Thomson is launching a youth-focussed brand called Thomson Scene in an attempt to capture customers for life. The new brand replaces its current youth brand 2wentys and is aimed at aspirational 20- to-30-year-old professionals that have their first job and "money in their pocket." The brand has two arms -- Scene Hub for customers who like nightlife and want to be in lively resorts and Scene Style, offering more upmarket, chic hotels with a designer feel.

American International Group (AIG) is quickening investments in social, video and online advertising to exploit growing buzz around rugby ahead of next year's World Cup in a bid to forge stronger ties to a public still wary of its past as one of the big causalities of the economic crisis. The insurance firm is coordinating Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to give sponsorships with the New Zealand and USA national rugby teams more international exposure in the buildup to next year's tournament in England.

Apple has sold over 10m units of its newly released iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the first three days since going on sale. The company's chief executive, Tim Cook, claimed that sales of the new device had "exceeded expectations" following the first weekend totals. "While our team managed the manufacturing ramp better than ever before, we could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible," he added. The handsets have yet to go on sale in China.

It is vital for brands to allow consumers to buy direct, according to an e-commerce study from Digital River, which found that 89 percent of people would visit a brand's Web site when shopping online, yet 31 percent would "change allegiance" to a rival brand if they couldn't buy an item directly online. In the survey of 1,000 UK consumers, 78 percent said they would buy an item from Amazon if they couldn't get it directly through their preferred brand's Web site. Only 22 percent would go to a retail outlet.

Instagram has launched its much-anticipated advertising service in the UK through an initial partnership with Omnicom Media Group. Seven brands managed by Omnicom Media Group agencies Manning Gottlieb OMD, OMD, and PHD have become the first to roll out ads in users' Instagram feeds: Starbucks, Cadbury, Channel 4, Rimmel, Estee Lauder and Waitrose. Sponsored photos and videos now appear in Instagram's main feed, identified with a sponsored label.

Just 7 percent of bloggers don't like to be contacted by brands, while nearly half like contact "a lot," according to research by blogger outreach agency Yomego. In what it claims to be the largest study of blogger attitudes to date, it also found that nearly a quarter expect payment to write about brands, while roughly half believe it depends on the agency and brand involved. Another key finding is that the younger a blogger is, the more likely they are to have an ambition to make a career from blogging.

Apple has retained its title as the coolest brand in Britain for the third year running, but Twitter has fallen out of favour to make way for rival Instagram, according to an annual survey. The CoolBrands list saw Twitter drop out of the top 20 after three years, while Instagram made its debut at number 14. The streaming service Netflix broke into the top 20 for the first time. Retailers Liberty and Selfridges returned after a one-year absence, as did technology brand Bose.

The CEOs of some of the world's leading food and non-alcoholic beverage companies, including Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Nestle, have agreed on a new policy for responsible advertising to children -- which includes a commitment to product reformulation and innovation as well as a common global approach to including nutritional information on pack, at point of sale and through other channels by the end of 2016. The key changes outlined include expanding the current global policy to cover all media.

Facebook has tweaked its News Feed algorithm to favour more timely stories, meaning more fans are likely to see brand posts that are related to trending topics. In a blog post Facebook says it has based the update on feedback from users who said there are some instances where posts from friends or pages are only relevant at a specific moment -- such as when a football game is live. It also said there are times where a post is a day or two old that may not be relevant any more.

Sobo, a "social soundboard" described as Vine for audio, has launched for iPhone and iPad owners. Created by Yammer co-founder Alan Braverman, the app allows users to record six-second voice messages using the microphone on their device and then send them to friends and followers. Speaking on the length of the videos, Braverman said: "We started at six [seconds], and figured maybe we'd change it later. But then we just never did. There was never anything scientific behind it, to tell you the truth."