JCPenney hires Y&R to help with marketing turnaround.

Fiat weighs listing on New York Stock Exchange and considers IPO after it completes merger with Chrysler.

Amazon develops device to stream video to homes.

Burger King expands delivery service.

Carfax hit with antitrust suit by dealerships.

Dr Pepper Snapple finds RC Cola Ten success a pleasant surprise.

Fisker Automotive takes bludgeoning on Capitol Hill.Continue reading...

Dutch brewing giant Heineken is jumping into real-time "second-screen" experiences with a social media strategy targeting consumers on mobile devices. 

"We're working on projects at the moment that are building on consumer behaviour rather than interrupting it," Jeremy Brook, head of digital strategy and media innovation at Heineken told the UK's Marketing Week.

The brewer acknowledges mobile as a "gamechanger" and is offering marketers a chance to join in on the conversation with consumers through branded gaming and interactive events, like a game that allows users to interact with a live UEFA Champions League match or while in attendance at the Ultra Music Festival.Continue reading...

Secretary of State Brings Home 24 Canadians

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry found himself to be the proud owner of a case of Molson Canadian Thursday after settling a bet with Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird.

The pair had wagered cases of beer over who would win the women’s world hockey championship and the US came through on Tuesday with a 3-2 win. Baird will have to live without the case of Sam Adams, brewed in Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts, that would have been coming to him. 

They made the exchange in London, where they are holed up for the G8 conference, leading one to wonder if they each always travel with a case of brewskis—just in case.Continue reading...

HP board shakeup and chairman exit gives CEO Meg Whitman a chance to shake off troubles.

BP faults Deepwater Horizon claims overseer, launches first brand-wide fuel loyalty program.

BMW prepares X4 crossover for U.S. market, makes vehicles greener with fewer cylinders, less gasoline.

Al Jazeera America hires CNN's Ali Velshi as anchor.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos leads $5 million investment round in Henry Blodget's Business Insider.

Apple reportedly signs music labels for streaming service as Google's YouTube clinches deal with Universal Music.

Best Buy may have turned the tide on showrooming Amazon.Continue reading...

Heineken marketing and design types are huddling these days to prepare for the final phase of this year's annual Your Future Bottle Design Challenge. A team of brand people and design experts are planning to select a single winning bottle design at Milan Design Week next month as Heineken uses the second consecutive year of the crowdsourcing initiative to mark the company's 140th year in the beer business.

The brand also is fielding new advertising videos under its two-year-old "Open Your World" campaign, unveiling a new multi-media advertising effort called "Get in the Game" around rugby's Heineken Cup tournament in Europe, looking for volume gains in central and eastern Europe by positioning Heineken as a "five-minute luxury," and enjoying a new designation as the winner of a "Digital IQ Index" for beer brands.

Heineken seems to be all over the place—all over the world, really—with these new branding efforts and mini-campaigns, which of course is the idea.Continue reading...

In the never-ending quest to find good talent, more and more companies are taking to social media and implementing interesting tactics to discover their next great employee. 

Most recently, MasterCard has launched a search for five eager beaver interns. Hopefulls must apply via LinkedIn with an idea of how to facilitate a cashless future. Applicants must then follow MasterCard's Twitter, since that's how they're planning on notfying the chosen applicants. The company even created an animated short to advertise the opportunity.Continue reading...

Alibaba names next CEO.

Denny's cancels franchise deal in China.

Google shows off sample apps for Project Glass a SXSW.

American Airlines and U.S. Airways prepare for merger bumps.

Apple and Samsung values soar.

Barney's New York rebrands Co-op stores as regular Barney's.

BlackBerry stock jumps on Lenovo takeover interest rumor.

BMW to build sub-brand for China.

Boeing sees investigators focus narrowly on batteries in Dreamliner probe.

China's Spring Airlines adds cars to in-flight sales offering.Continue reading...

Heineken’s Star Bottle Arrives Stateside with New Campaign

Heineken’s new taller, sleeker and starred bottle is already available in 170 countries and is now being rolled out in the United States with a new “Arrive Big” ad campaign featuring the brand’s “Man of the World” in such exotic locations as Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Lagos, Nigeria and New York City. In each location, the protagonist finds himself in prickly situations at various clubs, yet somehow ends up with the girl and the beer (and an #arrivebig hashtag, to boot) in the end.

“Our priority is to ‘break the mold’ in beer marketing with cinematic, sophisticated ads that feature our ‘Man of the World,’ a progressive, cultured guy, who is inventive in any situation,” said Colin Westcott-Pitt, vice president of Heineken, in a press release. Heineken doesn’t go so far as to pull a New Coke move and break the mold inside the bottle, of course.Continue reading...