Pepsi tonight unveiled its new summer campaign, with the tagline "Summer Time is Pepsi Time" and a none-too-subtle tweak at its chief rival in the cola wars. Yes, Virginia — that's Santa Claus, the iconic Coca-Cola brand mascot.

Saint Nick is shown boogying on summer vacation (with assorted elves in tow) to the Pepsi beat — and rejecting a bartender's offer of Coke. Watch it below and tell us what you think.Continue reading...

Over the last year, PepsiCo appears to have turned around the biggest part of its acquisition of Quaker Oats from a decade ago. Gatorade, on the back of its new three-part product line, has revived its domination of the sports-drink market.

But PepsiCo can’t be nearly as happy with the rump end of its deal for Gatorade: the Quaker brand itself.

Despite a flurry of new products, repositionings and marketing campaigns, the oatmeal-heavy brand remains an apparent afterthought for PepsiCo, with first-quarter sales having dropped. Some in and around the CPG industry are even talking about Quaker as a possible sale property, as Ad Age notes.

A number of obstacles stand in the way of Quaker’s really taking off after years of efforts to ignite growth.Continue reading...

Activision Blizzard tests subscription for Call of Duty videogame.

AmEx custom publishing writes success story.

Apple to reveal iCloud and iOS5 on June 6th.

AT&T faces growing opposition to T-Mobile acquisition.

Budweiser, Miller High Life appeal to Americans' patriotic spirit.

Colombia coffee growers create logo to woo Chinese from tea to lattes.

Comcast buys Blackstone's stake in Universal's Orlando parks.Continue reading...

Gatorade is targeting "core athletic consumers" and "fitness influencers" as opposed to lifestyle and weekend athletes with its new new campaign, "The Inside Edge." Ad Age has more.

BMW and Mercedes outpace rivals in China, as Shanghai auto show opens and a new report shows the most popular brands in China are predominately foreign. Ford's China JV execs mull own brand, while Volkswagen reveals the new Beetle at events in Shanghai, New York and Berlin today. The Volkswagen Group also saw record first quarter sales as China deliveries boom.

VH1 woos female viewers with new programming, while siblings BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nick, and Spike remain holdouts on Time Warner Cable's iPad app due to Viacom lawsuit, although Cablevision's iPad app gets only grumbles.

Toyota resumes production at all Japan plants for first time since tsunami, as its Lexus brand slips behind rivals in the US. TEPCO also laid out a plan for shutting down nuclear reactor.Continue reading...

Apple poaches Microsoft exec to head up data project, as iPhone 5 seen as crucial test with Verizon. And a lucky class of Maine kindergartners receive iPad 2 tablets.

Bank of America appoints new CFO as earnings disappoint.

BP seeks to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Cisco's Flip camera eulogized by NYT's David Pogue.

Donald Trump mulls political announcement on The Apprentice.

Francis Ford Coppola acquires Inglenook trademark, rebranding his Rubicon Estate to the historic name.Continue reading...

Joining Pepsi as another staple PepsiCo brand in need of renewal, Propel hopes to benefit from a zero-calorie reformulation and a new advertising campaign (starring Cindy Crawford, above) that launches today.

Just like sibling brand Pepsi, Propel enhanced water lost US market share last year – down three percentage points to 16%, according to Beverage Digest. That was the case even though Propel arguably invented the enhanced-water segment a few years ago.Continue reading...

The appearance by 11-year-old actress Bailee Madison on The Tonight Show last night was a virtuoso performance by a beguiling expert in product placement, someone able to make multiple brand mentions in seamless context and render them authentic because of her youth, innocence and charm. Or ... not.

In an interview with Jay Leno, the budding child actress and member of the ensemble cast of Just Go With It — where her scenes included the above one, set in a Pizza Hut — named a handful of brands that might have paid dearly for the privilege of being part of her narratives.Continue reading...