Nike Pays For Stolen Logo

Back in May, we reported Nike had co-opted the logo of London borough Hackney for use on a line of World Cup sportswear. Hackney didn't take kindly to the giant retailer "borrowing" what little the downtrodden borough had in order to profit from and asked Nike to share in the profits of the line. Luckily, the story does have a happy ending and Nike parted with £300,000, apologized to Hackney and covered all legal costs.

Jay-Z Does Coke Side of Life Stageside Thing

Joining Coke's ongoing Coke Side of Life Stageside thing in which artists perform to a background of subtle Coke branding is Jay-Z who follows Na-Yo who appeared in the promotion earlier this year. Jay-Z appears at Radio City Music Hall in a white tux backed by a full orchestra. We're not sure Jay-Z does it for us but we're sure he will for some. In any event, it's not a bad way to offer up a little entertainment while achieving a bit of brand awareness albeit questionably measurable.

Jennifer Aniston to Sign With Nike, Eminem to Design Air Max Line

While it's been rumored for some time, a deal between Nike and Jennifer Aniston appears to be on the verge of signature. The deal, sources say, may be the largest sum ever paid by the sportswear company for a celebrity endorsement. The campaign is said to be international in scope and will, perhaps, include a Super Bowl 2007 spot. While Aniston may be paid a fortune for this deal, she says she will donate a large sum of it to Cancer charities of her choice.

Along with the imminent signing of Aniston, Nike is also working with Eminem who will design an autographed line of Air Max training shoes for Nike and which will be auctioned off for charity.

YaleShmale, Wal-Mart Does China Good, Milk Does Body Good

- Lakehead University doesn't think it's important President Bush went to Yale.

- Wal-Mart really can do everything. After welcoming gays into its stores, the chain has helped establish a Communist Youth League of China, a branch of the Communist Party of China.

- Webshots gets a makeover. Now it will be even easier for sites like Busty Young Girls of Webshots, Myspace, & YouTube to troll for content. There's a niche for everyone, isn't there?

- A random dude does the consumer-generated media thing for Coke's Sprite Zero on YouTube and MySpace. Oddly.

- Milk gets back top its "does a body good" phase with a new $20 million campaign.

Walmart Turns on Gaydar, Wants Gay Shoppers

Hoping to get some "Tar-zjay" cache, stodgy and very un-gay Wal-Mart his hooked itself up with gay marketing firm Witeck-Combs Communications and joined the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Not quite sure there's a match there.

Benny Benassi Bootie Babes Transformed Into Home Depot Ad

Not that it's likely we'll ever see women like this in an actual Home Depot but It looks like someone took our advice of of three years ago and went ahead and turned that Benny Benassi "Satisfaction" video into an ad by slapping the Home Depot logo on it along with some price and item graphics. It would certainly heat up Home Depot's image but, for some reason, we think they'll pass of this one. Get your jiggle-fest here.

Patriots Launch Meat Brand, Madden Holidays, Icons Creep

- The New England Patriots are launching a branded line of hotdogs, Bratwurst and sausages supported by an ad campaign this September.

- Scott G weighs in on the whole Agency.com debacle.

- The EA Sports Madden NFL game is getting some love over at Maddenoliday. Hmm. And we didn't even know John Madden was still alive.

- From the Brawny Guy to the Mentos Kids to The King, YesButNoButYes has collected a list of the top ten creepiest icons in advertising history.

- Mad Musings is celebrating the August Moon-sized appearance of Mars with a MasterCard Priceless riff.

Chrysler Bites Back At Ad Age Over Ask Dr. Z Campaign

Chrysler is mad as hell at Advertising Age and isn't going to take it any longer. Reacting to a story by Jean Halliday on Chrysler's Ask Dr. Z campaign in which she pretty much trashes the campaign saying it didn't do much for the automaker, Jason Vines wrote an article on the company's The Firehouse press blog entitled "Truth Takes A Halliday." In the article, Jason lays out data which contradicts Halliday's article and claims the campaign is doing just fine. Since, in the inimitable wisdom of Vines who publicly promoted the blog when it launched but limited it only to "known and established media organizations," we can't link to the story so we'll just reprint it in its entirety here until Jason asks us to remove it. You'd think he'd want more than just press to see this good stuff. And Jason, we're not anonymous. Just click the About link above.

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Carmen Electra Hired by Camera Retailer For Youth And Flash

AdFreak tells us Carmen Elektra, perhaps in a nod to her waning viability as...well...anything, has signed with Ritz Camera to be the retailer's spokesmodel for its family of stores. Though Elektra's youth and hipness are questionable, Ritz wants her to appeal to the young and the hip. In any case, it will certainly be a step up from the Ritz dude who always appears in the Sunday inserts. The campaign will promote the chain's picture development services and its new picture sizes.

Heinz Personalizes 'Talking Label' Campaign

The only true ketchup, Heinz, is, again, extending its talking label campaign. This time, in celebration of the company's 130th anniversary, by offering people the chance to create their own custom printed labels by visiting MyHeinz. At the site, people can choose from three bottle types, select or custom-create a message, pay for it and have it shipped to their home. We're guessing there'll be some pretty stiff editorial policing to keep the kooks from messing up the offering with dreck.