Volkswagen of America is getting social and political -- which might be redundant -- with a new ad campaign, "Why VW," whose central asset is a new social media platform, and whose advertising is supported by a big media buy around election programming.

Apple announced Monday that preorders for the iPhone 5 topped 2 million units in the first 24 hours after it became available on Friday, more than doubling the prior record of one million held by the iPhone 4S. Because demand has outstripped initial supply, the company said many won’t receive the iPhone 5 until October, beyond the original Sept. 21 delivery date. Apple unveiled the latest version of its signature device on Sept. 12, ending months of avid speculation about its features and capabilities. AT&T separately said it hit a sales record …

Omnicom's Tribal DDB unit has restructured its creative management team, recruiting Chris Ferguson from Interpublic's R/GA and promoting Kinney Edwards to executive creative directors of the agency. Both report to Tribal DDB President-U.S. Operations Richard Guest.

Asked what the biggest "drivers of growth" in media content consumption over the next three years will be, CEOs of the world's biggest media companies unanimously cited mobile devices, including tablets, according to a new study from Ernst & Young.

At the start of Apple's event today unveiling the iPhone 5, CEO Tim Cook warmed up the crowd by throwing out some big sales numbers for the company's products: iOS devices: 400 million sold through June. iPad Sales: 17 million sold from April to June, with 84 million total sold through June. (94% of Fortune 500 companies used iPads.)

Machinima, the posterchild of original entertainment networks distributed on YouTube, has named Kevin Doohan executive vice president-marketing, responsible for brand and trade marketing, social media, promotions, and public relations. Doohan was head of digital marketing at Red Bull North America. He reports to Machinima Chairman-CEO Allen DeBevoise.

Horizon Media CEO Bill Koenigsberg told the audience attending today's TVB Forward Conference that he has TV and ad industry veteran Ave Butensky (still consulting in the Los Angeles area) to thank for making him the successful media agency entrepreneur that he is today. Not that Butensky was a great mentor or anything. No, in fact the way Koenigsberg tells it he worked for Butensky years ago at media buying firm Ed Libov & Associates. After a few years of successfully working his way up the ladder Koenigsberg earned the perk of a company car. Or at least that's what …

The iPhone 5 is expected to boost overall smartphone shipments this year to 567 million, according to a new forecast from NPD DisplaySearch. The research firm projects that total to nearly double in four years to one billion. Even with the eager anticipation around the new Apple device, the volume of new smartphone shipments is lower than expected. NPD DisplaySearch downgraded its forecast for new purchases from 220 to 230 million to 177 million in 2012. The number of replacement phones, however, is projected …

Unilever on Tuesday announced a partnership with Shoparoo, an app for iOS and Android devices that lets users turn grocery receipts in fundraising dollars. By snapping a picture of a shopping receipt with the app, users earn points toward cash donations to charities and schools from the companies behind participating brands and products. In this case, Walmart customers using Shoparoo who buy Unilever brands including Ragu, Skippy, Country Crock, Knorr, Breyers, Hellmann’s, Dove, Axe, Degree, Suave, Vaseline, or Ponds products will …

New sales data from Experian Automotive shows that midrange cars were the highest-selling vehicle segment in the first half of 2012. The analysis, based on new-vehicle registrations, also showed that the Toyota Camry topped the list of best-selling vehicles for the first half, with the Ford F-150 coming in a close second.