Adidas taps Katy Perry for new campaign.

AFL-CIO launches image campaign.

Airbus posts record sales.

American Airlines stops flying to India, sacks 150 workers.

AOL leads companies testing crowdsourcing.

Apple expands iTunes Match, reportedly preps interactive textbooks for the iPad, while pre-earnings valuations vary.

BASF halts its genetically modified products in Europe, including its Amflora potato.

Beats Electronics breaks up with Monster.

Beyonce accused of skin-lightening in album promotion, gives first post-baby interview.

BlackBerry-maker RIM criticized by analysts for PlayBook incompatability.

BMW recalls 89,000 Mini vehicles.

Burberry quarterly profits jump 22%.

Carnival faces heat in wake of Italy shipwreck, its worst accident in 40 years, as environmental fears mount and cruise industry is rocked.

M&M's will introduce a sixth candy character — Ms. Brown — in its Super Bowl commercial, while Kia plans 60-second commercial with Adriana Lima and Motley Crue, in keeping with trend to longer Super Bowl spots.Continue reading...

Heading into the holidays, eBay today launched a new section (eBay.com/Celebrity) to promote auctions raising funds and awareness for celebrities' personal causes.

"Only eBay has the innovative technology and large portfolio of tools to combine celebrity, charity and commerce to engage consumers with the causes they care about most," said Richelle Parham, Chief Marketing Officer for eBay North America, in a statement. "We couldn't think of a better time then during the holiday season to unveil eBay Celebrity, when giving back to a good cause is always a top consideration."

The first round of charity auction items available on eBay Celebrity includes a chance to attend Brad Pitt's "A Night to Make It Right" gala at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans on March 10. Other celebs on board include Christina Aguilera, Jeff Bridges, Sienna Miller, Hayden Panettiere, Katy Perry, and Troy Polamalu. More details on the initiative in eBay's Q&A with senior manager of public relations Amanda Miller, who speareheaded the project, in the video above.

It’s generally best for a passionate male sports fan to keep his obsession out of the bedroom when it comes to relations to the opposite sex, but a company in England is helping to change that predicament.

Premier Lingerie has partnered with two Premier League clubs to produce lingerie with the team’s clubs and colors. And this isn’t just so the fellas can live out some sort of Harlequin-style soccer fantasy — it's for the female footie fan.

“Women now make up about 20 percent of football supporters but only three to five percent of club merchandise is aimed at them,” said Paul Robinson, director of Premier Lingerie, to the Daily Mail. “A lot of clubs simply stock pink T-shirts with the club's logo on them. That's not good enough. Not enough clubs are doing anything sassy for their female fans, so that's where we're helping.”

Premier Lingerie recently partnered with Premier League team Newcastle United on the heels of signing a deal with the Wolverhampton Wanderers before the holidays last year. It is in conversations with other teams about producing similar lingerie lines, the brand's website notes.

We may all have Katy Perry to thank for this.Continue reading...

It was an ironic weekend at the box office. Russell Brand vehicle Hop dueled with Russell Brand vehicle Arthur for the top spot. Hop (once again) won the weekend, the widely panned Arthur didn't — and Brand's brand is now up for a bit of rebranding it seems.

We've already looked at the product placement in Hop, so let's look at the oddity that is Arthur — a film featuring both product placement for Maker's Mark and Alcoholics Anonymous.Continue reading...

The 60-second spot, above, in the new "All In" global campaign by Adidas has racked up almost 1.2 million views since going live on Thursday — helped by a clever teaser campaign, and the appearance of Katy Perry, Derrick Rose, David Beckham and other star athletes and performers.

Also helping boost views for the spot: the soundtrack is "Civilization" from the new album from Justice, which isn't on sale until April 4th.

Adidas has been posting a series of blink-and-you'll-miss-them sneak peeks at the star athletes and performers in its upcoming "All Adidas" global campaign.

"All Adidas," its biggest campaign to date, features athletes (Lionel Messi, Derrick Rose, David Beckham, Dwight Howard) and musicians including Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg and B.o.B. Check them out below.Continue reading...

The above clip from I am Number Four, the likely top film opening this weekend, proves that one sure way to "blend in" is to carry an iPhone.

Also in our weekend look at product placement in entertainment, Britney Spears' new video asks, "Would you hold it against me?" If she's talking about the product placement in the clip, the answer is "yes."Continue reading...

During 2010, over 700 billion YouTube videos were watched and more than 13 million hours of video uploaded. Frankly, it’s amazing any work got done at all.

The search trends on the site, the world's second biggest search engine after parent Google, provide an accurate barometer on the serious (and perhaps less serious) news events of the year — and people's propensity for lower case searches. The top search terms on YouTube this year: Haiti, luge, eclipse trailer, ipad, eminem not afraid, shakira waka waka, double rainbow, bed intruder, halo reach, whip my hair and firework.

In other words, it was a good year for brands. Read: Old Spice (Man), the Winter Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, Apple, Katy Perry, Microsoft Xbox and vampires.Continue reading...