In what it calls its largest campaign to date, T-Mobile is airing new TV spots for its myTouch 3G phone, featuring NBA players Dwayne Wade and Charles Barkley. The effort, reports Elaine Wong, marks the wireless carrier's fifth year as an NBA sponsor. The new spots, which began running this week, show Wade and Barkley humorously showing off the features of the phone. Another ad, with Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, will break on Christmas Day during the Magic vs. Celtics game. Both spots center on how these players "use the device to express their passions," with …

The world's largest sports shoe and clothing business on Thursday pledged to continue using marketing relationships with leading athletes to build its brands, as it restated its support for Tiger Woods. Omar Saad, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said in a research note this week that Tiger Woods' problems could lead to Nike and other companies rethinking the effectiveness of celebrity relationships. But CEO Mark Parker said that Nike's relationships with star athletes "are really critical to developing the insights [that] fuel the product innovation that really distinguishes us in the market place and ultimately the overall business performance …

Its attempt to sell the Swedish unit to small Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars having failed, General Motors will wind down operations at Saab, it said on Friday, noting the move was not a bankruptcy or forced liquidation process. GM had been in talks to sell Saab to niche luxury carmaker Koenigsegg, with the backing of China's BAIC. But the deal fell through in November, and GM said it would consider other offers until the end of the year, and then decide whether to close the unit. BAIC said earlier this week it had agreed to buy some …

Suzanne Vranica reports that PepsiCo will not advertise its beverages in Super Bowl XLIV because its new strategy -- cause-related marketing -- is too difficult to explain in a 30-second spot. However, snack brand Doritos will rejoin the expensive lineup. A campaign to kick off its "Pepsi Refresh Project" will begin in coming weeks, she writes. Under it, Pepsi will give $20 million from its ad budget next year to community projects proposed and selected by community members. Pepsi will spend 60% more on online ads in 2010 than it did this year. It will be relying …

Coffee marketer Lavazza is charging Nestle Group's Nespresso with copying its advertising idea with a commercial showing George Clooney visiting heaven, much as its long-running "Paradise" campaign features coffee being enjoyed there. Emma Hall reports the company has referred the matter to the Italian advertising regulatory body, the Istituto dell'Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria. Armando Testa, Italy's biggest ad agency, came up with the Lavazza campaign, which has seen 60 executions over the past 15 years. In Nespresso's new spot, Clooney meets up with God, played by John Malkovich. He is holding the coffee maker, which God is eying covetously. The …

Over the next five years, Sara Lee will reduce the salt in many of its food products by an average of 20%, reports Mike Hughlett, including hot dogs, lunchmeat, breakfast foods, cooked sausage and its namesake bread. It follows a similar move in October by ConAgra Foods and is in line with the trend seen in research of consumers looking for lower-salt options. The reduction will be done gradually so as not to create "taste issues," per a Sara Lee spokesperson, and the product labels will not announce the changes. Earlier this year, Sara Lee launched a …

Oh, dear. As David Colker reports, it sounds like such a nice idea. General Motors' OnStar announced that users of the service will be able to track the merry old soul on Christmas Eve. The service is via NORAD, which has provided updates by phone for more than 50 years. Good enough. But then GM placed a video on YouTube showing Santa visiting the company and learning about the technological wonders it can put on his sleigh, including GPS, diagnostic devices and hands-free calling "while taking a call from Mrs. Claus." The less-than-enthusiastic performance of Santa as well as the …