Here's another novel Valentine's Day promotion — Kraft is running a Twitter-based campaign with brand voice Ted Williams. The "homeless to Hollywood" voiceover phenom is reading fans' Valentine's Day Tweets tagged #voiceoflove and for every tag, Kraft will donate 100 boxes (up to 100,000 in total) of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese to Feeding America. Check out one example below and more on KMC's YouTube channel.Continue reading...

Apple, now worth more than Google and Microsoft combined, is hit with stores protest over Foxconn treatment of workers in China, while fans anticipate new iPad and iPhone models.

Barclays caps bonuses as profit falls.

Beyonce and Jay-Z move to trademark daughter's name.

Bing and Viggle partner for second-screen Grammy effort.

Citibank bill-pay app charged some users twice, bank concedes.

Continental pushes past Southwest in customer loyalty.Continue reading...

Jobs, jobs, jobs — they remain a topic utmost on Americans' minds as the slowly dropping unemployment rate largely belies the reality of a U.S. labor market that is only slowly picking up momentum. Brand executives know this, and more of them have taken to wielding job creation as a branding device, like Subway.

But corporate strategy sometimes dictates a different turn even when eliminating jobs is the last thing a brand wants to do. Among the big brands announcing layoffs in recent days: Novartis, which is restructuring its U.S. business and cutting 1,960 positions; Goldman Sachs, which laid off 2,400 employees last year with more to come; Citigroup, which is shedding about 5,000 jobs globally; Kraft, which announced that it will cut 1,600 North American jobs as it prepares to split into two companies. All eyes are on Kodak, too, as the company prepares to restructure.

Kraft — which made headlines with one high-profile hire in the past year: golden-voiced homeless-to-Hollywood phenom Ted Williams, at top — is now shedding ballast in order to survive a difficult future, where its strategy is to split into a global snack company and a North American grocery operation later this year.Continue reading...

The world's second largest food company (annual revenues of about $49 billion) is home to eleven billion-dollar iconic brands: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, and Trident.

But what about Kraft's smaller brands, at risk of being sent to the glue factory because of flagging consumer interest or meager ad budgets?Continue reading...

Kraft is all about collaboration these days. Here are its new tweet-inspired commercials, turned around within 24 hours, and the continuing voiceover talent of Ted Williams:Continue reading...

Kraft signaled that it’s taking a whole new approach to marketing with its opportunistic hiring of the golden-voiced former homeless man, Ted Williams, in January.

Despite Williams' dulcet tones, the children featured in those macaroni and cheese spots have been a little cheeky, saying "screwed up" and "piehole" as they roll their eyes at their parents.

Now the CPG giant is continuing on the profane theme, featuring a blunt-talking grandmother as the face (and potty mouth) of its Athenos brand.Continue reading...

Deutsche Telekom is in preliminary talks to sell T-Mobile to Sprint, a deal that would remake the mobile landscape.

Facebook introduces movie streaming and rentals with Warner Bros., sending Netflix stock down; and launches real-time analytics for social plug-ins.

BP plans $3.5 billion bond sale as CEO apologizes for Gulf Spill and says industry must take more precautions.

Airbus receives $9.5 billion order for 100 jets.

American Apparel head Dov Charney's latest scandal: a $250 million employee lawsuit alleging sexual assault.

Bill Gates is unlikely to reclaim the world's richest title tomorrow, due to philanthropic contributions.

Bupa launches integrated marketing campaign and new tagline.

Coca-Cola invests in green bottling facility in UK.Continue reading...

Or maybe it just feels like 100. Snoop's allure to brand marketers — including Pepsi, Chrysler and Orbit gum — continues with his latest turn for MetroPCS: G-Connection, a branded entertainment spin on dating shows, featuring the Doggfather with Ted "Golden Voice" Williams — and the 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Indulge.

Below: his recent NBA All-Star weekend spot for Adidas —