Today's Brandlympics is brought to you by Google's ridiculously addictive homepage doodle — an interactive hurdles game.

Olympic Park Saturated with Branding

Visitors to London can still find mentions of brands that haven’t shelled out millions to be official sponsors out in the city’s streets, but as they get closer to Olympic venues and particularly Olympic Park, the other brands slide away until they are completely saturated with sponsor branding. Whether it is recycling bins with a Coke logo on them; an outdoor theater sponsored by British Airways so those without tickets to events can witness them; a salon at P&G's pavilion; a crazy, interactive Coca-Cola sculpture; only eight (!) cash machines that only shell out money to Visa cardholders; the world's biggest McDonald's, or the logo-less Goodyear blimp that's convincing some that aliens are watching, the area is heavily branded. Visitors cannot miss learning exactly who has been deemed OK and who has not. And that’s, dear reader, why they pay the big bucks.

Australian Olympic Boss Seeking More CashContinue reading...

The Super Bowl buzz window before Sunday's Big Game isn't closed yet! Among those bellying up with sneak peeks at their full SB46 commercials today include Century 21's official spot (above) with Donald Trump, Deion Sanders and Apolo Anton Ohno.

Pepsi also revealed its much-hyped ad starring Elton John and X Factor winner Melanie Amaro, who only wants some Pepsi — and uses her award-winning pipes to get some from a reluctant King John:Continue reading...

Century 21 brand executives understand better than anyone the continuing deep doldrums being experienced by the American real estate market. And they realize that neither the gloomy mood — nor the depressing underlying realities — can be zapped away by any Super Bowl commercial, no matter how effective or entertaining.

Yet even in the midst of one of the worst home-sales slumps in American history, Century 21 CMO Bev Thorne says there will still be about 4.5 million home-sale transactions taking place in the United States this year. Considering both sides of each transaction, that means there will be about 9 million households affected by home-sale transactions this year.

"We're speaking to those consuemrs who will be involved in those transactions," Thorne told brandchannel about the brand's upcoming Super Bowl debut, during the third quarter. "We're not using our Super Bowl ad to say, 'Have you thought about buying a new house? Maybe you should think about it tomorrow.' This is not some day-to-day purchase where you can really influence someone to do it anyway, unlike in other businesses."

"Those personal factors that influence where you are in life — no one is going to impact those with any type of commercial."Continue reading...

The Big Game doesn't kick off until Sunday, but brand marketers' "reveals" of their Super Bowl campaigns are intensifying this week.

Whether they're "teasing" their actual Super Bowl spots such as Century 21, or letting everything hang out there like Hyundai (which today released all five of its Game Day commercials, and a barrage of video extras) and Honda and others, there's a torrent of Game Day spots like never before.

Will there be anything actually new to watch once the Big Game comes on? Remember when the idea was to save the reveal for during the game and be the talk of the office water cooler on Monday morning?

Here's a look at some of the latest revelations:Continue reading...

When historic brands undergo change, they must establish a delicate balance between leveraging a strong traditional foundation with the perception of modernity.

For the much-loved Nestlé Crunch Bar, changing its 60-year-old recipe could result in coveted success or a level of failure reminiscent of the New Coke debacle.Continue reading...