When Qatar was awarded the first World Cup to ever take place in the Middle East, some eyebrows were raised because, well, it’s going to be 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade when the games take place during the summer months and the country only has one stadium that was deemed worthy enough to use.

Still, the country has until 2022 to work out these problems. Part of its bid promised that it would build nine of the most gorgeous stadia you’ve ever seen. They will be air-conditioned to ensure the good feeling and health of the players and fans alike. Also, some are promised to be modular so that they can be taken apart after the Cup and sent along to developing countries so they can enjoy them along with their Texas Rangers 2011 World Series champs T-shirts.

So who is going to build these lovely places? The BBC reports that “over 90% of Qatar's workforce is made up of foreign migrant workers, many of them from South and East Asia,” and several labor unions argue that the workers are not being treated humanely and that, in fact, it's a modern-day form of slavery.Continue reading...

FIFA, the organizing body of world soccer, dug itself a massive PR hole this past spring when a cash-for-votes scandal was unearthed. It left Asia’s former soccer head Mohamed bin Hammam banned for life “after being accused of bribery during his failed attempt to become FIFA president,” according to Reuters.

Though bin Hammam has always denied the allegations, it doesn’t change that FIFA sponsor Emirates Airlines felt “overlooked” during the whole scandal and now is considering leaving when its contract runs out in 2014, Reuters reports.

"We are seriously thinking about not renewing our partnership with FIFA beyond 2014," said Boutros Boutros, the divisional senior vice president of corporate communications for Emirates, told Australia’s B&T Media. The comment took FIFA by surprise, according to Bloomberg.Continue reading...

When the FIFA World Cup, one of the sporting world’s largest events, went to South Africa last year, it generated $1.1 billion in marketing income for the organizing body, according to Bloomberg.

FIFA will continue to cash in some of those bucks from the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, which has signed on to continue its 25-year relationship with the organization through the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 Cup in Qatar.

For those of you keeping score at home, this means that you’ll get to see commercials proclaiming that Budweiser is the “Official Beer of the FIFA World Cup” for the ninth and tenth time during those events.Continue reading...

Losing the final of your sport’s biggest global event after nearly winning in overtime is not an easy thing to live through, but getting boatload of cash out of the deal has got to make that bitter pill a little easier to swallow in retrospect.

That’s where Abby Wambach now sits, a few months after the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team lost the World Cup in a penalty-kick shootout after she had scored an overtime goal that was seemingly for the win before Japan somehow equalized. The U.S. was ready to love this team as it had the women of the World Cup-winning 1999. That team has a few members whose names live on: the star Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain (who famously pulled her own shirt off after scoring the winning goal), the tough vet Michelle Akers, and Julie Foudy, who has helped herself by becoming an analyst on ESPN.

For this summer’s team, the two names that will live on for some time are likely to be Wambach’s and goalie Hope Solo, who seemed to catch the fascination of America during the World Cup run. She broadened her fame by taking a stint on Dancing With the Stars, but hasn’t hooked into the same kind of sponsorship dollars that Wambach has, according to BusinessWeek.Continue reading...

U.S. House is expected to pass debt ceiling bill tonight, with the Senate set to vote Tuesday.

Amazon launches AmazonLocal daily deals in Groupon's hometown of Chicago; launches MyHabit app to compete with Gilt Groupe; beefs up streaming offering to compete with Hulu by adding Universal titles; and looks to expand Kindle library.

Apple iPhone 5 now rumored for October; Apple TV lets users buy TV shows with streaming update; and Apple blocks Samsung tablet release in Australia.

Twitter confirms "significant" ($800M?) funding round led by Russia's DST Global; adds Dutch and Indonesian local sites; and opens NYC office.

Adobe bows to Apple and builds Flash alternative.

Airbnb looks to defuse user security concerns by offering $50,000 guarantee to homeowners.

Allstate to shut banking unit, posts $620M in losses on tornado claims.Continue reading...

The Oscars of Advertising, the Cannes Lions festival now taking place in France over seven days and 57 sessions, wraps up on Sunday.

At the Cannes Lions 2011, marketing and advertising innovators, communications ninjas, design savants, digital thought-leaders and other big thinkers come together to inspire, debate, and entertain. From outdoor advertising to media to radio to design, almost all forms of communication are covered, judged, applauded and recognized.

Brandchannel joins in the applause — check out the 2011 Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners below, and stay tuned for an update after the final round of winners are announced on Sunday.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola today kicks off its teen-centric global Coca-Cola Music campaign, expanding the "Walls" commercial (above), which debuted in Germany in January, worldwide. The track, "Can you feel it" by British band One Night Only, contains Coke's sonic signature, similar to how K'naan's World Cup "Waving Flag" subtly incorporated the brand's audio mark.

More details on the campaign (which includes a Maroon 5 tie-in on March 22nd) our earlier story, and in Coke's press release. Scroll down for a behind-the-scenes look at the commercial.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola has long celebrated music as the heart of its brand, but the days in which it would like to buy the world a Coke are long past. It's stepping up its musical courtship by specifically wooing Gen Y, the young demographic that in the next nine years will grow to about 2.5 billion people world-wide.

It's been making a bid to stay modern and contemporary, including tapping K'naan for its World Cup anthem last summer, and the French avant-disco duo Daft Punk for a current collaboration that includes a new tune (above) and limited-edition packaging.

Next up: a live event in London on March 22 that will team the brand with the band Maroon 5 in a global crowdsourcing project to further attract young music lovers to connect Coke with music.Continue reading...