On the surface, Beijing's recent municipal rule banning all use of the term "luxury" in advertising seems to throw a spanner in the works for upmarketers promoting their wares in China.

But in fact, the new regulations provide a superb environment for branding to do its job — especially for brands that don't need to bother with the term.Continue reading...

Apple's Steve Jobs re-elected to Disney board despite health concerns.

Bank of America cautioned by the Federal Reserve.

Coca-Cola wraps up Maroon 5 24-hour crowdsourcing experiment.

Firefox 4 downloads eclipse Internet Explorer 9.

Groupon CEO disputes ComScore traffic figures. 

Gucci sponsors Grammy's music preservation program.Continue reading...

For the kick-off of Milan Fashion Week today, Gucci and Fiat unveiled the 500 by Gucci, a special edition of the iconic Fiat 500 customized by Gucci creative director (and UNICEF honoree) Frida Giannini in partnership with Fiat's Centro Stile. Check out Gucci's autumn/winter 2011 runway show here.

• Call yourself brand loyal? The gentlemen above call your brand loyalty pedestrian. (via)

• Diesel was smokin' at New York Fashion Week (and we don't mean the apparel brand).

• Just what the Big Apple needs — the world's biggest Apple store. Inside Grand Central.

• And fuhgeddabout texting and driving in Noo Yawk, where LML is OD on Twitter.Continue reading...

Anglo American and Lafarge to form $2.8 billion UK venture.

Apple draws scrutiny from regulators over subscription rules and gets closer to a cheaper iPhone.

CBS gets heat for allegedly sitting on the Lara Logan story.

Campbell Soup lowers outlook.

Citadel Broadcasting ponders selling itself to smaller rival Cumulus.

Daimler unveils BharatBenz brand for India.

Disney head Bob Iger outlines vision for TV's future, while studio arm plots counter offensive against DVD industry woes.

Egypt's new military rulers launch Facebook page, attract 75,000 fans in 24 hours.Continue reading...

Advertising slots during this year's Academy Awards telecast on ABC have sold out. But just as last year, advertising rules apply, meaning "marketers still have to make sure certain ads featuring celebrities or celebrity voice-overs don't run near segments of the program that could feature those very same stars."

Last year, the prominent example of this rule in action was best actor nominee Jeff Bridges and his voiceover work for Oscar advertiser Hyundai (above).

This year, Bridges is the most prominent nominee to lend his talent to the, ahem, commercial sector. But he's far from the only one.

The nominees for Best Work in a Commercial Campaign (TV or Print) are:Continue reading...

Gucci signed on five years ago to UNICEF, becoming the biggest corporate donor to the UN agency's Schools for Africa program. Since then, more than 3.7 million kids in about 4,500 schools have benefited from the luxury brand's largesse.

UNICEF US president Caryl Stern details Gucci's generosity in the video above, which also features Gucci CEO Patrizio diMarco and creative director Frida Giannini talking about the strides made by the continuing partnership, which has included fundraising and awareness-raising through limited-edition products, fundraising and celebrity-studded special events.

Throughout the recession, the luxury fashion market took a major hit and luxury brands were happy to hold their own as existing luxury consumers backed off of extravagant spending. Interesting new data released by American Express Business Insights (AEBI) at a recent trade show sponsored by the National Retail Federation (NRF), prior to the recession, indicates the "active luxury spender" (most likely a Baby Boomer) was responsible for 68% of all luxury spending. When the recession hit, 25% of these consumers stopped spending.

Those defined as "occasional luxury shoppers" accounted for about 20% of the luxury spending, while "aspirational luxury shoppers" were responsible for 12% of luxury spending. However, it was the aspirational luxury shopper group that actually dominated the luxury shopper category — they were 70% of the total universe of luxury spenders — so their hesitancy to buy impacted luxury brands significantly.

Thankfully, during the current recovery, luxury fashion spending in the U.S. is not only rebounding, it is actually stronger than mainstream spending, says AEBI SVP Edmond Jay. Emerging from the recessionary shambles is a brand new demographic that AEBI calls the "Luxury Newcomer" — a web-savvy, discerning fashionista who knows her way around sites such as Gilt.com and relishes a good discount and interactive shopping experience.Continue reading...