Starbucks is the first consumer brand to reach 10 million Facebook fans, a.k.a. user "likes." Taking the lead from Coca-Cola over a year ago, Starbucks has attracted 2.3 million fans just in July so far…and the month is only half-over. Starbucks is now in the rarified company of Lady Gaga.

In light of its recent privacy flap, Facebook is treading carefully when it comes to brands' presence on the site, including releasing a new video (above) to address users concerned about advertising on their pages.

As for how Starbucks shot to 10 million?Continue reading...

from Flikr M.I.C Gadget

Liu Chuanzhi, the founder and chairman of Lenovo, says his company—China's leading PC-maker, with 30% of the market—has been "lucky" that Apple hasn't been focused on China.

Or in his own words: “We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China. If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.”

That's all about to change, as Liu's remarks to the Financial Times were made on the eve of Apple opening its second store in China. Apple's gleaming new standalone retail outlet opens in Shanghai on Saturday just a stone's throw from the city's famed Oriental Pearl Tower in the Pudong business district. It joins Apple's first China store, located in Beijing's Sanlitun district.Continue reading...

ESPN defends tonight's live hour-long special with LeBron James' NBA franchise decision against infomercial charges as rumors fly. The special's commercial revenue (which LeBron's team is handling) is going to the NBA star's favorite kids' charity, as outlined in the video above.

Domino's extends transparency campaign and seeks truth in advertising in its photo/video shoots, with a related user-generated photo contest. Chipotle also aims for truth in advertising as founder signs on for NBC restaurant reality series.

Barneys tests 3D ads and Saks gets funny as US retailers try to woo shoppers.Continue reading...

Danone targets low-income consumers worldwide with its yogurt brands; more in the Wall Street Journal video above.

GM aims to shift market valuation, mulls showroom to wow Wall Street, as U.S. likely to shed 20% stake in IPO.

Google's spat with China continues as Google Me social network project is confirmed by former Facebook executive in a blog post.

SABMiller prefers women beer-tasters' palate when testing Pilsner Urquell, Peroni, Grolsch, Miller and Coors variations.

And Smirnoff, step aside: Girls Busching Girls, the copycat female version of Bros Icing Bros, has arrived.Continue reading...

Comcast-NBC deal raises concerns in the U.S.

Facebook looks to boost ads; 500 million user benchmark tipped in new movie marketing?

Jeep "slowly" relaunches the Grand Jerokee.

Tiger Woods' lost endorsements cost IMG $4.6 million last year, according to CNBC.

Toshiba enters e-reader fray.

Toy Story 3 tops box office in biggest opening weekend for Disney Pixar.Continue reading...

Audi is inviting the public to submit ideas for electric car designs through July 31, following Fiat's recent user-generated contest inviting consumers to participate in developing a new car. It's the latest high-profile crowdsourcing exercise, which used to be restricted to startups and smaller companies.

Now, it's much more common among bigger brands. Pepsi's doing it, while Starbucks has generated over 21,000 ideas from coffee-lovers for new drinks. Dell's three-year-old IdeaStorm has received over 10,000 suggestions from consumers, and claims to have implemented almost 400 of those ideas. Last year, Netflix paid $1 million for a new idea for a movie recommendation system.

Granted, they have to wade through a lot of junk to come up with a few pearls, but it also generates a lot of fresh ideas quickly from outside the organization, and at a cost that pales in comparison to the R&D dollars such companies typically invest. Witness the most high-profile crowdsourcing effort to date: BP.Continue reading...

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicking off today in South Africa, it seems that the world's largest sporting event is also turning out to be the world's largest brand marketing event.

Now Yahoo! is getting onto the field with a co-branded interactive promotion, "Yahoo! Penalty Shootout for (RED)." This free online game "lets you challenge friends and fans from around the world in a virtual penalty shootout."

While the game itself runs through the end of June, Yahoo! is offering a one-day promotion — today — in which every goal scored results in a $1 contribution (up to $100,000) by Yahoo! to the (RED) campaign.Continue reading...

A new survey of brands on social media finds Starbucks to be the most popular consumer brand on the social Web, based on an analysis that indexes consumer brands against the most popular personal brand on the planet: Lady Gaga.

UK-based Famecount took a snapshot on June 2nd of brands' followers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to come up with its ranking, a quantitative snapshot with no qualitative look at how brands engage with their fans, followers and subscribers across the social Web.

Starbucks came in #1 among consumer brands by having 7.4 million Facebook fans, 901,925 Twitter followers and 6,509 YouTube subscribers. American brands dominated the top 10, with Red Bull the only non-US brand to make the top 10.Continue reading...