Of all the sub-brands that the National Football League has been able to create on its stellar rise to sports and TV dominance lately, none is more powerful than The Quarterback.

Sure, there is the Super Bowl, which advertisers love. There is NFL.com, which has become popular. And most NFL teams have been superb at leveraging their own "local" brands with licensed goods and new stadiums, including the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and Houston Texans.

But it's today's celebrity "field generals" who have come to embody the NFL brand, as well as their teams, more than any other factor. And that's why brand marketers including Jockey, Visa and State Farm are happy to see five of the game's best and hottest quarterbacks still playing this weekend in the four TV games comprising the so-called Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs.Continue reading...

The New England Patriots have had a deal with MillerCoors for nearly 10 years and they’ll continue that relationship for another seven — if the company wins the lawsuit it filed against the team on Monday, according to CNBC.

The suit claims that the Patriots went back on a contract that it signed with the beer giant in order to go through with a different contract for the same time period with the archrival of MillerCoors, Anheuser-Busch InBev, CNBC reports.

The deal with MillerCoors (a joint venture of SABMiller and MolsonCoors) was supposedly so far along that not only was it signed, but celebrated “with a dinner by the marketing agent working on behalf of MillerCoors and the Patriots sales team,” according to the report. All MillerCoors would like is for the original deal to be put back into place and to get some extra dough to help out with “costs and goodwill,” CNBC notes.

"We expect to win and when we win we will be a great partner to the Patriots," said Jackie Woodward, VP of media and marketing services for MillerCoors, according to the site. "We look forward to bringing our marketing muscle and activation prowess to bringing football to fans in New England."

So fear not, Pats fans — there's still hope that Tom Brady can once again be Miller Lite's player of the week.

General Mills' "Coccoon" spot is oddly disturbing, not great at making people want to eat fruit snacks.

Creepy but more effective: Warner Bros. promotes new movie Matt Damon/Gwyneth Paltrow movie Contagion with a "bacteria billboard in Toronto."Continue reading...

Talk about a show-stopper. No, not Lady Gaga's cross-dressing performance as Jo Calderone. It was Beyoncé's surprise revelation at the MTV Video Music Awards that she and husband Jay-Z are expecting a baby that shocked observers, prompting 8,868 tweets per second as the news spread on Aug. 28, setting a record for the site.

Now, as Beyoncé prepares to add "mom" to her list of credits, fans are wondering what this is going to do to her career. Will it delay the filming of her next movie? Will it cost her the love of young male hip hoppers?

Forbes suggests that this new chapter in the lives of hop hop’s king and queen doesn’t have to be a bad thing brandwise. Instead, this may open up a lot of doors for the pair, who placed second in Forbes’ annual list of top-earning celebrity couples. They brought in $72 million, behind only the whopping $76 million pulled in by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen.Continue reading...

Renault brought its Facebook page to life — and directly to the brand's fans and other car buggs — at AutoRAI 2011, the Netherland’s biggest automotive event. Visitors can ‘Like’ the brand's with an RFID Facebook card.

Renault placed specially made "Facebook pillars" in front of its cars on display. By holding their pass in front of these pillars, a connection was made to users' profiles and the car was automatically "shared" on their wall — sharing their offline car experience with their online friends.

Other fresh twists on branded Facebook marketing below.Continue reading...

Barneys NY creative director and author Simon Doonan may be a particularly crank elf this holiday season. In the wake of a management shakeup he's still in place, but rumors of tension with new CEO Mark Lee have surfaced.

Comme Des Garçons brings multi-label concept shops to Beijing.

Proposed design piracy law moves forward.

Fashion's Night Out returning for third time in 2011.

InStyle Magazine is now selling clothes online.Continue reading...

* New York Fashion Week may be whetting appetites (and chopping trees) for Spring/Summer 2011, but back on earth, Kmart's busy wooing fashionistas for fall, above.

* The Kardashians are also in NYC this week pitching their K-Dash line for QVC to fashionistas, while real designers ply their wares, goody bags, sex toys?

* The memorably-named Acne denim brand, meanwhile, is launching a line seemingly targeted at transvestites and cross-dressers.

* Chanel's relaunched Soho boutique for NY's Fashion Week features a gotta-get-it Yeti look.Continue reading...