Andy Warhol helped establish Lou Reed's old band, Velvet Underground. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers used to be the house band at Warhol’s Factory happenings in NYC and laid down the tunes at the famed artist’s exquisitely named Exploding Plastic Inevitable events. Heck, Warhol managed the band in its early days.

Perhaps most famously of all, Warhol's painting of a banana graced the cover of the band’s 1967 debut, The Velvet Underground & Nico, inarguably one of the most influential rock albums of all time despite not selling many copies when it first came out. Brian Eno reportedly quipped that only 10,000 people bought the disc, but all of them went out and then formed bands. 

So Warhol’s banana, which he never trademarked, became a symbol of that album and the rock revolution that marked the decade. So when the Underground’s lawyers got word that the Warhol Foundation had licensed the image for use on iPhone and iPad products, a suit was filed; it marked a moment of incongruity to a relationship that had long seemed harmonious.Continue reading...

As we mentioned on Friday, HP is kicking off its new global branding campaign at the Grammy Awards tonight. The brand's new Everybody On commercials feature, above, the music of Lou Reed (the classic Walk On The Wild Side) and after the jump, a spot with Alicia Keys.Continue reading...

HP's new global marketing campaign celebrates how people around the world are using HP technology to pursue their personal and professional passions.

The launch of its worldwide "Everybody On"  tagline and branding campaign – "spanning music, fashion, community activism, business and more" – is being executed via an integrated marketing campaign featuring print, broadcast, online and social media.

It's timed to the launch of three new WebOS-enabled mobile devices this week: the Pre3 smartphone, a mini-smart phone called the Veer and its Touchpad tablet. 

The campaign also builds on the brand's “The Computer is Personal Again” campaign, and will be in evidence this weekend as part of its continuing support of the Grammy Awards on Sunday and Grammy-winning artist Alicia Keys.Continue reading...