Jeep Signs On as USA Basketball Sponsor

April 22, 2012, 8:32 PM
Jeep Signs On as USA Basketball Sponsor
By TANZINA VEGA


A Jeep print ad featuring Chris Paul, a point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers and a finalist for the 2012 Olympic basketball team.
The United States Olympic program might not have picked its basketball team yet, but the team already has a full lineup of sponsors.

USA Basketball, the nonprofit governing body for basketball in the United States and organizer of the Olympic basketball team, will announce Jeep as its newest sponsor and the Jeep Wrangler the “official vehicle partner of USA Basketball.”

Jeep will introduce an advertising campaign, called “Power Within,” next Saturday. As part of the campaign, Jeep will introduce a vehicle, the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Altitude.

The campaign will feature Chris Paul, a point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers and a finalist for the 2012 Olympic basketball team, as its spokesman. A television ad featuring Mr. Paul will include a voice-over and music by Common, and the tag line, “A legendary vehicle supporting a legendary team.”

Revenue from the partnership will be used to finance USA Basketball programs, including junior programs for boys and girls.

Some print ads and billboards featuring Mr. Paul and the Jeep have the headline, “Legendary Teams Live for the Road.” Digital elements of the campaign include a microsite, Jeep.com/USAB, which will include video interviews with Mr. Paul, a sweepstakes to win the new Jeep Wrangler, and live coverage of Jeep and USA Basketball events.

A kickoff party featuring Mr. Paul, Common and the D.J. Biz Markie was held Sunday in Los Angeles. In an interview, Jerry Colangelo, the USA Basketball chairman, described the partnership as “combining two great American brands, USA Basketball and Jeep.”

Ever since the Olympics began allowing professional players in the games, basketball has become one of the Games’ marquee events and a big draw for marketers. USA Basketball has 10 other sponsors, including American Express, Gatorade, Nike and Cisco Systems.

“Our role and job is not just to have someone sign an agreement with us,” Mr. Colangelo said of the corporate sponsors. “We want to help them achieve their objectives.”


Source: BLOG.NYtimes.com

Have A Blog Earn Money With URL Shortner:
adfoc.us

Facebook for iPad Launches Retina Version — But Still No Timeline

Facebook for iPad Launches Retina Version — But Still No Timeline
April 2, 2012 by Chris Taylor on Mashable
Use Facebook on your new iPad? Then you’ll be glad of its latest incremental update, version 4.11, built for the third generation tablet’s HD retina display.

As you’d expect, all the icons and photos look much sharper. Jagged edges are banished. You can finally show off your Facebook photo albums on your new iPad without embarrassment.

There’s a host of hotly requested new features in the update, such as the ability to sign out of chat while remaining in the app (so you can browse Facebook without letting people know you’re online). Notifications, which had an annoying habit of popping up even after you’d asked them not to, have been fixed.

But there’s one feature the iPad app still lacks — support for Facebook Timeline.

This is an odd omission, given that Facebook is in the process of switching users and brands over to Timeline-based profiles at a speedy clip, whether they like it or not. All that effort designers are putting into prettifying their Timelines will be for naught if the user happens to be looking at the page on an iPad; they’ll just see the same old scrolling profile page.

We’re awaiting comment from Facebook about when we can expect to see a Timeline update. Our guess: The iPad team is scrambling to play catch-up, given that the app itself only launched in October. But we’re sure that the social network wants to show off just how cool those image-rich Timeline profiles look on a crisp retina display just as much as any designers do.

Do you like the look of Facebook photos on the new iPad? Let us know in the comments.

1. Red Bull

Not only has Red Bull taken advantage of Timeline, it has also created a scavenger hunt with prizes to get fans interacting with the company's history.

---

2. The New York Times

The New York Times' Timeline, which features its rather large staff as a cover photo, has highlighted moments from more than 160 years in history.

---

3. AT&T

AT&T's cover photo brings together an "ever-changing mosaic" of its fans' photos.

---

4. Manchester United

The professional soccer team has also taken advantage of Timeline's biographical features, already filling its page with content from 1908.

---

5. Dove

The company's fresh-faced models are featured as the cover photo for Dove's brand Page.

"Real women have been our inspiration from the very beginning. Today your photos, stories and memorable moments make up our new timeline," writes the company.

---

6. Madonna

Madonna has switched over to Timeline, and is using her brightly colored album cover as her Facebook cover photo.

---

7. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola's Timeline dates all the way back to its founding date, May 8, 1886.

"The Coca-Cola Facebook Page is a collection of your stories showing how people from around the world have helped make Coke into what it is today," writes the company.

---

8. Harley-Davidson

The motorcycle company's history, dating back to 1903, is all filled out on its Timeline.

---

9. Nike

Nike is also an early adopter to Timeline. Its Page info dates back to 1972, when it was founded.

---

10. Kate Spade

Kate Spade mixed designs with its cover photo and profile picture, and has filled out to its founding date in 1993.

---

11. Toyota

The car company's Timeline dates back to when it was founded, Oct. 31, 1957.

"We encourage you to browse through our extensive Timeline to discover (or re-discover) some of the rich history of our products, people as well as messages from our loyal fans like you," the company writes.

---

12. Coldplay

Coldplay has filled its Timeline all the way back to the band's first show in 1998. They've also included interesting facts about their early days as a band.

---

13. Facebook

Naturally, Facebook has filled out its own Timeline as well.

---

14. Walmart

Walmart has its Timeline filled out back to the day it opened its doors for the first time in 1962. There are images of old stores and information about the evolution of the company.

---

15. Macy's

Macy's also filled out its history on Timeline, including pictures of the first "fancy dry goods store" in 1822.

---

16. Ford

Ford's Timeline dates back to 1903, when the first Model A sold for $850.

---

17. People

People has placed some of Hollywood's most familiar faces across its profile as a cover photo.

---

18. Today Show

The cast of the Today Show was among a select few photos chosen to roll out the social networking site's new design.

The Timeline explores 60 years worth of history.

---

19. SportsCenter

ESPN's SportsCenter used its colorful studio as a backdrop for the program's Timeline.

---

20. Lexus

Lexus has included milestones throughout its Timeline, dating all the way back to its start in 1983. The cover photo is a hybrid concept.

Source: Mashable.com


Have A Blog..?
Earn Money With URL Shortner..


ADFOC.US

Got a Hot App? Microsoft Will Pay Top Dollar for a Windows Phone Version

Got a Hot App? Microsoft Will Pay Top Dollar for a Windows Phone Version
by Peter Pachal on Mashable

Microsoft has a plan to beef up its Windows Phone catalog of apps. And it involves cash — lots of cold, hard cash.

In the mobile world, Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform is a toddler compared to the mature ecosystems of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. That means the number of apps on offer in the Windows Marketplace is just a fraction of those available from its counterparts — it’s officially 65,000 to iOS’s 600,000 and Android’s 500,000. Some counts put it higher.

When I reviewed the Nokia Lumia 900 smartphone earlier this week, I was surprised at how many apps are on offer from major brands like Twitter, Facebook and eBay.

What I didn’t realize was that Microsoft is paying some of those companies to develop apps for the Windows Phone, since they normally wouldn’t dedicate the resources to create apps for a platform that has less than 4% market share.

Take Foursquare. The service’s Windows Phone app is a beautiful example of how the platform’s interface, called Metro, can shine. Fonts are large, type pops and the menus have a fluid movement that makes the whole experience come alive.

But Foursquare didn’t create the app. Microsoft paid an outside company to do it, The New York Times reports. Foursquare was involved — and the app is listed in the Marketplace as coming from “Foursquare Labs, Inc.” — but since the growing startup has limited resources, it spends most of its time fishing where the fish are: iOS and Android.

Foursquare is not alone. Microsoft is said to be paying developers anywhere between $60,000 and $600,000 to create apps, presumably for well-known or rising brands, to shore up its app catalog.

With Nokia as a partner, Microsoft has help. The “Nokia Collection” in the Windows Marketplace has even more big names, offering apps from CNN, ESPN and Univision. However, all of the apps are made by Nokia, not the companies themselves.

What Microsoft and Nokia are doing may seem a little desperate, but it’s actually not that surprising. Windows Phone is playing catch-up, after all, and it needs to everything it can to close the “app gap” between its platform and the others, appearances be damned. If an app is in the catalog, and customers like it, does it matter who made it and why?

That’s up to you. Does the fact that Microsoft directly finances some of the apps in the Windows Marketplace matter to you? Would it influence whether or not you’d buy a Windows Phone? Have your say in the comments.



Source: Mashable