Portman Group, the drinks industry body, has slammed a report claiming that alcohol sponsorship causes increased underage drinking. Research by the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) claims that global studies have reported "positive associations between exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and self-reported alcohol consumption." The Portman Group has attacked the findings and hit out at the motives of the IAS, which it labels as "the UK's leading temperance campaigners."

Facebook is launching a platform called Canvas where brands can use a number of tools to create "immersive" experiences. The ad appears within a person's newsfeed and take up the entire screen when they click on it. The platform allows users to interact with the ad either by scrolling horizontally, vertically or with video. Brands can also make use of a tilt feature whereby they can make an image larger than the phone screen and users can tilt their phone to explore the image.

Amazon has quietly launched seven in-house fashion labels that sell a range of clothing and accessories for men, women and children. The ecommerce giant registered its new fashion brand trademarks in Europe through a Luxembourg-based subsidiary called Amazon Technologies. The trademarked brands are selling over 1,700 different products on Amazon's US Web site, and one of the women's brands -- Lark & Ro -- is available on the Canadian site. There is no indication on the products that they are Amazon-owned brands.

Sometimes a "like" just isn't enough to express how you feel about that photo your friend has posted on Facebook. Recognising this, Mark Zuckerberg's team has come up with a way for you to tell people that their status has made you shocked, angry, sad, amused or in love. The new buttons, which were first unveiled in October last year, have been on trial in Spain and Ireland -- but we can all now use them, since yesterday.

Johnnie Walker's global brand director, Guy Escolme, believes that the combination of global and local insight has led to the success of its first global campaign. The campaign, launched in September last year, was the brand's first global effort. It launched simultaneously in more than 50 countries, with 70 different pieces of creative to suit the different markets. The whisky brand also adopted a new emotive tagline in "Joy will take you further," an evolution of the brand's long-standing "Keep walking" campaign.

VisitBritain, the official tourism body, is talking to advertising agencies about a new project to promote the UK overseas. The organisation has called for an expression of interest in a tender named "Brand proposition for the GB tourism brand." The process is only open to agencies on the government's roster. The project is separate from VisitBritain's retained account, which is held by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R.

Public Health England is reviewing its digital and direct advertising, handled by OgilvyOne. A spokesman for Public Health England confirmed that the pitch was being run through the Crown Commercial Service. He added that the body hoped to complete the statutory review by April. OgilvyOne was appointed to the Department of Health's GBP50 million digital and direct account in 2012. This marked the first time that the government body had consolidated the business into a single agency.

Crossrail's rebrand to the Elizabeth Line, in honour of the current monarch, has garnered a largely positive response on Twitter. The new name was announced Tuesday by Transport for London at Bond Street Station, where the Queen was presented with a commemorative Elizabeth roundel, and met those involved in the construction of Crossrail. TfL's PR team told "PRWeek" the idea was generated by the in-house marcoms and design teams with no external agency support.

New industry data suggests that, for the first time, the majority of online shopping sales in the UK are now conducted through smartphones and tablets. According to IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group), the trade body for Internet retailers, 51% of online sales between November and January in the UK involved handheld devices rather than traditional computers or laptops. A year earlier, the equivalent figure was just 40%.

The Football League is running a comprehensive social media campaign for this weekend's Capital One Cup Final between Manchester City and Liverpool, which will offer fans an array of incentives to engage on social media including unique views of their teams and instant personalised responses on Twitter. The #FinalCam part of the campaign will give fans on-demand instant photos of their team's dugout, which will be taken by specially positioned cameras placed around the dugout areas.