Following the US TV debut of its anti-obesity campaign on cable news networks Monday night, Coca-Cola revealed its new anti-obesity commercial in primetime broadcast TV, with the "Be OK" 30-second commercial (watch below) debuting on FOX's American Idol Wednesday evening and shared on Twitter. According to the Associated Press, this latest commercial will also run before the Super Bowl on CBS.

The spot aims to debunk notions that a can of Coke is high-calorie, with the message that one can of Coke "= 140 happy calories to spend on extra happy activities: 25 minutes of letting your dog be your GPS + 10 minutes of letting your body do the talking [shown over dancing] + 75 seconds of laughing out loud + 1 victory dance. Coca-Cola: 140 calories."Continue reading...

The Coca-Cola Company on Monday evening began airing a two-minute spot (watch below) on U.S. cable news networks. The subject, in a first for the company: America's obesity debate, in a bid to defend its brands ahead of looming beverage size controls in New York City and Cambridge, Mass.

The world's biggest beverage company debuted the "Coming Together" commercial during a prime-time ad buy on the highest-rated shows on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC "in hopes of flexing its marketing muscle in the debate over sodas and their impact on public health," the Associated Press reported. The theme ties into the company's "Live Positively" and "Open Happiness" campaigns.

"The well-being of our families and communities concerns everyone," Coca-Cola describes the spot. "And finding a solution will take continued effort from all of us. Watch to learn more about how we can all make a real difference. At Coca-Cola, we believe when people come together good things happen." A URL at the end of the spot promotes a website, coca-cola.com/cometogether, for more information.Continue reading...

The Onion's stature as a leading satirical pseudo-news source, with its hilarious and sometimes provocative headlines, has long been well-established. Less known to the general public, however, is the existence of its own in-house and marketing agency created to serve leading brands.

That changed to a degree on Monday when The New York Times reported on Onion Labs' latest project: a website for Hilton Hotels and Resorts that helps users detect whether they have "vacationitis" and provides various suggestions on how to combat it.

"Some of our most popular satirical editorial content in The Onion surrounds the workplace and everyday stresses, so it's been exciting to work with Hilton Hotels & Resorts to illustrate diagnoses of vacation blues around the world," stated Grant Jones, The Onion's head of marketing who oversees The Onion Labs. "The cartoon memes aim to inspire workers to fill their 'prescriptions' with a much-needed break from the office."Continue reading...

Apple reportedly working on a lower-end iPhone.

H&M reveals launch plans for & Other Stories store brand.

Lance Armstrong to discuss doping in exclusive live-streamed Oprah Winfrey interview as new allegations arise.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos doesn't care about profit margins.

American Airlines upgrades international travel.

Asus looks to share in Google Nexus glory.

Audi A7 self-driving autopilot car goes for a spin at CES.

Beauty brands including Philosophy try oxygenating products.

Best Buy's former CMO lands at LivingSocial.

Boeing sees formal probe of Dreamliner.Continue reading...

The upcoming James Bond film Skyfall is a marketing juggernaut for its tie-in partners as well as for the products that will actually appear in the film. These placed products include Coke Zero, Sony, Caterpillar, gunmaker Walther and, of course, most famously, Heineken. Even Turkey and China are associating with 007.

One of the firms responsible for some of Skyfall's product placement is Seesaw Media. Brandchannel spoke with Seesaw Media Founder and Director Darryl Collis about the hullaballoo over the product placement in Skyfall as well as how all of the negative media might impact future product placement deals.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola continues its Coke Zero marketing tie-in for the upcoming James Bond movie release/brandstravaganza with a London promo that turned London commuters into 007, for 70 heart-pounding seconds, all for the chance to win Skyfall tickets:Continue reading...

Just as it did with the last Spider-Man movie, Sony has released a movie tie-in commercial for the upcoming James Bond movie that showcases the Xperia TL, the official smartphone of Skyfall. Sony Classical has also announced that it will release the Skyfall soundtrack on Nov. 6th.

Sony joins Heineken, Walther, Coke Zero, Omega, Tom Ford and other brands tapping into Skyfall fever. As  Anderson Cooper's recent 007 profile on 60 Minutes reported, "companies don't pay to be placed in a Bond film but agree to spend millions marketing the movies. Heineken, 007's beer of choice in Skyfall, is spending $75 million on a worldwide ad campaign."

The sure-to-be-blockbuster's most unexpected product placement so far?Continue reading...

For 50 years, James Bond has been finding his way out of life-threatening situations and winning hearts on the world’s silver screens. Friday, Oct. 5th marks the 50th anniversary of Bond on the silver screen, which is being promoted as Global James Bond Day. And in about a month, the British spy will come striding onto the big screen once again, so that means the heavy media push is now on.

The upcoming Bond film, Skyfall, has already been raising some eyebrows with the news that 007 will enjoy a Heineken during the film and not his typical martini tipple, with fans encouraged to help the new Bond girl, Severine, "crack the case" in a Facebook mystery game. But plenty of other marketers are jumping on the film’s release as well to encourage consumers to be more like the women-objectifying, consistently drinking, hidden-weapon-wielding Bond.Continue reading...