M&M’s introduced its new spokescandy during the Super Bowl Sunday evening when the bespectacled Ms. Brown, the candy brand's 70-year-old (but still looking good) CCO or Chief Chocolate Officer who made her debut in a commercial called "Just My Shell." And it was a shelluva debut indeed.

It used to be that just running a Super Bowl commercial was enough excitement for a corporation’s agency and marketing/communications teams at this time of year, but given the pre- and post-Game buzz marketing on social media that's the norm, M&M's marketers at Mars, Inc., are pulling out the stops for Ms. Brown.Continue reading...

If there is one thing a soccer fan likes to have at the match, it’s a beer. And if there’s one thing that big-event organizers love to have, it's major corporate sponsorship.

The former is what led FIFA to inform the next two countries scheduled to hold the men’s World Cup to “drop restrictions on beer sales in stadiums,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Alcoholic drinks are part of the FIFA World Cup, so we're going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that's something we won't negotiate," FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke commented at a press conference in Brazil, the BBC reports.Continue reading...

Today is L.L.Bean's 100th anniversary in business, which the Maine-based outdoor outfitter is marking by bringing a giant version of its iconic boot to the Big Apple and a gear giveaway on Facebook. But with the bootmobile now making its way back to Maine, the brand is celebrating with a more meaningful effort beyond a cute photo opp in Times Square. corporate citizenship initiative.

The retailer, inspired by research from the National Park Foundation that shows 60% of American kids spend less than an hour a day outside, today kicks off Million Moment Mission, an initiative ("You Share. We Give. Kids Win") to encourage families to get outside and share outdoor experiences. 

L.L.Bean is pledging to donate $1 (up to $1 million) to the National Park Foundation for every "outdoor moment" Americans share online or by attending one of L.L.Bean's many outdoor events this year, with its website promoting "100 years with 100 adventures" via its Outdoor Discovery Schools program.Continue reading...

Leon Leonwood Bean sold his first pair of boots back in 1912 — and it swiftly kicked him, and his pride, right back. Of the first 100 pairs he sold, 90 were returned because the leather separated, according to the Associated Press.

Rather than call it quits, his solution proved to be the launch of a venerable brand that turns 100 on January 18th: a money-back guarantee, for which he borrowed some cash and started over again, opening his iconic store in Freeport, Maine, five years later.

The outdoorsman’s genius, clearly, was in his marketing. He obtained Maine’s list of people with hunting licenses who lived out-of-state and sent them notices about the boot. Since then, Bean has done well as a catalog merchant and now online. According to the AP's report on the anniversary, the “privately held company expects to have $1.5 billion in sales in its 2011 fiscal year.”

To celebrate the L.L.Bean brand centenary, from Maine to Manhattan, the public will be treated to the sight of a massive version of the company’s hunting boot rolling through the streets this week. Forget the Batmobile — L.L. would no doubt get a chuckle from the Bootmobile, which will be parked in New York's Times Square from 1pm to 3pm on Wednesday.Continue reading...

Nissan and Buick marketers recognize the advertising juggernaut that the NFL has become. And their brands, like their rivals, are advertising during this month's NFL Playoffs, and many brand are gearing up for record auto-industry spending to advertise during Super Bowl XLVI on February 5.

But Nissan, its Infiniti luxury brand, and GM's Buick brand also have been making a departure from the football-chasing pack by investing more heavily than the rest in special marketing relationships with college sports, both basketball and football. Infiniti and Buick are the car sponsors of NCAA's March Madness basketball tournament.

And in the meantime, Nissan has been ramping up its ties with college football and the Heisman Trophy, signing a new five-year agreement as a "premier partner" with the award that goes to the game's best player each year. "It's a big strategic opportunity for us," Bill Peffer, Nissan's director of marketing communications, told brandchannel. Nissan wil be able to feature the Heisman Trophy in ads, for instance, and bring the hallowed piece of metal with it now on College Football Experience tours that it brings to football-crazy campuses.Continue reading...

Sir Richard Branson is indeed taking over the world. And now he may be taking over your money.

The billionaire Brit and founder of all things Virgin on earth — including Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Records, Virgin Mobile — and beyond, with Virgin Galactic aiming to talk regular folks into space — is this week pushing Virgin Money, the Virgin-branded bank that's taking over Northern Rock's 75 branches in the U.K. and 21,000 staff members for £747million ($948.3 million), according to the Mirror.

After the Northern Rock acquisition was announced, Virgin moved to add an annual £60 ($78) fee on every account, but then changed course and decided to offer it as an option, the Mail reports. As a sweetener, the bank will likely “offer perks such as discounts on Virgin flights or gym memberships,” the paper notes.Continue reading...

There are 45,000 dreamers who will hit the New York City streets on Sunday morning, determined to cross the finish line of a 26.2 mile jog through the five boroughs on one of the city’s most celebratory days: The ING New York City Marathon day.

While you know where you’ll find all of them on Sunday, it is also likely that you’ll find most of them in the Columbus Circle subway stop at some point this week. It's the closest MTA stop to where runners need to pick up their numbers and free T-shirts and it’s not that far from where the race finishes up in Central Park as well. In 2008, the stop had 20 million people pass through it, according to Second Avenue Sagas.

Sensing an opportunity, sneaker manufacturer ASICS has taken over the subway stop this week, giving both runners and casual observers plenty to look at.Continue reading...

This afternoon, if you happened to be wandering in NYC's Soho neighborhood (where the temporary Apple store is located, in fact), you would have caught the opening of the Beats By Dre store.

What's interesting about this opening is that it appears that the only advertising or marketing that was used for this store was by way of pure social media. The special guest at the opening night party? Let's just say we'd be surprised if it didn't turn out to be Dr. Dre himself.Continue reading...