Starting last Thursday, bigwigs from the NFL’s 32 teams gathered at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to select young players in the hopes that they would become the next John Elway, Gale Sayers, or O.J. Simpson. (Well, OK, maybe not O.J.)

Since 1980, the Draft has been televised and it audience has grown exponentially, with an expected viewership of 50 million for this past weekend's broadcast, Ad Age reports. With that kind of captive audience, sponsorships and advertisers have grown as well. There were 19 official sponsors of the event this year, up from 16 last year. The list included Anheuser-Busch, Nike, Verizon, Pepsi, GMC, Visa, EA Sports, Under Armour, Gatorade and Castrol. It's no doubt that the big names spent more than the $15 million spent across ESPN and the NFL Network last year and the $11.9 million spent the year before.

"To the credit of the NFL, it's the most robust league," Ernest Lupinacci, founder of branding consultancy Ernest Industries, told Ad Age. "They announced the [2013 regular season] schedule and people went crazy. It was as if they let us know they were bringing the McRib sandwich back."Continue reading...

"Brotherhood," Budweiser's 2013 Super Bowl ad, was among those which stood out among rather routine fare.

Super Bowl ads (the complete list) this year provided few gems, according to an emerging consensus of industry professionals.

Many were deemed lame or even confusing, and generally considered ineffective and off-brand. Several brands seemed to suffer rather than benefit from the frenzy of sneak peeks and full-commercial reveals in this year's rush for pre-Game exposure and social buzz.

Last fall, when the National Football League was moving its headquarters up the block from 280 Park Avenue to 345 Park, folks in the NFL Media group came across boxes of hats as they were cleaning out the offices. They were NFL.com promotional hats, with the traditional NFL Shield emblazoned on the front of the cap and an awkwardly placed “.com” sitting to the right of the bottom of the shield.

Those hats actually became obsolete a few years back when the NFL’s brand management team declared that the shield — with the letters N-F-L featured prominently — could not be used as a substitute for the actual acronym in a title or headline.

It’s a rule that was never completely obeyed (when the NFL Network launched the NFL RedZone channel in 2010, that logo used the Network logo in the title), but at least now the media group is becoming a more consistent, streamlined unit.

On April 26, the same day all 32 NFL teams get a new look when they add fresh talent at the annual NFL Draft at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, the five entities that make up the NFL Media group will be unveiling a new look of their own.Continue reading...

Air Canada woos US business travelers to fly via Toronto.

Avon brand challenged in emerging markets.

Canadians went to the polls today in 41st federal election.

Dish Network appoints a new head of embattled Blockbuster chain.

EU contest to name science funding program sees flood of entries. 

Jean-Paul Gaultier brand catches eye of Spanish perfume-maker Puig.

London 2012 Olympics organizers invite public to name neighborhoods.

Mercedes-Benz opens first teen driving school in America.

NASDAQ to "go hostile" with NYSE bid.Continue reading...

* AIG sets a date for its AIA unit IPO.

* Amazon poached Microsoft's head of game platform strategy, Andre Vrignaud.

* Barclays promoted Bob Diamond, an American turned high-profile British banker, as its next CEO.

* BlackBerry-maker RIM acquired mobile startup DataViz for $50 million.

* Christian Dior's "Shanghai Dreams" ad campaign in China deemed racist by some critics.

* Coors Light launches aluminum bottles in time for NFL season.Continue reading...

Retail brands in a marketing stir over Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." [BrandFreak]

CBS turns down advertisement by ManCrunch.com, a gay dating site. [Adweek]

Sports fans unite: Hulu adds the NFL Network to its line-up. [Business Insider]

Ally banks now feature free online checking. [Consumerist]