Apple dodges $9 billion in US taxes with bond deal.

Google named Advertiser of the Year. 

Volkswagen makes $10 million donation to the National Mall.

Adidas sales drop on weakening Reebok brand.

Barnes & Noble begins support of Google apps on Nook.

Beam sales rise because of "formula run" on Maker's Mark.

Diet Coke slims down its vending machines.

Ford adds jobs and raises capacity to make pick-up trucks.

Geritol seeks new life with younger consumers.

Huffington Post brings rapid-response "native" ads to its home page.Continue reading...

AB InBev Finally Making Deal With US Over Modelo

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, which controls close to 19 percent of the globe’s beer market, has been trying to buy Mexico’s Grupo Modelo SAB, which owns close to 3 percent of the world’s beer market, for months now, only held up by the pesky US government, which thought the merger could mean too much power for AB InBev. 

The two sides have been talking since at least February about how a deal might be structured so that everybody gets what they want. And now, just days before the two sides were requested to report to a US District Judge, the word on the street is that they have come to an agreement, Bloomberg.com reports.

In order to have this merger occur, Modelo will have to “sell control of all its brands in the US, as well as a brewery it built in Piedras Negras, Mexico, to Constellation Brands (STZ), a winemaker and drink-distribution company,” Bloomberg reports. As part of the new agreement, InBev “gave up an option to buy back a stake in Crown Imports LLC, the US distributor of Corona and the other Modelo brands.” Crown will end up being owned by Constellation.Continue reading...

When Comcast formally acquired NBC Universal back in January of 2011, it was only a matter of time before the two sports powerhouses combined their national, regional, and cable efforts to create a single sports media juggernaut.

Following a complete overhaul from brand strategy through to creative execution that included the rebrand of Comcast's Versus channel to NBC Sports Network on January 2nd, 2012, NBC Sports Group is showing off its new face in 2012.

The NBC Sports Group’s new identity launched in January with the rebrand of Versus to NBC Sports Network, and has rolled out across their coverage of the Super Bowl and Triple Crown. The new brand is set to further roll out during NBC Sports Group’s Olympic coverage in July, and will be featured on NBC, NBC Sports Network, the Group’s RSNs (regional sports networks), and digital and web properties.Continue reading...

What do fried chicken, the song Happy Birthday, George Clooney, and Johnny Depp have in common? Count them as some of Kentucky's greatest cultural influences of all time, along with bourbon, Muhammad Ali, and the Kentucky Derby. They even claim to be the birthplace of the high five. So why embrace all of this now?

Because, according to Kentucky, "We know this, but the world needs to know too." With the help of the American public and probably mostly Kentuckians, Kentucky for Kentucky is going to crowd-fund (via Kickstarter), produce, and air the "most epically kick ass Super Bowl 2012 commercial" for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.Continue reading...

An inveterate horse-racing crowd of 155,804 attended Saturday’s running of the 136th Kentucky Derby. An additional record-breaking crowd watched from their living rooms, as Calvin Borel’s Super Saver won, drawing a 10.3/22 overnight rating on NBC Saturday — up a tick from last year's 10.2/22 rating.

The CEO of Louisville’s Churchill Downs, Bob Evans, would like to see the Triple Crown run as one series on one network, instead of divided between NBC and ESPN. There is precedent, as NBC broadcast all three races from 2001-2005.

“They’ve changed the way horse racing is presented,” Evans told the New York Times. NBC has produced the Triple Crown races, creating the epitome of branded entertainment, replete with pre-Derby hoopla that extends the franchise and deepens the ratings. They’ve also leveraged their ‘related’ networks, CNBC and Bravo, to promote the event and sell it as entertainment on shows like Today.Continue reading...