What do you get when you combine the longest-running American sitcom, one of the world’s most popular brands, one of the biggest TV-watching days of the year, an online community of over 350 million active users, and a worthy cause? Marketing gold.

Coca-Cola has launched a Facebook campaign in which users can send their friends virtual bottles of Coke. In return, they get to watch 20-second previews of the commercials that will run during the Super Bowl. And for every bottle sent, the company will donate $1 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. In addition, on February 7th at noon, gift-givers will get to watch the full ads before they’re aired later that night during the game.Continue reading...

The New Yorker opened its archives in memory of J.D. Salinger. [Business Insider]

Post-iPad reveal, consumers wait patiently for a reaction from Amazon. [CNN Money]

Wal-Mart consolidates into three regions and reorganizes its operations. [NY Times]

Internet users in China have access to faux Google and YouTube sites. [Boston Herald]

NBC and Comcast collaborate to receive approval for merger. [Washington Post]

Ronald Burkle looking to spend some of his billions on Barneys New York. [WSJ]Continue reading...

Liberals and conservatives agree: the Obama Administration's recent campaign to delegitimize Fox News Channel as a news source is a huge boost to the Fox News Channel brand.

Fox's success shows the rewards for cable news networks of building engagement among a dedicated base of diehards, following the vaunted "80-20 rule" that says that 80% of a channel's ratings come from 20% of its audience. Keeping the core audience tuned in for repetitive programming that confirms their beliefs turns out to be the recipe for success. That it has transformed US politics is a mere side-effect. (The 80-20 rule probably caused Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1998, when FNC rode the Lewinsky scandal to ratings glory.)

The latest controversy began in early October, when White House media advisor Anita Dunn rounded the talk shows to argue that Fox -- which has been attacking Obama all year -- "often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party."Continue reading...