With just five months to go until the Opening Ceremonies on Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro, the USOC is overseeing a multi-day summit in Los Angeles this week that will bring together more than 100 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, representatives from the USOC, NBC, marketing partners and members of the media.

Lincoln National Corp. has launched an ad campaign focused on the role Americans play in protecting and providing for their loved ones. The effort is in heavy rotation on cable television as well as in national newspapers.

Patrick McLean, EVP and CMO of TD Bank, says he's excited about the "Rolling Renovation" tour, an initiative aimed at helping customers finance home renovation projects, offering ideas along the way. In addition to the "Rolling Renovation" tour, McLean says TD will be launching a new cash rewards credit card campaign this spring and is working on a new brand campaign.

The Under Armour ad featuring Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps is an extension of the company's "Rule Yourself" campaign, which was introduced last year and focuses on how world-class athletes train.

If you visit Playboy.com before St. Patrick's Day, you'll see ads for Tullamore D.E.W., the blended Irish whiskey. Then, if you jump onto Instagram, you'll be retargeted with a 30-second video commercial from the same marketer. Such retargeting isn't at all new, but how it's being orchestrated is.

Subaru and Isuzu UK Group Marketing Director Chris Hawken says the auto industry is in a terrible situation where it's extremely hard for marketing to lift some car brands. The UK market - always previously renowned for its creativity - is increasingly being controlled and stifled by central marketing departments (often in Germany) and by those who don't understand our mentality.

Actor Kangana Ranaut stars in sportswear brand Reebok's latest campaign, "Fit To Fight." Seen lifting weights like a seasoned athlete, Ranaut is the new brand ambassador of the Adidas AG-owned Reebok. The new campaign, specifically targeted at women, shows a dead-serious Ranaut going about her fitness routine, which includes everything from yoga and dancing to cross-fit and kick-boxing.

What makes this brand of native marketing feel odd, to a casual observer, is the tension between promoting a product and laughing at it. It's not that these "influencers" are somehow secretly making fun of the companies paying them; rather, online platforms have a kind of inside joke quality that can make a sponsored piece feel more like satire than an ad.

Mondelez International, the large snacks and confections business that used to be part of Kraft, is introducing its first new product line in years. The new line of thin, savory crackers, called Good Thins, plays to consumers' growing interest in unconventional snack ingredients like sweet potatoes and chickpeas.

President Obama is among those who got a turntable as a gift (a record player was the top selling home-audio product on Amazon this past holiday season) and are just now building up their LP collection, four decades after the medium was overtaken by the compact disc and declared dead-before the MP3 came along and, in turn, virtually did in the CD.