Brand marketers, take note: There's a new family segment called "Tech Fast Forward" (TFF) that represents new opportunities for the future.

According to a just-released study by Ogilvy & Mather in partnership with Communispace, this emerging demographic is a household that uses more sophisticated technology than the average person and includes children ages 3 to 12.Continue reading...

Badgeville is launching its Dynamic Game Engine today, which according to the social loyalty platform startup, is the most sophisticated gamification technology available.

Focused on increased brand loyalty and engagement, the patent-pending DGE lets marketers reward a series of interconnected behaviors based on multiple rules, including time-based mechanics, activity missions, and integrated game mechanics across virtually any digital property. 

“Gamification is the how, and loyalty is the why. We’re the Salesforce.com of gamification,” Kris Duggan CEO of Badgeville told brandchannel. 

“There is a shift taking place right now – from drive by visitors that are all optimized around Google search, SEO, and SEM – to a flight to quality. Brands, publishers, community managers are realizing they have to focus on the quality of their audience, and recognize/reward those who continue to matter the most. The value of a user is not equal.”Continue reading...

In other news from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote included this first look at Windows Phone with Kinect for Xbox 360. Microsoft is spending an estimated billion US dollars to market Kinect and Windows Phone 7.Continue reading...

Sony Ericsson is revving up its marketing for Xperia PLAY, including a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of its Super Bowl commercial that was shot in the back alleys of Bangkok (and included the world's first animatronic Google Android).

Previously known as Arc (and among gamers as the PlayStation Phone), Xperia PLAY just launched at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with news that it's adding two additional Android-powered smartphones (Xperia neo and Xperia pro). It will launch next month with Orange in the UK and Verizon in the US.

Check out the Xperia commercial that launched during the Grammys last night after the jump.Continue reading...

Microsoft released this trailer of Steve Ballmer's CES keynote promoting Avatar Kinect for Xbox 360, one of the ways it's goosing Xbox 360 (along with Netflix streaming and Hulu).

Avatar Kinect, which brings a player's avatar to life, will be rolling out as a free add-on for Xbox Live gold-level members this spring. It aims to make entertainment "more active, more social and more fun" as Ballmer notes (and could liven up business videoconferencing, too).

With that in mind, Microsoft also showcased ESPN on Xbox Live with Kinect (after the jump).Continue reading...

Business strategists who analyze Sir Richard Branson's methodology for opening new businesses might think it consists of "Throw it against the wall and see what sticks." They might be right. Branson, the iconoclastic founder of Virgin, a name that represents almost anything you can imagine these days, continues to confound business media, impress investors, and delight consumers with one unusually innovative, breakthrough idea after another.

In addition to launching a new media brand, the aptly-named Maverick, exclusively for the iPad, Branson and Co. have been busy on the branding front across a staggering 360-plus companies.Continue reading...

Games developer and publisher Ignition Entertainment has rebranded as part of a global move to focus on digital gaming. Its new name, UTV Ignition Entertainment, reflects the brand of its parent company, India's UTV Group.

UTV is calling the move a "major strategic evolution," one that will emphasize and facilitate its production, marketing and distribution of titles for platforms including Xbox Live, PlayStation, Facebook, Apple's app store and Google Games.

“There is a demand to market and publish games at more inclusive price points that maintain the same level of quality as their boxed counterparts, and we will invest directly in our own gaming communities to drive this," comments Hassan Sadiq, chairman of UTV Ignition Entertainment.Continue reading...

For the latest Black Friday Live! updates from Abe Sauer, tune in to brandchannel all day.

Google will launch its own smartphone brand. [Mobile News Direct]

Seeking growth, Cadbury will increase advertising in India. [Warc]

HSBC returns focus to Hong Kong business. [NY Times]

The last Pontiac rolled off the assembly line Wednesday. [Detroit News]

Fearing sluggish sales, retailers ramp up online savings offers. [WSJ]

M&A activity on Wall Street can be a good thing or a bad thing. [WSJ]

(More headlines: UK "family brands," Lululemon, Taobao.)Continue reading...