As the UK stops all the clocks to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee — yes, the Queen of England has been wielding her Royal Tea Cozy for 60 years now — don’t think the Brits don’t know how to celebrate. There was a 1,000 boat river pageant on Sunday, and a star-studded concert on Monday.

From a McQueen fit for a future Queen to jubilant Marmite to Cadbury's Dairy Milk to much, much more, there's one subtle branded tribute that actually comes from an American brand. The city of London now boasts a new lighting system across its Tower Bridge that went live in time for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The lights burn a particular "diamond" color to help pay respects to Her Royal Highness.Continue reading...

"巴黎，我来了" Translation: "Paris, Here I come."

That was the message Li Na posted on her Facebook page on May 25th. The message captioned a photo of a blue sky, likely of the view from her flight. On June 4th, as news of China focuses on, let's say, less proud moments, Li Na will challenge to make the quarterfinals for the French Open, the grand slam event she won last year. It was a single championship win that put $42 million in endorsement deals in her pocket and made Li the second highest earning female athlete in the world.

Ah, pity Michael Chang.Continue reading...

The description on this video by Omega, offical timekeeper of 25 Olympic Games, says it all: "It's been 80 years since OMEGA first timed an Olympic Games, and as Official Timekeeper for London 2012, OMEGA will once again bear witness to Olympic glory. It has also been 50 years since the Rolling Stones became a band and 31 years since "Start Me Up" first entered the charts! To mark these occasions, OMEGA has released an extended Olympic Games-themed television commercial (a short version has also been released). The footage features the Rolling Stones' classic hit "Start Me Up", remixed especially for the commercial by producer Don Was. The on-screen footage features Chinese diver Qiu Bo, U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin, British heptathlete Jessica Ennis, U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay, South African swimmer Chad Le Clos and U.S. pole vaulter Jenn Suhr — all Olympic hopefuls and OMEGA brand ambassadors. The focus is on the athletes' routines and concentration in the pivotal minutes and seconds before competition, a moment in time for each athlete that can set the tone for a potentially life-changing performance. Join the conversation on Twitter by using #StartMeUp and by following OMEGA on http://twitter.com/omegawatches" ("Start Me Up" was only used once before in a commercial, for Microsoft's Windows 95 launch.)

Below, watch the Omega London 2012 Countdown Clock in London's Trafalgar Square: 

"The OMEGA Countdown Clock starts ticking in Trafalgar Square, London. Swiss watchmaker OMEGA is the Official Timekeeper for the London Olympics 2012 and the OMEGA countdown clock will show the days, hours, minutes and seconds remaining to the start of the Opening Ceremony. OMEGA sport watches are favoured wherever timekeeping is essential and the Swiss watchmaker duly has a long history of involvement with the Olympic Games. The video shows some of the evening's events and features interviews with the Olympic host city's mayor, Boris Johnson, and sports personalities who were on hand to celebrate."

“Gold, silver, what’s the difference? One centimeter after a kilometer of competition,” says Dr. Bill Moreau, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) managing director of sports medicine, in the video above. “Our job is to help that athlete to find that last little piece that makes them the best in the world.”

Team USA is taking no chances preparing for the looming 2012 Olympics. The USOC will be using electronic medical files for the first time with help from GE to digitize records for the more than 700 athletes heading to London for the Summer Games.Continue reading...

BlackBerry-maker RIM plans to slash staff.

P&G will change candy-resembling Tide Pods on child safety concerns.

Formula One wins court challenge overturning 'F1' trademark‎.

Amazon will sell pre-paid wireless service in Japan.

Apple applies for patents on advanced stylus.

Two years after BP oil spill, tourists return to US Gulf.

Cisco pulls the plug on its Cius tablet.

ExxonMobil to vote on gay protections.

Facebook is reportedly developing a smartphone (with ex-Apple engineers).Continue reading...

The coming Summer Olympics are promising to be the most digital sporting event of all time. NBC is planning to stream gobs of events and is not afraid that doing so will bastardize the prime-time coverage that the average viewer seeks. That way, a table-tennis aficionado can catch every last move that the Warren Buffett-sponsored American teen prodigy Ariel Hsing makes while the general public can just marvel at her greatest hits.

The digital Olympics onslaught got a serious boost this week when Olympic partner Samsung released an awesome online-only advertisement featuring David Beckham, one of the brand's Team Samsung London 2012 ambassadors. In it, the soccer star promotes the Galaxy Note by sounding out Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” by kicking balls at a wall of drums. The word was spread about the ad using Beckham’s own Facebook page as well as other online touch points. Since the video went live on Monday, it's racked up more than 1M views.Continue reading...

For this summer’s Olympics in London, Adidas is listed as a partner. Four years from now, though, its biggest rival may be holding that title.

ESPN reports that Nike is exploring the idea of becoming an official sponsor of the Games by 2016, when the world’s best heptathletes and canoers, among others, will head to Rio de Janeiro. 

Nike already has a slew of agreements in place with different Olympic and sports-federation governing bodies around the globe. In the U.S., for example, Nike sponsors the both the national basketball and the track and field teams, and has deals in place to put its golf ball-inspired track and field apparel (at right) on athletes from Germany, China and Russia too.

"We look at the Summer Games as one of the biggest opportunities we have to introduce new products and technologies," said Charlie Denson, president of the Nike brand, to ESPN. "We've always focused on the athlete. The misperception might be that we don't spend time with the federations or the organizing committees or things like that.”

The Olympics always provide a battleground for sports-apparel brands since the companies also sponsor so many athletes who are at the Games. It can likely get confusing for even the athletes themselves as to when they can wear the gear of their sponsor and when they need to wear the gear provided by the team.Continue reading...

The way the world communicates with one another is ever-evolving as new technologies continue to appear and social media continues to introduce new avenues of expression. With that, brands are always finding new ways to touch their customers and all of the classic branding rules are being tossed out the window.

Olympic sponsorship has long been a way for major brands to reach consumers every few years, but international Olympic executives are looking to possibly shift how the model works in order to embrace this new world.

The sponsorship model now in place brings in $1 billion, according to the Financial Times, but the IOC is planning to “take a step back” and re-assess the sponsorship strategy going forward.Continue reading...