Barry Janoff reports the beverage giant has launched a sweepstakes with its Sprite brand that offers a chance to bowl with LeBron James. Marketing for the first "Bowling with LeBron Sweepstakes presented by Sprite," which runs now through Aug. 31, prominently features James in his Cleveland Cavaliers' No. 23 uniform. Sprite is getting the word out via retail POP, Internet and at U.S. Brunswick Zone and Brunswick XL bowling centers across the country. Sprite, an official NBA partner with whom James has a marketing deal, has put the All-Star front and center of its sweepstakes campaign alongside the …

Alex Bogusky's resignation from MDC Partners and its flagship agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, underscores one of the biggest challenges the Toronto-based holding company faces, Noreen O'Leary tells us. MDC's business model of acquiring entrepreneurial companies is being tested as the founders of its early acquisitions now cash out. At the beginning of this year, MDC was due to pay the remaining earn-outs of $47 million in cash and stock to principals at its two largest agencies, Crispin and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners. KBS+P and Crispin together contribute about 35% of MDC's revenue. Bogusky's exit from MDC, …

The American Legacy Foundation is rerunning a 2004 commercial that mocks the way tobacco marketers belatedly concede their products are unhealthy by presenting a corporate apologist for the make-believe maker of Shards O'Glass Freeze Pops, Stuart Elliott writes. They are, as the name implies, ice pops with shards of glass protruding from them. The commercial is being revived as part of a new campaign, Eric Asche, senior vice president for marketing at the foundation, told Elliott. "We ran the spot less than a dozen times in 2004," Asche said, "and it's a favorite of ours. It's still very salient, …

On July 4, Kmart will begin delivering groceries and merchandise in Chicago, its second test market after its initial foray into New York and the Hamptons over the last national holiday, in May. Jaclyn Trop writes that the feature will help Kmart compete with retailers such as Amazon and Apple, which constantly innovate to provide better customer service. Delivery costs vary, depending upon the order size, but generally are a few dollars. Home delivery service nets new customers and boosts orders from current clients, said Peg Merzbacher, director of marketing for Skokie, Ill.-based delivery service Peapod. Northeastern grocery …

In the fight against bad breath*, Dentyne comes armed with Pure, which claims to neutralize bad breath. On Saturday, the brand will be sampling the product at Walmart. The launch is part of the brand's strategy to tap into the chewing gum category's No. 1 need -- delivering on fresh breath -- while attempting to jump-start a mature and slow-growing category. Sales of sugarless gum grew 7% from 2007-09; last year, the category tallied $1 billion in U.S. sales across the food, drug and mass channels, excluding Walmart, per market research firm Mintel. The target consumer is different …

When the Tour de France begins on Saturday, Nissan and RadioShack will be on board for the first time, with campaigns starring Lance Armstrong, who has said this will be his final tour. Suzanne Vranica reports that Nissan's entry began earlier this year when it made a pact with Armstrong and his Team RadioShack. Nissan's ad, shot last week in France, shows Armstrong riding behind a Leaf, Nissan's new electric car. RadioShack will air four Armstrong-focused commercials. One spot puts Armstrong in the fictional role of RadioShack's "chief mobility officer." He is seen riding a stationary bike in an office …

Andrew Hampp and Rupal Parekh pick up a report by Gizmodo that Microsoft's Kin is being killed off just six weeks post-launch and dig in to find out what went wrong. "It doesn't appear to be marketing that killed the Kin but just good old-fashioned pricing," they conclude. Even a price slashing failed to arouse interest. It does provide a cautionary tale, they write, for those looking to social media to sell their wares. The campaign followed a 20-something woman as she used her Kin, hoping to appeal to the hip, urban consumer. But it was limited by the …

Kraft's Oreo cookies and Wheat Thins crackers are ramping up their social media efforts, writes Stuart Elliott, with the former giving its Facebook page a global look and the latter rewarding fans who discuss it on Twitter. Mark Clouse, SVP/global biscuits at Kraft, says Oreo's Facebook campaign saluting the "world's fan of the week" reflects an "A-ha moment" when the company understood that Facebook is a global vehicle and platform on which to have a global dialog. Wheat Thins is developing a campaign themed "The crunch is calling" and will include a channel on YouTube. A mobile team …