No matter how plain a brand is, if it does a job well and does it long enough, it will get its due.

That seems to be happening now with Solo, the brand name of the plastic red cups that have become stapes of any picnic, barbecue and party. Toby Keith, one of the most popular country music artists in America, just released a Solo red cup anthem. But Keith is late to a party that's been raging for years. Continue reading...

Apple and Samsung tablet war reaches Australia.

Facebook facial-recognition feature is ruled as violating German privacy laws as comScore and Nielsen introduce metrics for measuring Facebook ads.

Google+ tops 25 million users, growing at 1 million users daily.

Jaguar is rumored to unveil sports-car concept at Frankfurt auto show.

Kirin acquisition intends to tap into Brazil’s boom.

McAfee uncovers evidence of massive "Operation Shady Rat" hacking ring targeting governments and organizations.Continue reading...

Maria Shriver (who recently hinted she's in transition) and Arnold Schwarzenegger prepare to divorce as he announces movie comeback and their son Patrick responds on Twitter.

Bristol Palin lands reality show on History Channel's BIO cable channel.

Facebook asks to be exempt from US political advertising rules.

Audi launches roadside assistance app.

Australian advertisers face opposition on self-regulation and children's marketing.

BMW launches eBay store in the UK.Continue reading...

One month ago, we called the new Dairy Queen campaign the "The Old Spice Campaign Your Dairy Queen Ad Could Smell Like." One commenter said the comparison was "base and thoughtless" and that he did not see the comparison at all.

Well, two more Old Spice Dairy Queen ads have popped up (watch above and below). Who's on a horse now?Continue reading...

Is China's ad industry knocking off commercials the same way the Chinese tech industry is knocking off gadgets? That's a question posed by Chinasmack, a blog that covers all things China. It serves up a few examples of foreign-produced ads that are re-appropriated for the Chinese audience.Continue reading...

We recently checked out the new Dairy Queen campaign ("a guitar that sounds like dolphins") and asked if it was a ode to, or a spoof of, the now-iconic Old Spice Man spots with Isaiah Mustafa.

Behold the latest installment in DQ's campaign above. "We don't just have rainbows, we have rainbows on fire"? "Old fashioned shaving bunnies?" Amusing, but derivative. If that's not evocative of the Old Spice campaign's brand of hearty absurdity, what is?

The comments on this one agree — look at how many times the word "random" is used.

Acer CEO resigns.

Berkshire Hathaway loses heir apparent to Warren Buffett as David Sokol resigns over a stock purchase.

Coca-Cola to launch first TV-ad campaign for Fuze juice brand.

Dairy Queen ads fail to capture younger set.

Microsoft sues Google in Europe on antitrust grounds.

Honda targets mid-April factory start-up in Japan.Continue reading...

Dairy Queen brings back Chad, its Blizzard spokesman, in a new series of web spots. He's promoting DQ's Mini Blizzard and a Facebook contest in a cross-promotion with MINI. The top six fan-created videos will win a 2011 MINI Countryman. (Sweet!) More details, plus DQ's MINI-series, below.Continue reading...