Brand USA, the government marketing arm pitching America as a travel destination, is getting into the branded entertainment business, with a new website now seeking television programming pitches. But is America lacking for TV shows about America?

“We know how incredible a destination can look on television and that, for many viewers, it’s what may inspire a booking for their next holiday,” commented Jay Gray, VP of Business Development, Brand USA. Continue reading...

Four musical icons, Gloria Estefan, Joe Jonas, John Rich and Nelly, have 72 hours to turn average folks into superstars on The Next, The CW network’s newest music reality show. It's premiering this Thursday with Queen Latifah on-board as a producer — and sponsorship by pre-paid mobile carrier Cricket's Muve Music, marking its first branded entertainment TV partnership.

As a ‘challenger brand,’ Cricket is the seventh largest wireless telecommunications network in the U.S., serving seven million plus customers and differentiating its brand by relying on music and entertainment to stand out in the pre-paid space. This new partnership with The Next is the brand’s pre-emptive move as the turf battle for wireless customers heats up.Continue reading...

In a whirling dervish of 24/7 digi-social notoriety, it’s not enough for some celebrities to garner massive Twitter followers or Facebook likes, so a growing list of personalities from Floyd Mayweather, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Deepak Chopra, Olivia Munn, Brett Ratner, Andrea Rosso, Steve Aoki, and Danny Trejo are launching their own branded magazines, brought to you, oh eager fan, by the appropriately named MYMAG Media. The celebrities get to choose the titles for their magazines, such as "Hey Olivia!" in Munn's case.

MYMAG is an interactive media platform aimed directly to fans with personalized publications with content that inspires the celeb and, of course, sponsors. Think of it as a celeb's tweets/Tumblr organized into handy readable form with photos and did we mention ads? Or put another way, "MYMAG is a platform for celebrities, popular artists, athletes and more to communicate with their fans in an entirely new way. It gives them a tangible, more personal connection to the people who follow their lives and careers most closely," says Magnus Greaves, founder and CEO of MYMAG.Continue reading...

Louis Vuitton pays tribute to "The Greatest," boxer Muhammad Ali, with the digital experience The Greatest Words.  In two short films, "Float" and "Life," spoken word artist Yasiin Bey and calligrapher Niels Shoe Meulman revisit the words of Mohammad Ali, with a helping hand from rapper/actor Mos Def.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola ♥ the Olympic Games. After all, the soda maker has been lapping up the Olympics for every bit of marketing goodwill it can get for more than 80 years.

Now this year’s Olympics are in full swing and Coca-Cola can see the light at the end of the tunnel of its Move to the Beat campaign with singer Katy B and producer Mark Ronson that kicked off ahead of its sponsorship of the 8,000-mile Olympic torch relay. It's been a busy year with a variety of London 2012 marketing tie-ins.

And now Coca-Cola is extending its musical chops in a just-announced partnership with will.i.am to launch a sustainability-collaboration platform for brands dubbed EKOCYCLE, which is partnering to produce greener Beats by Dr Dre headphones — a brand that isn't music to the London Olympics organizers' ears.Continue reading...

Life-size inflatable dolls can be used for all sorts of things. There's that trick of setting one in the passenger seat of your car to fool cops policing high-occupancy vehicle lanes, of course. And, well, anyway, an unusual new line of blow-up dolls is now being offered by a surprising source: Applebee's, the casual-dining chain.

They're called Lunch Decoys, and they can be propped up at desks and on assembly lines "to trick bosses and coworkers into thinking you're still hard at work while you're actually at Applebee's enjoying the delicious Pick 'N Pair Lunch menu," as a spokesperson put it. "Now Applebee’s not only offers a great lunch menu, but also a foolproof way to slip out of the office and get it." But wait, there's more!Continue reading...

Funny or Die has tapped a droll troupe of Hollywood talent — Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Silverman, Tracy Morgan, Chloe Moretz, Marisa Tomei and Isaiah Mustafa — to join forces with Bono's anti-poverty group ONE on a new campaign, part of a larger global initiative to reach "the beginning of the end of AIDS" by 2015. 

The star-studded video from Funny or Die asks viewers to sign a petition on ONE to reverse proposed budget cuts to the life-saving AIDS program, PEPFAR, and fulfill America’s commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.Continue reading...

Who said the little guys lack imagination and moxie? Hiscox insurance services target small businesses — direct, online, and in real-time. But how to get that message out and stand out from the crowd? Scripted web video programming — with a sense of humor, and some heavy-hitting talent.

This summer the brand is launching season two of original "entrepreneurial comedy series" Leap Year, the story of five friends who lose their jobs, follow their dreams and start their own business.Continue reading...