Product placement in the US has never been bigger. Meanwhile, in the UK, product placement is exploding… in 2013.

Since the UK authorities opened up the media market to product placement in February 2011, little action has been taken. A flood of product choking British screens, the very thing critics warned about, has not happened. In fact, nothing remotely close has occurred. Fewer than 20 paid placements have been arranged in the last year. But don't despair!Continue reading...

Celebrities getting paid for tweeting brand mentions is nothing new in the US.

Last year we looked at sponsored tweets middleman Sponsored Tweets and its stable of ready-and-tweeting celebs. We found famous names such as NFL star Nick Mangold and Lindsey Lohan getting, respectively, $1,764.75 to $2,985.80 per tweet. Even Kim Kardashian was available for the right price.

Twitter, meanwhile, is opening the floodgates to brand marketers by ramping up "promoted tweets" next month — a move that will, according to All Things D, "give marketers a chance to place their message directly in front of users who follow particular brands, via ads that will show up when a user first logs on to Twitter.com."

But over in the UK, they're still struggling with product placement tweets from celebrities. Now, the ISBA, which represents British advertisers, is pondering producing a guide on celebrity Twitter endorsements for its members. But how enforceable could any rules possibly be?Continue reading...