AOL shuffles execs.

BSkyB may lose UK "stranglehold" on Hollywood releases.

Dunkin' Donuts parent IPO could exceed $400M.

Express sets Guinness World record with Times Square fashion show.

Facebook iPad app appears in the wild, disappears.

Google gives Gmail a new logo and homepage.

Hyatt apologizes for turning up heat on protesters.

LinkedIn launches "Apply With LinkedIn" button.Continue reading...

It used to be easy to succumb to guilty pleasures when traveling. After all, the hotel minibars were stocked with cookies, chips, and sodas, among other things. Not anymore. The healthy-food marketplace has entered this previously untouched zone: organic has come to the hotel minibar.

Marketwatch reports that “hotels and resorts are increasingly stocking minibars with healthier alternatives to traditional high-fat, high-sugar snacks,” which is helpful to the waistlines of travelers as well as the bank accounts of hotel owners and healthy-food providers.

The report notes that Hyatt's Andaz Wall Street in New York stocks organic Clif Bars and Terra plain and vegetable natural chips in its minibars, while the Four Seasons Austin in Texas is testing sales of six “organic, healthy and/or locally-produced products, including peeled mango, ginger tea and nut-and-fruit gluten-free energy bars” this summer. And those two luxury hotel locations aren’t alone.Continue reading...

Just after our resident product placement tracker, Abe Sauer, posted his review of POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and interview with the film's director, Morgan Spurlock, we got word of how one of the brands that sponsored the documentary is leveraging its relationship with Spurlock.

Hyatt is inviting the public to submit their own movie trailers for a competition that will be judged by Spurlock, with prizes including two other sponsors of the movie (JetBlue and title sponsor, POM Wonderful).Continue reading...

Having already screened at Sundance and South by Southwest, director Morgan Spurlock's new documentary on product placement (POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold) is opening on Earth Day (April 22nd) in select US markets.Continue reading...

Royal Wedding fever is heating up, and not just in the UK. Expect the hype over the Super Bowl of weddings to intensify right on up to and through the actual ceremony uniting Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29. The question for all sorts of brands is whether the nuptials will bring with them a cascade of benefits at retail.Continue reading...

The Sundance Film Festival kicked off last week with news that Morgan Spurlock's new documentary — The Greatest Movie Ever Sold — had sold.

In fact, it sold itself many times over: first and foremost to POM Wonderful for title sponsorship; to Sony, which will distribute it; and to the other brands who agreed to underwrite Spurlock's film in return for being featured placing their products as part of the film.

It all means that Sony will distribute the documentary in April under its new title — POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. The bigger question, as Spurlock seeks to sell out much in the way he intended to blimp out with his McDonald's-skewering Super Size Me documentary in 2004: who got bought and who got sold? And can such a cynical exercise really show how branding and product placement work?Continue reading...

Fifty-four percent of Americans have an allergy according to the National Institutes of Health, and allergy rates have increased by two to five times since 1980. Odors, mold, dust and animal dander can trigger an immune response, causing itching, sneezing and asthmatic attacks for allergy sufferers. And dust mites – among the most common of allergens – live and procreate prodigiously — in mattresses, pillows, carpets and upholstery.

Hyatt Hotels Corp. is paying attention, adding "allergy friendly rooms" across the chain in its latest customer service offering. The hypoallergenic rooms are being outfitted by Pure Solutions, a privately held New York-based company that promises removal of 98% of bacteria and viruses and has worked with Marriott hotels (above).Continue reading...

The hot brand trend this summer? Boycotts!

Several major brands have been taking public relations hits over a range of issues. The one unifying theme is that activists (or the just plain agitated) are urging other consumers to press for change (i.e. their agenda) by shunning these brands at the checkout. More than ever, they're using social media to organize and spread the word.

Brandchannel's latest report card looks at brands enduring the Summer of Boycott™ and just how much these actions could be damaging them.Continue reading...