Who really crosses the velvet rope in the summer nightlife scene? Those with beautiful hair, according to a series of vignettes produced by NBCUniversal's Integrated Media and Creative Partnerships & Innovations group — the ad sales unit that lines up product integrations for branded entertainment across NBCU's stable of media properties — about Unilever’s new premium hair care brand, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy.

Featuring 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski; Bravo exec/host Andy Cohen; Giuliana Rancic of E!; and NBC's "Saturday Night Live" alum Tim Meadows, the vignettes portray "Best Night Ever," the story of Logan and Chloe, who gain access to nightlife hotspot "Clear" and rub shoulders with NBCU talent, eventually making it into the exclusive inner sanctum, "The Source." 

The campaign is now running on NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Style, NBC.com, Bravotv.com, Eonline.com, Oxygen.com, MyStyle.com, and DailyCandy, breaking May 21st during "Bethenny Ever After" on Bravo and ending the week of June 11th.Continue reading...

Tropicana's low-cal Trop50 brand has been on a roll lately, and the company is trying to extend this hot sub-brand by invading another segment of the beverage market instead of sticking with juices.

Trop50 Juice with Tea is a fruit-juice and tea mix with "50% less sugar and calories" than regular juice, combining fruit juices with white and green teas, in three flavors. Additionally, Tropicana is introducing a new variety of "regular" Trop50, Red Orange, which provides a full day's supply of vitamin C, and a dose of potassium to boot.

PepsiCo is supporting Trop50 with new TV spots that extend its "Girlfriends" TV campaign starring Jane Krakowski that debuted in Canada.Continue reading...

With all the pontificating about the performance of traditional PepsiCo beverage brands such as Pepsi, it's easy to lose sight of a bright spot shining forth from the company's voluminous beverage portfolio, and one emanating from its controversial stable of better-for-you products as well: Trop50.

The low-calorie juice brand, sweetened with stevia and marketed in a campaign featuring 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski that originated in Canada, is headed to $300 million a year in sales after only three years on the market — a pittance, revenue-wise, compared with conventional orange juice, where PepsiCo's Tropicana brand is one of the leaders. But it's been an impressive ramp-up for a new product in a mature segment where all sorts of things have been tried before.

"We went after a segment who love the goodness of juice without also limiting calorie consumption," Kate Keller, Trop50's director of marketing, told brandchannel. "And they don't want to sacrifice the great taste of juice. They're getting the goodness of juice and taste and sugar at half the sugar and calories — it's pretty simple for them."Continue reading...

Canada has long had a love affair with all things Floridian, including orange juice. 

Now Tropicana, Canada’s leading juice brand, is promoting its Trop50 sub-brand — positioned as a vitamin-enhanced juice beverage, naturally sweetened with Reb-A derived from the stevia plant — with the help of an actress who plays a Floridian on TV ... at least, part-time.Continue reading...

Gwen Stefani for HP, Michael Jordan for Hanes, Dr. Dre for HP, Peyton Manning for Sony, Lady Gaga for Polarioid, Lance Armstong for Radio Shack, Michael Vick for… ArTran?

A new study confirms what a lot of people on both ends of the advertising paradigm suspect: celebrity endorsements aren't worth it. My colleague Sheila Shayon earlier pondered this question — find out why the evidence is swinging in favor of taking back the swag bags and shutting down the gravy train.Continue reading...

The convergence of digital technology and online media has spawned the increasingly popular webisode, and the branding industry is scrambling to understand and capitalize on this new tool. Today, brands and entertainment are part of a flourishing new ecosystem powered by digerati from outside Hollywood and Madison Avenue – and sponsored web series are the new currency.

TV networks and media agencies are developing webisodes at a furious rate. Traditional producers such as Magical Elves, Reveille and Fremantle, are being joined by comparative newcomers, Katalyst, Vuguru, and Electric Farm.

Early entrants learned tough lessons in trying to port television-sized productions and budgets to the web. Successful partnerships now include producers and brands from the get-go. Marketing budgets now grant projects approval previously in the domain of network executives.Continue reading...