BET Sitcom ‘The Game’ Scores Massive Ratings

• BET’s first new episode of “The Game,” a CW sitcom picked up by BET after its cancellation in 2009, premiered Tuesday night to 7.7 million total viewers, according to Nielsen figures provided by BET, enough to make it the highest-rated show in BET history and one of the most-watched original series premieres ever on cable. Companion series “Let’s Stay Together” also debuted strong, holding onto more than 57% of its lead-in from “The Game,” with 4.4 million total viewers.
• BET’s overnight numbers for “The Game” are big enough to make it competitive with established broadcast sitcoms. NBC’s Thursday-night comedy “30 Rock,” for example, is averaging 6.6 million viewers this season in its fifth season, while ABC’s Wednesday sitcom “Cougar Town” regularly attracts 7.2 million total viewers a week, according to Nielsen. (www.adage.com)

What Verizon’s iPhone Launch Really Means

• Tech pundits and analysts have been waiting for Verizon to sell the iPhone since the device was first unveiled back in 2007. Now that that day is finally here, they can turn their attention to what it really means.
• What does it mean for Verizon? What does it mean for the rival Android smartphone platform and developers? What does it mean for Apple? And what does it mean for AT&T?
• To be sure, this debate has only just begun, with the bulk of the speculation focused for now on AT&T and Apple.
• Research group iSuppli predicts iPhone sales will increase 25% this year overall, with Verizon selling 12.1 million units. Shipments will increase to 16.5 million next year and to 20.3 million in 2013. And it predicts Verizon will offer a new iPhone in 2012 that’s compatible with its upgraded LTE network. (www.brandweek.com)

Conan Winning DVR War

• Time-shifted viewing is giving Conan O’Brien a leg up on the competition, but Jay Leno is still holding a slim lead over his flame-haired rival when the crucial C3 metric is brought to bear on the late-night ratings.
• According to Nielsen live-plus-seven-day data, TBS’ 11 p.m. chat show Conan is beating all comers in the core demos, averaging 1.44 million adults 18-49 and 930,000 viewers 18-34. When a week’s worth of DVR viewing was factored in to the late-night numbers, Conan out-delivered NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno by 7 percent among the 18-49 demo, while topping CBS’ Late Show with David

Letterman by 25 percent. (www.adweek.com)

Target Eyes Credit-Card Asset Sale

• Target Corp. said it hired an advisor to pursue the sale of its $6.7 billion credit-card receivables portfolio, as the mass merchandiser also disclosed plans to acquire up to 220 sites for 1.83 billion Canadian dollars (US $1.81 billion) from a unit of Canadian department-store operator Hudson’s Bay Co.
• The possible asset sale comes as the credit-card business has showed marked improvement of late. The operation’s profit more than doubled in the third quarter, helping Target’s company-wide profit increase more than analysts expected.
• The retailer’s credit card program had come under fire in recent years. It had announced a review and potential sale of the business in fall of 2007, but the looming credit crunch made the move undesirable. In 2008 it agreed to sell a stake in its credit card receivables to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., following the urging of such a deal by activist investor Bill Ackman. (www.wsj.com)

Borders Runs Into Some Resistance With Publishers

• Major publishers are divided on whether to support Borders Group Inc.’s efforts to stabilize its finances after a disappointing round of initial meetings, with some expressing doubt that they’ll agree to delay payments for books.
• Borders is expected to meet with some publishers on Thursday afternoon for another round of talks over extending bills for books already shipped so it can buy time to sort out its debt-heavy balance sheet. The question is whether the troubled retailer can convince publishers it has a strategic plan for reversing recent losses. (www.wsj.com)

Deals Site LivingSocial Tackles Overseas Growth

• Deals website LivingSocial is expanding into Europe with what it says is its largest investment to date, as competition heats up with Groupon Inc. in the closely watched market to bring local commerce online.
• The Washington, D.C., company is buying a majority stake in Spain’s Let’s Bonus SL, giving it a presence in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina and Mexico. The acquisition is LivingSocial’s first since it received a $175 million investment from e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. in December, part of a funding round that totaled $183 million. It is not disclosing financial terms of the transaction. (www.wsj.com)

Mentoring Program Turns Cameras on Its Young Clients

• The outreach is part of a new public service advertising initiative that was created with the help of the Advertising Council and is being announced Thursday, as part of the 10th anniversary celebration of National Mentoring Month.
• Called “Start Something,” the campaign uses traditional as well as social media to illustrate the positive impact the adult volunteers of Big Brothers Big Sisters have on children’s lives, and to solicit both volunteers and financial support. The organization’s previous national public service advertising, which began in 2002, was also created with the Ad Council and sought only volunteers.
• Established in 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters matches adult volunteers with children from poor or single-parent families, or who have an incarcerated parent, all considered at risk; the organization estimates there are 10 million to 15 million such children in the United States. Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteers are expected to make a minimum one-year commitment to serve as a mentor to these children. (www.nytimes.com)

Gap to Open San Francisco Store for Brand Born on the Web

• On Thursday, the company will open a store in San Francisco for a brand that was originally available only online and in catalogs. The brand, Athleta, was acquired by Gap in 2008 for $150 million. It features sportswear, like yoga pants, shorts and “to/fro” dresses to throw on around town or on the way to the gym.
• “It goes counter to how the Web’s growing, stores are declining, in the world at large, yadda yadda yadda,” said Toby Lenk, the president of Gap Inc. Direct, which oversees the Athleta brand. “With this type of product, women’s active athletic product, it is really important to be able to feel it, touch it, try it on.”
• It also seems to be a move for Gap Inc. to capture some of the success that Lululemon Athletica, which sells costly yoga pants and hoodies, has enjoyed. Lululemon is trading for more than four times its initial public stock offering price in 2007, and it has a price-to-earnings ratio of almost 55. While it has a Web site, its 130 or so stores drive more than 90 percent of its revenue. (www.nytimes.com)

Marathon Oil to Spin Off Refining, Marketing Business

• Marathon Oil Corp., the largest refiner in the U.S. Midwest, will spin off its fuel-making business, creating two independent energy companies.
• Marathon Petroleum Corp. will be the fifth-largest independent refiner by capacity and will be based in Findlay, Ohio, the company said in a statement today. The spinoff is expected to be tax free and effective June 30.
• The spinoff will include the company’s refining and marketing business, retail network and pipelines. Marathon’s exploration and production arm will include oil-sands mining and integrated gas. (www.bloomberg.com)

Independence Bowl extends title sponsorship deal

• Health and wellness company Advocare has announced a one-year extension of its sponsorship of Louisiana’s Independence Bowl, a post-season bowl game played at the 53,000 capacity Independence Stadium.
• Now entering its third term as title sponsor of the NCAA-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game, Richard Wright, president and chief executive of the Dallas-based company, said Advocare was “excited to announce we will continue as the title sponsor of the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana for the third consecutive year.
• “At AdvoCare we are continually searching for ways to elevate the stature of the Independence Bowl, and we welcome the support and creativity of the community. Ideas or suggestions on how to enhance this great event can be directed to the Independence Bowl organization or AdvoCare. We look forward to a great 2011,” Wright added. (www.sportspromedia.com)

Sun Life Gets Behind Boston Celtics In Unique Deal

• Sun Life Financial has been around for a long time, with all that 140 years of life imply (stability, reliability, not fly-by-night), but do people get that? The company has been putting that message out there both with advertising but also through association with complementary organizations that have also been around a long time. Like the Boston Celtics NBA team.
• The Boston-based firm has just signed on as the first-ever presenting sponsor of Celtics.com. The deal also makes Sun Life an official team sponsor and it gives the brand a presence across Celtics properties.
• The global firm, whose U.S. office is in Wellesley Hills, Mass., early last year also signed a deal with the Miami Dolphins that gave it naming-rights for the NFL team’s home stadium, now called Sun Life Stadium. It also has a sponsorship association with Cirque Du Soleil.
• The partnership with the Celtics puts the Sun Life name courtside, on in-game promotions and features, and on the Jumbotron. The deal also gives Sun Life Financial the key to the Boston Celtics Sports Authority Training Facility in Waltham, MA for both regional and executive meetings, and access to Boston Celtics team marks and logos in its own marketing and advertising campaigns. (www.mediapost.com)

Diesel Presents Fresh & Bright Superheroes

• Diesel promotes its new underwear collection with super (‘stupid’) power. The brand, which did it big with its extravagant, but still very appealing ‘Be Stupid’ campaign last year, is going on doing crazy things with a serious face. Recently, it presented its Spring/Summer 2011 collection under the espionage theme (heavily employed by filmmakers and graphic story authors forty years ago), and now continues with another trend, which was popular in the 70-ies. Diesel created new bizarre characters with double-meaning names or just to present the flamboyant underwear in the Fresh & Bright Superheroes campaign.
• So, the new line is introduced by a group of guys with metahuman abilities (which are completely useless in everyday life, but still can “make the world brighter”). The Diesel champions of absurdness are Supperman (neither a bird, nor a plane, it’s a supper), Dr Score (always has extra balls), Mistress of Puppies (is pulling you G-String), the Iron Boy (only he can solve the creases), Miss Dismiss (her lips say “No” but her eyes say ‘HELL NO’), LaLaLady (the girl who just wanna have fans), Visible woman (no eye can escape her attraction field) and Mr. Naker (undresses any woman ‘in his mind’). (www.popsop.com)