Get Ready-to-Drink with Jack Daniel’s

If mixing up a Jack and Coke is just too much trouble, Jack Daniel’s has come to the rescue.

It is coming out with a line of ready-to-drink mixers this month.

Flavors include Jack & Cola and Jack & Ginger, with Jack & Diet Cola to be released later in the month.

The new drinks are 5% ABV and the company claims that they are the first ready-to-drink beverages packaged in aluminium bottles.

After the jump: The devil and Jim Beam, German engineering meets Scots ingenuity, and Bulleit Bourbon shoots for Rye lovers.Continue reading...

We announced the annual Brandcameo Product Placement Awards this week, and if you have not read them yet, by all means do.

We cover everything from Iron Man 2 to Toyota Prius to Glock to Apple, Apple, and more Apple. For example, did you know that Apple products have appeared in over one-third of all #1 films at the US box office since 2001?

Also, with the Academy Awards coming up this weekend, check out Brandcameo's look at all of the product placement in Oscar-nominated films as well as commercials made by Oscar-nominated actors.

As for this movies opening this weekend, let's look at Apple...bee's. Specifically, the irony of new comedy Hall Pass mocking Applebee's.Continue reading...

In a new campaign that merges a Tom Waits video with Being John Malkovich, Jim Beam's new "Bold Choice" campaign and tagline launched on US cable channels this week. The first TV commercial, "Parallels," stars actor Willem Dafoe in an array of guises (above) including fashion designer and sumo wrestler. Check out the longer spot for online after the jump.Continue reading...

In a development that should have bourbon aficionados raising their glasses, Knob Creek is bringing to market its long-awaited Single Barrel Reserve, the first new release from the brand since it was introduced by Jim Beam in 1992.

The new bourbon should be on shelves by next month. Ever responsive to consumers, which the brand lets customize its bottle labels, this week an update was posted on its Facebook page to whet fans' appetite:

The master distillers at Knob Creek taste test each batch and then individually select the privileged few to become Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve. Bringing you this quality and taste requires a significant amount of additional time, but at Knob Creek, we don’t shy away from something that’s Worth the Effort. Only a few short weeks until you can find it on the shelves! Who's excited?

Talk about a rhetorical question.

Judging by the comments, they all are!Continue reading...

Some brand owners see strategic value in consolidating their brands under a unified corporate structure, using size to leverage its marketing power and achieve economies of scale. This makes perfect sense when a company manages many brands in similar categories that serve similar markets, as in the case of Procter & Gamble.

But then there are those companies whose brand holdings are in diverse categories, each of which requires a specialized approach to marketing and distribution. In this case, a consolidated business model may become a barrier to further growth.

So it is with Fortune Brands, which has announced its intention to separate the company into three unique businesses representing its distinct consumer product lines.Continue reading...

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is named "CEO of the Decade" by MarketWatch, with Ford CEO Alan Mulally named "CEO of the Year."

BMW reports highest global sales growth so far this year.

Cheesecake Factory inks credit line for expansion next year.

CNN says Parker Spitzer talk show keeps rising amid the tensions.

Fortune Brands splits into three companies: spirits (Jim Beam, Canadian Club), home (Moen faucets) and a golf business.

Hyundai signs extended global FIFA World Cup sponsorship deal.Continue reading...

Involver has raised $8 million to pursue its new direction as a social media marketer. The San Francisco company manages profiles for personalities and brands such as Hearst, Sony/RCA, Alicia Keys, Facebook…and The White House? Launched in 2008 as an online video gateway for brands, Involver reinvented itself to seize the lucrative tail of the social media tiger – offering more than 200,000 installed apps and counting over 325 million social "fans." [PaidContent]
 
“Give a Gift” is the latest feature for Facebook members to credit friends' Starbucks cards within the social network. The Starbucks Card Facebook application lets users load between $5 and $500 to registered Starbucks Cards, giving new virtual meaning to ‘Let’s get a cup of Joe.’ [Mashable] Facebook, meanwhile, concerns brand marketers with move to eliminate tabs, reports AllFacebook.

Find out how social media is driving ticket sales, and more, after the jump.Continue reading...

BP is giving Florida $25 million to salvage tourism ahead of Memorial Day and released new footage (above) of clean up efforts in the Gulf. US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, facing Congress today over the spill, said weaknesses at his agency contributed to the disaster.

Grocery manufacturers and packaged goods firms are taking a wait-and-see approach to FDA's new concern over BPA in cans.

Microsoft's new social smartphone, the Kin, targets hipsters with secret concerts while Intel's CMO pursues millennials with Vice partnership.

Facebook will simplify privacy options (as third party apps aim to appease rattled users) and launches new mobile site with no data fees.

Yahoo is buying news aggregator Associated Content for (reportedly) "slightly more" than $100 million.

Google will unveil WebM, a video platform, and an OnStar app with Chevy at its I/O developers conference in SF.Continue reading...