In case you missed it, T-Mobile just released its myTouch 4G marketing campaign, which spoofs Apple's now iconic "I'm a Mac" spots. It also leverages awareness of the Mac ad format while at the same time playing off the popular reputation of AT&T as substandard. Funny? Yes. Effective? Who knows; time will tell. But smart, nonetheless. So why isn't this approach more popular?Continue reading...

3M balances old and new, inside and outside as it diversifies.

AIG is ready to repay $37 billion in taxpayer bailout money.

AOL adds human touch to homepage.

Apple sues Motorola over smart-phone patents. 

Audi plans to add diesels to more vehicles.

BlackBerry services can continue in India.Continue reading...

American Girl prompts Disney and others to boost doll sizes.

Chili’s may make “2 for $20” promotional pricing permanent.

Comcast, on the verge of acquiring NBC Universal, reports dramatic loss in subscribers.

Economist Ideas Channel targets intelligentsia online.

Foursquare's kickback user incentives won't fly with the FTC.

FOX spat heats up as News Corp. rejects Cablevision’s offer and cable operator steers customers online for World Series.

General Motors tunes IPO price.Continue reading...

When your brand is build on being provocative and something of an iconoclast, you're going to go after other brands, including other iconoclasts. Which is what Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and Jezebel are doing.

Gawker's post-feminist blog recently accused Comedy Central's The Daily Show of being sexist by not featuring more women. Stewart swiped back on-air (see the 2:05 mark here) while his female staffers responded with a mocking note posted on the show's website.

It's all great for business as far as Gawker Media owner Nick Denton is concerned.Continue reading...

In a landmark ruling today, a U.S. federal judge threw out Viacom's $1 billion copyright suit against Google and upheld YouTube's right to host videos uploaded by users under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Google chief counsel Kent Walker says the judgment extends to other parties to Viacom's lawsuit including England's Premier League football and added, "This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other."

Viacom, which filed suit over videos taken from its MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other TV networks being uploaded onto the world's biggest video site, intends to appeal.Continue reading...

In keeping with its longstanding tradition of bucking the system, Viacom's U.S. all-humor network, Comedy Central is launching “Portable Lounge.”  This Web series is being taped on-location across the country, in front of small audiences in such non-traditional comedy venues as a comic book shop, a butcher shop and a chocolate factory. The name comes from the intentionally crummy set: two fold-up beach chairs, a wooden crate and a lamp with a tacky red shade.

The first of the fifteen-minute episodes, above, is set in a bowling alley. The schedule is somewhat erratic; with no commitment to a regular slot, the format includes a rotating roster of guests and hosts such as Chris Gethard, star of Comedy Central’s Big Lake series, and Saturday Night Live regular Bobby Moynihan.Continue reading...

Maybe the stress of all the safety recalls by parent Toyota, worldwide opprobrium, and those nasty inquisitors in the US Congress finally have gotten the better of the marketing minds at Lexus. Maybe it’s a simple matter of not having done their homework. Or maybe Lexus brandmeisters are just feeling the headiness of a nascent recovery in sales.

Either way, the latest idea for a promotional gambit out of Lexus marketers is a doozy: Put Sarah Silverman – the foul-mouthed, dark-leaning, completely unpredictable comic and actress – on stage with a Lexus-provided microphone and let her moderate a “debate” about the merits of global warming orthodoxy.

But that’s what Lexus reportedly is going to do. The Toyota luxury brand plans to launch its CT 200h hybrid compact at the New York International Auto Show next week with a panel discussion about global warming, with Silverman serving as “moderator.” Journalist Amanda Little and producer Phelim McAleer are supposed to debate the opposing sides of whatever off-the-wall questions Silverman actually might ask them.Continue reading...

The year it was founded (1999), online shoe retailer Zappos sold "almost nothing" worth of inventory. Eight years later it grossed $800 million. Last year, Amazon acquired the brand, which gets its name from the Spanish word for shoes (zapatos), for a cool $1.2 billion.

Built on word of mouth and customer recommendations, Zappos' brand relied very little on conventional advertising models. However, in the last few years of growth, Zappos has struck out into new advertising territory with traditional 30-second TV spots. Its latest foray into this area is a mixed bag, but at least the brand appears to be getting one thing right. Continue reading...