President Obama's decision to work his jobs speech on Thursday around the schedule of the National Football League's opening day shows that he's still got some keen political instincts. Because this week, in this economy, the NFL seems to be the one thing you don't want to mess with.

Brand marketers seem to have forgiven the uncetainties sown by the league's four-month labor stoppage and are ready to jump back on an advertising bandwagon that has outrun every other marketing vehicle over the last three years.

Certainly PepsiCo is the prime example: Today, the beverage giant and the NFL announced a 10-year extension of their current agreement to go into effect next year. According to the Wall Street Journal, the extension could be valued as a $2.3-billion investment in the continued marketing appeal of America's real pastime.

It's one of the largest sponsorship deals ever in sports and ensures that PepsiCo brands Pepsi, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and others will be official marketing partners of the league at a cost of nearly $100 million a year.Continue reading...

Global markets swoon after yesterday’s disaster on Wall Street.

Borden steps out with “Friends of Elsie” campaign.

Comcast and DirecTV engage in legal battle over advertising about NFL broadcasts.

Discovery Communications continues with upbeat reports.

Dodge leverages NASCAR to tout new Durango.

Dunkin’ Brands to boost prices to cover commodity-cost increases.Continue reading...

British PM David Cameron tells Parliament that he now regrets hiring former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as News Corp. faces US calls for Dow Jones inquiry over phone hacking and London police say their investigation could take years. Wendi Murdoch fever also explodes on the web as her husband's media empire attempts to restore reputation.

American Express reports record cardholder spending.

American Idol co-creator Simon Fuller is suing Simon Cowell for a cut of The X Factor on FOX.

Associated Press will link to sources starting Aug. 1st.

Coach signs Gwyneth Paltrow for UK launch campaign.

Google offers credit card to advertisers, winds down Google Labs, launches Google+ iPhone app.

Intel quarterly results beats analysts' expectations.Continue reading...

Simon Cowell is arguably the king of creating entertainment brands, particularly when it comes to packaging pop stars.

Cowell has made a very lucrative business for himself out of creating British game shows and exporting them successfully to America. He has the added joy of being known as an overly confident, brash, opinionated guy who wasn’t afraid to say some blunt and nasty remarks to the brave soul who've come before him for juding in a variety of talent shows.

As his X Factor talent show prepares to jump the pond from the UK to the US, he's not ignoring X Factor UK — far from it.Continue reading...

The buzz continues from the Wall Street Journal's look at PepsiCo's fortunes this week, with an article titled "PepsiCo Wakes Up and Smells the Cola" and a sidebar profile on CEO Indra Nooyi titled "PepsiCo Chief Defends Her Strategy to Promote 'Good for You' Foods."

While the hook was Pepsi's return to TV advertising this week following a three-year hiatus to focus on social media and crowdsourcing via its Pepsi Refresh corporate philanthropy program, the spotlight turned to Nooyi herself, who has come under fire since Coca-Cola was revealed to hold the #1 and #2 sales slots (with Coke at #1 and Diet Coke unseating Pepsi to take #2) in the US last year.

The big question: did Nooyi take her eye off what should be any brand leader's top objective — marketing and positioning its products to boost sales — in order to promote what she calls "Performance With Purpose"?Continue reading...

Pepsi tonight unveiled its new summer campaign, with the tagline "Summer Time is Pepsi Time" and a none-too-subtle tweak at its chief rival in the cola wars. Yes, Virginia — that's Santa Claus, the iconic Coca-Cola brand mascot.

Saint Nick is shown boogying on summer vacation (with assorted elves in tow) to the Pepsi beat — and rejecting a bartender's offer of Coke. Watch it below and tell us what you think.Continue reading...

Not surprisingly, General Motors has confirmed that Chevrolet will be its brand occupying the major sponsorship slot with Fox’s new show, The X Factor, when the heavily anticipated new Simon Cowell property debuts this fall.

And while Chevy has had a hard time one-upping Ford in a lot of areas lately — such as infotainment technology and social-media marketing — X Factor actually may give Chevrolet a chance to steal a march on its main rival in the crucial arena of integrated brand marketing.Continue reading...

A bigger brand story demands a bigger audience and a bigger canvas.

General Motors has been returning its advertising to mega-stage “tent-pole” broadcast “events” like the Super Bowl and NCAA March Madness over the last several months as CMO Joel Ewanick works his strategy for re-energizing the company’s remaining Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC brands.

And now GM has opted for yet another big-marketing gambit: a major sponsorship of The X Factor, Simon Cowell’s American Idol competitor that will begin airing on FOX this fall.Continue reading...