Adidas releases spot featuring David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Derrick Rose, and Katy Perry, whose single ("Part of Me") is the featured soundtrack.

Apple products can now be found in half of all U.S. households.

Charles Barkley cross-dresses in new Weight Watchers campaign.

Facebook stops secondary market trading ahead of May IPO.

Jeremy Lin meets with ESPN employee fired over racist headline.

JetBlue's unhinged pilot charged with a criminal complaint.

Netflix appears to follow through with Qwikster plan after all.

News Corp. said to plan sports network to rival ESPN.Continue reading...

The 60-second spot, above, in the new "All In" global campaign by Adidas has racked up almost 1.2 million views since going live on Thursday — helped by a clever teaser campaign, and the appearance of Katy Perry, Derrick Rose, David Beckham and other star athletes and performers.

Also helping boost views for the spot: the soundtrack is "Civilization" from the new album from Justice, which isn't on sale until April 4th.

Adidas has been posting a series of blink-and-you'll-miss-them sneak peeks at the star athletes and performers in its upcoming "All Adidas" global campaign.

"All Adidas," its biggest campaign to date, features athletes (Lionel Messi, Derrick Rose, David Beckham, Dwight Howard) and musicians including Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg and B.o.B. Check them out below.Continue reading...

As the Chinese economy evolves, brand marketers there seem to be following in the footsteps of other global brands in applying tried and true techniques, such as using celebrities. What's different, though, is that upstart Chinese brands are importing foreign celebrities to pitch local products to Chinese consumers.

Basketball star Kevin Garnett is just one example of a Western celeb finding fame and fortune in China. As he discusses above, locals now chant "KG" when they spot him in the street — also the brand name of the locally-produced sneakers he's been busy promoting in the off-season.Continue reading...

Adidas kicked off its World Cup campaign with "Fast vs. Fast" spot (above) featuring Lionel Messi, David Villa and Zinedine Zidane. Other brands in the news today:

Reuters is streaming today's US Senate hearing with BP and other oil industry executives addressing the Gulf spill and clean-up. (Or, read Vanity Fair's blog.)

Intel is "transforming into a computing company," even as it approaches the "one billion chips sold" mark, says CEO.

Mercedes-Benz is one of 25 advertisers kicking the tires on new Firefly Video ad network.

P&G, NBC team up for Life Goes Strong, a portal targeting the still-hot boomers' segment.Continue reading...