Running is about to change forever. Well, that’s what the marketing minds at Adidas want you to think about their new running shoes, the Adidas Boost trainers, which will make their debut Wednesday.

To prove the point, Adidas has released a teaser video (below) that shows off three metal balls being dropped from the top of the frame onto the base material for Boost, EVA (or ethylene vinyl acetate, which is often used in running shoes), and concrete. Guess which ball bounces the highest by far? Spoiler alert: Boost it is.

The Adidas Running website and Facebook page are also teasing the big reveal at a global press event in New York, while promoting the #boost hashtag to stir Twitter conversations.Continue reading...

Want to have your face on a Pepsi can? Well, first you need to sell more than a 100 million albums around the globe and win 16 Grammy awards. At least, that’s what it took for Beyonce to get her face etched into aluminum.

As already announced, Bey is starring in the Pepsi-sponsored Super Bowl XLVII halftime show in February as part of the brand's multimillion-dollar return to the Big Game after pulling out in 2010 to reallocate its funds for the social Pepsi Refresh crowdsourced philanthropy platform. Now

Now PepsiCo is expanding its Super Bowl deal with the performer beyond the half-time show into a full-blown partnership in a $50 million deal that will burnish the Pepsi brand and Brand Beyonce, including marketing support for her new album that's dropping next year.Continue reading...

Just watching the video for Korean artist Psy's "Oppa Gangnam Style" is not going to cut it — you have to learn the dance and post your version online. That's helped the K-Pop video — with its catchy, pony-riding, wrist-crossing, hip-dangling dance — become a major global phenomenon.

The original video is now clocking in over 166 million views on YouTube, and has sparked hundreds, if not thousands, of Gangnam Style parodies and giving the cottage industry in Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" spoofs a run for the money.

Now, marketers are starting to take notice. In what might be the first instance of product placement in a Gangnam parody, Thai airline Nok Air has popped up in local spoof "Kamnam Style."Continue reading...

Best Buy, JPMorgan, Yahoo CEO stumbles put ethics and mismanagement in the spotlight. JPMorgan closes ranks around embattled CEO Jamie Dimon as mega-loss is probed; and Yahoo's interim CEO Ross Levinsohn reportedly close to getting role permanently.

Amazon reportedly prepping front-lit Kindle for July.

Facebook eyes historic $12 billion to $15 billion IPO windfall and up to $104 billion valuation.

Activision Blizzard goes back to the future for new games.

Apple plans iCloud upgrade, and thinner laptops with Intel chips.

Baidu enters China's crowded low-cost smartphone market.

BMW touts "ultimate service" in new campaign.

Budweiser strikes deal with Jay-Z for annual concert.Continue reading...

Amazon plans to lend Harry Potter e-books.

Apple will help upgrade Foxconn factories in China.

AT&T sees regulatory logjam delay deals in wireless.

Betsey Johnson confirms plans to liquidate.

CBS sues ABC alleging new reality series rips off Big Brother.

Chuck E. Cheese plans to test gluten-free products.

Coca-Cola finds its Hellenic unit hit by perfect political and economic storm.Continue reading...

Nielsen this week released its list of the top advertisements of the year.

“The lists demonstrate that reality and scripted shows continued to find innovative ways to integrate brands into their broadcast primetime programming. The best liked ads reflect the enduring value of traditional ad elements that have withstood the test of time – strong creative, simple and engaging messaging, and a solid emotional connection,” says Nielsen in a blog post.

The commercials must have aired in U.S. primetime on a broadcast channel any time from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2011. The Likeability Score is the percentage of TV viewers who report to like “a lot” an ad they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing TV, with these scores indexed against the mean score for all new ads during the period (Likeability Index). (100) equals average.

The #1 best-liked ad is Volkswagen's Star Wars nod of a Super Bowl ad ("The Force," or as many called it, "Little Darth Vader") for its new Passat, at top, which scored 231 on Nielsen's Likeability Index. Read about the rest of the top 10 below.Continue reading...

Aloha Petroleum redefines brand.

Apple sees its biggest product launch ever with one million pre-orders in 24 hours for iPhone 4S.

Arista and Jive iconic music labels close, bumping Britney Spears and other artists to RCA.

BankUnited repositions brand.

Chevrolet turns 100, amps up green cred, plans new Camaro.

Chrysler whittles vehicle plan.

Conde Nast to increase branded content under new entertainment head.

Discovery banks on Rosie O'Donnell to save Oprah Winfrey's OWN network.Continue reading...

Hulu reportedly draws bids from Amazon, Yahoo and Google.

Google+ usage plateaus, while Google dominates US web brands, adds offline access to Gmail and apps in boost for Chromebook.

Dish Network revels in blocked AT&T merger with "challenger brand" T-Mobile, while AT&T forges on with $700 HTC Jetstream Android tablet announcement.

GM reboots "Chevy Runs Deep" campaign.

Amazon's Android tablet could erode Apple's iPad dominance, while @author program elevates writers' brands.

Apple may have another lost iPhone fiasco on its hands.

Britney Spears' medical records protected by judicial decision in branding lawsuit.Continue reading...