Banking on the seemingly bottomless pit of interest in Britney Spears and her soon-to-be ex, Kevin Federline, Nationwide Mutual Insurance is bringing out its Super Bowl ad a week before the big game. It's a highly unusual move for a game advertiser. Today, Nationwide will announce the (no longer) surprise ending of its ad, that K-Fed will be dreaming of a show-biz career, while working at a fast-food joint, something with which he is slightly familiar. Nationwide will post the ad on its Web site on Jan. 29 and may post it elsewhere, such as YouTube. The plan, …

Mixing money and fame with a dash of fear, toothpaste purveyors are racing to be first in an ever-crowded consumer product category. Procter & Gamble is backing its new Crest Pro-Health with a $100 million ad campaign, its largest ever for a new dental product, designed to take on strong-selling Colgate Total line. Colgate has its own record of ad spending, going with a campaign featuring actress Brooke Shield, the first time Colgate Total has used a celebrity in its campaign. Its ads use glamour and emotion, a shift from the previous campaign, which focused on its germ-fighting prowess. …

When Priceline set out to create a new ad campaign based on its ability to broker deals with travel marketers, it found that it could no longer separate itself from brand ambassador William Shatner. Spots breaking this week will have Shatner looking for the best travel fares as a secret agent negotiator. While Shatner has been Priceline's spokesperson for nearly a decade, his presence has survived several ad agency changes. "We've reached a point where Bill is really an intrinsic part of the brand," said Priceline's chief marketing officer Brett Keller. "We thought of it as a risk …

AARP's image overhaul is designed to energize a brand that is still seen in some corners as a retiree organization. Aimed partly at potential AARP members under 50, it includes a new TV ad that celebrates the aging process, a new theme and a new logo. Print will run in titles like Newsweek and USA Today. Banner ads will be on Web sites that cater to Gen Xers. The Internet and digital technology will play a big role in the overhaul; a revamped, more interactive Web site and blog will launch in the third quarter. A cornerstone …

Facing an audience easily turned off by hard-sell advertising, YouTube is trying to do for itself what it has done for many other brands: Sell itself. The site has been making a serious effort to cash in on its popularity, first by hiring its a chief marketing officer and now devoting a spot on its home page to an advertiser video. Some marketing professional are beginning to say that YouTube's efforts to seamlessly integrate advertising are looking a little too corporate. Coca-Cola sponsored holiday greetings that users could send to friends, Adidas bought a dedicated channel to showcase videos …

Social retailing--a combination of mobile communication, online networking and traditional merchandising--may be the future of shopping. In this world, online friends help us decide which outfit to buy by viewing us in interactive mirrors inside stores. Our cell phones ring up sales, and retailers text us coupons when we walk through the door. More than a dozen companies are demonstrating the latest technology at the National Retail Federation's annual convention. The technology, still many years from being widely used, is driven by the advent of radio frequency identification tags that allow retailers to track merchandise remotely. But it's also …

In order to increase the number of consumers browsing its site for new rentals, Netflix is offering movies on demand to its subscribers for free. Viewers will be able to watch movies on their computers, using a service that starts the film in seconds. The new service, which will cost Netflix more than $40 million this year to roll out across its network, is "focused on convenience and simplicity," said chief executive officer Reed Hastings. Here's how it works: Netflix does not monitor usage per film, but rather the time spent viewing: A subscriber paying $18 a month …

The online dating site market is crowded and competitive, having moved in the last decade from being focused on teenagers to a multimillion-dollar industry. By 2009, online dating sites are expected to pull in $629 million in the U.S. Of the top 10 dating sites in the United States, seven saw a declining number of unique visitors throughout 2006, according to Nielsen Media Research. At the same time, social-networking giant MySpace overtook Yahoo as the world's busiest Web site. Newcomers would be wise to learn from younger and more nimble Web sites. Or, as Mark Brooks, publisher …

With an investment of $50 for supplies, two Blendtec executives have created and posted more than 25 videos showing the company's blender grinding up everything from false teeth to marbles. Other marketers took notice, especially since the medium works so well. According to a recent survey conducted by Burst Media, 56.3% of online video viewers recall seeing advertisements in content they have watched. An ad that gets circulated widely can give companies huge visibility at minimal expense. Blendtec's executives agree. In December, the month after the "Will It Blend" campaign began, its online sales surged four times …

Fizzy Fruit may be a parent's dream come true, if only the company can get it through consumers' heads that it's fruit and not candy. Food scientist Steven Witherly predicts kids may like it so much that overall fruit consumption actually could rise. "Fizzy Fruit defines a new product experience for kids," says marketing chief Alex Espalin, whose reference to 1970s' Pop Rocks helps define the experience, but not the health aspect of the product. Still, Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven are stocking the product and Disney thinks enough of it to plan a March promotion …