After nearly a quarter century under American and then Indian ownership, the Jaguar brand is making a concerted effort to reassert its fundamental Britishness. Jaguar is going from dealer to dealer in the United States discussing new corporate-identity standards meant to wear the English origins and sensibilities—and production—of the cars on their hoods, as it were.

At least in part, the branding moves are meant to contrast Jaguar from its German rivals as Jaguar scraps anew for share in the crowded part of the luxury market around $70,000, with its new F-Type sports car.

The new standards—including a canopy for the service drive, a "heritage wall" and a performance center for the latest models—will "bring out the Britishness and aspects of our heritage," Andy Goss, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover North America, told Automotive News Europe. "We want to convey the message that we are not a Teutonic brand. We will appeal more to the senses. The biggest difference is a lot more color." Cranberry will accent the traditional British racing green in the new standards.Continue reading...

United's MileagePlus program can now give members access to a lot more than just upgraded seats on an airplane. The rewards program, which includes 25 airline partners under the "Star Alliance" seal has teamed up with ScoreBig.com to give members access to live event tickets from the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and college sports to popular family, music and theater performances. 

ScoreBig, which is the first online marketplace for the liquidation of live event tickets will allow MileagePlus members to both earn miles on ticket purchases as well as use miles to make purchases on the site. 

“This is an exciting, first-of-its-kind service offering within the live-entertainment and travel industries," Adam Kanner, ScoreBig CEO said in a press release. "We’re thrilled to be joining with United to introduce ScoreBig to MileagePlus members and to enable them to use or earn MileagePlus miles across millions of tickets at substantial savings."Continue reading...

In a world where an active NBA player has just come out, the Supreme Court is considering the merits of same-sex marriage, and the CEO of the world’s biggest coffee chain told a shareholder to take his money elsewhere if he couldn’t get behind the company’s support of gay rights, there are still plenty of brands that still avoid aligning with the LGBT community in any way. 

United Airlines is not one of them. It has signed on as the official sponsor of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) global convention this weekend in Chicago. The two organizations have had a relationship for more than a decade.

"With more than 85,000 co-workers from around the world, United proudly celebrates the richness not just of our employees' diverse backgrounds, but our customers too,” said Dave Hilfman, United's senior vice president of worldwide sales, according to Chicago Business Journal. “As we say, 'diversity flies with us.'"Continue reading...

The box-office launch for Iron Man 3 is about as promising as Tony Stark's next invention. The three-quel in Disney and Marvel's series about the tech-happy superhero and his industrialist alter ego blitzed competitors with its overseas opening last weekend, taking a $195-million bow while soaring past last year's $185-million overseas debut of The Avengers.

As the movie starring Robert Downey Jr. in the returning title role prepares for its US opening this weekend, the hearty franchise is getting an assist from another returning member of the "cast": the Audi R8 sports car. The German luxury brand placed a version of its R8 in the first and second Iron Man films; this time around Stark's main drive is the all-electric R8 e-tron which has gone into only limited actual production.

"Stark and his passion for innovative technology, his sophisticated wit and his character overall are great representatives for our brand," Drew Elliott, social-media specialist for Audi of America, told brandchannel.Continue reading...

Mazda continues to attempt to climb out of the fray in the US mainstream car market with a determined repositioning as more upscale. The brand continues to add to its tech chops by pushing its SkyActiv sub-brand in creative new ways as well.

The latest: a tie-up with the formidable Star Trek franchise, with a cross-promotion with the latest Paramount film in the sci-fi series, Star Trek into Darkness. With TV, digital, CRM, out-of-home, social media and retail fronts, Mazda is spotlighting the revamped 2014 Mazda6 as well as the SkyActiv powertrain technology. Mazda staged a similar partnership last year with Universal's The Lorax, that time spotlighting the Mazda CX-5 crossover.

One feature of the new platform is a Paramount Star Trek app that has five "interactive missions," one weekly leading up to the movie's May 17 premier. The app launches a scavenger hunt for Star Trek and Mazda content, ascension through the "Starfleet Academy" and merchandise, according to Marketing Daily.Continue reading...

Hipsterrific U.S. beer brand Pabst Blue Ribbon and surfing powerhouse O’Neill could have had a legal battle, but the chill brands instead decided to pound it out and make some money together. 

O’Neill turned out a new surf look recently that caused someone in the Pabst legal department to give them a call to note that O’Neill was getting a little too close for comfort to the logo for Pabst, which is owned by the enterprising bunch at Metropoulos & Co., the company that just linked up with Apollo Global Management to buy the rights to Twinkies for $410 million.

But instead of a brouhaha, the two companies decided (no doubt over a cold one) to chill out and partner on a co-branded line of clothing.Continue reading...

Pepsi's new global platform — the "Live for Now" cross-platform campaign — has found a friend in MTV. Given that Live for Now is music-based, with tie-ins with Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, even Michael Jackson, it makes perfect sense for the beverage giant to tie in with MTV Networks, in addition to MTVN's siblings across the youth-skewing Viacom empire, in order to maximize the exposure of the effort.

With social and digital threaded throughout Pepsi's Live for Now (and Viacom's DNA), the upfront-inked partnership means fans will be able to tweet images with individual hashtags, relevant to various Viacom-owned TV shows and digital properties, for a chance to win prizes and get their photos featured in those shows and in Pepsi's advertising efforts in keeping with these Pinteresting, photo-tagging times we live in.Continue reading...

"Rubbin', son, is racin'."

So goes the often quoted line from crew chief Harry Hogge in Tom Cruise's 1990 NASCAR blockbuster, Days of Thunder. Meant to be a statement about how the sport is a rough business, it's so popular that NASCAR's president used it last year when he subtly pushed for a little more "rough business" to boost ratings.

Lately, NASCAR has taken on a whole new political form of "rubbin'. And, in some ways, it's more preposterous than anything in Days of Thunder,  going by the cold reception from fans for the new EPA-NASCAR team-up.Continue reading...