Ebay and AEG Team Up For Global, Cross-Platform Partnership

eBay and AEG have signed a far reaching global partnership, that among other things will see StubHub become the official secondary ticketing partner at all of AEG's global venues and AEG's BandMerch become a staple on eBay's marketplace. A variety of eBay companies and initiatives will be included in elements of the multi-year, global partnership. Beginning in the first quarter of next y...

Louis Vuitton Launches First-Ever TV Ad

Check out the high-end fashion house's first-ever foray into the low-brow medium of broadcast television. Filmed at Paris' Louvre and entitled L'invitation Au Voyage (the Art of Travel), the Louis Vuitton spot made its debut on the Showtime hit, Homeland, last night. The ad is part of a new global brand campaign that seems to be aimed at creating more mass appeal for a brand that's used to cour...

Red Bull Unveils 'The Athlete Machine'

Coming on the heels of Stratos, Red Bull's latest Rube Goldberg stunt starts out with, what else... a skydiver. Likely costing a small fraction of the $65M it spent on Red Bull Stratos, The Athlete Machine has been viewed over 100,000 times in less than 24 hours. If you like that, also check out this and this. #activationstag

The Preferred Brands of Bond

Placement in James Bond's latest movie, "Skyfall," may have cost Heineken over $45 million, but Bond's switch from his signature martini to a bottle of beer didn't by any stretch of the imagination buy exclusivity. Along with Heineken, numerous marketers have been furiously activating their tie-ins to create an opening weekend buzz around what is arguably this year's biggest release. According ...

This T-Mobile Plug Drove Shark Tank Fans Bonkers Last Friday

Product placements are a necessary, if sometimes unbearable, trade-off that viewers are often willing to make for the privilege of accessing free content. It seems, however, that even a show like Shark Tank, an unabashed exhibition of capitalism, can get "too corporate." From last week's show, watch Daymond John randomly whip out a #activationstag

Brand Integration Gone Wrong: Celeb Chef Blasts Cadillac, Travel Channel

Speaking of brand integration gone horribly wrong, celeb chef Anthony Bourdain, wants to make it clear he doesn't drive a Cadillac in real life. Really, really, REALLY clear. No matter what kind of deal his former employer, Travel Channel, might cook up next. Check out these tweets @Bourdain unleashed last week and then read the blog he posted yesterday to finally explain the fit of rage (below...

Manchester United Cashes In On Global Strategy With 30% Sponsorship Growth

Thanks to ten new sponsorship deals in the last quarter, Manchester United today reported sponsorship revenue is up over 32% from the previous year. In addition to the club's record $559 million shirt sponsorship with U.S. automaker, GM (Chevrolet), the club signed partnerships with Bwin, Toshiba Medical Systems, Yanmar (global); Kagome (regional); Santander, Shinsei Bank and MBNA (financial se...

Macy's Sticks By Donald Trump Partnership

Macy's has been urged by a "Dump Trump" petition containing more than 580,000 signatures to discontinue its partnership with the Donald Trump Signature Collection it carries in retail stores. Today, the CEO of Macy's Terry Lundgren issued a response reaffirming the famous department store chain's relationship with Trump and explaining the company's perspective on the partnership. Accord...

Soft Drink Giant Signals Growing Interest In Music, Tech With Latest Investment

As had been rumored for about a month, the New York Times is this evening confirming that Coca-Cola has tacked on a $10 million investment to its existing marketing partnership with fast growing streaming music service, Spotify. The move signals the soft drink's intent to make serious investments in both music and social media as its battle with Pepsi rapidly expands to new venues beyond the gr...

Beermaker Launches Free Volleyball App -- With A Clever Catch

Longtime beach volleyball sponsor, Corona, has come up with a new way to play the game -- whether you're at the beach or in your local bar. Unlike the real thing though, you have to have a Corona in hand to play the new 3D game. In order to download Corona Beach Volleyball your phone must detect a bottle of Corona nearby, according to Kotaku.com. The free advergame available in the UK from Coro...