Daily Buzz

By Gavin O’Malley

As scheduled, Apple debuted its highly anticipated tablet device on Wednesday — for many, representing the dawn of a new age in media consumption.
Christened the “iPad,” the device is expected to be available in March for a (surprisingly low) minimum price of $499 (Wi-Fi enabled, with a 3G version to follow a month later). With it, users can browse the Web, read and send email, view photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, and read e-books.
“iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices,” said Apple head Steve Jobs, who unveiled the product at a private event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
The iPad will come in two versions: one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G.

By Mark Walsh

The Apple iPad may not be a game-changer for mobile marketing, but the new device will give advertisers and agencies a larger canvas for creating messaging and content for consumers on the go.
A consensus was that the iPad is essentially a bigger iPod touch — with all the advantages that implies, as well as the drawbacks — chiefly, the lack of Flash support for powering rich media ads, video and games.
But marketing experts agreed that size matters, and with its 9.7-inch screen, the iPad opens up the mobile landscape to more visually compelling advertising and potentially new types of media interaction.

By Laurie Sullivan

Microsoft has become more aggressive in integrating data from other search engines that can offer expertise in a specific subject. Last year, Bing began pulling in health, mathematics and science data from WolframAlpha, and real-time status updates from Twitter, followed by recipes from Delish.com and MyRecipes.com earlier this year. In 2007, Microsoft paid $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook.
Expanding into the local market to capitalize on local search, Bing has inked a deeper relationship with Localeze. The two companies plan to announce Thursday that the deal pulls into Bing Local and Bing 411 about 14 million Localeze listings, including data on more than 500,000 businesses. All have been verified and managed by the local businesses.
The way Localeze organizes and groups keywords will benefit those searching on apps with small display screens on mobile browsers. The company organizes keywords into groups, so the groups can be presented in the initial results, providing the ability to drill down more easily.

By Karl Greenberg

Right Guard is playing a strong defense with the NBA. The official deodorant of the NBA is launching a new ad push during the April NBA Playoffs that backs Right Guard’s new premium anti-perspirant, Right Guard Total Defense 5.
Doug Weekes, general manager of the Dial Corporation brand, tells Marketing Daily that ads will feature Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets.
“We have a multi-year relationship with Paul, who happens to be another great defensive player,” says Weekes. “In the spot, he is something of a metaphor for defense on the court, in life and of the product itself.”

By Karlene Lukovitz

Many food and beverage brands are pruning their product lines, but Kellogg’s Special K is definitely not among them. The latest additions — Special K Low-Fat Granola and Special K Fruit Crisps — join a line that already includes eight varieties of cereal, plus protein shakes, K20 Protein Water Mixes, protein snack bars, protein meal bars, cereal bars, waffles and crackers, according to the brand’s Web site.
The brand’s weight-management, “Special K Challenge” platform has, in other words, enabled it to move well beyond the cereal aisle, to stake out territory in the diet/nutrition, snack, cracker and frozen food aisles — and provide women with reasons to turn to its products throughout the day.

CBS yesterday defended its decision to accept a Super Bowl ad from Christian group Focus on the Family, acknowledging that it has “changed its policy and now accepts commercials that advocate political causes.”

By: Eleftheria Parpis

Coca-Cola today launched a social media campaign on Facebook that teases its upcoming Super Bowl commercials while raising funds for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

By: Andre Paine (Billboard)

Brands were the focus for several of the panels at this week’s Midem music conference in Cannes, France, with executives from Converse, Nascar, Carhartt and PepsiCo revealing details of their music strategies.

By: Katy Bachman

There’s more than one way to leverage a brand during the Super Bowl aside from shelling out $2.8 million for a spot in the broadcast. Visa, an NFL sponsor, is attaching its logo to the stadium trays distributed at all concession stands in the Sun Life Stadium on Feb. 7, when the New Orleans Saints take on the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.

By: Todd Wassermann (brandweek)

Virgin America only spent $300,000 on measured media for the first 11 months of 2009, per Nielsen, so the airline doesn’t have the ad budget to compete with others in the space. But it seems to be making the most of its meager funds with smart public relations and integration deals. For example, in October, the brand got a fair amount of buzz after Google agreed to offer free Wi-Fi on Virgin’s flights during the holidays. Earlier this month, Virgin also got into the news by transporting a bunch of rescued Chihuahuas from California to New York. In March, the brand will also be featured in the new CW reality show Fly Girls, which profiles five twentysomething flight attendants from the company. Porter Gale, vp, marketing at Virgin discussed how the brand gets the word out, mostly via free media.