T-Mobile kills off wireless contract, readies to launch LTE network.

Gordon Brothers Europe agrees to buy struggling Blockbuster UK, saving 2,000 jobs and brand. 

W Hotels plans to double Asia presence over the next five years.

AstraZeneca settles Crestor patent suit.

Apple, Microsoft defend pricing policies in Australia.

Britain's BAE Systems wins five-year, $780 million US military contract.

BMW looks to Mini Paceman to challenge growing Fiat market.

Bridgestone launches new tire line to reignite Firestone brand.Continue reading...

In addition to posting photos on her Tumblr, Beyonce's final pre-Game YouTube sneak peek before her highly anticipated, Pepsi-sponsored Super Bowl Halftime Show, highlights what New Orleans means to her personally and what today's performance means to her legacy. Check out her new video below and tell us: will Beyonce's halftime performance beat Madonna's halftime show last year?Continue reading...

Slowly and perhaps surely, it looks like Pepsi is coming back against Coke in North America. By the time Beyonce headlines the Pepsi-sponsored halftime show during the telecast of the next Super Bowl in February, the brand may be celebrating more than her performance.

Pepsi had flat sales volume when taking into account a calendar shift during the third quarter, company executives told analysts on a conference call on Wednesday, but market share improved by volume and dollars. It's one of the first tangible signs that a significant recommitment to the brand by PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, launched last year, is gaining some traction.

At the same time, Nooyi told the analysts that PepsiCo's overall organic revenue was only flat during the period on a 3-percent decline in volume, which she blamed on a 7-percent volume drop in non-carbonated drinks that on longer were profitable. "It's important that we don't chase unprofitable businesses and unprofitable categories," she said, according to the Wall Street Journal.Continue reading...

Yum! Brands third quarter earnings report is being closely watched.

Barclays to buy ING online assets.

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer urged to repurchase stock, profiled in New York magazine.

AT&T shares network with IBM to lure more customers to the cloud.

Amazon veers more into advertising.

American Airlines loses traffic over operational issues.

Apple asked by Taiwan to blur satellite image as Samsung spat dings brand perception.Continue reading...

PepsiCo executives were assailed for having let Diet Coke usurp their flagship brand to take second place, behind Coca-Cola, in U.S. soft drink sales in 2011. How they marketed — or, rather, didn't market — Pepsi was flagged by some observers as part of the problem.

Well, the company got the message. And among the many recent indicators of that — including Pepsi's major sponsorship of The X Factor, its endorsement relationship with Nicki Minaj, and the shaking up of its upper management under CEO Indra Nooyi — may be that, when Super Bowl XLVII reaches halftime on February 3 at the Superdome in New Orleans, Pepsi today confirmed reports that it's taking over as sponsor of the iconic halftime show.

"Pepsi's deep-rooted heritage with the Super Bowl and with music truly makes this relationship a natural fit," Adam Harter, PepsiCo Beverages' VP of consumer engagement, said in a press release. "As the most-watched and highly anticipated entertainment event of the year, the Super Bowl Halftime Show is right at the heart of sports and music."Continue reading...

Barnes & Noble losses continue on Nook as e-reader competition intensifies.

Bridgestone surrenders Super Bowl halftime show.

Coca-Cola creates global TV series for Summer Olympics.

Facebook gains support for advertising from Ford and Coca-Cola.

FedEx CEO predicts industry shifts as airport-to-airport business stalls.

Ford uses big data to inform marketing and design decisions at Silicon Valley lab.

GM unifies global design strategy.

Kimberly-Clark enlists Mexican TV star for Huggies campaign.

J.C. Penney to tweak message but not strategy in wake of president's ouster this week.Continue reading...

Mobile was the big winner in the Super Bowl this year, as marketers and consumers seized the second-screen experience.

“Caring about eyeballs was your grandfather’s ad agency,” commented Dan Israel, Atlanta-based strategy lead for the mobile practice at SapientNitro, to Mobile Marketer.  “What matters today is how many people with smartphones can be gathered in one location at one time. The Super Bowl rules in this category.” 

This Super Bowl was a huge coming out party for Shazam, the mobile app that enables audio tagging to link to content and offers, which partnered with almost half of Super Bowl 46 advertisers, representing 1 million giveaways, this year.

Shazam linked to commercials by Acura, Best Buy (which offered $50 gift cards), Cars.com (which donated $1.00 per Shazam tag to charity), Bud Light, Disney (John Carter trailer), Fed Ex, GE, Honda, Pepsi, Teleflora, and Toyota to unlock exclusive content and coupons. Some of the offers:Continue reading...

As the world's biggest stage for marketers, we'd have to give Super Bowl XLVI, generously, a B-minus. While the game was compellingly competitive right until the last play, and Madonna acquitted herself pretty well for a 53-year-old halftime-show attraction, America's brand marketers barely held up their end of the extravaganza.

For one thing, there was no genuine stand-up-and-cheer advertising moment during NBC's telecast as there was last year, in Chrysler's spot featuring Eminem and its new Chrysler 200 "Imported from Detroit," although Clint Eastwood was a worthy successor.

In fact, stand-out moments in the ads were almost non-existent; the humor that carried most of the ads didn't come close to an outbreak of hilarity; and a few spots manifested jump-the-shark syndrome, such as an NBC promo that cameoed Betty White.Continue reading...