Walmart First to Market With New Hair-Care Innovation, Ahead of Frieda

• As retail brands chip away at packaged-goods share, branded players can at least claim innovation as their domain. But now retail powerhouse Walmart has done some innovating of its own, with Fat Foam, a no-drip hair color product based on technology the retailer tracked down in Japan and launched in the U.S. more than six months ahead of national brand competitors.
• Fat Foam, created and marketed by hair-care marketer Samy and sold exclusively through Walmart, came to market last month — well ahead of John Frieda Precision Foam Color, a similar product from Japan’s Kao Brands that’s expected to launch in the U.S. in April. (www.adage.com)

Exclusive: Mt. Dew ‘Likes’ Facebook for Social Push

• Mountain Dew today rolls out an innovative ad campaign featuring banners that incorporate Facebook’s “like” icon, marking the first time the social-networking behemoth will extend its social/sharing functionality to ads appearing on other Web sites.
• Web users will be able to “like” Mountain Dew within a banner ad appearing on a host of sites, such as The Onion, Crave, MTV, College Humor, Funny or Die and Break.com. And when users do so, their friends will automatically be alerted via the Facebook News Feed as long as they are logged into that venue at the time.
• In addition, as users interact with the ad, they will be able to see which of their Facebook friends have already elected to “like” Mountain Dew.
• The socialized Mountain Dew ads will not appear on Facebook. In fact, Facebook was not involved in the ad sales process for this effort. Instead, Mountain Dew’s digital agencies OMD and Tribal purchased banner inventory on multiple sites across the Web, and Facebook supplied the tools and technology to insert the “like” icon within the ads. The agencies also worked with the rich media firm MediaMind to execute this campaign. (www.brandweek.com)

Time For New Dialogue Around Cause Marketing? Komen Thinks So

The middle of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the U.S.—with its onslaught of pink products, donation announcements and other marketing and publicity efforts tied to support of the fight against the disease—typically raises plenty of public discourse about the pros and cons of cause marketing and who is doing it right and who is not. (www.sponsorship.com)

There’s A Sponsor For That: App Developers Strike Partnerships

While telecommunications has long been one of sponsorship’s most active categories, the widespread adoption of smart phones has spawned a small but quickly growing new category of sponsors: wireless application developers. Although a large number of properties have created or paid outside developers to design custom apps, companies such as Applitite LLC; jacAPPS; and Mobomo, LLC are going beyond just being vendors to rightsholders and have recently partnered with festivals, marathons and other events. (www.sponsorship.com)

Cape Wind Joins Van Liew As Eco Partner In Velux 5 Oceans Race

• The developer of America’s first offshore wind Farm, Cape Wind, has agreed to become the Eco Partner of U.S. sailor Brad Van Liew’s entry in the Velux 5 Oceans race – a solo race around the world in a new class of sailboats designed to be environmentally sustainable.
• Cape Wind President Jim Gordon said, “We cannot fear taking on challenges whether it’s a solo race around the world or harnessing the vast, inexhaustible power of the wind for a healthier environment and more hopeful energy future”. Gordon added, “I admire Brad’s determination to take on this challenge in a boat that is powered by the sun and wind.”
• “I am thrilled to partner with Cape Wind as our exclusive Eco Partner for the race,” stated Van Liew. “I believe as a country we are well behind the progress of renewable energy solutions worldwide, and Cape Wind is one big step forward in the right direction and toward energy independence for the US.” (www.sponsorship.com)

Chevron Ad Campaign Answers Critics Head-On

• As Big Oil struggles to repair its image in the wake of the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Chevron Corp. is responding head-on to industry critics.
• The company’s new ads, designed to evoke anti-industry posters, feature slogans such as “Oil companies should put their profits to good use” and “It’s time oil companies get behind renewable energy.” Stamped in red are the words, “We agree.”
• The ad campaign, which will debut Monday, is a departure for an industry that usually promotes itself with generic images: frolicking children, serious scientists, splendid vistas of mountains and rivers. (www.wsj.com)

Kia Teams With the N.B.A. for a Big Ad Campaign

• Kia Motors America is taking a larger role this year in its marketing partnership with the National Basketball Association, starting with a campaign called KIA NBA Tip-Off.
• The carmaker, an arm of Kia Motors of South Korea, has upgraded its marketing ties with the N.B.A., becoming a title, or named, partner. Its season-opener campaign includes two television specials on ESPN as well as a 30-second TV commercial, a print ad, online spots, social media and court signs.
• Kia will draw attention to its newest car, the Optima, which has elicited praise for its stylish exterior. Its commercial, called “It’s Go Time,” intersperses highlights from the 2009-10 N.B.A. season with shots of the new sedan, which has been designated the league’s official car. (www.nytimes.com)

Find Jay-Z’s Memoir at a Bookstore, or on a Billboard

• PRINT advertising by publishing houses tends to boast about books that are being bold and original, but that can seldom be said of the ads themselves, which generally consist of ho-hum photographs of the book and author, a brief description of the subject matter and laudatory blurbs.
• But a new campaign for “Decoded,” the memoir by the hip-hop performer Jay-Z, promises to be a real head-turner. Beginning Monday, reproductions of entire pages of the book will appear unannounced in locales referred to in those pages.
• “If in certain pages Jay-Z is talking about something related to Times Square, then those pages might be on billboards in Times Square,” said David Droga, creative chairman Droga5, the New York agency heading the campaign. Mr. Droga declined to reveal locations beforehand (including the veracity of the Times Square example), but did describe the campaign in oblique terms. (www.nytimes.com)

R&A announces HSBC patronage

• Global financial services company HSBC has confirmed a new multi-year agreement with the Royal and Ancient (R&A), the governing body of world golf outside the US, to become a patron of The Open Championship.
• Under terms of the new five-year agreement the London-headquartered company will become the official banking partner of The Open Championship, which next year will return to Royal St George’s, Kent.
• The new announcement marks the company’s second major sponsorship this month, having recently signed on as the first title sponsor of the IRB Sevens World Series. (www.sportspromedia.com)

Virgin Racing secure timely deal with Swiss watch company

• Swiss watch manufacturer Armin Strom has been unveiled as a long-term partner of the Virgin Racing F1 Team.
• Under terms of the new deal Armin Strom becomes the team’s official timing partner from the start of the 2011 Formula One season.
• Additionally the partnership sees the creation of Armin Racing, a joint venture between the luxury watch manufacturer and UK distributor Linder Luxury. Details of the new joint venture see Armin Strom collaborating with the Virgin Racing Team to create a bespoke collection of Virgin Racing timepieces. (www.sportspromedia.com)

Celtics appoint official convenience store

• The regional chain of convenience stores Cumberland Farms has been named as the official convenience store of the NBA’s Boston Celtics.
• Through its exclusive team sponsorship, Cumberland Farms has acquired the rights to use the Celtics logo throughout its New England Stores. Additionally Cumberland Farms will enjoy a significant courtside presence at the Celtics’ home ground, the 18,624 capacity TD Garden, through signage, announcements and promotions of the Jumbotron. (www.sportspromedia.com)

GEICO Launches Caveman Video Greeting

• GEICO has launched a new interactive video greeting that allows users to send messages to friends, family members, and co-workers featuring its “caveman” ad character.
• The “Caveman and Me” concept uses a standard Web camera and card marker that triggers the caveman to appear on screen.
• Users can choose from a wide selection of messages under categories such as: Greetings, Sports, Relationships, Insults and Reminders. The caveman relays the message, which can be sent via email and also posted on social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. (www.mediapost.com)

Visa Launches New TV, Digital Media

• Visa has added two national TV spots and digital media extensions in support of its NFL integrated marketing campaign, “Go Fans.”
• The spots feature the “Never Miss a Super Bowl Club,” a group of men who have attended every single Super Bowl since its inception in 1967, and highlight Visa’s “Super Bowl Trip for Life” sweepstakes. The ads will run through January across all four networks (Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC) in the coming months, including on prime-time shows such as “Glee,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “House.”
• Creative will also run at sports Web sites, including Yahoo Sports and NFL.com, and on mobile applications, including sponsorship of Yahoo’s fantasy football app. TV, online and mobile media channels are where NFL fans frequent, said a Visa spokesperson. Digital media includes a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/visafansforlife) that allows people to learn more about the sweepstakes. (www.mediapost.com)

Sunkist Goes Mobile With Shopper Tech

• Sunkist Growers, Inc. is rolling out mobile marketing programs, making it among the first North American produce brands to employ mobile shopper marketing technology.
• The programs use on-pack and in-store signage to encourage shoppers to text a keyword to a code to receive product use ideas, recipes, nutrition information and storage/handling suggestions, enter sweepstakes, and sign up to receive additional product offers and information via mobile or email updates. (www.mediapost.com)

MLS, sponsors prep to make Cup ‘destination event’

• With a week remaining in the 2010 regular season, Major League Soccer and its partners are making final preparations for the Nov. 21 MLS Cup championship in Toronto. As in previous years, the championship will cap off nearly a week of industry events, fan festivals and sponsor activation.
• “This has become our destination event — people circle it in pen on the calendar,” said David Wright, MLS vice president of partnership marketing. “Partners are seeing it’s not just a great place to activate and drive value, but to meet with other key decision-makers to make additional business.”
• Home Depot and Volkswagen are leading the charge at this year’s event. Home Depot is partnering with the local Boys and Girls Club to sponsor a local construction and refurbishing event on Nov. 18 and is conducting player appearances at locations around Toronto. Volkswagen is sponsoring the league MVP announcement on Nov. 19. The auto manufacturer also is using the MLS Cup to launch the 2011 Jetta and will have seven to nine cars on display at BMO Field.

ISP signs Volvo as Big East auto

• Volvo is working with the Big East to identify the conference’s biggest basketball fan through a seasonlong social media promotion that tips off this week.
• As part of the arrangement negotiated by ISP Sports, the conference’s multimedia and marketing rights holder, Volvo will become the official vehicle of the Big East. Winston-Salem, N.C.-based ISP was recently acquired by IMG College, but has not yet changed the agency’s name.