Music retailers in the United Kingdom are in a tizzy over the giveaway of Prince's new 10-track CD "Planet Earth" in the Mail newspaper over the weekend, weeks before its official launch on July 24. "The artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behavior like this, he will soon be the artist formerly available in record stores," says Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association. The practice of "covermounts", where newspapers strive to lure readers with DVDs and CDs, is used widely in the industry at a time when many newspapers are struggling …

Saturday is July 7, 2007, and the opportunity to celebrate a day of triple 7s has become the centerpiece of a spate of marketing campaigns from a "Lucky in Love" contest sponsored by Wal-Mart to a sweepstakes from Papa John's pizza with "777 ways to win." A "7 Layers of Love" contest sponsored by Taco Bell offers the winner a chance to propose to his sweetheart on a virtual sign to be displayed Saturday during baseball games on Fox Broadcasting. The Wal-Mart contest gives seven couples free weddings Saturday at seven Wal-Mart Supercenter stores around the country. It was …

TBWAChiatDay's edgy new campaign for Ballpark Franks uses a muscular, hairy arm--reportedly of an Italian opera singer living in Brazil--protruding from the stomachs of teen boys, manhandling them into eating Ballpark hot dogs. Though print ads use the tagline, "Hunger gets what hunger wants," the TV spots feature a primitive voiceover that delivers the line as, "Hunger get what hunger want. Big, tasty Ballpark frank," while the arm slams down money for the dog or bursts through the backdrop. The previous campaign leaned toward the rational (Ballpark made better-quality hot dogs), but teens have deaf ears …