Fox maintains top ad rates for American Idol even without Simon Cowell, as News Corp.-Cablevision stand-off saw 3 million NYC area homes lose the channel over a big weekend for football fans.

Apple is turning more attention to the corporate market.

Barclay Capital foresees modest bump in U.S. holiday sales.

Chevron incorporates anti-oil industry sentiment in new ads.

Chrysler expands as other U.S. automakers cut brands.

Citigroup reports $2.2-billion third-quarter profit.Continue reading...

Verizon Wireless will refund $50 million to customers as "mystery" data charges investigated.

BP compensation fund czar Ken Feinberg was profiled on last night's 60 Minutes.

Delta refocuses on service after its acquisition of Northwest.

Diageo launches reality show on BET starring its Smirnoff vodka brand.

Facebook plans for rapid growth in India; COO Sheryl Sandberg is NYT-profiled and The Social Network tops at the weekend box office.

Fox News polarizing host Glenn Beck was also profiled in Sunday's New York Times magazine.

GE treats marketing as a critical function for the first time.Continue reading...

Playboy is traversing a slippery slope in taking its infamous brand digital. Forced to adhere to Apple’s rigorously applied no-nudity policy — meaning nothing more revealing than beachwear can be shown — its new $4.99 iPad app may indeed be "best for the articles."

The app, developed by India's Jump Games, offers an HD downloadable version of the magazine in a customized format for iPad swiping. Fans are complaining it's off-brand. What’s missing? It's more what's not missing (clothes), as the iPad version features no gatefolds, no skin or cartoons, and only a sneak peek of the Playmate of the Month.

What is included: Oversized thumbnails of regular print features like After Hours and Mantrack product overviews, the monthly Playboy Interview, 20 Questions and longer ‘journalistic’ articles.Continue reading...

Pizza Hut viral dance craze sweeps South Korea, wooing teens with with in Seoul. (above)

OkCupid dating site breaks down attractiveness of users based on camera and mobile phone brands: Panasonic > Canon > Nikon.

Denny's joins the ridiculous sandwich wars with a Cheese stick sandwich.

New York City transit authority relents and accepts ads referencing 9/11 (more background here).

McDonald's french fry ad crosses over, literally.

Playboy's iPad app disappoints with no-nudity policy (that's right: Hef's keeping the smoking jacket on).Continue reading...

Look at your brand and then look back at the screen. Can your commercial look like an Old Spice commercial? No. Can your commercial feel like an Old Spice commercial? Nice try, Cisco. (above)

Playboy must stop licensing. Case in point: new bunny-eared fragrances Playboy New York (even though it's based in Chicago) for men and a trio for women. We were also perplexed by Playboy's "safe-for-work" website, The Smoking Jacket. Looks like it's already finding its editorial niche: drug smugglers!

Is Toyota bringing back the Supra? Trademark filings say yes maybe.Continue reading...

Not content with the vast array of questionable products already out there bearing the Playboy brand, the media company is launching a new web venture named The Smoking Jacket (for founder Hugh Hefner's favorite attire). As Hef says in his welcome video, "It's Playboy's new safe for work website. Next to the mansion, it's the best hangout on the planet."

Meanwhile, a press release from Playboy's editorial director promoting the site's launch reads, "Cube dwellers and office drones alike shall rejoice at this fun, sexy, satirical antidote to the drudgery of the workday." Congratulations, Playboy! For years, everyone's been talking about how the brand was turning into Maxim. Now, the transformation from Playboy to AnnoyingFratBoy seems complete.

Somewhere, Norman Mailer is rolling in his grave. Why?Continue reading...

Brands in the news:

Starbucks' rebranded Seattle's Best Coffee brand arrives in Manhattan.

About.com launches new branding effort.

Amazon reports that e-books outsell hard cover books as Kindle sales triple.

Apple donates MacPaint source code to museum as rocky romance with AT&T unveiled in Wired.

Blekko enters the search engine fray.

Brightkite embraces badges.Continue reading...

Penthouse owner FriendFinder Networks has submitted a $210 million bid for Playboy, having expressed interest on Monday after Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's surprise proposal emerged to take the company private. Its formal bid tops Hefner's proposed private equity-backed buyout offer, and invites Hef to the party — and to continue residing in the Playboy mansion, literally and figuratively.

FriendFinder states in its press release today that the company "believes its proposal is in the best interest of Playboy Enterprises and its stockholders, providing a basis for future growth of the Playboy brand and enhancing the Playboy legacy. With over 200,000 affiliates in its network, FriendFinder Networks maintains one of the world’s largest internet affiliate programs, providing the Playboy brand the ability to help extend its global reach."

The offer also opened the door to partnering with Hefner, with FriendFinder president and CEO Marc Bell adding, "We look forward to Mr. Hefner and other key members of management being an integral part of the combined companies." Judging by Hefner's Twitter comments, he shouldn't hold his breath.Continue reading...