Market research firm IDC predicts U.S. online advertising will almost completely recover from the "great recession" this year, forecasting 19% growth to $31.5 billion from $26.4 billion in 2009. It projects the biggest gains will be in mobile online advertising (up 97%) and online video ads (40%). Worldwide online ad spending will increase 18% to $72 billion in 2010. Over the next five years, search advertising will enjoy the biggest increase in actual dollars, going from $13.8 billion to $27.3 billion between 2009 and 2014. By comparison, mobile ad spending will grow from $220 million to $1.8 billion. …

Southwest Airlines just opened at LaGuardia airport, with brand built on low fares. Sandra Howard, director of advertising for the airline opened her presentation at Wednesday's ANA Brand Innovation Conference with a message about rational and emotional plays into the "Bags Fly Free" program. The company is extending the message starting this week by branding all its airplanes with a "Bags Fly Free" decal placed above the baggage hatch in huge letters on the planes' fuselages. Luggage carts will also be branded with the message. The program was announced at Wednesday's shareholder meeting, per Howard, who said the airline's …

Google said Wednesday it opened the collaboration tool Google Wave to the public. The Google Labs project has been moved into Google Apps. Many people had wondered whether Wave would remain a product, suggesting it could roll into other Google products such as Gmail, Buzz and Docs. Google Wave project manager Stephanie Hannon says those who tried Google Wave when it rolled out might want to give it another spin. Hannon says Wave is much faster and more stable than when Google began the preview, and the team worked hard to make the app easier to use.

The most entertaining presentation was from Dan Germain, head of creative for Euro brand Innocent Drinks. Germain said the 11 year old brand is about the moral imperative for brands to be interesting. "I don't have enough time for dull in my life," he said. "Think about the time in your life, you day, do you spend considering a brand like Nike...not much. How about your family? Most of it? Your friends? Stuff on TV? What I'm having for dinner? We spend our lives spending incredible amount of money on ideas for brand and what do they do? Ignore it." …

Jodi Allen, VP North American Baby Care at P&G, speaking at ANA's Brand Innovation Conference says the brand's bad press around diaper rash isn't changing the media strategy vis social media. "We have to do everything we can to make sure parents are happy. So we will continue to foray ahead in social media. She says as a result the company worked with parenting magazines and did testing with mothers and babies and got quite a lot of awards." She says the brand is "Increasing awareness behind the awards we have won, that this is mom tested and …

At the ANA Brand Innovation Confeence Jodi Allen said she had four kids in less than five years. "I would have more, and my husband was like, 'have you lost your mind.'" She says between her sister and her there are 21 kids. "I tell you that because when I came to Pampers, I realized that the insight I think we need to be about at Pampers is that yes, being a parent is most wonderful thing that can happen to you but it's the most challenging and demanding." She says Pampers marketing has to sympathize with parents. "IF …

Christine Owens, SVP comms and branding said things...that were...well, interesting, uplifting, and oddly Sarah Palin-esque. Owens believes in surrounding yourself with people you like, and who like you, and who love your brand. Owens, who spoke for easily an hour, without a smidgen of irony, including her introductory statement about how "We are doing God's work", told several anecdotes about how UPS drivers save lives, create good will and may even have helped promote world peace. She even spoke about how she's a stickler for how drivers can increase delivery speed by putting the key in the ignition with one …

At the ANA Brand Innovation Conference on Wednesday, Christine Owens, SVP, communications and brand mangement at UPS says she sees branding as science and art, "But branding is right brain, and my people tell me that all the time. You can't dissect it, but we all know a brand, a good one when we see it." She describes UPS as a "breathing brand" with a soul. "Recent research shows that when customers think of UPS they think ontime deliver and strustedd business partner," she said. In the 1990's the company expanded globally. "We become global logistics provider. Our brand identity …

Web TV network blip.tv has closed $10.1 million in a third-round financing from led by Canaan Partners and existing investors Bain Capital Ventures. The New York-based company started in 2005 said it will use the new funding to accelerate growth, expand its content services and ad sales staffs and develop new products for viewers and producers. Boasting more than 44,000 independent video producers, blip.tv distributes more than 50,000 original Web shows and draws more than 90 million video views a month. The company says 85% of those views are paired with advertising from brands such as PepsiCo, Chevrolet, Samsung, …

Walmart, which has been making a marketing push to provide financial services to low-income consumers, says it is introducing a first: A cash-back incentive for its prepaid debit card. When customers use the Walmart MoneyCard to buy gas, they'll get 1% cash back on their gas purchases through the end of this year. The Walmart MoneyCard, which costs $3 to purchase, is one of the major products Walmart markets to the "unbanked," along with check cashing, bill paying and money transfers.--Sarah Mahoney