For better or worse, the Tea Party has become a part of our American family. And as a member of the American family, these rabble rousers represent a new demographic for executives looking to make a buck, which explains why Chrysler recently unveiled a series of commercials playing up the company’s patriotic chops. In one, [...]

Sigh. No wonder journalism’s in the pits: MSNBC, USA Today and at least one hundred other outlets and websites are harping on how Coke mixed with Mentos can propel a “rocket car.” That car’s sponsored by Coca-Cola itself, and offers a glimpse of how deep branding has burrowed into our lives.

With primaries well underway, and midterm campaigns heating up, Americans will soon be inundated with mass mailers, commercials, and a host of other politically minded marketing materials. Candidates advertise in much the same way as brands. We American citizens are not just voters: We’re consumers, ingesting civil servants the same way we do a favorite [...]

It didn’t take long for bands, and more importantly record labels, to harness the power of Twitter. As we saw with MySpace a few years back, it seems that if you aren’t on Twitter, you don’t matter -at least in a marketing capacity. Newbies to the rock world, like MGMT and celebrated folks, like Echo [...]