Turner has launched its own sports application for the iPhone. In a sign of the times, the offering is skewed toward the social networking crowd.

The company today released SportsNow, a free app aimed at providing fans with news and live scores across multiple sports — including sports that are not covered by Turner’s networks, like NCAA Men’s Basketball and the National Hockey League. To date, Turner has focused on managing applications for leagues that it already partners with on the Web, such as the National Basketball Association.

via Turner Launches SportsNow App.

Lexus has introduced a new campaign that showcases its hybrid vehicle line and reminds customers of the company’s five-year history of putting hybrids on the road.

One TV commercial tells viewers that when Lexus built its first hybrid in 2004, YouTube didn’t exist and Facebook was still run out of a dorm room. On screen, the nameplate’s hybrid cars form the shape of a computer cursor, a gas nozzle, a landline telephone and the lowercase letter “H.” Continue reading →

The growth of digital advertising revenue for local TV and radio will outpace overall ad spending for those media between 2009 and 2014, according to a BIA/Kelsey study released yesterday.

Digital revenue from mobile and Web platforms will grow at a 17.8 percent compound annual rate to $2 billion compared to total ad revenue, which will grow 2.8 percent to $34.3 billion.

via Digital Ad Revenue to Rocket for Local Media.

YouTube has begun a broad rollout of advertising to its mobile site following 18 months of testing.

The Google-owned video venue is not, however, exactly breaking the mold for mobile ads. It is displaying static banners at the top of its m.youtube.com home page, browsing pages and search results pages. The initial rollout is in the U.S. and Japan.

via YouTube Pushes Into Mobile Ads.

Omnicom Group’s BBDO has added creative chores for online travel service Orbitz following a review, the client has confirmed.

“In BBDO, Orbitz has chosen a partner that is an award-winning agency across all forms of marketing communications,” the client said in a statement. “The creative team will be led by chief creative officer David Lubars and executive creative director Ronald Ng.”

via Orbitz’s Creative Biz Travels to BBDO.

Automakers who watched for decades as Toyota grabbed market share from them must derive some pleasure from seeing that company twist slowly, slowly in the wind. But The Economist/YouGov polling gives reason to wonder whether the bad news about Toyota is pulling down the reputations of other car companies as well.

via Toyota Drags Them All Down?.

Baby boomers led the U.S. out of a downturn in the last two recessions, but this time around, it will be Gen Xers and millennials paving the way to economic recovery, according to a new report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers today.

via Gen X and Y Pave the Way to Economic Recovery.

Chevrolet is attempting to maximize its sponsorship of the South by Southwest conference later this month by announcing the integration of three social media technologies.

Chevy has partnered with Gowalla, a location-based social networking service, to allow attendees at the show check in and let friends and followers know where they are at any given moment.

via Chevy Goes Social for SXSW.

Four agencies have emerged as contenders in the CVS media review. In the hunt are two WPP entries: Mindshare and MediaCom; Omnicom’s OMD; and Interpublic Group’s Universal McCann, according to sources.

CVS spent more than $90 million in domestic measured media in each of the past two years, per Nielsen.

via CVS Eyes 4 Shops for $90 Mil. Media.

Jeff Dachis may have been ahead of his time. Back in February 2000, the then-Razorfish CEO sat down with 60 Minutes II and, in a moment he’d live to regret, struggled to answer correspondent Bob Simon’s simple question about what Razorfish actually did. “We’ve asked our clients to recontextualize their business,” he stammered.

via Digital Agencies Get Back to Business.

Ford is looking to ramp up brand consideration for the upcoming launch of its Fiesta 2011 small car with the second phase of a social media campaign launching this month.

The automaker has sent out 40 “agents” — each in teams of two — to spread the word about the Fiesta in major markets such as Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Dallas. Those agents — selected via a nomination process that drew more than 1,000 applicants — are tasked with tweeting and promoting the Fiesta virally via a series of online and local challenges assigned by Ford.

via Ford ‘Agents’ Hit the Road.

Cathay Pacific Airways is making a major effort to expand its global brand.

The push, unveiled this week by Cathay Pacific Central Team, housed within McCann Erickson, was more than six months in the making and marks some of the client’s most integrated work to date.

via Cathay Pacific Launches Integrated Push.

Microsoft found a potent way to make friends on Facebook: offer users of hyper-popular social game FarmVille virtual currency. The in-game offer on Tuesday resulted in Microsoft’s Bing page gaining 425,000 fans in a single day, more than tripling the 117,000 fans it had. The program, created by digital agency Deep Focus and brand engagement network Social Vibe, shows the potency of the exploding world of social gaming, fueled by currency that lets players buy virtual items. Zynga’s FarmVille is a runaway smash on Facebook, boasting over 82 million players who tend crops and raise livestock on virtual farms.

via Bing’s Virtual Bling Buys Facebook Fans.

Chris Anderson has seen the future of magazines — and it’s on a tablet.

In an address at the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Transformation Conference in San Francisco today, Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired, extolled the possibilities for the magazine industry via Apple’s iPad and other future tablet-computer platforms.

Wired staffers have been working to create a tablet version of the title for six months, with the goal of having it ready in May.

via 4A’s: ‘Wired’ Chief Says iPad Will Rescue Magazines.