As promised, a slew of new ad campaigns made their red carpet debut during the Oscars telecast Sunday night on ABC and in local markets. Below, check out new campaigns for Samsung Mobile (starring director Tim Burton and a unicorn), Kristen Chenoweth for Royal Caribbean, Jennifer Aniston for Aveeno, Naomi Watts for Pantene and more. Then tell us which (if any) you think deserve best in show—and which marketers should have saved a million dollars or so.Continue reading...

Little do the stars know, by the time it comes to Oscars night, the most important performances are on the little screen, not the big one.

During the "Super Bowl of the entertainment industry" on Sunday evening, the ABC telecast of the Oscars, Hyundai and a handful of other advertisers will be leveraging the big stage in big ways for their brands. The prospect of the largest TV audience for the Academy Awards in several years would make achieving their goals easier.

Hyundai, for instance, will be running seven commercials during the telecast—the most of any advertiser—and it has the sole automotive rights to the automotive ad category during the show. Keeping with the show biz theme, it's fitting that Hyundai's voiceover talent is, once again, its longstanding brand voice: Academy Award-winner Jeff Bridges. At a time when Hyundai continues to dimensionalize the brand along both luxury and performance lines, the Oscars are at least as important a forum for the carmaker as for any actor or director.

"We're bullish on the chances for ratings this year, with the combination of films that were critically acclaimed and that also did big box office," Steve Shannon, CMO for Hyundai of America, told brandchannel. "We just like the feel of the Oscars."Continue reading...

Toyota sets to reclaim world sales crown as GMand Volkswagen vie for No. 2 and hints at elimination of Matrix model.

Domino's Pizza founder sues over Obamacare contraception coverage mandate.

McDonald's tries to get franchisees to stay open on Christmas.

Akamai taps co-founder as new CEO.

Burger King works with franchisee to expand in Mexico.

Chobani nears openingof huge new factory in Idaho.

Cosi uses pop-up unit in Chicago to test growth ideas.

Cox cable TV guide offers personalized recommendations in U.S. first.

Discover Communications makes key European deals.

Facebook counts on big deal with Walmart.Continue reading...

Google releases new map app for Apple iPhone, shuts down shopping search in China, and makes porn harder to find, as CEO defends tax avoidance.

Apple settles European e-book price-fixing probe with publishers.

Applebee's interviews creator of #HireKevin campaign.

BMW and Boeing plan to collaborate on making carbon fiber.

Barclays joins industry cost-cutting wave, eliminating 2,000 jobs.

Berkshire Hathaway plans rare buyback of holder's stock.Continue reading...

TCBY, the acronym by which The Country's Best Yogurt chain is better known, once ruled the yogurt-retail world, but in recent years, a lot of competition has grown up around it. Part of that competition targets “back to the earth” consumers who are more interested in going back to a more “natural” yogurt and part of that competition is simply those hoping to horn in on TCBY’s frozen-yogurt mix-in turf.

The explosion in yogurt shops just in New York City of late has been astounding, including Chobani's first standalone boutique. “There’s been a veritable war in the Village,” real-estate broker Faith Hope Consolo, a retail real-estate broker for Douglas Elliman, told the NY Observer. “It’s the fastest-growing franchise in the country.” Don’t think TCBY is taking the war lightly.Continue reading...

Apple rumor created by Swedes as a prank goes viral.

BP nets $2.5bn in deal to sell Californian refinery business and Arco brand.

Canada's media ownership concentration criticized in new report.

Chad Johnson negates powerful personal brand as VH1 series cancelled.

Cosmopolitan founder Helen Gurley Brown passes, remembered, at 90.

Dewar's global brand ambassador chats with the New York Times.

Ford banks on 2013 Fiesta.

GE and Chobani take gold in Ace Metrix Olympics ad ranker.

HarperCollins plans pop-up record store to promote new book.Continue reading...

First Chobani came along and revolutionized the yogurt Americans eat in their homes or on the go, by mainstreaming Greek-style yogurt and creating one of the biggest phenomena in the CPG industry in years. Now enjoying its first Olympics tie-in with its Team USA sponsorship, the New York-based company wants to change the way that Americans consume yogurt with "yogurt bars."

Starting in New York, of course. Chobani just opened its first retail store, on Prince Street in SoHo, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who hailed a new PepsiCo yogurt plant this week in upstate New York — dispatched his lieutenant governor, Robert J. Duffy, to drop by for the store opening. The former site of a Swatch store offers plain Chobani starting at $2.75 as well as "yogurt creations" for $3.75, created by on-site "master yogurt makers."

"Governor Cuomo is proud of that fact that New York State has become the yogurt capital," Duffy commented, according to the New York Times.Continue reading...

GM has new CMO tout Chevy relationship with Manchester United, after changing the terms, as pundits make recommendations on GM's way forward.

Chick-fil-A brand perception drops in wake of LGBT controversy.

Anheuser-Busch InBev sees North American drag on results.

Apple gets knocked for new "Genius Bar" Mac TV campaign as company mulls uses for corporate cash hoard.

BP posts weak earnings.

Chobani celebrates success that led to Team USA sponsorship.

Chrysler earnings leap on U.S. gains.Continue reading...