BP's "top kill" effort resumes as second plume discovered and clean-up cost approaches $1 billion. WSJ investigation shows lack of command at Deepwater Horizon rig.

Smart-a$$ behind the mock @BPGlobalPR Twitter feed revealed to be San Francisco-based interactive designer Mike Monteiro, who may have a book deal. [update: Monteiro denies the whole thing]

Apple's iPad starts selling globally, with buyers lining up in London, Tokyo and beyond. Time Warner and Universal grapple with its Flash allergy, though Time Inc.'s gung ho.

Absolut taps Spike Lee to design limited edition Absolut Brooklyn.

Nike's "Write the Future" World Cup ad sets viral video record.Continue reading...

P&G seeks to regain trust of moms by tapping mommy bloggers to defend Pampers Dry Max.

BP's MD Bo Dudley hopes to shut off leak by next week, continues efforts and challenges estimates as oil spill advances.

British Airways is having a tough year.

Dish Network threatens to launch rival to Weather Channel in US.

Facebook and MySpace confront privacy loophole.

Fox News targets Latinos with new online campaign.

Jeep Grand Cherokee relaunches today as "symbol of the new Chrysler."Continue reading...

Buoyed by the success of MTV's Jersey Shore franchise, cable networks are gearing up for the summer shore season, Joisey style. Not only Viacom's MTV, but its reality-touting competitors at Oxygen, Style and Bravo all have their fists in the air pumping to promote their Garden State shows during the TV upfront events now taking place in New York.

At its upfront event yesterday at at a midtown Manhattan hotel, MTV touted its new shows by wooing media buyers and brand advertisers with a raucous party themed around the looming return of its now-iconic Jersey Shore, which is currently taping its next season far from Jersey on a different shore, in Miami.

Partiers filled their plates with meatballs and spaghetti, and washed it down with Ron Ron Juice (vodka and watermelon juice), named after cast member Ronnie Magro. Cast members busted out their signature dance moves and female servers “poofed” their hair in salute to Snooki, aka Nicole Polizzi.Continue reading...

Sponsored programming is as old as television, while product placement is commonplace today. But now, at least one studio is making a concerted effort to produce such branded entertainment exclusively for digital use.

NBC Universal Digital Studio, a two-year old production unit, is the only such operation funded by a major traditional film and television company. According to Adweek, while the studio has so far produced only two series each year, it plans to increase its production of digital shows—short-form programming and Web series, such as In Gayle We Trust—in the coming year.

How it works: Brands such as Nestea tap NBCU Digital Studio to produce original, scripted programming and agree to an advertising package that may include product placement and other forms of brand promotion.

The result, in this example: a ten-episode Web series, CTRL, which was available on TV via cable, satellite and telcos' video-on-demand platforms, online at NBC.com, USANetwork.com and Hulu.com, and on mobile platforms and gaming consoles.

Additionally, a dedicated website hosts CTRL's episodes plus branded games, photo galleries, character bios and a blog maintained by the lead character. As an additional revenue stream, NBCU may distribute the content to iTunes.Continue reading...

YouTube, which just turned 5, is now serving 2 billion views. Daily. It's celebrating its first five years with a user-generated tribute channel and launches 3D features in July.

Christian Louboutin launched a website, stopfakelouboutin.com, in a bid to stop counterfeiters.

OSI Pharmaceuticals is being acquired by Japan's Astellas Pharma for $4 billion in cash.

Facebook, says Fortune, is "growing like mad."

Google and Intel partner to bring the Web to Sony TVs.

Marks & Spencer seeks to be more chic, less High Street.

NBC Universal steps up branded entertainment opportunities for marketers.Continue reading...

As quickly and extensively as the digital media landscape twists and turns in fashioning its future fortunes, so do the executives holding the reins.

Speculation has followed Peter Chernin since he left News Corp after serving under Rupert Murdoch as COO. As with many moguls in that stratosphere, there was no rush to join another big company. Having worked with the best in the business, Chernin now wants his own empire to run.

According to the New York Times, on Chernin's drawing board is a two-pronged vision, with one foot in the old-world and the other stretching towards all things new.

He's hanging out his own shingle with Chernin Entertainment. Chernin has already inked a deal with his former colleagues at 20th Century Fox for a Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Apes. He's also teaming with Steven Spielberg on Terra Nova, a sci fi TV series about a modern family that travels to prehistoric times.

It's the other side of his new company that's decidedly more futuristic. He's been hiring B-school grads to scour the world for cool new technologies and digital delivery platforms for entertainment media.Continue reading...

Ruff love: Pedigree's UK adoption drive campaign includes a video (above) that will reveal pt. 2 of abandoned dog's story after 25,000 views. (Click, save Charlie!) More brands in the news this morning:

Pass the buck (and beach ball): Gulf oil spill hearing in Washington awash in finger-pointing, as BP pays $200,000 for BP-free ad campaign to lure tourists back to the Gulf. (Tell us: how will the Gulf oil disaster affect green marketing? Post a comment here.)

Move over, iPad ... What's up? Docs: Verizon Wireless is working on a tablet with Google ... which touted Google Docs to businesses ahead of Microsoft's Office 2010 launch today.

GM can't quit GMAC: General Motors wants to get back into auto financing, a source tells AP.

That's cold: Dunkin' Donuts fans who missed out on free iced coffees yesterday moaned on Facebook and Twitter. Continue reading...

Teri Hatcher's relationship with Disney is set to continue beyond Desperate Housewives thanks to a new digital partnership.

The actress and former Radio Shack spokeswoman is teaming with ABC's corporate parent to launch GetHatched.com, a portal for women that's being produced by the Disney Family group.

The tagline, "A chick’s guide to life," communicates the project's goal: to become the go-to Web destination for her "peeps" (moms, working women), as Hatcher writes in her debut blog post.

It's aimed, she writes, at "women in all of our multi-tasking, chore-juggling, diverse-life role-playing glory. We ARE the force behind everything. We are the caregivers, the nurturers, the lovers, and teachers. We do the laundry, clean the house, feed the pets, drive the carpool, and as if that wasn't enough of a job, we often bring home the bacon. (And then cook it, too!)"

Of course, Hatcher herself is the draw here, not the content.Continue reading...