Procter & Gamble is in the unaccustomed position of having to defend its business performance compared not only with rivals but with its own recent past, especially in North America and Europe.

For a company under that kind of watch, both perceptual and actual, what possibily could be better to get out there than images of U.S. Olympians — and their moms — taking advantage of P&G products at the company-supplied hair salon in the "home away from home" that it has set up in London?

The P&G Family Home pavilion at the Summer Olympics site has been a non-stop parade of Olympians and their family members, such as Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Breeja Larson (at right) and visiting fellow gold-medalist skier Lindsey Vonn (OK, she's a Winter Olympian) taking advantage of the salon's stylings featuring P&G's own family brands, and a photo opp showcasing the results.Continue reading...

Procter & Gamble had a good thing going with its mom-focused global campaign heading into the London Summer Olympics, and so like the world-class marketers they are, the company is trying to extend the string of positive impressions throughout the Games.

To that end, P&G CEO Bob McDonald and Global Brand Building Officer Marc Pritchard joined the mothers of several Olympic athletes and other P&G executives to virtually "ring" the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange "remotely" — from the P&G Family Home pavilion in London.Continue reading...

The last Summer Olympics were in 2008. That’s seven katrillion years in technology years. Much has changed since then and marketers are planning to put extra emphasis on an area that has grown exponentially in the last four human years: social media.

Brand marketers are particularly interested in using Facebook to boost their brands this summer. After all, you fish where the fish are — and Facebook had 794 million people visiting it each month of last year, spending an average (per comScore) of six hours per visit.Continue reading...

New York Giants Super Bowl champion Victor Cruz cut the ribbon today in a kick-off event for New York's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, now gearing up to debut Fall 2012 collections starting Thursday morning at Lincoln Center.

There's also a whirlwind of virtual activity in what the HighLow blog calls "the most egalitarian" New York Fashion Week yet, including a Facebook invitation to RSVP to live-streams of the runway shows and join the conversation on Twitter via the #liverunway hashtag.

YouTube and Maybelline will once again sponsor a real-time YouTube channel that will bring 30 of the Fall 2012 runway shows to the world. The runway videos will also be archived at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week YouTube channel.

Cover Girl is partnering with Polyvore and the Fashion Institute of Technology on Polyvore.com/Live, which will see four FIT grads debut their collections to an audience of fashion insiders and bloggers: Lauren Bagliore, Vengsarkar “Ven” Budhu, Sergio Guadarrama, and Dana-Maxx Pomerantz.Continue reading...

Google taps David Beckham to promote Google+ as company grapples with social search fallout, and apologizes for Kenyan flub.

Apple's iPad 3 expected to go on sale in March with HD screen and faster chip. Apple also joined the Fair Labor Association, opening suppliers' doors to labor rights watchdog in transparency response to Foxconn fears — the first tech brand to do so.

Bentley courts Maybach fans including Jay-Z — who has just signed on as the face of (and an investor in) Duracell.

British films to be pitched as a global brand.

BT will offer free Wi-Fi at London Olympic Games.

Disney Studios quickly fills CMO position.

Dr Pepper brand name is removed from Texas town.

Easyjet fined for barring disabled passengers.

Excedrin recall expands to Canada.

Olivia Munn strips off for PETA.Continue reading...

Trending on YouTube, and probably in the minds of most guys, is the newest short film by Armani. The unlisted video (teased on Twitter, Facebook and the just relaunched Armani.com) features Rihanna in a parked car in a garage, film noir style, changing her clothes into stylish Armani jeans and underwear.

Rihanna and Armani (let's just call them Rihannarmani already) teamed up with photographer Steven Klein and the director behind some of Madonna's biggest videos, Johan Renck, for the shoot, which was filmed in a garage in New York. The reason for the video? Rihanna is the new face of Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani Underwear.Continue reading...

Apple and the Weather Channel sued over location-based advertising.

Chrysler may hire up to 3,000 workers.

Cisco, struggling, reveals that AT&T will power its Cius tablet.

Duncan Hines tries to broaden its appeal.

eBay stands to make $1.4 billion on Skype's sale to Microsoft, as Skypers brace for more ads.

Facebook can't keep its Mark Zuckerbergs straight.

FOX releases biometric study assessing brand effectiveness.

Gilt valuation puts web brands to test.

Google will launch Chrome laptops in June.Continue reading...

Kim Cattrall recently became the celebrity face for Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 Advanced Anti-Aging Body Wash."I'm 54, and Olay isn't scared to put a woman of my age up on a poster for their campaign," she commented. "I think that communicates an incredible message for women everywhere." Cattrall and Olay are the exceptions.

Sharon Stone, Raquel Welch, Christie Brinkley, Valerie Bertinelli, Sela Ward, Jaclyn Smith and Kim Basinger are all over 50, and rank at #1-7 on StyleBistro’s list of most beautiful women who are 50 or older.

And yet they are all being passed over and excluded by the beauty industry, according to a recent AARP Media Sales report which found that nearly two-thirds of women in that age group feel forgotten, while 70% don’t identify with beauty products geared towards a younger demo.Continue reading...