek. “You’re likely to see gym subscriptions go up, activity-type holidays go up, sports drinks, athletic shoes, it will be a mass effect.”

Even the smallest of sports brands may get a lift from all the sports talk going on as well. For example, a few elite athletes such as cyclist Rebecca Romero and tennis pro Andy Murray have asked the relatively tiny Science in Sport, which was bought by Provexis last summer, to send over its sports gels and other products as they prepare for the main event.Continue reading...

Japanese pro tennis player Kei Nishikori, ranked 26th in the world, made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open before being taken down by Andy Murray, the world’s fourth best.

Nishikori’s excellent tournament will raise him up to 20th in the world and surely has a few executives at sponsor Fast Retailing Co. and its famous retail subsidiary, Uniqlo, smiling a whole lot these days, one year into a five-year deal brokered by IMG. The same probably can’t be said for Sony, which didn’t renew a sponsorship deal last November, and Adidas, which wasn’t aggressive enough and lost its deal with Nishikori to Uniqlo.

Even though Nishikori lost the match to Murray, it was likely watched by 55 million more viewers than it would have been if Nishikori wasn’t in it. “Japan’s public broadcaster NHK purchased the rights to air” the match, Bloomberg reports, which grew the viewing audience exponentially.Continue reading...

Games keeping getting faster – digital and sports, as seen in the above video, where HEAD is showing off its fastest tennis racquet ever, as Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic, world seed #2, beats wind drag over 150 mph with the help of his YouTek IG SPEED MP 18/20 racquet.

Head Tennis teamed up with German ad agency, Aimaq & Stolle Berlin, on the Djokovic video (above), which has garnered more than 500,000 views since it launched on YouTube last week.Continue reading...

Comic Relief 2011 is taking place tonight (in fact, right about now) on the BBC, as the UK celebrates its annual Red Nose Day with a live fundraising broadcast, Funny for Money, and a range of performers.

While its roots are in comedy, musicians have been a generous and staunch supporter of such relief efforts, and this year’s Comic Relief will feature singles by The Wanted (see above) and George Michael.

“For decades music has been a powerful tool for charities. From the original Live Aid in the 80's, to today's Comic Relief, music has the ability to universally evoke such strong emotions to make any charity's message even more powerful and effective,” says Soundlounge's Matt Lee. Below, check out Lee's top five songs used for charity and a bit more about Comic Relief.Continue reading...