Boston Globe
A dissatisfied Comcast subscriber's attempt to cancel his service led to a hellish nightmare 18-minute-phone conversation last weekend. Ryan Block posted a recording of the last eight minutes of his call to Comcast customer service, in which the unidentified representative desperately tries to keep him as a customer, regardless of Block's desires. Sometimes he begs. Occasionally, he makes demands.
Adweek
Who feels like getting naked and dancing through the streets of Los Angeles? Wait, don't answer until you've watched this. In a charming (and essentially safe for work) video promo for its upcoming reality series Dating Naked, VH1 and agency Mistress filmed a diverse mix of people whirling and waltzing around a small crowd of onlookers in L.A. to the tune of "I'm Just Wild About Harry."
Drug Store News
According to blogger Tom Wilson, co-founder and president of The CareGiver Partnership and former Kimberly-Clark executive, Procter & Gamble may be readying to re-enter the incontinence market as soon as this summer. Wilson is basing his premise in part on a June 18 presentation at the Duetsche Bank Global Consumer Conference, where P&G CFO Jon Moeller said that in the next six months P&G will be entering a new category.
USA Today
Every few decades - when timing, talent and circumstance coincide - the All-Star Game becomes a must-watch marketing event. With a literal and cinematic tip-of-the-hat by a boatload of celebrities to retiring All-Star Derek Jeter, Nike is once again turning the All-Star game into the marketing buzz bowl. This go-round, it's Nike's Brand Jordan, with a 90-second ode to Jeter that instantly became a social media rage with its posting on Monday.
San Francisco Chronicle
Kate Moss' little sister is following in the British supermodel's footsteps after signing on as a new face of Calvin Klein. Lottie Moss appears in new ads for the Calvin Klein Jeans x mytheresa.com The Re-Issue Project, a capsule collection of iconic denim pieces which will be sold exclusively online. Photographer Michael Avedon captured the 16 year old in a series of eye-catching black-and-white images. The new ads will debut on Wednesday.
Chicago Tribune
Reynolds American Inc. said it would buy rival Lorillard Inc. for about $25 billion, merging two of the world's biggest cigarette makers amid a slowdown in sales. Reynolds, whose brands include Camel and Pall Mall, offered $68.88 per Lorillard share, representing a premium of 2.5 percent to Lorillard's Monday closing. Lorillard's shares, which have risen about 37 percent since reports in February of a possible deal, were down 5.5 percent at $63.50 before the bell on Tuesday.
Detroit Bureau
It's not just cars anymore. Now recall fever has jumped species from four to two wheels. The latest manufacturer to issue a safety-related callback is Harley-Davidson. The Wisconsin-based motorcycle manufacturer is warning that a brake defect on some of its latest models can cause the front wheels to lock up without warning. A total of 66,421 of its 2014 Touring and CVO Touring bikes are covered by the recall.
Adweek
LeBron James' return to Cleveland and the Cavaliers could mean a big windfall for the town and the team. Bob Dorfman, sports marketing analyst and ECD at Baker Street Advertising predicts regular season ticket sales will from 80% capacity to 100% and that since many playoff games are likely, more revenue will result with and team sponsorships will soar.
LiveMint
On Saturday, Delhi-based photographer Naina Redhu went to Twitter to express her anger that an ad for P&G's Pantene shampoo, in which she was featured, includes a page-long interview that she never did. "Is this common practice? Cooking up entire interviews?" she wrote. By the time the company had apologized, it was too late: her tweets had been picked up and blogged about.
The New York Times
It seems customers are ready to go online to buy Calder sculptures, Van Gogh and Persian rugs. Sotheby's and eBay plan to announce today that they have formed a partnership to stream Sotheby's sales worldwide. Starting this fall, most of Sotheby's New York auctions will be broadcast live on a new section of eBay's website. Then comes online-only sales and streamed auctions taking place anywhere from Hong Kong to Paris to London.