Pepsi's new global platform — the "Live for Now" cross-platform campaign — has found a friend in MTV. Given that Live for Now is music-based, with tie-ins with Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, even Michael Jackson, it makes perfect sense for the beverage giant to tie in with MTV Networks, in addition to MTVN's siblings across the youth-skewing Viacom empire, in order to maximize the exposure of the effort.

With social and digital threaded throughout Pepsi's Live for Now (and Viacom's DNA), the upfront-inked partnership means fans will be able to tweet images with individual hashtags, relevant to various Viacom-owned TV shows and digital properties, for a chance to win prizes and get their photos featured in those shows and in Pepsi's advertising efforts in keeping with these Pinteresting, photo-tagging times we live in.Continue reading...

Nike execs must think that they don’t have enough market share or aren’t known by enough consumers or need more clout with the digerati. Unthinkable, we know. Be that as it may, the sporting-goods maker announced at the E3 video-game conference this week a partnership with Microsoft to get into the video-game business together. 

“We’ve moved from being a product company to a services and product company,” commented Stefan Olander, Nike’s VP of digital sport. "Nike+ Kinect Training’ gives everyone access to the same training we give professional athletes. It combines our unique understanding of the greatest athletes in the world with the amazing sensor technology of Kinect for Xbox 360.”

The new product, Nike+ Kinect Training, will hit store shelves before the 2012 holiday shopping season and will only be able to be played on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect. The new add-on, Bloomberg reports, will allow “users to receive feedback from on-screen personal trainers and have a workout designed for them."Continue reading...

Are you a tennis fan? Then we don't have to tell you to watch the French Open. Are you a hardcore tennis fan? Then you might consider not only watching the French Open but getting behind the wheel of a French Open special edition Peugeot.

The tie-up between the venerable French brands to create the time-limited Peugeot 207 CC and 308 CC Roland Garros editions makes sense, and celebrates one of the most important tennis tournaments in the sport of tennis. Luxury (and less luxurious) lifestyle brands have a longstanding relationship with automakers, with varying degrees of success (and excess).Continue reading...

From his humble roots as a seller of vinyl LPs to the spotty youths of Great Britain, Sir Richard Branson has extended the Virgin brand name from record shops to an array of businesses including airlines, mobile phones, space and deep sea travel, hotels, bridal boutiques, cheeky health clubs, beverages (including vodka, cola and wine), gaming, banking and beyond. Now Brits will soon be finding the Virgin brand on another product: water.

The home of the elastic brand today announced a partnership with Israel-based Strauss Water to rebrand its Strauss Water UK business as Virgin Pure, a system that filters water straight from the plumbing system to provide consumers with chilled or boiling water “at the touch of a button.”

"I love businesses that help to improve our way of life,” Branson stated. "Pure, chilled and boiling drinking water at the touch of a button means no more lugging bottles home, waiting for filter jugs to trickle through or kettles to boil for that great cup of tea."Continue reading...

Gap Inc. credits its record first quarter results to Banana Republic's first designer collaboration: the two-time Mad Men collection created by the show's costumer, Janie Bryant. Now it's hoping lightning will strike twice, with its second collaboration also evoking the swinging sixties, thanks to designer Trina Turk.

Banana Republic’s North American same-store sales rose 5 percent in the three months ended April 28, the most in two years, while total revenue at the unit rose 7.4 percent to a first-quarter best of $622 million, according to Gap’s earnings reported on May 17th. 

As Mad Men grapples with the changing styles and mores of the 1960's, Banana Republic is continuing on the same path by signing Turk, known for her colorful, Palm Springs-inspired, 'cocktails by the pool' summer-ready capsule collection, including the strapless dress worn by model Coco Rocha (who's guest style editor for Target this month), above. (A selection of Turk's BR designs, arriving June 7th, will be available in a Gilt.com pre-sale at noon ET on Wednesday.)Continue reading...

Just when you thought there was not another possible way for Taco Bell to combine cheese, ground beef, beans and corn chips, the renascent chain has introduced the Beefy Nacho Burrito. Not only that, but they're doing it for 99 cents — and with a marketing tie-in with Major League Baseball.

Taco Bell is now rolling out its latest menu item nationwide, featuring "seasoned beef, warm nacho cheese, cool sour cream and [new] queso strips, all wrapped in a warm flour tortilla." For those of you who have lost count over the years of the many different ways in which Taco Bell can combine such basic ingredients, the innovation here, the company said in a release, is that the company "has found a way to put nachos into a burrito."Continue reading...

"Rubbin', son, is racin'."

So goes the often quoted line from crew chief Harry Hogge in Tom Cruise's 1990 NASCAR blockbuster, Days of Thunder. Meant to be a statement about how the sport is a rough business, it's so popular that NASCAR's president used it last year when he subtly pushed for a little more "rough business" to boost ratings.

Lately, NASCAR has taken on a whole new political form of "rubbin'. And, in some ways, it's more preposterous than anything in Days of Thunder,  going by the cold reception from fans for the new EPA-NASCAR team-up.Continue reading...

Two queens of American media are joining forces. The Huffington Post Media Group will launch an Oprah Winfrey section on Huffingtonpost.com in August. The announcement was made by Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, and Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, presidents of Winfrey's OWN TV network.

The Huffington Post's Oprah channel (which won't be called HuffPO) will offer “practical advice and resources encouraging people to discover their best selves and to lead happy, fulfilling lives by taking steps to attain their goals. Topics covered will include personal growth, spirituality and aspects of physical and mental health.”

While that vertical may sound like what readers can find now in Oprah's O magazine and Discovery-backed cable TV channel, the content will be created and curated by writers and producers from OWN and Oprah.com, enhanced with conversations from HuffoPo’s vast network of bloggers in “a mix of articles, blogs and interactive content that will connect with the audience on an emotional and spiritual level.” It could be the answer to Winfrey's prayers.Continue reading...