Kellogg has been working on a comprehensive brand overhaul during the last several months, and now one of the first significant fruits of its efforts is coming out: A new campaign promoting some of its classic cereals, focused on their simplicity and goodness.

Running under the tagline "Goodness of a Simple Grain," the new campaign extols Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Raisin Bran in a farm-to-table positioning that is so popular these days (see: McDonald's farmer spots and Chipotle's Willie Nelson video) and combines it with simplicity messaging, emphasizing that there are only four ingredients, for instance, in Corn Flakes. One spot says Kellogg takes these products "from the seed to the spoon."

"We have a number of brands like this that we've been making for a hundred years," Doug VanDeVelde, Kellogg's SVP of morning foods, marketing and innovation, told Adweek. "But consumers weren't really aware of that, and we need to, in a very simple way, remind them."Continue reading...

The five young women who won Olympic gymnastics gold for the United States in London were repeatedly called the Fab Five by television announcers and others. But that term has already been trademarked by basketball player Jalen Rose, who was on the 1991 Michigan team that used that same nickname.

So USA Gymnastics is planning to try and trademark the term “Fierce Five” to honor the team and make a few bucks in the process, according to Bloomberg. The team will have to battle for the trademark, though it will likely be easier than beating out Russia for the gold to get it. Continue reading...

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...

As a top sponsor of Team USA, AT&T’s "My Journey" campaign highlights the path to the London 2012 Olympics for eight athletes, along with the mobile apps and content that helped get them through rigorous training. Condensed versions of the profiles are now running as commercials during NBC's primetime coverage of the Summer Games across America.

Fans can download each athlete's favorite app, such as gold medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte's favorite SuperMonkey Ball 2, song (Lochte picked "American Star" by Lil Wayne) and an item for a sweepstakes (Lochte signed a skateboard), now through August 14th.Continue reading...

The outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries has been a constant presence for U.S. politicians, pundits, and the H.R. departments as they lay off Americans in recent years. The perception among consumers is that pretty much nothing is made in America anymore. And anything that is, isn’t totally high-quality.

This, of course, is completely bogus. While plenty of jobs have been shipped out of the country, there many companies that do all they can to make quality products and proudly hoist the "Made in America" banner. Those companies now have a major cheerleader in the American Brand Project, a patriotic social startup that rates just how American different companies are in order to help consumers make informed decisions on what to buy.Continue reading...

A new ad campaign from Kellogg’s points out that our culture is a little fixated on the end of sporting events. Featuring Olympic swimmer Rebecca Soni, the new ad is all about the start of each day, how it is filled with potential as well as, of course, quality cereals. The campaign also marks the first time that the brand has ever run a national TV spot during the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics Games.Continue reading...

Hang in there, folks, we're only hours away from the Opening Ceremonies of the XXX Olympiad. Above, members of the U.S. Olympics swimming team including Michael Phelps sing their rendition of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe." Phelps has already won 16 Olympic medals and had made plenty of dough from sponsorships and endorsements. But now he’s entering these Games with fellow American Ryan Lochte nipping out his heels and thepostgame.com is wondering what will happen to Phelps’ earning power if he happens to lose a few races this time around. "If he walks away with no medal at all, it would be a tremendous disappointment and devastating for the brand," brand expert Laura Ries tells the site. "People want winners, especially Americans." His current sponsors include Speedo, Hilton, Subway, Visa, Proctor & Gamble, HP, Topps and Omega. Not too shabby. Even he does lose, he’s got enough in the bank already to last him a pretty long time.

Below, a few more headlines leading into the biggest sports event that will be gripping the planet in the weeks ahead:Continue reading...

Social media mavens can't help themselves, as details leaked virally this week following Monday's technical dress rehearsal (that's the crowd above) for Friday's opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The ceremony's artistic director, filmmaker Danny Boyle, begged those in attendance to "save the surprise" and even projected a Twitter hashtag (#savethesurprise) on the stadium's giant screens, but spectators tweeted pictures of the event and chatted up that the theme (spoiler alert!)...Continue reading...