You can't spell the brand "Yakult probiotic yogurt" without "yak." (above)

"Do you realize that toilet paper has not changed in my lifetime? It's just paper on a cardboard roll, that's it. And in ten thousand years, it will still be exactly the same because really, what else can they do?" George Costanza, meet the new tube-less Scott toilet paper.

Can branded content be funny? Is branded content just another name for product placement? Yes and yes.

Hermes and Yamaha unveil their $62,000 motorcycle (but does it come with Kelly Saddlebags?)

Expectations run high for slogans and signs at tomorrow's Stewart/Colbert rally in DC.Continue reading...

NBC is returning to a more traditional outreach to woo agencies and advertisers for the 2010-11 season.

Hoping to get out of fourth place in primetime viewership, NBC and its NBC Universal family of cable networks is going "back to basics" in its outreach to brand marketers this year, says NBCU president of ad sales Mike Pilot.

"For us, it’s a requirement, our big issue in the marketplace is getting NBC primetime back to health,” Pilot tells the New York Times.

Its May 17th New York upfront event for media buyers will take a more "traditional" tone in promoting NBC’s 2010-11 season. That means it will be “all about programming,” said Pilot. “We’re going to show a lot of tape; we’re going to have a lot to show.”

Twenty pilots are in development, as NBC is (a) looking for that most elusive of creatures: a hit and (b) to “repopulate the 10 o’clock hour” following the collapse of Jay Leno's talkshow at that hour.Continue reading...