WaPo, The Latest To Cash In On Sponsored Content

The Washington Post last week introduced “BrandConnect,” which allows marketers to offer content to Washington Post users and feature it on The Post’s homepage and throughout the site. CTIA-The Wireless Association is the first partner on board with this article. Though not always popular, the move is an increasingly common one for publishers looking to cash in on sponsored content. “With B...

GE Partners With NFL, Under Armour To Launch $20M Open Innovation Challenge

GE and the NFL today announced the Head Health Initiative, a four-year, $60 million collaboration to speed diagnosis and improve treatment for mild traumatic brain injury. The goal of the research and innovation program, guided by healthcare experts, is to improve the safety of athletes, members of the military and society overall. The initiative includes a four-year, $40 million research an...

Live Nation Adds Exclusive Carbon Offset Provider

In an effort to make Live Nation's concert venues more environmentally sustainable, the live music company has added an exclusive carbon offset provider. JustGreen Lifestyle, a division of Ontario-based Just Energy, will audit 85 participating concert venues in the United States to evaluate energy use and purchase carbon offsets to bring the concerts carbon neutral. For the green energy company...

MSG Sells Entire Stake In Live Nation

The Madison Square Garden Company today announced in a curt statement that it has sold all of its approximately 3.9 million shares in Live Nation for net proceeds of approximately $44 million. The 3.9 million shares represent a stake of about 2% of Live Nation's outstanding stock. The move may not come as much of a surprise considering that Cablevision's Jim Dolan recently resigned from Live Na...

Did Olympic Medal Maker Bribe Its Way Into Beijing Games?

Looking to get a leg up in its biggest market, BHP Billiton spent millions to become the Diversified Metals and Minerals Sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, but more than four years after the Games' conclusion the Australian mining multinational is now the subject of a U.S. Justice Department investigation. According to the Associated Press, investigators are trying to determine whether Chinese go...

The Awesome Pepsi Prank That Got Two Million Views In A Single Day

Is this new viral video fake or not? The better question, who really cares! Check out this instant classic from Pepsi and Jeff Gordon, where one of the most famous drivers in NASCAR history dupes an unsuspecting car salesman into taking an unforgettable test drive. Hat tip: Jared Melzer #activationstag

Google, Adidas Team Up For Talking Shoe

Finally, a shoe with real personality. Google and Adidas recently teamed up to create a sneaker that offers up motivation. The snazzy sneakers track every move the user makes and generates data that’s captured using an accelerometer, gyroscope and pressure sensors. That data then gets pushed to a web app on your mobile phone and translated in real-time into funny and motivating commentary that...

Chevrolet Teams Up With MySpace For Secret Shows

In what sounds like a blast from the past, one of the world's oldest car companies has partnered up with one of the world's oldest social networks.. The partnership between the new Myspace and Chevrolet will include original content and see the car company advertise across MySpace and Specific Media’s digital network. Kicking off today, Chevrolet will be sponsoring Myspace Secret Shows, an expe...

Purina Sponsors Hackathon For Pets

Cats need apps too. Rather than paying a digital media firm to develop an app, it seems Purina is using sponsorship to come up with the next big thing in cat apps. It's no early April Fools Day prank, the pet food company has teamed up with LA start-up accelerator, Amplify, to sponsor what it's calling the "Games for Cats Hackathon." Purina is spending $20,000 – $15,000 to the winner, and $3,00...

College Football Playoff Will Pass On Title Sponsor

Per ESPN: "It won't be 'The Vizio Championship Tournament,'" Executive Director Bill Hancock said. "The Final Four doesn't have one. The Masters doesn't. The Super Bowl. That's the kind of event we have." An official name and logo for the college football playoffs, which begin in 2014, should be unveiled next month. #strategytag