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Fans Get Prime Seats for Eternal Extra Innings

Logo coffins, urns make case for 'long-term' devotees of Sox, others

(Newser) - Die-hard baseball fans can now continue showing their team pride even in the afterlife. A Boston-area funeral home is offering its first-ever Red Sox casket, emblazoned with the team’s logo and accented with baseball-bat-type wood. “It's really a beautiful thing,” the funeral-home director, a Sox fan himself, tells the Globe . More »

More about:  MLB New York Yankees Boston Red Sox branding funeral home coffin casket

 LiLo Launches 
 Branding 
 Company 

Lohan's 6126 will sell leggings, tanners

(Newser) - In yet another attempt at reinvention, 22-year-old Lindsay Lohan has launched a brand development company that will hawk her merchandising ideas, Women’s Wear Daily reports. Expensive leggings are en route to boutiques this fall, but the company, called 6126, also plans to develop a cheaper spandex line, natural self-tanners, and other moderately priced accessories.  More »

More about:  celebrity business fashion Lindsay Lohan clothing branding

analysis

McCain Strays Off Message, But Which Message?

Candidate ad libs as staffers attempt to strategize

(Newser) - John McCain relishes interacting with voters and sparring with the press, a style that's helped earn him his "maverick" reputation even as it ties his advisers and staff in knots. The campaign as a whole is turning to Karl Rove-style tactics, but the candidate's unpredictable behavior is making it tough to present a united front, the Washington Post reports. More »

More about:  Barack Obama John McCain Karl Rove negative campaigning attack ad Steve Schmidt branding

France's Latest Craze: A Dance or a Brand?

Radicals mumble about commercialization, but the kids love it

(Newser) - There’s a dance craze gripping France—or is it an unabashed commercial scheme, hawking t-shirts and chewing gum? Either way it’s called Tecktonik, and kids are crazy about it, the Los Angeles Times reports. The mix of hip-hop, techno, and random arm movements is championed by dancers with skinny pants and asymmetric hairdos, and is even showing up in grade schools. More »

More about:  France Paris dance branding suburbs merchandise club

NATO Hires Coke Exec to Boost its Brand

Alliance hopes image makeover will prove to people it still matters

(Newser) - NATO: the Real Thing? The alliance is seeking an image makeover in the face of public apathy and has hired a Coca-Cola executive to help, reports the New York Times . Support for NATO has waned in many of its 26 member nations since the end of the Cold War, and defense chiefs believe reconnecting with the public—to persuade taxpayers that NATO remains relevant—is vital to the alliance's future. More »

More about:  NATO Cold War branding public relations alliance

Teacher
Who Branded Students Fired

He slammed evolution, burned crosses onto 8th-graders' arms

(Newser) - An Ohio school board has voted unanimously to fire a science teacher who used an electrostatic device to brand 8th-graders with a cross, the AP reports. Science teacher John Freshwater, who says the marks were simply Xs, had been in trouble with the board before for teaching creationism, slamming evolution and other scientific theories, and keeping a Bible on his desk. More »

More about:  school teacher branding creationism science education middle school

Is That a Commercial or
a Game Show?
Maybe Both

Advertisers creating their own TV programs

(Newser) - The days when a TV host would serve up a tasty bowl of Alpo or light up a Lucky Strike on-air and sing its praises are long gone, but in-show sponsorship may be making a comeback, the New York Times reports. Meow Mix will launch its own game show this summer, and Dos Equis beer plans to boost its brand with an upcoming reality show. More »

More about:  television marketing branding TV advertising advertisers game show Dos Equis

Turnaround King Sees Gold in Margarine

Marketing guru aims to make Smart Balance
a billion-dollar brand

(Newser) - Hailed as a marketing magician for successes with Healthy Choice and Tropicana, billion-dollar brand legend Steve Hughes is at it again, Fortune reports. Turning Smart Balance’s “good” cholesterol into an industry-leading line of spreads is the goal, though stiff competition, rocketing commodity prices, and strapped shoppers could work against efforts to expand offerings. More »

More about:  cholesterol American Heart Association branding omega-3 fatty acids margarine

Mega-Brand Rollout Revives Ol' Blue Eyes

Warner deal brings back digitized Sinatra as ad pitchman

(Newser) - Ol' Blue Eyes is still doing it his way—or his heirs' way, to be more precise. Frank Sinatra's family has inked a deal with Warner Music Group to ensure the singer's return on the 10th anniversary of his death: A postage stamp and new CD and DVD collections are coming out, as is a digital resurrection of the Pack Master turned ad pitchman, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »

More about:  music death Warner Music branding stamps resurrection Frank Sinatra Rat Pack

 John McCain: the Brand 

Campaign uses decade-old image to sell GOP hopeful

(Newser) - John McCain is more than a candidate, he's a brand—and a successful one at that, the Washington Post reports. His image of independence, experience, and, of course, straight talk endures in the public eye and explains why he keeps rising in national polls despite his support for an unpopular war and an unpopular president. Two market research firms described him as a combination of Ford pickup, Wrangler jeans, and Timex. More »

More about:  John McCain marketing campaign tactics branding

 Britney to Front Furniture Biz 

Spears' dad trying to wrangle endorsement deal with Danish line

(Newser) - Britney Spears, who once ditched a custody hearing to await a furniture delivery, may be going into the ottoman and end table business herself. In an attempt to salvage his daughter's bleeding fortune, Jamie Spears has spent two months on a deal whereby the struggling pop star would endorse a line of Danish imports, reports New York Post's Page Six. More »

More about:  California Britney Spears endorsement Denmark Jamie Spears branding Claus Hjelmbak Scandinavia furniture

Ethiopia Stirs Up Coffee Industry

Fair trade to get a lot more fair if trademark approved

(Newser) - Ethiopia is trademarking its distinctive coffee crop, a move that could bring $88 million a year to the impoverished country, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Coffee connoisseurs happily pay up to $10 per pound for beans from Ethiopia’s Yirgacheffe region, but less than $1 of that goes to farmers growing it. Obtaining the trademark could change all that, much to the chagrin of distributors such as Starbucks. More »

More about:  coffee Ethiopia branding developing world