A few years ago, UGG was stomping all over its competitors, but these days, the Australian company is just dancing as fast it can to keep consumers buying.

Yes, there are still queues at the UGG store in New York's Soho district, but that's mostly among tourists, which is why the brand is opening in the trendier Meatpacking district, joining Patagonia and Lululemon in cozying up to crowds at the Standard Hotel and upmarket retailers such as Jeffrey in a bid to woo higher-end shoppers.

The brand sparked a sheepskin boot craze more than a decade ago, and while it's trying to shore up its US business with a new commercial featuring brand ambassador Tom Brady ("Pink Slip," above) and a new store aimed at men, its popularity persists in markets such as the UK, where this month, the company is opening its seventh concept store and working hard to woo kids of all ages.Continue reading...

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is one of the most-watched NFL players in the biz, particularly by folks who don’t care for the game. Being married to supermodel Gisele Bundchen will do that for a guy.

So it set tongues wagging Wednesday when Brady showed up at his weekly Wednesday press conference wearing a gray sweatshirt that had the Nike logo that is usually there on the sleeve covered up with a little piece of white tape. Nike, of course, is the official supplier of the NFL’s apparel. But, as NESN points out, Brady has a deal with competitor Under Armour.

Brady talked about plenty of things, such as his ailing right shoulder and the team’s 1-2 record. But he didn’t address how that piece of perfectly sized tape happened to get onto his sweatshirt right at that particular spot.

The Boston Globe's New England Patriots beat reporter, Shalise Manza Young, tweeted the photo above and later commented, "Brady has vested interest in UA - not just spokesman, gets share of profits."Continue reading...

Are you ready for some football? Big brands surely are. The National Football League may be a marketing and TV-programing juggernaut, but it is carrying more weight for more major brands than ever.

Take auto advertisers, for instance. Despite football telecasts that already were slated to be crowded with other car brands, Audi decided to use tonight's kickoff game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys for the marketing launch of its crucial new 2013 S Models. These performance nameplates (S6, S7 and S8) and the "S" brand are fundamental for Audi to move to the next phase of its positioning in the U.S. market, as a provider of exciting, luxurious and well-designed automobiles.

And so the NFL gets the call tonight to host the first Audi ad under its new tagline, "Heighten Every Moment," featuring the Audi S8. The 60-second spot (watch it above) will run in the first break after kickoff. Audi also announced that it will appear in the Super Bowl game in February, its sixth consecutive advertising appearance in the big game.Continue reading...

When Chrysler airs the first TV commercial for the 2013 Dodge Dart tonight during the All-Star Game, a lot more is at stake than may be readily apparent.

The spot opens with the line, "'How to change cars forever," features cameos by Tom Brady and other athletes, runs for an unconventional 90 seconds, and positions Dart as a game-changer. It really needs to be that for Chrysler, for a number of reasons.Continue reading...

Apple gears up for "incredible" new products and focuses on TV.

RIM prospects dim further as BlackBerry wanes.

Pepsi inks biggest marketing deal yet for Twitter.

Airbus woes give Boeing some breathing room on next plane.

Allstate leads insurers to best start in nearly a decade in wake of fewer natural disasters.

BYD defends electric car after crash.

British Airways touts "height cuisine."

Caterpillar faces resistance to deal from stirking machinists.

Charles Schwab confronts impulse buying in social campaign.

CNN signs Anthony Bourdain to weekend show.Continue reading...

UGG Australia boots aren’t generally the things you want to pull on when the weather outside gets frightful, but the mild winter may have hurt overall sales in the last quarter for Deckers, the boot’s manufacturer.

SeekingAlpha.com opines that even though parent company Deckers owns other brands such as Teva and Sanuk, the company is made or broken on the success of UGG.

“We think the exceptionally mild weather created a tough selling environment, which dragged down sales and hurt pricing in the first quarter,” the site notes. “We also think some pent-up demand may accumulate because consumers didn't really have the opportunity to dress for the weather as much as they might in other years.”

The good thing is that Ugg boots are positioned as a classic — they don’t change too much year-to-year so whatever didn’t sell this winter can just be trotted out again next year. As SeekingAlpha points out, “UGG boots aren't merely a fad, but rather a staple of the American female's closet.”

Of course, UGG designs for men, too, as the brand's spring campaign and Tom Brady endorsement in the U.S. points out. And the brand offers more than just its iconic sheepskin boot.

All that doesn’t help Deckers at the moment.Continue reading...

BMW faces snafu in Europe marketing a Mini cold front.

Boeing checks 787 Dreamliners for possible delamination.

Eli Manning's star rises with second Super Bowl win, edging personal brands of brother Peyton and rival Tom Brady.

Facebook is challenged by monetizing mobile.

Ford says majority of big-market dealers are on board for investments in Lincoln brand.

GM aims for $10 billion in annual profit.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein emerges as corporate spokesman for same-sex marriage.

HP nods toward activist investors.

Honda pulls forward major changes to struggling Civic this fall.Continue reading...

Barring another outbreak of Tebowmania on the field at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, the New England Patriots seem poised to take another step on a return to possible Super Bowl glory by defeating the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

But if you were a brand executive assessing the field of highly paid athletes and betting on longer-term endorsement outcomes, not the scoreboard for this particular contest, on which starting quarterback would you place a bet: Tom Brady, the Patriots' pretty-boy field general with the California pedigree, supermodel wife in Gisele Bundchen and other trappings of a jet-setter lifestyle? Or Tim Tebow, the home-schooled Floridian, son of evangelical missionaries and run-minded leader who confesses to one 'vice': vanilla ice cream?

It's a timely question for a number of reasons, one being that neither has begun a full exploitation of his commercial potential.Continue reading...