Some of the most interesting branding battles of late have been over labeling. First, the US Corn Refiners Association lobbied the FDA to allow labels to carry the term "corn sugar" instead of "high-fructose corn syrup."

Now, Pom Wonderful, the most recognizable brand of premium pomegranate juice, has filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission for implementing regulations on advertising that, wait for it, violate its first amendment rights.Continue reading...

The curse of Nike's Write the Future ad may be taking down more than just the stars and teams it highlights. The Nike brand itself may now be feeling the bad luck bug brought on by its ambitious ambush (ambushous?) marketing tactics.

While "slow and steady wins the race" or "nice guys don't always finish last"--or choose your sports cliche--Adidas appears to be winning the online marketing battle for hearts and minds during this World Cup. Continue reading...

Going green means eating local, and this brand of cereal has its eye on the future. Branchannel Cereal, a family-owned brand known for its health benefits and rectangular shape that helps it float in milk, is produced by WeetSoy Farms, in Mukwonago, “Where You Wanna Go,” Wisconsin. WeetSoy is a “micro-farm” that consists of 1-1/2 acres of land, and is owned by Harris MacMillan and his wife Tallulah Bell MacMillan.

Currently, WeetSoy Farms produces 12 to 13 boxes of Branchannel a year, “about one a month” according to Harris MacMillan, and retails at the local GitnZip supermarket for $19. The MacMillans and WeetSoy Farms hope that Branchannel Cereal, which contains 188 percent more fiber than leading brands, will gain traction with the foodie movement where ordinary people are educating themselves about food and making purchasing decisions based not only on price points, but also on how their food is grown or raised, and brought to market. “If our brand strategy works,” says Harris MacMillan, “we’ll be able to expand to three or even four acres by 2014.”

However, this organic brand cultivated in the bucolic backdrop just off of Route 43 – the town’s lifeline to Milwaukee – finds itself in a contentious trademark dispute with an entity readers of this publication know quite well: brandchannel.Continue reading...

With the economy tight and ad dollars tighter, the tactic of "going negative" against competitor brands has become more popular. The trend is expected to continue through 2010.

One of the more effective current examples is Fedex and its "Brown Bailout" campaign. Continue reading...

Hey, have you heard of this Twitter thing? If Southwest Airlines hadn't before Sunday, they certainly have now.

Kevin Smith, director and actor, is known both for his oversized personality and his oversized physique. He's a big guy, and admits as much. On a recent flight on Southwest, Smith was removed from the plane for being, well, too fat. Smith immediately took to Twitter, railing against the airline in a litany of tweets. Soon, the blogging media was onto Smith's experience and started promoting the rants. The snowball was rolling downhill.

Of course Southwest knows about Twitter. As every good brand should, they maintain their own Twitter feed. The brand immediately responded to Smith's tweets, apologizing. Smith was unappeased. His rants continued and are still going on. Southwest tweeted replies. Finally, Larry King got in on the action, tweeting that Smith would be on his show to... complain further.Continue reading...

Most of the world was amped for Apple’s official iPad announcement yesterday – except for one company: Fujitsu. The Japanese-based electronics company claims that Apple not only stole the idea for the iPad, but also it isn’t even first in line for the trademark rights either.

Just as a comparison, Fujitsu’s iPad – which retails at $2,000 – debuted in the United States in 2002, runs on Microsoft’s CE.NET operating system, features a 3.5-inch color touch-screen, Intel processor, Wi-fi and Bluetooth connections, and also supports Skype VoIP technology.

On the other hand, Apple’s iPad – which retails at $499, $599, $699, and $829 (depending on GB and 3G plans) – runs on a Mac OS X variant, features a 9.7-inch color LED backlit glossy multi-touch screen, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR), and 3G cellular is an available add-on.Continue reading...

Call it a series of tit-for-tat lawsuits.

First, TiVo sued AT&T and Verizon over technologies used in DVR delivery and purchasing systems. Nothing new there considering disputes and lawsuits are common in the world of developing technologies. However, the storyline here takes an interesting turn as AT&T has some powerful allies. Enter Microsoft.

Microsoft is launching its own attack against TiVo, accusing the brand of some rather harsh allegations involving patent infringement. The claims state that the digital video recording company has inappropriately used video and programming display technology -- specifically, it unlawfully applied features from Mediaroom, a Microsoft-created system.

But TiVo isn't budging.Continue reading...

In an ideal world, information would be free. All one would need is a machine that could easily access humanity’s abyss of knowledge. Oh. Wait. That’s our world.

Without brands such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN, we wouldn’t be remotely as smart as we are when given 90 seconds and a search engine.

Then why is France’s President Sarkozy so angry, and what’s with this “Google Tax” idea? Put simply, in order to inspire people to create something, you need to pay them. Sarkozy purports that Google unfairly benefits from profits generated from advertising that accompanies information the brand provides but doesn’t necessarily pay for. And he suggests that, somewhere in this argument, French culture hangs in the balance. So Sarkozy wants to tax the situation into being fair.

Every day people pay for eye exams, coffee, shoelaces, and car tires without complaining. But the world wants knowledge -- which can’t be poked, poured, boxed, or unscrewed -- for free. Ask them to pay for it, and watch adults start floundering on the kitchen floor like an eight-year-old without an Xbox.

At brandchannel, we know this all too well. Continue reading...