Country star Toby Keith is continuing his years-long partnership with Ford Trucks with a new program, the "Built Ford Tough American Ride Sweepstakes." The program, tied to his Toby Keith's American Ride Tour presented by Ford F-Series will award at random a new 2011 Ford F-Series and a weekend on tour with Keith. The winner and three friends go on tour with Keith including their own tour bus and backstage access. Registration is at www.FordAmericanRide.com. The tour began June 19 in Holmdel, NJ, with stops in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC, Philadelphia and many more. Ford will also have ...

MGM Resorts International has tapped RPA as its agency of record to handle all integrated marketing for the Luxor Hotel and Casino and Excalibur Hotel & Casino. The agency will develop a strategic communications campaign, including print, out-of-home, search and relationship marketing.

Mobile app developer Geodelic has raised $7 million in a second-round funding led by MK Capital and including Clearstone Venture Partners and Shasta Ventures. Started in 2008, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Geodelic's free app for the iPhone and Android phones, lets users easily find nearby locations such as grocery stores, gas stations, retailers and restaurants. Geodelic says it plans to announce more product features and major partnerships with the advertising, entertainment and wireless companies in the next few months. The company has raised a total of $10 million to date.

Conde Nast publishing star David Carey is joining Hearst Magazines as president, as part of a reorganization of that consumer publishing company. Long-time Hearst Magazines chief Cathleen Black was promote to chairman, and will be succeeded by Carey in day-to-day management. Carey had been group president at Condé Nast, where he was a member of that company's senior management team and also oversaw media properties targeted to business and executive audiences, including Wired and Golf Digest.  Additionally, he was co-leader on all business development efforts at Condé Nast.  Previously, he served for seven years as vice president and publisher ...

Apple announced today more than 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices were sold in its first three days of release through Saturday. Strong demand for the latest version of the iPhone, which features a front-facing camera, high-definition video recording and faster processing power, was evident in the 600,000 pre-sale orders for the handset and long lines outside Apple stores last Thursday. Many sold out of the new iPhone. "This is the most successful product launch in Apple's history," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a statement. "Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did ...

Amazon has updated the Kindle apps for the iPad and iPhone to run video and audio. The first books to take incorporate the new technology include Rick Steves' London by Rick Steves and "Together We Cannot Fail" by Terry Golway. Read more here.

Eight O'Clock Coffee is giving commuters in New York City a chance to win prizes if they phone a friend about the brand. On June 28, commuters passing through Grand Central Station will have a unique opportunity to put in a good word about the great taste of Eight O'Clock Coffee -- and a chance to win one of eight iPads and other prizes throughout the day. Over 13,000 cups of the coffee will be made available to travelers passing through the station, and those who phone a friend on the spot and tell them about the coffee's great ...

Nora Caplan-Bricker provides a neat thumb-sucker on the reason Willy Wonk's "Pure Imagination" shows up in ads from Mastercard to Lenovo to AT&T in a recent "Brow Beat" post in Slate.

Many marketers lack the capabilities or budgets to track performance of events and sponsorship activities adequately, according to a new survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers and sponsorship research/consultancy/training services supplier IEG. Fully 65% of client-side marketers surveyed are not taking all of the steps needed to measure results adequately. Specifically, only 35% "always or almost always" measure returns on these activities -- although nearly half of companies with annual revenues of $5 billion or more do so, compared to just 25% of those with revenues under $5 billion.

Levi's will extend its "Go Forth" campaign with a new set of ads scheduled to break July 4 with the sub-theme "Ready to Work." The San Francisco-based company aims to "empower and inspire" with stories of the "new" American worker. The nationwide campaign, created by Seattle-based Wieden+Kennedy, explores how a new generation of real workers is "rolling up their sleeves to make real change happen," according to a statement from the company. The effort features cinema, TV, print, out-of-home installations and digital elements. The campaign stars a dozen residents of blue-collar town Braddock, Penn. Since 2001, the town's ...