While some automotive advertisers were toting up their marketing gains from ads that they ran during Super Bowl XLVI last month, some tech brands were gaining affirmation of their own strategies for Sunday's appearances in another "tentpole" TV event, the Oscars.

Volkswagen, for example, generated 1.9 billion media impressions through its Super Bowl advertising and associated activities, including 32 million views on YouTube of its much-touted video for the game, including the "Star Wars" canine teaser and its "The Dog Strikes Back" ad for the Volkswagen Beetle (above). That produced a "media-equivalent value" of $62 million compared with the estimated cost of $3.5 million to $4 million for 30 seconds of Super Bowl time.

"That was a strong payback from what was a significant investment in Super Bowl presence," Volkswagen of America CEO Jonathan Browning told reporters on Thursday.Continue reading...

With London getting ready for the Summer Olympic Games, the Mayor's office this week released a time lapse video showing how the huge Olympic Games rings were built ahead of their journey on the Thames.

There are less than 150 days left before the London 2012 Olympics kick off. So what better way to commemorate the event than to have Mayor Boris Johnson on hand to watch 33-foot-high Olympic rings get tugged down the Thames while kids wave flags and a band makes music? 

Get a look now, Londoners. The rings are going back into storage till the actual Games, according to Firstpost.com.Continue reading...

Stagnation is a dirty word at Procter & Gamble, one of the world's most successful CPG companies. So P&G is making some strategic steps to re-accelerate growth, heighten profitability and combat what at least are perceptions that the company has slowed down as one of the industry's engines of innovation.

P&G CEO Bob McDonald told analysts last week at the annual CAGNY conference that the company will cut costs totaling more than $10 billion over the next five years, including $1 billion in external marketing spending and reduction of more than 4,000 additional jobs in non-manufacturing areas including marketing.

In his presentation, McDonald said the cuts also are meant to address a mismatch between where the company spends much of its money in developed markets such as the United States vs. emerging markets where sales are growing fastest. P&G also has been hit by rising commodities costs and consumer resistance to resulting price increases in some markets.

Appreciative investors immediately bid up P&G stock by more than $2 a share, to close at $66.71 a share on Friday. Among the sources of savings, McDonald said, will be having consolidating its marketing operation and using more lower-cost digital marketing, as well as launching more multibrand marketing initiatives such as a 30-brand P&G effort built around the 2012 Summer Olympics. Even so, McDonald stressed that he expects 2012 marketing spending to be "roughly" in line with the total last year.Continue reading...

It's been a big year for Nike, between the release of the FuelBand and Linsanity (yes, Nike is giving Jeremy Lin his own shoe already, the Nike Hyperfuse 2011 Linsanity PE). The brand continues to impress with a slew of announcements this week, unveiling innovations for basketball and summer sports.Continue reading...

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the India Olympic Committee sent 56 athletes to compete and came home with its best performance in history: one gold (men’s 10m air rifle shooting) and two bronze (wrestling and boxing).

It remains unclear if any Indian athletes will be showing up at the London 2012 Summer Games due to the massive presence of Olympic sponsor Dow Chemicals, which is “sponsoring a $11.4-million decorative wrap that will be installed around London's Olympic Stadium,” according to the Associated Press.

The problem stems from Dow’s ownership of Union Carbide, which it bought in 2000, 16 years after Union’s plant in Bhopal had a gas leak that “killed an estimated 15,000 people and injured half a million,” the AP notes. While Dow didn’t own Union when the incident happened, critics say the company is “responsible for lingering groundwater contamination and other issues,” the AP notes.Continue reading...

While Google+ is looking to boost brand connections with consumers, the upper hand still goes to Facebook — which has unveiled a range of features to better connect its users with brands.

That includes a just-announced line-up of media-branded apps coming to Timeline through the social network’s open graph including Buzzfeed, CBS Local (Los Angeles and New York versions), CMT, Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, GetGlue, Huffington Post, Mashable, MSNBC.com, MTV News, Pixable, Sporting News, and MSNBC.Continue reading...

Major sporting events and major brands go hand in hand, and marketers can't get started early enough with pre-event promotions. 

Witness the recent Super Bowl. An unprecedented number of Super Bowl ads appeared prior to the Super Bowl, as online unveilings appeared via YouTube and on promotional websites. Some pundits questioned the wisdom of such pre-game publicity, wondering if it simply undermined advertising effectiveness.

But that isn't stopping big brands from doing it again, this time in advance of the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London. Coca-Cola, a major Super Bowl advertiser, has gone public with its "Move to the Beat" London 2012 Olympics campaign that was announced in September.Continue reading...

Amazon expands into original programming for web and TV, while Senate bill may close Virginia's "Amazon loophole."

Angry Birds lands on Facebook.

Apple shares close above $500, breaking more records, while brand announces iPad 3 release for March 7, testing "iPad Mini" tablet with smaller screen.

Burt's Bees launches spinoff aimed at Gen Y.

Chipotle steals buzz at Grammy's with Willie Nelson/Coldplay commercial.

Ford may have last laugh over Chevrolet with Super Bowl truck ad.

Google sees Motorola Mobility acquisition approved by EU and US.Continue reading...