In the heated battle for digital and social loyalty, Facebook is squaring off against Tumblr, which is growing in size and as a platform for brands to have a different kind of voice, one that relates better to millennials in particular: more tongue in cheek, a little more freewheeling and more visual.

With more than 80 million blogs across its network, Tumblr is inspiring online (recently passing "blog" as a search term on Google) and offline buzz, as witnessed in a flurry of Tumblr to book publishing deals, such as Suri's Burn Book.

The microblogging site has hired a full-time literary community manager, Rachel Fershleiser, to help connect Tumblr bloggers to agents that could lead to a book, TV, radio or web deal — or some combination of those platforms. "I'll give them advice or I'll take a look at their book proposal," Fershleiser commented to the PBS MediaShift blog. "Sometimes I'll pass something along to an agent. Tumblr gives them a place to put their work and if it's great, we will get it discovered."

While clearly embraced by the younger creative community, Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp faces the task of monetizing its success by working with brands and marketers while not turning off its user base. Karp isn't a big fan of advertising, so he's looking for subtle ways to engage brands and his community.Continue reading...

The 2013 Buick Encore is powered by a 1.4L turbocharged engine, has an EPA-estimated 33 mpg highway fuel economy, and standard six-speed automatic transmission with front-wheel drive. It also features personalized technologies well-suited to the desired demo such as Intellilink and QuietTuning with Buick’s first use of Bose Active Noise Cancellation. 

That's all well and good, but it's not very exciting to non-car buffs. So how to excite the social web with those features? Excite bloggers to become inspired by the brand and become social ambassadors, for a start. With 71% of Pinterest’s nearly 25 million users under the age of 45, (50% age 25-44), the “Pinboard to Dashboard” program has generated 17 million plus unique visitors, followers or users across Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogs.

“Knowing the Encore’s target audience spends a great deal of time online, and on Pinterest, we created a social strategy to reach them where they ‘live’,” said Lloyd Biermann, Buick Crossovers marketing manager. So In October, Buick selected 10 influential design, fashion and food bloggers to create pinboards on Pinterest showcasing how the all-new Encore speaks to their personal style and life passions.Continue reading...

Next year, Kermit the Frog may be singing, "It IS easy being green." He'll be delighted to know that Pantone has selected Emerald Green as the Color of the Year for 2013, and will feel right at home on its Pinterest board devoted to the exact shade of green: 17-5641.

For over a decade, Pantone, a company long associated with setting color standards in printing, has been selecting a "Color of the Year." According to the company, "Pantone quite literally combs the world looking for color influences. This can include the entertainment industry and films in production, traveling art collections, hot new artists, popular travel destinations and other socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from technology, availability of new textures and effects that impact color, and even upcoming sports events that capture worldwide attention."

So why is 2013 a Green kind of year? "Green is the most abundant hue in nature — the human eye sees more green than any other in the spectrum," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. "Symbolically, Emerald brings a sense of clarity, renewal and rejuvenation, which is so important in today's complex world. This powerful and universally appealing tone translates easily to both fashion and home interiors."Continue reading...

Greenpeace is doing battle against the fashion world. In the past week, it organized more than 700 volunteers in more than 80 cities in 20 countries to dress up like mannequins and stage “walkouts” of Zara stores as a protest against the company for using any hazardous chemicals in its supply chain.

The “Detox Zara” campaign has spread to include all of fashion; the eco-campaigner's latest video, above, is a manga style trailer called "Detox Fashion" (tagline: "Toxic is so last season.")

The campaign has worked, according to Greenpeace's Tristan Tremschnig: "Zara — the world’s largest retailer — has now committed to clean up their supply chain and Detox following 9 days of intensive pressure from people around the world. This included over 320,000 people joining the campaign online, over 44,000 mentions of Zara and the Detox campaign on Twitter alone, and a reach of over 7.1 million people across Twitter and Weibo. Not forgetting our activities on Facebook, Pinterest and outside the brand’s stores."Continue reading...

Apple adds new Samsung devices in patent lawsuit, acquires use of Lightning trademark in Europe from Harley-Davidson.

Chrysler named Marketer of the Year by Ad Age.

GlaxoSmithKline invests in India and Nigeria, responds to Washington Post criticism over pharma funding of drug trials.

Amazon and Pinterest add branded business pages.

Aston Martin draws tire-kickers including India's Mahindra & Mahindra.

Beneful launches playful online videos for dog food.

Casual Male rebrands for the big and tall shopper.

Diner's Club partners on movie promotion for Life of Pi.

Dunkin’ Donuts "best coffee" trademark application rejected by USPTO.Continue reading...

HP CEO Meg Whitman pilloried over $8.8 billion start-up acquisition charge for Autonomy as stock plunges and former CEO comes out of woodwork.

News Corp. reportedly eyeing Simon & Schuster as add-on to HarperCollins and acquires 49% of YES Network as former newspaper execs charged with bribery. YES, meanwhile, extends Yankees TV rights through 2042.

Amazon unveils brand pages and looks to reinvent publishing model with Tim Ferriss book.

Apple products top kids' holiday wish lists, while spaceship-like campus delayed until 2016.

BlackBerry dropped by US agency over device reliability concerns.

Big Ten college sports conference brand could be diluted by eastern driven.

Darden CMO defects to Ruby Tuesday.Continue reading...

Hostess Brands gets a stay of execution as company and union agrees to mediation today.

Ikea gets green light in India.

GM launches Springo sub-brand in China.

BMW shows off speed with tire-track promotion.

Best Buy posts loss as store sales drop.

Billabong Americas head considers buyout bid for company.

Campbell Soup builds giant Pinterest board out of classic green-bean casserole.Continue reading...

Amazon swings to loss on aggressive spending on future growth, worries about Apple's iPad mini, while Apple disses Microsoft Surface tablet.

BBC sees dimensions of Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal grow.

Bank of America still dealing with fallout from collapse of Countrywide.

Chanel benefits from buzz created by Brad Pitt campaign.

Cheesecake Factory bucks casual-dining traffic decline.

Chipotle considers once-forbidden veer toward fast-food platform.

Citigroup CEO exit reportedly was planned for months.Continue reading...