Ultra Festival the Usual Brand Fest

FYE, Budweiser, Absolut Spirits, Starbucks Hear Music, XM Satellite Radio, Beatport, DJ Magazine, New Times, DJ Times, M8, Hollywoodpoker.com and BPM Magazine. They've all signed on as sponsors for the eighth Ultra Music Festival held at Bicentennial Park March 25 in Miami. XM will broadcast the event live. Absolut will have a VIP lounge. Now everyone go to Miami and shake it while being bombarded by corporate logos.

Emirates Campaign Spoofed Following Arsenal Sponsorship

While we are so not into world politics, those are will probably find humor in this ad that spoofs the United Arab Emirates tourism campaign following the North London football team Arsenal signing on the Emirates as a sponsor.

Ford Pays $14 Million For Bond Film Appearance

Countering all that is sacred about the James Bond franchise, the producers of the film have decided to throw any semblance of respect for the brand to the wind and accept $14 million from Ford to allow the automaker to place its Mondeo in the the upcoming James Bond film, Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig. While Ford certainly makes a decent car or two, the Ford brand and all it stands for is so counter to what the James Bond brand has imbued into culture over the past 40 years that we simply have to believe the producers behind this movie have thrown up their arms and said, "Fuck it. No one's gonna go see this movie anyway so we might as well get some cash now."

Mercedes Thinks AOL Is Icon of Pop Culture

Laughably describing AOL as some sort of "icon of pop culture," Mercedes Benz has signed a deal with AOL to "spotlight a new generation of artists through the premier online music destination AOL Music." Mercedes-Benz and AOL Music launched "On Our Radar," a feature that lets fans wallow in discovery of new music. It's part of the car manufacturer's yearlong collaboration with AOL Music on its Breakers program, which showcases a selection of developing artists. The partnership will promote the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class while bringing new artists to what Mercedes and AOL believe to be "the eyes and ears of trendsetting, young music fans."

Adidas Goofs, Gives Sponsored German Team Belgian Colors

In a blunder of not so small proportions, Adidas, which is sponsoring German biathlon and nordic combined skiers, mixed up the country's proper colors and provided the team with caps in Belgium's black, gold and red colors instead of Germany's proper black, red and gold. Nothing like having to wear another country's colors while competing in the Olympics nor have the entire world see a sponsorship get screwed up..

Glad Trash Bags to Sponsor Mardi Gras

Media buying club MediaBuys, which recently undertook the job of orchestrating this year's first ad-sponsored Mardi Gras in New Orleans has announced its first sponsorship deal with Clorox's Glad. In addition to Glad's sponsorship commitment, Glad will work with the City of New Orleans Department of Sanitation in the carnival's sanitation maintenance and clean-up efforts, which would otherwise have mounted a considerable expense for the municipality. Supplementing the cash and emergency supplies donated by The Clorox Foundation - including more than 1.2 million trash bags for American Red Cross relief efforts throughout the Gulf region - Glad will donate more than 100,000 trash bags, which, humorously, will become the official trash bag of New Orleans' Mardi Gras.

Video of Indestructible Toyota Truck Should Have Been Super Bowl Ad

While we might have thought the Toyota Tocoma Super Bowl ad that parked the vehicle during low tide, showed it getting thrashed about then driven off as if nothing had happened to it was a bit of truth stretching. Well, after watching this video about another Toyota truck that received far worse treatment that just a little sea water, we are humbled. Seriously humbled. Nothing this guy did to his truck would stop it from working. Nothing. Toyota should have paid $25 million to run this 10-15 minute video as their Super Bowl ad rather than do a :30 copy of it.

Beacher's Madhouse Goes to Miami With 'Ocean Drive' Magazine

South Florida lifestyle magazine, Ocean Drive, according to MediaBuyerPlanner, has partnered with Vegas' celebu-bash Beacher's Madhouse hosting their appearance February 13 at Miami's Mansion nightclub. The mag will also celebrate their anniversary with a Grey Goose, Just Like Me by Parris Hilton and PURE nightclub-sponsored invitation-only party at the St. Regis Bal Harbour. Someone please invite us.

Experts Recommend Other Ways to Spend $2.5 Million Super Bowl Budget

We all know spending $2.5 million on a Super Bowl spot is, well, not always the wisest marketing move but thankfully, we've got experts who know how better to spend $2.5 million. iMediaConnection has gathered 28 marketing experts who give us a bit of insight as to what they might do had they $2.5 million to spend elsewhere. You'll love AOL EVP Michael Barnett's completely self-promotional "spend it all on AOL" approach to answering the question. But you'll seriously love Word of Mouth Marketing Association CEO Andy Sernovitz' suggestion that the $2.5 million be spent to train customer service reps to be helpful, polite and sincere. Amen.

'Blender' Teams With Absolut, Budweiser, Yahoo At Sundance

Blender magazine, Dennis Publishing's music magazine, and TAO Las Vegas are teaming to bring Blender Sessions at TAO Nightclub to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah from January 19th-23rd. The nightly series of live music performances for celebrities, filmmakers and film industry executives will be sponsored by Absolut, Budweiser and Yahoo and take place in the Asian inspired Park City satellite of Las Vegas' Tao at The Venetian Hotel.

more »