Lady Gaga is now officially the mother of all Little Monsters, launching her social network, LittleMonsters.com this summer, as her fame catapults to 25 million followers on Twitter — the first user to hit that milestone.

"#25milliontweetymonsters wow! I'm officially feeling like the luckiest girl in the world today. Last sold out show in Singapore in 2 hrs!" she tweeted right before the show was cancelled and she delivered a "Special Message for Indonesian Little Monsters" on YouTube.

The special greeting that all Little Monsters, as Gaga calls her fans, are waiting for is coming soon, when her social network swings open its doors and gets out of private beta.Continue reading...

Kantar's new global survey – the largest soccer survey ever conducted – has named Manchester United the world's most popular soccer franchise, featuring 659 million followers worldwide.

The survey gathered 54,000 respondents from 39 countries around the world. Manchester United, which Forbes recently named the most valuable franchise in world sport, was identified as the favorite team of 659 million followers around the world. Kantar also found that soccer remains the world's most popular sport, with 1.6 billion followers globally, reinforcing the results of a recent FIFA survey which produced a similar figure.

"Manchester United is built on a tradition of iconic players, iconic teams and iconic achievements – Beckham, Busby, Benfica '68," stated Richard Arnold, Commercial Director, Manchester United.

"Now our games are broadcast to 1.15 billion households globally, to an audience of over four billion a year. Manchester United resonates with followers all over the world, and it's their passion and support that means year after year we can continue doing what matters most to everyone at the Club: playing attacking football and competing for trophies."

"The growth in our followers since 2007 correlates with what we have seen as we have rolled out our new approach to reaching fans.  From the increase in TV viewership from two to four billion last season, to the demand from millions of media subscribers in 72 countries through our media partnerships, to the way the footage of Wayne's overhead kick echoed around the world on social media, we can see that the connections to the club are growing exponentially." 

"Rubbin', son, is racin'."

So goes the often quoted line from crew chief Harry Hogge in Tom Cruise's 1990 NASCAR blockbuster, Days of Thunder. Meant to be a statement about how the sport is a rough business, it's so popular that NASCAR's president used it last year when he subtly pushed for a little more "rough business" to boost ratings.

Lately, NASCAR has taken on a whole new political form of "rubbin'. And, in some ways, it's more preposterous than anything in Days of Thunder,  going by the cold reception from fans for the new EPA-NASCAR team-up.Continue reading...

In a cross-promotional marketing deal announced today, PepsiCo's Mountain Dew soft drink is sponsoring the upcoming Warner Bros. Batman release, The Dark Knight Rises. An exclusive digital experience, DewGothamCity.com, will reveal content and storylines ahead of the sure-to-be summer blockbuster's July 20th release.

The Dew beverage line "will take a dark spin – with a Dark Knight graphic takeover of base packaging and temperature-sensitive cans that change when chilled, to Mtn Dew Dark Berry, a new limited-edition mixed berry flavor" inspired by the brooding superhero. Select 16-oz cans of DEW will receive a face-lift "of the thermochromic variety. The special cans will use thermochromic ink to feature a bat symbol that transforms to the distinctive green color of DEW when chilled. The limited-time 16 oz. cans will hit shelves in mid-June."

Diet Mountain Dew driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., will help promote the release with fans being asked to help choose (through May 22nd) which one of four proposed Dark Knight paint schemes will grace his #88 Chevrolet on the NASCAR circuit this season.

The only piece of the partnership not quite resonating with fanboys: the point-of-sale display featuring the Caped Crusader. Check them all out below.Continue reading...

In a first for the NFL and Tiffany, and to celebrate the unveiling of their Super Bowl XLVI championship ring, the New York Giants are inviting fans to share in the moment.

Big Blue die-hards around the world will be able to virtually “try on” and take photos with the Tiffany & Co.-designed ring, as well as each of the team’s three previous Super Bowl rings, using a free augmented reality mobile app by GoldRun. Participants will also be able to pose with the coveted Lombardi Trophy.Continue reading...

“Star Wars” Day was last week. (“May the fourth be with you” and all that). But diehard fans of the films are obviously ready to celebrate it at anytime and anywhere. So there was a jolt of excitement when word came out that the owner of the franchise, LucasFilm, had filed for a new trademark, “Star Wars 1313,” according to NeoSeeker.com.

The filing suggests that LucasFilm will be using the new trademark for a new Star Wars game, though others had originally thought it might be a television show.

The trademark would be used for “interactive entertainment software and accompanying instruction manuals sold as a unit, namely, computer game software and manuals sold as a unit, video game software and manuals sold as a unit; video game software, computer game software, and pre-recorded compact discs and DVDs featuring games, films, animation, music, computer game software, and video game software; downloadable video game software and downloadable computer game software; computer game software for use on mobile and cellular phones.”Continue reading...

FanCulture is a short film that explores the relationship between fans and brands and the methods used to harness that enthusiasm in marketing.

Featuring interviews with leading academics, brand strategists and fans including Dr. Matt Hills, Sony PlayStation, Fred Perry, UK broadcaster Channel 4, Polydor Records, the Kaiser Chiefs and "superfans" of brands from Nike to Marmite, it explores the issues at the heart of the brand-fan relationship such as: Is there a formula to creating fans, how much can fans be worth to a brand, and why engaging enthusiasts and brand ambassadors should become more than just buying "Likes" on Facebook.Continue reading...

With more than 250 million folks on Facebook, at least a few of them are likely to be bikers, and Harley-Davidson fans, so one of them thought he'd launch a community for his fellow Harley-heads.

That's what inspired Harley brand loyalist Jimmy Coulbourne to start a social network for bikers and named it HarleySpace.com in honor of the bike they all love to ride.

Well, the Milwaukee-based company was not a big fan of that move. They took the issue to court and now the 36-year-old Coulbourne has changed the name of the site to IronRides.com, though he’s not very happy about it. 

"They said I was trying to profit off their name," Coulbourne said, according to the York Daily Record. "HarleySpace isn't their name. It's Harley-Davidson. If they think they own HarleySpace, why didn't they own HarleySpace?"Continue reading...