To paraphrase Don Draper: At last, a beautiful product placement Jaguar can truly own.

And own it they do when it comes to the latest music video for Lana Del Rey's new track "Burning Desire."

"I drive fast / Wind in my hair / I push you to the limits / Cause I just don't care," sings Del Rey. With her on a dark lonely stage and a Jaguar F-type on a sunny lonely highway, the video might be something Don Draper and team would have cooked up themselves.

It's been nearly a year since Jaguar was ambushed with its unflattering product placement on Mad Men, where Jaguar was party to prostitution and a failed suicide attempt. Jag's appearance in Del Rey's "Burning Desire" video is the latest step on the march to the upcoming debut of the branded film, "Desire," which the luxury automaker is commissioning from director Ridley Scott's production company.

Everything old is new again as auto companies from Mercedes to Dodge are embracing the exploding auto-branded content format... again. Continue reading...

BlackBerry's new global creative director for the revamped company is featured in the first video for her part of the "Keep Moving Projects" cultural influencer project. The Grammy Award-winning musician is asking fans to use the video-editing feature on the new BlackBerry Z10 to contribute to local crowdsourced videos showcasing her current global tour.

Watch BlackBerry's video pitch to Keys fans, along with the first two episodes of author Neil Gaiman's BlackBerry project, below:Continue reading...

The most famous fashion doll in the world, Barbie, is currently taking offers for her Dreamhouse Malibu mansion. Now, Mattel has issued an open invitation to literally step inside her world with Barbie The Dreamhouse Experience.

Two life-sized houses—complete with pink elevators, a walk-in “glitterizer” and a “diamond” ring display—will open next month in south Florida at Sawgrass Mills and for European fans, in Berlin, Germany.

Why Germany? It turns out that Barbie has roots in the country. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of Barbie for her daughter, who in the 1950’s, like all little girls, had only paper dolls or baby dolls to play with. Handler convinced her husband Elliot, a co-founder of Mattel to create an adult-bodied doll based on a German doll called Bild Lilli. Barbie made her debut in 1959, followed by the reveal of the original Barbie Dreamhouse in 1962.Continue reading...

As one of the commenters on the YouTube upload of the official trailer for The Internship movie notes, "I can't believe Google was okay with this movie." Not only did the brand approve all the teasing of Google's corporate culture, there was a Google+ Hangout for the film with Conan O'Brien chatting with co-stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

It's the dance trend that will not die. Watch Lululemon's Harlem Shake (yoga-style) version above, and below, Pepsi's two Harlem Shake videos and other brands shaking their thang worldwide, from Australia to Israel:Continue reading...

With a pink elevator, hot tub and spa, pink granite countertops and only three walls, Malibu's most famous resident is finally putting her house on the market. That's right: for a cool $25 million, Barbie's Malibu Dreamhouse in the 90265 zipcode can be yours.

It's being "sold" via a listing on Trulia—"The only house in Malibu with a truly unobstructed view of the ocean (after all, it only has three walls)—and a celebrity real estate agent in Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles" cast member Josh Altman. It's all part of an effort by the iconic toy company to highlight the doll's revamped image and new playset, set to be released for the 2013 holiday shopping season.Continue reading...

Ford's Hello, Again project for the relaunched Lincoln brand and its new MKZ model was promoted with a new commercial, above, that premiered during the Grammy Awards broadcast on CBS Sunday evening. The description:

"We revisited our 90-year history of making automobiles to introduce the Lincoln Motor Company. We filtered our past greats through a fresh vision to say, 'Hello, Again' to the luxury motorcar. But we haven't stopped with automobiles. With 'Hello, Again' we'll commence a series of projects with artists who share our vision of reimagination. And along with you, watch as they explore familiar territory to return with original creations we’ve never met before."

Celebrating the art of sound, the Lincoln brand invited musician Beck (a master of reinvention himself) and director Chris Milk to reimagine the composition of David Bowie's classic tune, "Sound and Vision." The Feb. 6th recording session involved 167 musicians playing a set list from a series of rotating platforms, creating a 360-degree immersive event for a "new digital experience" as the audience (including Australian musician Sia) circled the performance.Continue reading...

Call it "We are the Swirl." As brandchannel broke on January 7th, Kraft's Miracle Whip dressing brand has produced its first musical video, an "anthem" that will premiere during Sunday night's Grammy Awards telecast, but won't run on CBS. Instead, it's being promoted on the brand's social and digital channels.

The tongue-in-cheek video, above, stars Scottish songbird Susan Boyle (in her first U.S. commercial endorsement) and an unlikely crew of musicians, including Lance Bass (formerly of 'N Sync and readying his first solo album), country star Wynonna Judd, '80's pop star Tiffany, former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke, alt rock drummer Philip "Fish" Fisher of Fishbone, heavy metal singer Don Dokken, rap/hip-hop artist Chali 2na, and members of the Village People.

In the vein of "We are the World" and other musical pleas for understanding, the eclectic mix of performers sings "Keep an Open Mouth," continuing on a theme that debuted during last year's Academy Awards telecast. The sense of humor is in keeping with a brand that makes light of its claim that "a lot of people say they hate us without every (even) trying us," as its YouTube channel notes.

As Judd tweeted, the campaign's goal is "to set all the pre-judgers out there straight." Addressing the "haters," the Miracle Whip Twitter feed promoted the video (hashtag: #KAOM) with the comment, "Don't knock it 'til you try it," and will be live-tweeting throughout the Grammys telecast.