In a deal that looks to dramatically change the complexion of the media business, U.S.-based Liberty Global will buy the U.K.'s Virgin Media to create a broadband company that will supplant Comcast as the world's biggest cable operator.

The $23 billion deal, if approved, will give Liberty Global a strong foothold in the UK. In an intriguing twist, it will also pit Liberty Global's John Malone against his former partner, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who operates British Sky Broadcasting (widely known as "BSkyB"). BSkyB has been a bright spot in an otherwise difficult time or Murdoch.

"This deal is good news for the company, its customers and our people," commented another media titan: Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur who founded the Virgin empire. "Together, Liberty Global and Virgin Media are in a great position to shake up the industry and bring the full power of digital technology to UK consumers."

The largest media acquisition of its kind since 2007 "will make the U.K. the ring for a straight slug fest between two global pay-TV heavyweights, John Malone and Rupert Murdoch, as they battle for UK fixed broadband, fixed voice and pay-TV subscribers," according to Adrian Drury, principal analyst at the global consulting firm Ovum.Continue reading...

After confirming his status as one of the world's best and most charismatic athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, World's Fastest Man Usain Bolt is still on a roll — or shall we sway sprint — and more brands want to ride in his lightning-fast wake.

Nissan has re-upped with Bolt, staying in the stable of brands who have tied in with him before, during and since the Olympics, including Gatorade and Virgin Media. Nissan is developing a special "Bolt" version of its GT-R performance car.

The smiling sprinter signed a deal with Nissan to extend his role as brand ambassador for the 196-mph GT-R and to become honorary "Director of Excitement" for the company's ambitious global marketing drive, prompting a flurry of photos on the Nissan Motors Facebook page and video on its global YouTube channel.Continue reading...

AMC stages World Zombie Day to lobby Dish Network.

Audi contemplates minivan.

Best Buy plans to match online prices.

Bugatti goes social with its super-car brand.

Burger King seeks the next new big marketing idea.

Cadillac considers sports car.

Carrefour lifts recovery hopes.

Coca-Cola Hellenic, Greece's biggest company, quits the country.

Fila pursues Adidas market share.Continue reading...

Just before and during the London Olympics, athletes were not allowed to tweet support for advertisers and marketers unless they were official sponsors of the Games. This led to a few of them being so irked that they tweeted with such hash tags as #wedemandchange and #rule40 so the general public could see that it wasn’t all rainbows and Happy Meals at the Olympic Village.

The ban has been lifted and one of the fastest to take advantage, of course, was the Fastest Man in the World, Usain Bolt. As Ad Age points out, the above Gatorade ad he appears in explicitly notes that the company wasn’t an official sponsor, with a narrator saying, "We weren't there on stadium billboards. We weren't there on double-decker buses. We weren't on buttons, souvenirs or commemorative snow globes. We weren't there officially sponsoring anything. We were there for real -- inside the bodies of some of the greatest athletes on earth." While the voice rolls on, a mysterious figure wearing a hood walks the streets of London before being revealed to be Bolt. Continue reading...

It’s a wrap for the London 2012 Olympics, and in addition to the new athletic records that were set, fans, brands and athletes interacting together collectively took the gold as the undisputed winner of the first Social Olympics.

From the opening ceremony on July 27th, which generated 9.66 million tweets (and in the next 24 hours more than all those during the entire 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing), a total of more than 150 million tweets were shared during and about the Olympics.

World's Fastest Man™ Usain Bolt was the most talked about athlete, inspiring a blinding fast 80,000 tweets per minute (TPM) during his gold medal-winning 200m sprint and 74,000 TPM during his 100m run, while the Spice Girls reunion at the closing ceremony inspired 116,000 TPM.

Twitter's recap highlights other social highlights of these games including: Michael Phelps and Tom Daley trailing Bolt as the most discussed athletes, and Andy Murray, third-highest at 57,000 TPM after winning the gold medal in men’s tennis singles.Continue reading...

Visa's high-profile TV campaign for the London 2012 Olympics, like the commercial featuring Michael Phelps, carry the tagline, "People everywhere go with Visa." But what that doesn't tell you is that people everywehere at the London Olympics go ONLY with Visa.

That's because every one of the ATMs at the Olympic games accepts only Visa cards. It gets worse: There are only eight — count 'em, eight — ATMs across all of the London Olympic venues, according to the UK's This is Money. In fact, an agreement with Visa led to the removal or disabling of twenty-seven other ATMs.

Basically, that means anyone attending the Olympics without a Visa card needs to bring cash. To speed purchases — in keeping with the brand's London 2012 ambassador Usain Bolt — Visa instituted a contactless payment system, so visitors can wave their Visa card at a payment terminal to get food and souvenirs, or in one a few of London's iconic black cabs.

But on July 29 at Wembley, where Great Britain was playing the United Arab Emirates in football, aka soccer, the system went down. As a result even Visa cardholders were left out in the cold — which is not entirely unusual for Londoners to feel, but still.Continue reading...

General Motors is scrutinized daily by thousands of automotive and business journalists as well as investors and U.S.-government policymakers and a whole host of other people, and yet there remains a mystery about exactly why GM CMO Joel Ewanick became persona non grata so abruptly on July 29th. The latest disclosures, via Bloomberg News, paint a picture of a relationship betweeen Ewanick and his CEO that unraveled in part over lack of decorum.Continue reading...

Jamaica Celebrates as World's Fastest Man and Woman Retain Olympic Titles

Jamaica celebrates its 50th anniversary of freedom today and it couldn't be better timed. Coming on the heels of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's 100-meter gold medal on Saturday to retain her title as world's fastest woman, Jamaicans continued the celebration after Bolt won his fourth Olympic gold medal Sunday, this one for the 100-meter dash in London. Before Bolt defended his World’s Fastest Man status and showed off all his post-race antics and unbelievable smile, the Puma-sponsored sprinter had himself a chicken wrap from McDonald’s, according to USA Today. This admission bodes well for Bolt’s wallet as he will likely be a much-sought-after pitchman in the wake of the Games, even as he disagrees with LOCOG's controversial Rule 40 governing athletes' personal sponsors. Only 25 years old, he may have another gold in him four years from now in Brazil. He's certainly not shy; having just passed one million Twitter fans, his bio reads: "The most naturally gifted athlete the world has ever seen."Continue reading...