With the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks quickly approaching, a grab bag of brands and interests are rushing to leverage the event and the sentiment for a little self promotion.

And while the event has always been both a tender subject and an appealing promotional property, this year may see an increase in the volume, in both noise and amount, of 9/11. In fact, it may be so much that a person might need a drink… for which there is a 9/11 wine. Continue reading...

Much of the appeal of driving these days lies in the potential for mobile connectivity, rather than with handling or performance or heated seats or any other particular attribute of the vehicle, especially for the Millennial generation that has grown up with cocked thumbs. 

It was just a matter of time before major non-automaker brands began jockeying for a piece of the action. State Farm Insurance has just introduced its own aftermarket “telematics” system called In-Drive, by which the auto-insurance giant hopes to compete with the likes of Ford’s Sync, General Motors’ OnStar and other infotainment systems that are hard-wired into vehicles when you buy them.

In a move similar to that just launched by GM as it provides an aftermarket installation kit for OnStar, In-Drive will offer services from the standard telematics menu including one-touch emergency response, roadside assistance, stolen-vehicle location assistance, vehicle-diagnostic alerts and others. For consumers, there's another big incentive: discounts.Continue reading...

While baseball fans sat and watched ball after ball after ball get hammered out of the ballpark on Monday during the 2011 State Farm Home Run Derby, part of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game festivities, execs at the insurance company, which has sponsored the Derby since 2007, must have been sitting back and enjoying themselves.

The broadcast from Phoenix attracted almost 7 million viewers to ESPN, according to Nielsen, giving a big boost to the State Farm Brand. The insurer received about $45 million worth of brand recognition during the game, estimates Front Row Analytics, a division of marketing, research, and naming-rights firm Front Row Marketing Services, estimates, according to TheBigLead.Continue reading...

If it was up to automakers (and Hollywood), every year would see a stream of sequels from the three hit movie franchises hitting theaters through April and June this year.

Between Fast Five, Cars 2 and the upcoming Transformers 3, audiences have willingly subjected themselves to a level of auto product placement from Hollywood hits that borders on pornography. Call it "carnography."

From Ford Mustangs and Dodge Chargers to Range Rovers, VWs and the Chevy "Bublebee" Camaro, has there ever been a better three-month stretch for cinephile gearheads?

But while the Transformers and Fast Five series are straightforward about highlighting models, Cars 2 plays faster and looser, leaning on car brand stereotypes when necessary, and mixing and matching brands.Continue reading...

So there's this little Indie film opening this weekend. Maybe you've heard something about it. Cars 2?

While Disney's original Cars only (only!) made $460 million at the box office, its merchandising efforts have raked in over $2 billion a year since 2006, enough to get any sequel's motor running. Just two weeks after the release, some estimates valued sales of Cars merchandise in excess $600 million. In June 2006, just a month after the film's release, Disney announced that Cars-licensed products had already broken merchandising records, racking up a volume ten times that of Finding Nemo. 

Cue Cars 2. Target, the film's official retail partner, has been running heavy tie-in ads letting consumers know here to get even more Cars merchandise. Target currently offers over 150 different Cars 2-branded products, from bedspreads to a "Bubble Mater." Landing Cars 2 deal was a huge "get" for Target, as Walmart was the retail partner for Cars.Continue reading...

Good news for “Shotgun!” car game fans — it's coming to Facebook tomorrow, courtesy of State Farm Insurance.

From March 31 through April 9, fans will have the chance to win a new Ford Fusion Hybrid and 400 pre-paid Visa gift cards simply by calling “Shotgun!” and being the first person to tag themselves in Facebook photos of cars that State Farm will publish on their FB page, five times a day for the next ten days.

Created by ProximityChicago, whose 'fundamental beliefs' about digital marketing include, “a digital idea doesn’t know it’s digital," State Farm's new campaign lives up to that notion, as the promotion is based on gaming to drive repeat visits. It's also a clever bit of co-branding for Ford and Visa.

As State Farm states it, all you have to do for its latest social marketing campaign is “Like Us, then call Shotgun!”

Peep this: Just in time for Easter, it's the recent protests in Madison, Wisconsin, done with Peeps. (via)

One in five UK men use their iPad 2 in the loo.

Charlie Sheen's "Tiger Blood?" Yeah, that product already exists.

Wells Fargo will rebrand all Wachovia branches this summer.

Other branding odds and sods this week: giraffes, Smutley, Peetniks and more.Continue reading...

Are inclusive HR policies good for a brand's PR and corporate image? That's a question many major brands are asking these days.

Consider a hot-button issue such as gender resassignment surgery, a major life change that not all companies support — or want their diversity policies known externally.

AP, reporting on the latest Corporate Equality Index published by by the Human Rights Campaign, notes that major employers including Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola, Campbell Soup and Walt Disney all now (quietly) provide transgender-inclusive health benefits for employees undergoing a sex change. 

Eighty-five others, including AT&T, Sears, Yahoo!, American Express, Kraft, Kodak — which isn't alone in taking public pride in its GLBT Pride program — Morgan Stanley, PricewaterhouseCoopers, General Motors and State Farm pay for a minimum of one surgery during sex reassignment, which is now considered “medically indicated” according to the American Medical Association, and not optional.Continue reading...