Only in America, as they say. Or in this case, on an American ship -- a big one, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, to be exact.

The ultimate in cross-promotional sports events will unfold this evening as the NCAA takes a cue from the NFL and makes a much bigger deal out of its "opening day" than has been its previous custom. In a 7 p.m. game on ESPN that will pit Michigan State versus No. 1-ranked North Carolina on the custom-made court, there also will be lots of other key tilts and branding opportunities: Former Spartan Magic Johnson vs. former Tar Heel James Worthy. Coaches Izzo vs. Williams. Sponsors Coke Zero vs. Miller High Life. Obama vs. Osama. And Brooklyn Decker vs. -- well, there might not be a match.

The NCAA is really good at ginning up Americans' enthusiasm for basketball in the spring, with March Madness and all. But this represents the college game's biggest attempt yet to turn up the marketing booster rockets beneath a part of the hoops season that typically is pretty limp.Continue reading...

Of all the new brands spawned by the internet age, WikiLeaks is one of the most fascinating – and most disturbing. Amazon revolutionized book buying, and eBay created the ultimate marketplace. But WikiLeaks is making a huge impact on affairs of state.

Just yesterday, in fact, the US Defense Department said that it couldn’t locate its copy of a video of a July 2007 air strike that killed two Reuters employees in Iraq, according to the Associated Press. Yet this apparently is the very same video that was obtained surreptitiously by WikiLeaks, converted out of its encrypted form by allies and volunteers, and replayed hundreds of times on news reports around the world, then posted on YouTube, where it has been viewed millions of times.

This is exactly the impact that WikiLeaks’ founders wanted to have, they told The New York Times in an interview. “That’s arguably what spy agencies do – high-tech investigative journalism,” said Julian Assange, one of the site’s founders. “It’s time that the media upgraded its capabilities along those lines."Continue reading...

Here we are tweeting about the brands at the NCAA Championship Game.

Liberty Media Corporation, owner of Starz, is determined to move the dial up on the No. 3 pay cable network, and transform its image from a recycler of Hollywood movies to a viable category competitor.

Starz has always played third fiddle to HBO and Showtime, and has a comparatively modest subscription audience of 17 million homes. That said, the recently premiered original melodrama Spartacus, is their first big hit – 1.1 million viewers tuned in to see violence and sex that might make Tarantino flinch.

Centered on the life of a heroic gladiator, originally portrayed by Kirk Douglas in the 1960’s, this Spartacus combines soft-core porn with modern speak: "My boot will meet your ass in the afterlife!"

The show's gladiator wannabees are made to drop their loincloths for a prospective socialite buyer to check the goods. The series is also laden with profanity that producers say is authentic to the 1st century BC.Continue reading...

Sports and sponsorships go together like baseball and beer, but some relationships between brands and games are more complicated than others. Prior to the 1999 baseball season, for instance, Enron offered the Houston Astros $100 million for naming rights to the team’s ballpark for the next 30 years.

That deal – as well as Enron itself – lasted less than three years, and the Astros had to buy back the remaining time for $2.1 million in order to find a new sponsor. Though there’s no scandal attached, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) will also be looking for a new lead sponsor very soon for its tour.Continue reading...

The World Cup begins this June in South Africa. But recently in Seattle, at the Adidas World Cup Media Day, the brand previewed some hi-tech equipment that will debut at this year’s world-renowned soccer tournament. Science and engineering are brand characteristics for Adidas – part of the DNA that goes into its equipment used by the best football teams in the world.

The official ball of the tournament, the Jabulani, marks the 11th edition of Adidas's FIFA World Cup balls. Jabulani means, "to celebrate" in Zulu, and this ball showcases major advances in football technology. The grip ’n ’groove texture maximizes control, stabilizes flight, and is considered the perfect grip under all conditions. Furthermore, the grip ’n ’groove circles around the entire ball are arranged in an optimal aerodynamic pattern that makes it the most modern and perfectly round Adidas football ever.Continue reading...

Some call it the "Wal-Mart of Weed." The reporters (above) compare it to Home Depot and IKEA. But the store’s official brand name is IGrow.

IGrow is a massive, 15,000-square-foot warehouse in Oakland, CA. General manager Justin Jorgensen describes the retail space as "a one-stop shop for everything you’ll need for indoor hydroponic cultivation of marijuana - medical or otherwise - everything but the plant itself." This includes resources from soil to hydroton to boxes.Continue reading...

You seldom hear the word “innovative” used to describe a fast food chain, but there’s really no other way to label some of the things Burger King has attempted in recent years.

First there was the “Subservient Chicken” viral video, which practically invented the form. Afterwards came their “Whopper Virgin” commercials, in which people from remote parts of the world – Thailand, Romania, Greenland – were asked to taste-test the Whopper and the Big Mac (guess which one won?).

Finally, and perhaps their most sensational move yet, was their “Whopper Sacrifice” Facebook campaign, in which users could obtain a free Whopper by “sacrificing” ten of their friends. Facebook quickly pulled the plug, claiming it violated their Privacy Policy, but before they did literally thousands of people were unceremoniously unfriended in favor of a free burger.

And then came beer.Continue reading...