Today's Brandlympics round-up is brought to you by table tennis, the London 2012 Olympics sport celebrated in today's Google homepage logo:

Romneys in Two Horse Races

Most folks around the U.S. didn’t know a smidge about dressage before this year, but now that the wife of an American presidential candidate’s horse is in the event at the Olympics, there are suddenly more than a few people who know a bit about the sport that features horses making different predetermined movements as if they are dancing ballet. And even those who don’t know a thing about it have made it a political symbol, trying to show that the Romneys cannot possibly understand everyday Americans when they are involved in such an upper-crust sport. Satirists such as Stephen Colbert have gone to town with it and it is certainly likely to continue no matter if the horse in question, Rafalca, brings home a medal or not. It is unfortunate timing for Romney, who has stuck his foot in his mouth more than a few times in the past week while trying to establish his street cred as an international statesman. And Romney’s announcement of a vice-presidential candidate could get slightly delayed if his wife’s horse gets into the Olympic dressage final. Then again, if Rafalca wins gold, he may have found his running mate after all.Continue reading...

Louis Vuitton pays tribute to "The Greatest," boxer Muhammad Ali, with the digital experience The Greatest Words.  In two short films, "Float" and "Life," spoken word artist Yasiin Bey and calligrapher Niels Shoe Meulman revisit the words of Mohammad Ali, with a helping hand from rapper/actor Mos Def.Continue reading...

On the 40th anniversary of his historic Madison Square Garden bout with Muhammad Ali, boxing legend Joe Frazier passed away last night at the age of 67 following the biggest fight of his life — with liver cancer.

Smokin' Joe was not the commercial juggernaut that fellow former boxing champ George Foreman became, but Frazier appeared in his share of ads. Incidentally, he was often singing in those ads.Continue reading...

Brands are hot properties today, especially in the media and entertainment business.

Brands are not just showing up in television shows and movies, they're being tightly integrated with content. Sometimes the brands are actually the stars, as in the case of toymaker Hasbro, which is partnering with Discovery Communications to launch a cable channel for children later this year.

Haim Saban wants a piece of that brand action. The creator of the wildly successful Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (which shed the Mighty Morphin moniker in 1996) characters became a billionaire after they were spun off into TV and movies.

He also launched children's television programming that led to the creation of Fox Family Worldwide, a unit of News Corp. that was later sold to Disney and relaunched as ABC Family.

Realising the power of brands as lucrative merchandising and licensing opportunities, Saban Brands is launching as a unit of Saban Capital Group with an initial investment of $500 million "to acquire established entertainment and consumer names."Continue reading...