Chevrolet has lots of new ads these days celebrating its centennial, with warm images of old and new Chevy trucks, and invocations of that "Made in the U.S.A." feeling. Why, you can almost feel the spirit of Dinah Shore in these spots!

But off the screen, a far more telling activity is going on: General Motors has launched a complete global advertising-agency review for Chevy.

That's a big deal, considering that the brand is second only to Procter & Gamble in terms of advertising spending in the United States. Chevy marketing also comprises most of the spending for GM.

Just remember: The last time GM celebrated a centennial was in 2008, when it marked the first hundred years of the entire company. Only a year or so later, the company faced bankruptcy.

It's not that things are going badly for Chevrolet, sales-wise: The brand posted third-quarter global vehicle sales of 1.2 million vehicles, the best July-to-September results in Chevy's history. And its new Cruze compact has given Chevrolet a worthy entry in the small-car segment for the first time in decades, actually, driving the brand's sales increases in both the United States and Chinese markets.Continue reading...

The lesson of this TV season so far is that there may be room for only one blockbuster singing-competition reality show per country. In the United States, the disappointing ratings so far for The X Factor on FOX could indicate that Americans make available only so much bandwidth for that kind of show, and FOX's American Idol has pretty much sucked it up for the 10 years of its existence.

But in the United Kingdom, there's a different king of the hill: The X Factor has remained the nation's No. 1 program for the last seven years.

To goose viewership, tonight The X Factor' judges will cut a whopping five acts and decide the surviving Top 12 acts live.Continue reading...

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General Motors' Chevrolet brand turns 100 on November 3rd. To celebrate its pending centenary, GM is debuting the commercial above during the first game of the 2011 World Series, which starts at 7:30 pm ET on FOX.

As the Texas Rangers play the St. Louis Cardinals, viewers who stick around during the commercial breaks (or catch the #chevy100 hashtag on Twitter) will see "Then and Now," a spot featuring Ray Charles' live version of America the Beautiful and the voiceover of celebrity spokesman Tim Allen, along with vintage photos from Chevy's archives, fans, employees and Flickr.

The "Chevy Runs Deep" tagline is included, while Allen intones: "For the first hundred years, and for generations to come. Thank you for making us a part of your life." According to The New York Times' Stuart Elliott, the spot, by Omnicom's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners agency, compliments a pair of online campaigns already underway.Continue reading...

With all the excitement and many happenings with Apple and the iPhone 4S lately, it didn't take long before the standard new-phone video took hold: the drop test. So classic, David Letterman made it a regular segment on his show for years. What makes this particular drop test so juicy? It's with the brand new iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy II.

The first test was a waist high drop. The second, a shoulder high drop, and the third a facedown drop. The winner? While there's never a winner in a phone dropping contest, the least damaged phone was the Samsung Galaxy II, while the iPhone 4S was virtually shattered. No surprise there. The Galaxy II uses plastic all around and nearly indestructible Corning Gorilla Glass on the front. The iPhone uses a metal band with glass for the front and the back. But how about the idea of the video?Continue reading...

“Word of mouth” may be considered the most powerful way to sell your product. But according to Toronto digital marketing consultant Sean Moffit, “word of mom” is even more potent, the Toronto Star reports. A 2010 survey by BlogHer and iVillage found that mom bloggers “are most likely to write about brands and … three-quarters of active online women rely on blogs for product information.”

Many moms started blogs in the weeks and months after their child is born in order to reach out during a time of life that can be difficult and lonely. Some, the Star reports, are finding it to have been an excellent business decision.Continue reading...

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