Following rumors last fall, Coca-Cola confirmed that it's producing a global TV series to woo teens with music in more than 30 countries during the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

As a (lightly) branded entertainment extension of its global youth and music-oriented "Move to the Beat" Olympics marketing platform, Beat TV is being distributed in partnership with MTV Networks International, producing 10 episodes aimed at bringing youths some of the cultural flavor and excitement of the Games and its London setting. It's also not to be confused with "Move to the Beat TV," above, a web series Coca-Cola produced for European audiences as part of its Olympic marketing. (Coke's Move to the Beat campaign just picked up a bronze Cannes Lions award for mobile this week.)

While sponsored TV programming isn't new — look at NBC's recent Escape Routes series touting the Ford Escape crossover vehicle — Coke says Beat TV will run as a regular TV show (including channels with official rights to the Olympics and previous ad commitments from Coca-Cola); it won't feel like an infomercial for Coke's official Olympics sponsorship and the brand's presence won't be "overt"; and ad opportunities will be open to other brands.Continue reading...

Running of the Brides, the infamous, annual Filene’s Basement sale where brides-to-be madly dash for deeply-discounted wedding gowns, (as seen above from last year's sale at Boston's Hynes Convention Center) may have run its course, as the chain with roots dating back to 1909 continues to be dissolved.

It’s been a sad saga since Filene's Basement, the American retailer famed for its high-spirited Running of the Brides franchise — which sees shoppers line up at the crack of dawn, dress up and cheer as they storm the racks of bridal gowns — and sibling retailer Syms, known for its tagline "an educated consumer is our best customer," announced they were facing the ultimate markdown: Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Fast forward to this week, and the indefinite postponement of a scheduled auction to sell off the intellectual property of Filene’s Basement and parent company Syms Corp. until creditors can agree on a plan to close out the bankruptcy case.Continue reading...

Pepsi Canada took a big risk back in 1976 when it challenged consumers to a blind taste test, hoping that they’d not only top rival Coke but also that some of those folks who generally purchased Coca-Cola would surprise themselves and choose Pepsi.

Well, it worked then and the company hopes that it will keep on working this summer. PepsiCo Beverages Canada has announced that it is touring the nation this summer to administer the test to 1.5 million consumers at more than 1,000 events across the land.

With all this energy being thrown into it, Pepsi has gone ahead and renamed the promotion the Pepsi Ultimate Taste Challenge, which makes one wonder how they can possibly top that in the future.

Since 1976, the company has given nine million taste tests and this summer’s taste tests will feature the use of new technology, more than a thousand local events, and tricked-out semi-trailer crossing the country.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola held a "secret gig" in London on Friday night, featuring producer Mark Ronson and singer Katy B promoting "Move to the Beat," the anthem and youth-oriented integrated marketing platform for the London 2012 summer Olympic games.

A tough-to-watch, controversy-stirring videotaped event by Lush Cosmetics in the U.K. involved a performance artist undergoing animal laboratory tests in the window of Lush Regent Street London in April to raise awareness of their fight against animal testing in cosmetics.

Jacqueline Traides, 24, spent ten hours in the store window and was subjected to force-feeding, injections, hair shaving and other extreme discomfort while restrained. She later blogged, "It was somewhere after the fourth hour of this live act that I found my self asking the question ‘why exactly am i here?’. I realised then that it was not to Lush, nor to the onlookers but to the beings, animals and humans alike, that endure such suffering without choice."

Intended to shock, thousands of passerby signed the brand's petition on the spot, while the performance was also streamed live on a website where viewers could sign. "I hope it will plant the seed of a new awareness in people to really start thinking about what they go out and buy and what goes into producing it," said Traides.Continue reading...

The Olympics are coming to the United Kingdom and chocolate maker Cadbury, which is based in Birmingham, England, would like to give back a little something special to a few of the Queen’s loyal subjects in celebration.

Cadbury, an official sponsor of the London 2012 Games, has a few extra tickets to the Opening Ceremonies but they aren’t just going to wrap them up inside their candy bars like something out of Willie Wonka. Instead, the candy brand has teamed up with the Shazam music app and ITV to take consumers on a multimedia adventure.

Cadbury will first air an advertisement on the finale of ITV's Britain’s Got Talent on May 12 that asks viewers to use Shazam apps to identify a song, according to Marketing Week. The call to action invites viewers to “unwrap a virtual Cadbury chocolate bar to find out whether they have won tickets” or not. (Britain's Got Talent, on a sidenote, has had to suspend mobile voting due to technical issues.)

Marketing Week notes that ITV and Shazam recently partnered so that consumers can “interact with ads shown on the ITV Family of channels” and “use the audio-recognizing application to enter competitions, get additional information about a brand or download free music.” Cadbury is the first brand to take advantage of the possibilities of this new partnership.Continue reading...

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan has a sweet-sounding name, but it is just an incredibly massive furniture fair that is held each April in one of the world’s design capitals.

This year’s trade show featured a nice surprise from the folks at IKEA, who were in Milan to talk up their sustainable designs: a pleasant place to go to the bathroom. However, the company did themselves a big favor on the marketing front with the public bathroom created for the event.Continue reading...

Ultra endurance athlete Jason Lester doesn’t back down from a challenge. He’s in the middle of a massive one right now, crossing America – all 4,800 miles of it — on foot and by bicycle in 102 days so he can share the power of sport — and sponsor Nike's Better World vision — along the way to any who will listen.

The author of Running on Faith is in his late 30s and it’s a miracle that he’s even involved with sports at all anymore. He was left for dead at the age of 12 when he was hit by a car while out for a bike ride. He broke 21 bones and a lung collapsed. His right arm became partially paralyzed. While he was in the hospital recovering, his father and sole guardian had a heart attack and died.

But the kid stuck with it. He went back to playing sports the way he had before the accident and went to his local baseball all-star game the next year. Since then, he’s become an accomplished triathlete and the first disabled athlete to complete the Ultraman World Championships.Continue reading...