You've got a city in such bad shape financially that it's being dictated to by the state. A school system in utter tatters, with perhaps the worst yet to come. A heroic and adulated mayor laid low by health issues in the midst of it. A poster child for urban decay. Yes, Detroit.

So what better place than the Motor City for a genuine feel-good story to arise? Consider how Ford and the United Auto Workers are jointly pledging $100,000 to Detroit's Martin Luther King High School Jazz and Marching Band so that the kids can take a trip to the Summer Olympics in London and perform around London.Continue reading...

The last Summer Olympics were in 2008. That’s seven katrillion years in technology years. Much has changed since then and marketers are planning to put extra emphasis on an area that has grown exponentially in the last four human years: social media.

Brand marketers are particularly interested in using Facebook to boost their brands this summer. After all, you fish where the fish are — and Facebook had 794 million people visiting it each month of last year, spending an average (per comScore) of six hours per visit.Continue reading...

Today marks 100 days to the start of the 2012 Olympic Games in London on July 27th. To mark the occasion, the 2012 USA Olympic Team held an event today in New York City's Times Square, with sponsor AT&T on hand for the celebrations with athletes and fans. AT&T also announced today that it will provide networking services to NBC for its cross-networks Olympics telecasts this summer.

If the Tube system in London confuses you already, you might want to skip heading to England for the Olympics this summer. Just to confuse you a little more, a new map has come out of the Underground with 361 station stops renamed for Olympic greats.

The map is being sold on Transport for London's website prior to the 2012 Summer Games. Each subway stop of the London Underground Olympics Legend map is "renamed" for athletes from different sport, so one is all swimming while another is all track and field. The map was designed by former BBC sports journalist Alex Trickett and sports historian David Brooks.

The duo chose an American athlete to represent the main Olympic venue's stop: swimmer Michael Phelps, whose 14 gold medals make him the most successful Olympian of all time. The station nearby is Cassius Clay, named for the famed boxer who fought in the 1960 Olympics of Rome and won gold before changing his name to Muhammad Ali. Longtime rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are next to each other, with Fed getting the bigger tube stop.Continue reading...

Is this a tempest in a teacup? Stella McCartney's Team Great Britain Adidas-produced gear for the London 2012 summer Olympics has a few of her fellow Brits up in arms. The reason? Too much blue in the Union Jack and not enough red for some tastes.

With the opening ceremony on July 27th, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games watch is heating up. This week Visa Europe unveiled its pre-Olympics TV campaign, featuring Usain Bolt (the brand’s "Europe Innovation Ambassador") racing through London. Adidas also unveiled the Stella McCartney-designed Olympics apparel that British athletes will be wearing throughout the competitions.

First, to the world's fastest man: "Bolt embodies speed, effortlessness and performance – the ability to deliver even on the world’s biggest stage. Similarly for Visa Europe, London 2012 is a showcase for our latest payments technology including contactless and mobile payments, which will enable cardholders to experience a secure, reliable and fast payments infrastructure for the Games and beyond,” said Mariano Dima, EVP Product and Marketing Solutions, Visa Europe.Continue reading...

The London 2012 Summer Olympics organizers are getting ready to do battle against ambush marketers, the stealth marketing and advertising that undermines official sponsors' efforts. It's an issue that's top of mind for LOCOG — the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games — and social networks are ready to help.

“Twitter has agreed to prevent brands from using the social network for Olympic 'ambush marketing' attempts,” according to eConsultancy. LOCOG has signed £670m ($1 billion) in sponsorship deals so it doesn’t want any of those partners getting upset about nonsponsors stealing their thunder during the Games.Continue reading...

When the Olympics kick off this summer, sports fans across the globe will be gathering at their local pubs and watering holes to take in some synchronized swimming and canoe racing, among other things. Plus, there will be quite a few tourists wandering around London in search of a good stiff pint. 

With all that beer drinking expected to be taking place, Anheuser Busch InBev wants the world to know that it is ready for the expected uptick in consumption.

"We saw the impact of the last [soccer] World Cup in the U.K., which was outstanding, especially for Budweiser brands," said the company’s CFO, Felipe Dutra, Nasdaq reports. Bud sponsored the 2012 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and has since extended its sponsorship of the event to 2022.

To be clear, InBev doesn’t have any kind of official deal with the Olympics. Instead, Dutch rival Heineken NV “is a 'third-tier' sponsor for the Games, allowing it sell its beers and ciders including Bulmers, Foster's and Kronenbourg, at official sporting venues and hospitality events in the U.K.,” Nasdaq reports.

Still, InBev is expecting consumption of its products to go up and wants to be ready to provide parched souls with some thirst-quenchers. We'll drink to that.

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