AB InBev reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice over its disputed $20.1 billion acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which faces inquiry over Mexico worker deaths.

GE to buy Lufkin for $3 billion in oil-and-gas-industry play.

PepsiCo seeks to patent novel high-protein nutrition beverages.

Adidas stops controversial sale of t-shirts around injured Louisville player Kevin Ware.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong to be honored for pro-women Makers series.

Apple's former advisor to Steve Jobs admits brand screwed up iPhone naming system.Continue reading...

Are you ready for some football? Big brands surely are. The National Football League may be a marketing and TV-programing juggernaut, but it is carrying more weight for more major brands than ever.

Take auto advertisers, for instance. Despite football telecasts that already were slated to be crowded with other car brands, Audi decided to use tonight's kickoff game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys for the marketing launch of its crucial new 2013 S Models. These performance nameplates (S6, S7 and S8) and the "S" brand are fundamental for Audi to move to the next phase of its positioning in the U.S. market, as a provider of exciting, luxurious and well-designed automobiles.

And so the NFL gets the call tonight to host the first Audi ad under its new tagline, "Heighten Every Moment," featuring the Audi S8. The 60-second spot (watch it above) will run in the first break after kickoff. Audi also announced that it will appear in the Super Bowl game in February, its sixth consecutive advertising appearance in the big game.Continue reading...

Victoria's Secret was just accused (by a Bloomberg News investigation) of using child labor; this week it's the Kardashians' turn on the hot seat.

Kim Kardashian and her controversy-stirring family are being accused of using sweatshops to manufacture the K-DASH and Kris Jenner Kollection lines for QVC,  by the US-based Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights, according to a report in Star magazine (via Radar). The family responded via a rep that they're unaware of such conditions but are taking the allegations "very seriously."

Other brands being targeted by the global labor and sweatshop watchdog include a Chinese manufacturer of Hasbro's Transformers toys; the Dallas Cowboys; and Walmart, the NFL and NCAA. (Update: Charles Kernaghan, executive director of The Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights, tells TMZ he was misquoted.)

Despite the team's many stumbles on the field over the several years, no other organization has seriously disputed the standing of the Dallas Cowboys as the unofficial "America's Team" of the National Football League — until now.

Based on the opinions of sports branding and marketing experts, licensed-merchandise sales, and other indicators, the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers are challenging to take away the Cowboys' hallowed standing as the favorite "second team" of football fans after their hometown squad. Or so says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a hometown paper of sorts in Wisconsin.

It isn't just the fact that the Packers remain undefeated this season, at 9-0, after Monday night's laugher over the Minnesota Vikings. Or that the team based in America's tiniest NFL hometown is being led by the mid-season favorite to win the league's MVP title, quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Or that Packers linebacker Clay Matthews has become a household name through his endorsement deals with Nike Football, Suave and Muscle Milk.Continue reading...

Google officially launched brand pages on Google+ today, ending months of waiting. The Web giant's pitch to convince businesses and brands to sign up (and unseat Facebook's dominance as the go-to social destination for businesses):

"Google+ pages help you connect with the customers and fans who love you. Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term. They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face. All you need to do is start sharing, and you'll soon find the super fans and loyal customers that want to say hello."

Charter branded G+ pages at launch showed the array of business-hosted pages possible:Continue reading...

The last week of any year takes on an added level of significance as we naturally speculate about the past and future of our lives, both personal and professional. And for those of us who make a living in the branding industry, the following headline from last week should inspire us to reflect, and perhaps pour a stiff drink:

"Kraft Foods poised to sponsor Texas Stadium demolition."

Yes, this is a real story of a brand sponsoring the explosion of an old building. Yes, this is where we've come.

But wait, the comments from the sponsor make it even better worse.Continue reading...

Excuse me for a moment while I cover a Thanksgiving branding subject which I care much more deeply about than any retail brand woe: NFL Football.

For decades, Thanksgiving and football have combined for the "Thanksgiving Classic," a special set of games that occur throughout the Thursday holiday. Traditionally, the two games have been played by the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys. (Recently, a third game has been added to beef up the NFL's own network, the creatively-named "NFL Network.") The Lions, by some measure, have been playing the holiday game for 70-pus year. The Cowboys for over 50.

But prior to the Cowboys/Raders afternoon game, the CBS "NFL Today" pre-game show featured a fan text-in vote to determine "Should the NFL rotate the Thanksgiving Day Game?" The (statistically meaningless) result was 53% to 47% in favor of "yes."Continue reading...

Those watching ESPN's Monday Night Football this week may have wondered what was going on when, just before the game, a truck commercial came on... in Spanish. There were no subtitles. President Obama then addressed viewers to honor contributions of Hispanic football players. That it's Hispanic Heritage Month isn’t the whole story.

One of the teams playing, the Miami Dolphins, is positioning itself to better appeal to Hispanic Americans. Before the game, Marc Anthony (Marco Antonio Muñiz), a singing superstar of Puerto Rican heritage, sang the Star Spangled Banner. During the game, cameras caught Anthony's wife, Jenifer Lopez, cheering. The two have become minority owners of the team. Later in the game, Gloria Estefan, the godmother of US-based Latin pop music, was featured signing autographs on the sidelines.

A 2009 Harris Interactive poll found 51% of US Hispanics said they follow pro football, and NFL teams in states with large Latino populations are vying for their fanship.Continue reading...