Archive for the 'Global Branded Entertainment' Category

Hours before his first U.S. Open match Monday, Rafael Nadal decided that his game was more important than his wardrobe, telling his advisers and corporate sponsor Nike Inc. that he wasn’t ready for an image makeover after all. Over three days the exuberant Spanish star known as Rafa had practiced in a new wardrobe that included such radical adjustments as shirts with short sleeves and pants that stopped above the knee instead of a few inches below.

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After years of lagging behind European countries, the U.S. is poised to take the top spot for mobile Web usage by month’s end, according to data collected by technology firm Bango, which provides mobile Internet access platforms to 100,000 Web sites worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

How about an Amstel Light this Thanksgiving with your plate of couscous stuffing?

Recipes for such side dishes and a mail-in rebate are how Heineken USA will try to get its imported light beer on grocery shoppers’ radar for the November holiday. Amstel Light retail displays will tout “Your holiday, your twist” in the beer section and elsewhere with tear pads offering rebates to people who buy flowers and/or turkey and a 12-pack of the Dutch brew. Read the rest of this entry »

The annual Ramadan holiday TV sweepstakes kicks off Sept. 1 across the Arab world with execs bracing themselves for what promises to be the most competitive season in memory.All the Arab TV channels will preem big-budget skeins during the Muslim holy month as Arab families gather around their TV set every evening after breaking their daily fast.

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By iTVX Staff

According to TVGuide.com, Gold medalist Michael Phelps will host the 34th season opener of Saturday Night Live on Sept. 13. Lil Wayne will be the musical guest. Maybe this season will provide at least one funny episode. It’s been- what- eight years since that happened?

Fox-owned cabler FX has acquired the Canuck crime drama “The Border” from Fireworks International, the television arm of U.K. distrib ContentFilm.Produced by Toronto-based White Pine Pictures in association with Canadian pubcaster the CBC, the 26-part skein will premiere on FX in the U.K. next spring, alongside such U.S. imports as “Dexter,” “The Wire” and “24.”

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Asuka Kosaka joined Facebook this year to connect with her English-speaking friends. But when the 29-year-old wants to share her thoughts and photos with 70 friends and family members in Japan, she heads straight for another site: Mixi.

Mixi (2121.T) may not have the global reach of social networking giants Facebook and MySpace, but in Japan it’s king. The Tokyo company had 15 million users as of June, a 40% gain from 10.7 million a year earlier. No other social networking site even comes close, analysts say. Facebook and News Corp.’s (NWS) MySpace disclose only worldwide numbers. “Most of my friends don’t know that Facebook and MySpace have Japanese-language sites,” says Kosaka.

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TV advertising is poised to change dramatically over the next decade, embracing the kind of targeting and user control already common on the Web, according to a new report by Forrester Research.  Forrester lays out a decade-long evolution that will ultimately result in most programming delivered on-demand with targeted ad messages based on location and behavior, along with community functions. Read the rest of this entry »

Wal-Mart Mexico plans to expand the reach of its retail media network to its supercenters and Bodega Aurrera locations in Mexico, which are visited by millions of shoppers every month. Read the rest of this entry »

German market research company GfK today confirmed that it has “terminated all discussions” with potential financial backers and is no longer pursuing an offer for British competitor Taylor Nelson Sofres. That leaves agency holding company WPP Group as the only publicly disclosed bidder for TNS. Read the rest of this entry »