Brand mascots are perennial Halloween costume favorites (count the number of Angry Birds you spot trick or treating this year!). But just when you thought there coudn't possibly be another way for commercial culture to tap into Halloween, major brands are haunting the occasion with spooktacular tie-ins, including the annual Halloween Google Doodle on the Google homepage today.

OnStar, Kraft, Progressive Insurance, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and Honda are among the legions of brands with Halloween promotions this year. It adds up to a phantasmagoric overload that makes it really difficult for any single brand, promotion or Halloween-themed marketing campaign to stand out from the rest, especially with so many Halloween messages in commercials and TV programming. But it's all in good fun, and hasn't stopped an array of brand marketers from joining the fun.Continue reading...

Apple trademark attorneys take out their grief over losing Steve Jobs by threatening German café.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the "Feel Bad Movie of Christmas," has a feel-good line of clothing at H&M.Continue reading...

Following a complaint from U.S. senators, General Motors' OnStar telematics division announced today that it's reversing the proposed Terms and Conditions policy changes it announced last week would take effect on December 1st.

Following customer feedback (read: public outcry), OnStar president Linda Marshall announced that the company will not keep a data connection to customers' vehicles (and collect that data) after their OnStar service is canceled, as had been intended. OnStar bills itself as "the world's most comprehensive in-vehicle safety, security and communication service."

OnStar has grown so fond of its customers that it doesn't want to let go of them — ever. The General Motors-owned "telematics" brand has been hit by a letter of complaint from two U.S. Senators about its plans to continue maintaining a "two-way connection" to OnStar-equipped vehicles even after a subscriber has terminated a subscription, "unless they ask us not to do so."

This new opt-out requirement for severing your electronic ties to OnStar is set to begin December 1. The company justifies it by asserting that it will be adopting the policy basically for the car owner's own good, even if the owner isn't aware of the benefits.

"In the future, this connection may provide us with the capability to alert vehicle occupants about severe weather conditions such as tornado warnings or mandatory evacuations," Joanne Finnor, vice president of subscriber services, told brandchannel. "Another benefit for keeping this connection 'open' could be to provide vehicle owners with any updated warranty data or recall issues."Continue reading...

Ford has quickly and successfully built a major sub-brand out of its Sync infotainment systems featured in Ford and Lincoln vehicles. The trailblazing, industry-leading approach to mobile connectivity has picked up in just four years a cachet that GM's OnStar brand hasn't achieved in 20 years.

So, could Ford's surging EcoBoost powertrain sub-brand be next to get the star treatment from Ford? A company executive pondered the possibility for brandchannel.Continue reading...

Americans would agree that they don’t want carmakers in the bedroom or their accountant’s office. But what about their doctor’s office?

Ford, Toyota and General Motors are among auto companies developing and demonstrating new technologies that could turn their vehicles into rolling health clinics, with various types of telematics (electronic systems) able to monitor heart rates, blood-sugar readings, air quality for asthmatics and other safety criteria and medical conditions.

The technology is relatively "easy" because modern cars already are highly advanced electronic environments full of sensors, digital readouts, wireless-communications devices and other essential building blocks of medical-monitoring systems. And automakers argue that the need is a crying one:  About 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day, and 26 million Americans have diabetes.Continue reading...

With financial markets seeming to have moved beyond the debate, the federal debt bill gets House passage, including an emotional appearance by Gabrielle Giffords, and awaits Senate action today, as economic effects are gauged and Washington, D.C., begins to examine the deal in post-mortems.

Apple releases iCloud pricing and developer specs.

BMW outshines Audi as 5 Series sales boost profits.

Cracker Barrel promotes Sandra Cohen to CEO.

Ford and Volkswagen build online loyalty in the U.K.

GM pilots OnStar feature that helps keep better track of teen drivers.Continue reading...

Aetna rises despite drop in demand for medical care.

Boeing beats estimates, boosts outlook.

Borders woes parsed in post-mortems.

Delta Airlines cuts capacity on rising fuel costs.

Disney and Marvel team for Captain America game, while Disney looks to shore up Bollywood business with UTV ownership.

Dow Chemical quarterly profit up 74%.

Dunkin' Brands CEO says IPO a byproduct of "unbelievable buzz."Continue reading...