Olympics sponsor GE is using data visualization to engage the public in the gargantuan logistical underpinning involved in mounting and hosting the Olympic Games.

"What (g)oes into building an Olympic city? GE's chief marketing officer Beth Comstock tweeted from a panel discussion Monday on the future of cities at the London Olympics. "Lots of technology and big machines hidden in plain sight." Her tweet linked to GE's Building the Games interactive map, which (powered by Bing search) features GE's infrastructure work behind the scenes of London 2012.Continue reading...

The outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries has been a constant presence for U.S. politicians, pundits, and the H.R. departments as they lay off Americans in recent years. The perception among consumers is that pretty much nothing is made in America anymore. And anything that is, isn’t totally high-quality.

This, of course, is completely bogus. While plenty of jobs have been shipped out of the country, there many companies that do all they can to make quality products and proudly hoist the "Made in America" banner. Those companies now have a major cheerleader in the American Brand Project, a patriotic social startup that rates just how American different companies are in order to help consumers make informed decisions on what to buy.Continue reading...

Volkswagen may not be the official auto sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games — that title goes to BMW, which has been providing a sustainable fleet to VIPs and athletes — VW is sponsoring the Dutch Olympics team.  Getting in the spirit of the games, VW's marketing team and agency in the Netherlands came up with a cheer-based campaign in the lead-up to the Games that got Dutch fans literally cheering.

As TrendHunter notes, "Up! Holland Up!" gave Dutch fans "the opportunity to win tickets to the London Olympic Games by making a Volkswagen car go as fast as possible—only, instead of driving it the normal way, the participants had to scream and cheer as loud as possible to get the car to move."Continue reading...

It’s becoming much more difficult for Apple to maintain any element of surprise with its new products, although the brand's new "Genius" commercials running during NBC's Olympics coverage in the U.S. have been drawing attention — although not as much as the speculation around the new iPhone reveal as soon as Sept. 12th, with video and images leaking all over the web.

Until then, Apple fans are enjoying the spectator sport that is Apple and Samsung squaring off in a patent dispute that kicks off in court today and has been making public key design prototypes and secrets they'd rather not reveal. Now the pair's IP spat has dragged Sony into the fray.

In order to plead its side in the federal court getting underway in San Francisco today, Samsung had "charged Apple with copying Sony smartphone and Walkman designs with its iPhone," according to CNET. Apple, however, has fought back with iPhone concept images from 2005 called "Purple," while the Sony design in question came out in 2006, according to Apple.Continue reading...

"Pandemonium" was the theme at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. 

Depicting a living Facebook timeline of moments from British history, the XXX Olympiad kick-off included a mad mix of cultural references — a skydiving Queen with Daniel Craig as James Bond (nice promo for Skyfall), flying Mary Poppins, J.K. Rowling reading and a giant Voldemort from Harry Potter menacing a giant baby, Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean using an iPhone, a nod to the Mini, costumed villagers in a shire, chimney towers depicting the Industrial Revolution, a British musical medley featuring hits from Sir Paul McCartney (singing the Beatles' "Hey Jude"), the Sex Pistols, Queen, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie (cue a rocketman), plus a speed boat driven by David Beckham, bird bikes and a tribute to web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee in the digital portion of the show — all orchestrated by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, who tweeted "Thank you, everyone, for your kind words! Means the world to me."

"Pandemonium" indeed — a theme and word chosen, according to the BBC, because it "was coined by poet John Milton (and) the name of the capital of Hell in Paradise Lost."Continue reading...

A new ad campaign from Kellogg’s points out that our culture is a little fixated on the end of sporting events. Featuring Olympic swimmer Rebecca Soni, the new ad is all about the start of each day, how it is filled with potential as well as, of course, quality cereals. The campaign also marks the first time that the brand has ever run a national TV spot during the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics Games.Continue reading...

Procter & Gamble had a good thing going with its mom-focused global campaign heading into the London Summer Olympics, and so like the world-class marketers they are, the company is trying to extend the string of positive impressions throughout the Games.

To that end, P&G CEO Bob McDonald and Global Brand Building Officer Marc Pritchard joined the mothers of several Olympic athletes and other P&G executives to virtually "ring" the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange "remotely" — from the P&G Family Home pavilion in London.Continue reading...

Even as the European auto market suffers in general, the German luxury brands are hatching new ideas to reach well-to-do buyers who are managing to stay above the recessionary fray.

They’re bursting on to the scene with new retailing concepts, including Audi City — which just opened in London in time for the London Olympics crowds — and BMW’s avant garde showroom in Paris.Continue reading...