Archer-Daniels-Midland to cut 1,000 jobs.

Arby's hires ex-Burger King marketer as CMO.

Bank of America and other U.S. banks struggle with customer service on Twitter.

Bing passes Yahoo for the first time.

CBS sees Ashton Kutcher consider return to Two and a Half Men.

Chrysler nudges up Jeep Wrangler output.

Coca-Cola finds fungicide in orange juice.

Continental could add extra fuel tanks to deal with unscheduled stops.

Downton Abbey frenzy in America creates marketing hook for book industry.Continue reading...

From zumba (exerdance) to wallpapering to nephrops, (a.k.a. a Dublin Bay prawn or Norwegian lobster), the Google Zeitgeist list of the year's top search terms offers a peek inside the planet's collective obsessions, passions, curiosity and downright nosiness. And that's just in the United Kingdom.

Google’s list is evidence that “the entire country has turned into one huge version of the Daily Mail,” quips Gizmodo U.K. about the celeb focus of Britain's top searches (and the world's most-trafficked online news hub, the salacious Daily Mail's website.

Beyond revealing the spirit of the times, it's also a fascinating local snapshot. In the U.S., Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga were top searches, while in the U.K., the the Royal Wedding was the “fastest rising search query” and the British commoner formerly known as Kate Middleton among the top ten fastest rising people.

"From local celebrities in Finland to Singaporeans looking for news on the revolutions in Egypt and Libya half a world away, people turned to Google to learn more about what was happening on the world stage," Google's Amit Singhal wrote on the company's official blog.Continue reading...

Remember "New Twitter"? Get ready for the "New New Twitter," as the 140-character driven social platform prepares to unveil a redesign. While the video touting the redesigned Twitter makes it sound like it's a great way to hook up with friends, the redesign is featured in a microsite that touts a consistent mobile experience, new user icons (Home, Connect, Discover, Me and Tweet) and a rearranging of the furniture.Continue reading...

Leading British actor Joseph Fiennes, renowned for his rendering of Shakespearean language, recently teamed up with rising grime scene rapper Devlin to orchestrate Sonnet 129, the Bard’s most famous, as seen above (high volume recommended!).

The challenge: find common ground between Shakespearian poetry and modern street language. The result, to be featured on Devlin's next album, is part of the New Thinkers Index, an interactive digital campaign from Hyundai, resonant of their brand positioning, "New thinking, new possibilities."Continue reading...

Boasting glamorous commercials with high production values, a recognizable "brand" and a million loyal brand champions, it was only a matter of time before opportunists started to look for ways to cash in. Now, both the 99% and the 1% are trying to claim 100% of the Occupy Wall Street and 99% movements.

On October 18, Robert and Diane Maresca, a couple from Long Island, New York filed to trademark "Occupy Wall Street" for use on "Clothing, shirts, sweat shirts, headwear, footwear."

"If I didn’t buy it and use it someone else will," reasoned Robert. The couple's pending trademark application for the movement is not the only one. Nor are private citizens the only ones trying to ride the populist wave.Continue reading...

AMC kills Bing product placement deal for Walking Dead.

Apple's iCloud service goes live in first major product launch since Steve Jobs died.

BlackBerry outage response not RIM's finest moment, says BBC.

British PM David Cameron holds kids' advertising summit, while Tory Party rebrand has missed the mark, critics argue.

Cadillac unveils 'Cue,' its connected car system.

Chrysler strikes tentative deal with the UAW.

Diddy makes a landmark donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem.

eBay looks to deepen its relationship with Facebook.

Google sees 60% drop in Google+ usage.Continue reading...

This week's number one film Robot Rocky Real Steel is a litmus test for which generation one belongs to.

In one generational corner are those who joke that the film as a live adaptation of the old board game Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. In the opposite corner are those who jest that Real Steel is just a boxing movie about the NFL on FOX robot mascot, Cleatus.

But when it comes to the latter, one wonders why FOX's gridiron cyborg wasn't even involved in the film's promotion despite having done similar robot movie tie-ins in the past.Continue reading...

Apple slows down growth in China and plans reveal iPhone 5 on its campus, as Verizon sides with Samsung in Apple dispute.

Arizona and Lipton fight for first place in dynamic tea category.

Audi and its new A6 "take over" Jersey City in new branded content with FX.

Blockbuster unveils streaming movie service as Netflix secures streaming deal with Dreamworks.

Bloomberg and Time shuffle web heads.

Boeing offers bidets and electric window shades on new Dreamliner for All Nippon Airways.

Bud Light pairs with Pitbull in pitch for Cuban-American consumers.Continue reading...