Most Americans had never heard of Jason Collins before Monday. Even the large majority of NBA fans wouldn’t have immediately placed him, even though he’s played on six teams over the course of 12 seasons. Now he’s going down in the history books as the first active male athlete on a major US sports team to reveal he's gay.

After breaking the news on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the social web lit up with support for the Washington Wizards center, who said he first contemplated coming out during the 2011 lockout, and then was further motivated by the Boston Marathon bombings.

Thankfully, the sporting community and the world in general have changed a lot in recent years, as those that have come before Collins—like the NBA's John Amaechi and tennis legend's Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King—faced harsh criticism from peers and big financial losses from sponsors.

But as for Collins, his announcement will likely be followed up by a multitude of endorsement deals from top brands and maybe even a new contract for next season.Continue reading...

Time Warner is spinning off Time Inc., turning the 90-year-old publisher of Time, People and Sports Illustrated into a separate, publicly held company worth as much as $3.2 billion. 

"A complete spin-off of Time Inc. provides strategic clarity for Time Warner Inc., enabling us to focus entirely on our television networks and film and TV production businesses," said CEO Jeff Bewkes. "Time Inc. will also benefit from the flexibility and focus of being a stand-alone public company and will now be able to attract a more natural stockholder base."Continue reading...

It's the dance trend that will not die. Watch Lululemon's Harlem Shake (yoga-style) version above, and below, Pepsi's two Harlem Shake videos and other brands shaking their thang worldwide, from Australia to Israel:Continue reading...

BlackBerry shows new signs of life as co-founder sells stake.

Apple challenges iPhone trademark loss in Brazil.

Carnival tries to cruise away from brand disaster as passengers mull legal options.

ABC, NFL and Call of Duty get top marks for consumer engagement.

Airbus drops lithium-ion batteries from latest jet.

Applebee's expands test of Express Lunch service.

Best Western focuses on its people, not perks, in new campaign.Continue reading...

Amazon bolsters challenge to Netflix with CBS deal, nabs top spot on Harris annual brand reputation survey and mobile retail satisfaction survey.

Alitalia considers giving up independence to stay viable.

American Express tests Twitter purchases by hashtag.

Apple CEO Tim Cook gets VIP invite to President Obama's State of the Union Address; Apple to webcast Cook's conference remarks today.

Auntie Anne's Pretzels can't get Chinese to bite.

Barclay's plans to cut 3,700 jobs and change focus.

BNY Mellon releases research about insurance industry challenges.

Carnival sees engine fire disable cruise ship in Gulf of Mexico.

Coca-Cola profits rise on higher case volume.Continue reading...

A venerated cash cow for Time Inc., Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit issue generates 7 percent of the magazine's annual revenue. Its readership is estimated to be 30% female, and the magazine is known to influence bikini and swimsuit trends and sales. 

Lexus is pitching a hybrid tablet/print experience with CinePrint™, its proprietary ad technology to merge print and digital. The Toyota-owned luxury automaker demonstrates the 2013 ES in a video demo (below) of its ad in the Oct. 15th issue of Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated magazine — just slip a tablet under the page to see it come to life.Continue reading...

One of the lasting memories of the London 2012 Olympics is hard to overlook: the measurable impact of women on the Games. More women competed than ever before, more women won medals and, Michael Phelps not withstanding, women garnered more of the media attention. In addition, it seems Procter & Gamble, Visa, and other brand marketers fell all over themselves trying to tie their brands to the success of  female athletes.

But now it's football season in the U.S. and, surprisingly, the focus remains on — you guessed it — women. The National Football League, never one to miss a brand marketing opportunity, is kicking off a campaign called "It's My Team." The target audience for a merchandising push that started last September is 85 million female football fans — almost half of the NFL's fan base. "We realized that while we had terrific products for women, we needed to build awareness," said Tracey Bleczinski, VP of consumer products, in an interview with Marketing Daily. "We have gone after it in a much more significant way and the response from our female fan base has been tremendous." Continue reading...