Today's Brandlympics round-up is brought to you by field hockey, the London 2012 Olympics sport celebrated in today's Google homepage logo:

Government Not Relaxing Olympic Marketing Ban for Months

The architects of London’s new arenas and sporting venues would like the world to know who they are and what they’ve done, but London won’t allow it. Due to the strict marketing rules in place, the venues can only be associated with London 2012 and the Olympics and not be used to market anyone or anything that hasn’t shelled out the millions it takes to be an official sponsor. And that rule isn’t expected to disappear before year’s end. This, of course, has left the architects unhappy. “The end of the year’s no good,” said Angela Brady, the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, to BDOnline. “All eyes are on London right now. I want the architects to be able to stand proudly in front of their buildings and talk about them to international TV crews. These rules are against the whole spirit of the Olympics. Crushing the small guy is just not on.”Continue reading...

Apple slims down next iPhone as analyst says that iPad Mini and iTV are real products.

AT&T is introducing shared data plans as iPhone users fear iPhone FaceTime charges.

Bank of America swings to profit.

Bob Evans may be considering sale of Mimi's Cafe.

Coke and PepsiCo step up campaign against New York soda ban.

DirecTV finds unlikely friends in dispute with Viacom.

Ericsson earnings plunge on economic slowdowns.Continue reading...

Pizza Hut viral dance craze sweeps South Korea, wooing teens with with in Seoul. (above)

OkCupid dating site breaks down attractiveness of users based on camera and mobile phone brands: Panasonic > Canon > Nikon.

Denny's joins the ridiculous sandwich wars with a Cheese stick sandwich.

New York City transit authority relents and accepts ads referencing 9/11 (more background here).

McDonald's french fry ad crosses over, literally.

Playboy's iPad app disappoints with no-nudity policy (that's right: Hef's keeping the smoking jacket on).Continue reading...