Chrysler's 2011 Super Bowl ad was a two-minute commercial featuring rapper Eminem. This year, it was Clint Eastwood talking about the American spirit. It's likely the automaker will be back with something else this time. "Yes, we are leaning towards being there," said Chrysler's global marketing czar, Olivier Francois. In a conversation with TheDetroitBureau.com, he admitted that the challenge is coming up with another breakout idea. "Clearly, topping what we have done so far - no mystery - is not going to be easy."

The marketing executive for smartphones has left the company a month after misleading marketing materials about a new Lumia model made headlines. Ilari Nurmi, head of product marketing for smartphones, has left Nokia after 15 years, he wrote in an Oct. 7 Twitter posting. Nokia apologized for not making clear that a promotional video and photos within a promotional clip weren't captured with its new Lumia 920 smartphone.

David Gwozdz, CEO of Mojiva, offers his post-mortem of Advertising Week and its seminars, panels and events. "With the first-ever AWE Stage, the notion that technology has to work collaboratively with creative was impossible to ignore," he writes, noting the presence of push-notification companies, social data software, digital agencies and mobile ad networks in one place. "That's a huge step for the advertising industry, which is steeped in old tradition," he says. Gwozdz lists the top five things he saw, including mobile devices putting brands closer to consumers.

Ace Metrix says only two auto brands were among the most effective television commercials in the third quarter this year. Ford’s ‘One Foot Forward’ commercial, touting the new foot operated lift-gate, was only 18 points under the number one commercial. BMW’s funny “Vet’ commercial, tied at sixth with an Apple commercial for earphones.

United Supermarkets has gotten a Leader Award for Excellence in Digital Marketing by the Shopper Technology Institute at the 2012 LEAD Marketing Conference this week in Rosemont, Ill.   The award was given to United for its marketing efforts, including the recent launch of a customized website and iPhone app for shoppers of its three banners: United Supermarkets, Market Street and Amigos. Additionally, United was recognized for enhancing its year-old Smart Rewards loyalty program for Market Street shoppers.

The Utah Chapter of the American Marketing Association Chapter has been named the 2011-12 Turnaround Chapter of the Year by the organization’s international headquarters. The AMA’s annual Chapter Excellence Awards program highlights exceptional performance among the organization’s 77 professional chapters across the U.S. and Canada. The Utah Chapter received recognition for its overall best improvement year over year.

ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India), the self-regulatory voluntary organization of the Indian advertising industry, recently elected Arvind Sharma as the chairman of the Board of ASCI. Sharma, currently the chairman of Leo Burnett there. In this Q&A, he talks about the marketing landscape there.

Paper greeting cards are now seen as optional as digital and social media are the go-to platforms for such things.  Hallmark Cards Inc. last week announced it will close a Kansas plant that made one-third of its greeting cards. In consolidating its Kansas operations, Kansas City-based Hallmark plans to shed 300 jobs. Pete Burney, Hallmark’s senior vice president who overseas production, says “competition in our industry is indeed formidable” and that “consumers do have more ways to connect digitally and online and through social media.” Over the past decade, the number of greeting cards sold in the U.S. has dropped …

Australian transplant Pepper Meiler handles social media and marketing for country artists. The former Sony marketer says the budget makes the difference between working for larger and smaller labels because “with smaller budgets comes the ability to turn on a dime and be flexible with how you deal with the marketing of an artist.” Country music still requires a radio presence, she says. “There are ways to market an artist that can circumvent the whole radio game,” she says, “but it’s still very difficult in country music to do anything without not only radio presence, but radio success.” She sees …

The Motorist Choice Awards, created by California-based research firms IntelliChoice and AutoPacific Inc., gave Toyota nine of 30 possible awards with its various mainstream and luxury brands, with products including the Scion xD, Toyota Prius V and Lexus CT Hybrid. European makers such as Mini and Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, scored well in both "Popular" and "Premium" categories.