American Apparel may have a knight in shining armor: George Soros.

American Express sees millions of Twitter Sync coupons redeemed within first five days.

Ann Taylor tweaks brand lineup.

Apple finds iPhone falling behind Samsung in China.

BBC America bets on New Yorkers as tastemakers for new cooking show.

Barnes & Noble tests Penguin publishing boutiques in its stores.

CNN reportedly in talks to acquire Mashable.

Chevrolet shows off networked car at SXSW.

Chevron plays catch-up in shale gas.

Chipotle gets a big bang for the little buck.Continue reading...

Ford and NBC have gotten together to launch an unprecedented bit of product placement: a prime-time reality series on network television that is built entirely around a particular product supplied by the brand, in a co-produced show by both parties.

Escape Routes is a six-week show that will air on Saturday nights on NBC and on mun2, NBCUniversal's bicultural network for young Latino-Americans, beginning March 31, with repeats on nbc.com and mun2.com the next day. The mini-series will focus on the adventures of six two-person teams involved in a unique road-trip competition in their 2013 Ford Escape SUVs. Prizes along the way include the red-hot Nike FuelBand. The grand prize: $100,000 plus two all-new Ford Escapes for the winning team.

While acknowledging how P&G and Walmart have collaborated on a made-for-TV family-friendly movies, some of which have run on NBC, Crystal Worthem, Ford's brand content and alliances manager, maintained that Escape Routes is "absolutely groundbreaking." She told brandchannel that "the creative piece of this is centrally launching a product and a brand new, compelling reality show at the same time."Continue reading...

Zynga raised a few eyebrows this week when the social games publisher announced it’s launching an online destination outside of Facebook – the mothership that nurtured its unrivalled success.

As it tests life beyond the great FacebookVille with its own standalone website to offer and connect gameplay, the beta version of Zynga.com will give players access to social games created by, for the first time, third party developers.

“We built Zynga.com to give our players more ways to connect with each other and play great social games whether built by Zynga or other talented developers,” stated Mark Pincus, founder and CEO, Zynga. “Together with our platform partners, we look forward to bringing more play to the world on our platform.”Continue reading...

Aereo is sued by major media companies alleging copyright infringement.

Apple, Google and Amazon lead Fortune's 2012 world's most admired companies ranking.

Apple could find politics on its side in China iPad dispute, while Apple and Samsung lose countersuits in Germany.

CNN was talking with Andrew Breitbart about new show before his death, report says.

Chrysler leads brand gains in robust February auto sales in U.S. market.

Disney draws criticism with governance panel.

Enterprise leverages NCAA sponsorship for March Madness.Continue reading...

Alibaba holding company may privatize Alibaba.com.

Amazon plans to swell Seattle office market with new towers.

Apple's iPhone loses China market share and faces U.S. repercussions over iPad trademark dispute; and makes over Macintosh for mobile features and gives developers access to new operating system, Mountain Lion.

Chrysler drops request for green-car loans from U.S.

Facebook finds that retailers are shutting storefronts hosted by it.

Google tracked unwitting iPhone owners.Continue reading...

Apple, now worth more than Google and Microsoft combined, is hit with stores protest over Foxconn treatment of workers in China, while fans anticipate new iPad and iPhone models.

Barclays caps bonuses as profit falls.

Beyonce and Jay-Z move to trademark daughter's name.

Bing and Viggle partner for second-screen Grammy effort.

Citibank bill-pay app charged some users twice, bank concedes.

Continental pushes past Southwest in customer loyalty.Continue reading...

Causes.com, founded in 2007 by Napster creator and Facebook co-founder Sean Parker and advisor Joe Green, has raised more than $40 million for over 500,000 causes in the last four years.

The concept is simple and social: individuals create grassroots communities called “causes,” focused on specific issues or non-profit organizations. By leveraging Facebook, Causes maximizes the potential of collective action, and has become the world’s largest online platform for activism and philanthropy.

One high-profile example of what Causes.com can do to boost brands' corporate citizenship efforts is how AT&T last month launched Connect For Good with Causes to spur action around three issues: texting and driving, recycling cell phones and the dramatic decline of high school graduation rates.Continue reading...

Adidas taps Katy Perry for new campaign.

AFL-CIO launches image campaign.

Airbus posts record sales.

American Airlines stops flying to India, sacks 150 workers.

AOL leads companies testing crowdsourcing.

Apple expands iTunes Match, reportedly preps interactive textbooks for the iPad, while pre-earnings valuations vary.

BASF halts its genetically modified products in Europe, including its Amflora potato.

Beats Electronics breaks up with Monster.

Beyonce accused of skin-lightening in album promotion, gives first post-baby interview.

BlackBerry-maker RIM criticized by analysts for PlayBook incompatability.

BMW recalls 89,000 Mini vehicles.

Burberry quarterly profits jump 22%.

Carnival faces heat in wake of Italy shipwreck, its worst accident in 40 years, as environmental fears mount and cruise industry is rocked.

M&M's will introduce a sixth candy character — Ms. Brown — in its Super Bowl commercial, while Kia plans 60-second commercial with Adriana Lima and Motley Crue, in keeping with trend to longer Super Bowl spots.Continue reading...