BMW is investing 3 billion euros in EVs and marketing. 

AP execs outraged over government probe of phone records.

Sony is targeted for breakup by American investor.

Airbus aims to steal limelight from Boeing at upcoming Paris Air Show.

Amazon workers go on strike in Germany.

BNP Paribas eyes mobile and online banking.

Citibank says "no fees" means "never."

Coach approached Tory Burch about a deal.

Coca-Cola faces claim that Coke top-secret recipe has been found.Continue reading...

JCPenney slashes CEO Ron Johnson's pay, woos fashionistas with store-in-store bijoux bars.

Facebook dispute over Timeline trademark will go to jury trial; faces questions about new smartphone.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk will personally guarantee car buyback values as company introduces leasing.

A&W introduces Mini Polar Swirls via Vine.

Angelina Jolie opens school in Afghanistan funded by her jewelry collection.

Apple begins production of refreshed iPhone this quarter.Continue reading...

After a short teaser spot two weeks ago, the Cadillac ad for China with the brand's new spokesman Brad PItt is here. It's terrible in general, but it's even worse for the Chinese market. Cadillac knows white is the color of funerals in China, right?

In the ad, Pitt (or maybe a CGI Pitt, it's hard to tell) cruises around San Francisco, pensively doing "creative" person things. Maybe the actor is on his way to Chinatown since he's banned from entering China itself.

He swipes some digital displays while never saying a word. Couldn't GM have asked him to speak a little Mandarin? Chinese love it when celebrities humble themselves by mangling some Chinese. It's even been rumored that Pitt and Angelina Jolie are learning a little Mandarin. Not that Cadillac appears to "speak Mandarin" any better. It's latest attempt to grow its flagging sales in China may hint at a deeper problem with its fundamental understanding of the market.Continue reading...

Heineken’s Star Bottle Arrives Stateside with New Campaign

Heineken’s new taller, sleeker and starred bottle is already available in 170 countries and is now being rolled out in the United States with a new “Arrive Big” ad campaign featuring the brand’s “Man of the World” in such exotic locations as Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Lagos, Nigeria and New York City. In each location, the protagonist finds himself in prickly situations at various clubs, yet somehow ends up with the girl and the beer (and an #arrivebig hashtag, to boot) in the end.

“Our priority is to ‘break the mold’ in beer marketing with cinematic, sophisticated ads that feature our ‘Man of the World,’ a progressive, cultured guy, who is inventive in any situation,” said Colin Westcott-Pitt, vice president of Heineken, in a press release. Heineken doesn’t go so far as to pull a New Coke move and break the mold inside the bottle, of course.Continue reading...

If there are two things that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt need it’s more money and more publicity. So the pair will release their first wine from their organic 1,000-acre French estate, Chateau Miraval, next month with their names on the bottle, Bloomberg News reports.

The rosé, formerly known as “Pink Floyd,” will be labeled as Miraval and feature Pitt and Jolie’s names on the back of the bottle along with Perrin, the family that Brangelina has partnered with to help create and distribute the wine. The trio will also distribute a white later this year and reds in 2014. “We are intimately involved and quite enthused over the wine project with our friends the Perrin family,” Pitt said via his publicist.

One thing that brought Perrin and Pitt-Jolie together was the fact that both vineyards grow their vines organically, something the Perrin family has been doing since 1950. Now the Hollywood escapees are joining a long line of celebs who have extended their personal brands to alcohol brands.Continue reading...

Chanel teased its upcoming N°5 campaign starring Brad Pitt on its Facebook page today, pointing to its YouTube channel which has added a trio of teasers featuring the actor's voice: "Where?" ("Are you going somewhere? Where?"), "Why?" ("Do you feel lucky?" Why?") and "Mystery?" ("What's the mystery?")

Touting the Twitter hashtag #CHANELN5, the star's commercial is due to be released on October 15th, 12.01am Paris time. A print campaign featuring Pitt, who's reportedly earning $7 million for his services, will follow in early November, according to WWD.

Pitt's campaign will mark the first male celebrity endorsement for the perfume, which has previously featured actresses Catherine Deneuve, Audrey Tautou and Nicole Kidman — but not partner Angelina Jolie, who is more endorsement-shy but was reportedly paid about $10 million for a rare campaign, for Louis Vuitton, last year. [Update: Watch Pitt's Chanel commercial here]

Converse finally opens its Brooklyn "Rubber Tracks" studio where local artists can record for free.

Lady Gaga no longer banned in China, while Rihanna and Gaga fight for Facebook supremacy when Google+ really needs them. And maybe it will get them. Rihanna, meanwhile, also bumped Megan Fox as the new face (and derriere) of Armani.

BMW is now making bikes... for the Olympics. 

China's ad industry worth $28 billion this year, and over $33 billion next year.

Below: Burger King, McDonald's, Kenny Powers and more.Continue reading...

Angelina Jolie was paid as much as $10 million as the new face of Louis Vuitton, above. LeBron James signed a $90 million deal with Nike when he was still in high school. Rapper 50 Cent negotiated a executive office with Vitamin Water and raked in tens of millions of dollars upon endorsing it. Catherine Zeta-Jones got paid $20 million to endorse T-Mobile (and that was before her contract extension and raise).

Everywhere you turn people who play doctors on TV and every other celebrity you can name are telling us what to buy and where to buy it.

However, a new study from Adweek/Harris Interactive shows that consumers don’t give a rip if a celebrity is telling them to buy a product or not.Continue reading...