Ashton Kutcher is happy to flog his own products. This is the Twitter-savvy guy, after all, who invested in tech startups and then gave them some promo space on his sitcom, Two and a Half Men. He did the same thing when he guest-edited the first "social issue" of Details a few years back.

Now he’s got his money invested in a T-shirt company, so consumers shouldn’t be surprised when Kutcher shows up everywhere they look wearing one of his own products—if you can identify the logo-less tees, that is. The online company, Pickwick and Weller, was founded with two other fellas and goes after the “luxury for less” market.Continue reading...

The list reads like a Who’s Who of A-list celebrities: Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Victoria Beckham, Swizz Beatz, will.i.am. But it's not a concert bill.

Instead, it's a list of stars who have recently agreed to serve as creative directors for brands — a trend that seems to blur the lines between star bling and business acumen.

Bud Light Platinum is the latest, announcing this week that it's inked deal with Justin Timberlake “to provide creative, musical and cultural curation for the brand.” The collaboration is to debut at Sunday’s 55th Grammy Awards via an ad, "Platinum Night," which features his latest single, "Suit & Tie." "Bud Light Platinum brings a refined, discerning aesthetic to beer that plays well with what I'm doing," Timberlake stated in a press release.Continue reading...

Whether Beyonce actually dared to lip-sync the National Anthem during President Obama's second inauguration, one thing is clear: The controversy has landed her back in the headlines, if not as disgraced as Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o.

Beyonce stands a major chance at public redemption with her Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, to be sponsored by Pepsi, and by the continued unfolding of her $50-million endorsement relationship with the soft-drink brand. There's also an upcoming HBO documentary about her life.Continue reading...

Microsoft denied "Killer Instinct" trademark, as Microsoft-Google patent fight rests on "fairness" definition and Motorola is denied injuction against Microsoft in patent suit. Microsoft-Intel push to combat Apple in tablet space, meanwhile, seen as "sputtering."

American Suzuki forges ahead with incentives amid US wind down.

Apple wins six new design patents, sees increasing pricing tension with retailers and Steve Jobs bio pic starring Ashton Kutcher heading to Sundance.

Applebee's plans to open "green" restaurant in New York's Harlem where Hot Bread Kitchen is a rising local brand.

Balenciaga hires designer Alexander Wang as creative chief.

Baxter agrees to buy medical-equipment maker Gambro in company's biggest acquisition.Continue reading...

Dolce & Gabbana's spring/summer 2013 runway show had barely finished parading on the catwalk in Milan on Sept. 24 when the luxury fashion brand found itself generating buzz ... less for the clothes than for the accessories — specifically, the earrings dangling from the models' lobes. Depicting an African American woman's fruit-carrying head as earrings smacked of colonialism to some, and just plain offensive to others, and not just women and people of color.

D&G, accused of "romanticising slavery" and worse, turned to Vogue to publish the brand's explanation in an online article titled "Dolce & Gabbana Explains Controversial Jewellery." That's fairly ironic, considering Vogue has been behind both the NBA star LeBron James "King Kong" cover controversy and raked for a reference to "a pair of large, gold hoops as 'slave earrings'."

But did D&G's own show add the ultimate irony of its excuse? And what did they think would be the response?Continue reading...

As Pinterest starts to overtake Twitter and other websites for referral traffic, it's a tough act to follow. But The Fancy is ready to give it a try.

Geared at fans of great design who already love to suggest new brands and products to their social networks, Mark Zuckerberg and Kanye West are fans of The Fancy, and backers include Ashton Kutcher and PPR head François-Henri Pinault.

But unlike Pinterest, it's not so much about visual scrapbooking as is about generating sales of recommended products, turning users into affiliates. And unlike Klout, no credit is received for influence, only for actual purchase, rewarding users for their taste and influence. It's powering more than $10,000 in sales per day. Modest, but it's a start for a brand that describes itself as “part store, blog, magazine, and wishlist.”Continue reading...

Last week we noted how Adam Sandler, Hollywood's resident master of product placement, had essentially made a Budweiser movie disguised as fratboy comedy flick with That's My Boy. Now, thanks to the number-crunchers at Front Row Analytics, we know just how much all that screen time was worth for the King of Beers: $3,685,234.

Specifically, Front Row Analytics values Budwesier's exposure at $3,489,474, plus another $195,760 worth of exposure for Bud Lite and Bud Lite Lime. But there's more. Budweiser's product placement exposure for the weekend was even greater owing to its appearance in competing opening film Rock of Ages.Continue reading...

Apple will use Baidu search engine on phones in China and gets on fast track in court to block Samsung Galaxy phone as iPhone 5 speculation mounts ahead of WWDC, while marketing head Steve Schiller gets a Bloomberg Businessweek profile. Also, Apple will pay $2.5 million to settle false advertising suit in Australia over 4G iPad claims. 

Audi plant expansion tests ability to maintain quality.

Boeing hits milestone on 787 Dreamliner.

Burger King plans to expand in Russia.

Cannes Lions to honor Dan Weiden of Weiden+Kennedy.

Carnival Cruise loyalty program members are up in arms.

CBS chief Les Moonves says "partisanship" is part of journalism now.Continue reading...