McDonald's announce super-sized plans for London 2012

As the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games, McDonald's is the only branded retail food service provider to feed the athletes, media and spectators.·

McDonald's will have four new Olympic venue restaurants: one in the Olympic Village, one in the Main Press Centre, and two in the Olympic Park for spectators - one of which will be the largest McDonald's freestanding restaurant in the world.

The 3,000 square-metre (32,000 square-foot) two-story building in the Olympic Park will have 1,500 seats.

McDonald's plans to serve 1.75 million meals during the 29 day period of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Fútbol Club Barcelona and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Team Up to End Polio and Give Every Child an Equal Shot at Life

Fútbol Club (FC) Barcelona, FC Barcelona Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation kicked off a three-year partnership today to energize the global fight to end polio and draw attention to the promise of life-saving vaccines. Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell and Manager Josep Guardiola, announced the partnership at the Newseum in Washington, DC. They were joined by players Andres Iniesta and Seydou Keita.
The first year of the partnership will focus on polio eradication. Polio has been reduced globally by 99 percent and is one of the best examples of the value of life-saving vaccines. The disease once crippled children worldwide, but there are now just four countries— Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan—where polio transmission has never been stopped.

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Forlan continues family tradition

Uruguay striker Diego Forlan believes his name is now enshrined in South American football folklore. Forlan struck twice, after Luis Suarez's early opener, as Uruguay sealed a record 15th title with a 3-0 win over Paraguay in the Buenos Aries final.

For Forlan, it was an emotional triumph as he followed his father and grand-father into the record books as a Copa America winner. Forlán was born into a family of footballers, his father Pablo having played for São Paulo (1970–1975) and Uruguay in the 1966 and 1974 World Cups and his grandfather, Juan Carlos Corazo, for Independiente in Argentina.

Sepak takraw

“Sepak takraw or kick volleyball, is a sport native to the Malay-Thai Peninsula. Sepak takraw differs from the similar sport of volleyball in its use of a rattan ball and only allowing players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball. It is a popular sport in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Philippines”. – Wikipedia

Johnson & Johnson signs up for 2014 FIFA World Cup

Johnson & Johnson has become the eighth and final global sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, completing FIFA's global sales for the competition three years before a ball is kicked in Brazil. Johnson & Johnson becomes the Official Healthcare sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, with exclusive rights to activate across their consumer, medical devices and diagnostics, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Qatar Airways named Official Airline of ‘Tour de France’

Qatar Airways has proudly announced it has been named Official Airline of the prestigious “Tour de France”, which attracts hundreds of cyclists competing in the world’s most famous cycle race. Expected to be watched by over hundreds of millions of television viewers around the world and millions of spectators lining the 3,500km route, this year’s edition – the 98th Tour de France – takes place between July 2 – 24.

Li Na Signs Big Endorsement Deal With Mercedes Benz

China has become the world's largest automobile market. Mercedes still sells more cars in the United States and its native Germany, but China is number 3 and is growing rapidly thanks to a new upper class that craves an association with premium brands. Daimler executives recently said that April car sales for the company in China rose 56 percent, year over year. Sales of its S-Class cars rose 111 percent.

Mercedes recently initiated a road safety campaign in the country due to the amount of deaths on the road (more than 100,000 a year). The company advertises the program on the Chinese Web portal Sina.com, with whom Li recently signed a sponsorship deal.

Li Na's other endorsement deals include Nike, Rolex, Spider Tech and Haagen Dazs. She is expected to pull in about $10 million in endorsement money this year, which would rank her second in women's tennis only behind Maria Sharapova, who makes about $25 million a year and is the highest earning female athlete in the world.

Ferrari and Puma take their alliance further

It’s been six years since the legendary prancing horse has been associated with Puma AG, the major German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear. And today both the firms announced a long-term extension to their partnership. Puma will continue to be the official licensing partner for Ferrari branded products and the official supplier of team and race wear for Scuderia Ferrari.

Zara Phillips Signs as Samsung UK Olympic Games Ambassador

Zara Phillips, Samsung UK's Olympic Games ambassador & Mr. David Song, Samsung UK Managing Director at Big Sky Studios, London. Consumer electronics brand Samsung UK today announced an exclusive agreement with Zara Phillips to be its UK brand ambassador for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Phillips will begin her ambassador role with immediate effect and play a key part in raising awareness of Samsung's sponsorship of London 2012.

Red Bull Brings Red Bulletin, to the U.S.

Red Bull introduces the U.S. edition of its monthly Red Bulletin magazine. Red Bull already publishes the magazine in countries including Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Austria, South Africa, New Zealand and Kuwait, with distribution totaling 3.4 million before the U.S. edition. 

Reliance Trends, Shane Warne launch ‘Spinners’ collection

Shane Warne and Reliance Trends announced the launch of Warne’s apparel label ‘Spinners by Shane Warne’ in India. At present, the tie-up is exclusively with Reliance Trends for India.

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Over a million units of men’s and boys ‘Spashion’ (sport + fashion) ‘Spinners by Shane Warne’ apparel have been sold since its launch in 2009 in Australia, informed company sources. 

‘Spinners by Shane Warne’ is a partnership between Warne and local Australian brand development company ‘lime door brands’. After India, the brand will be launched in the UK.

IPL Brand Update

UltraTech Cement Limited, the single largest cement brand in the country today announced its partnership with the IPL Team Deccan Chargers. UltraTech Cement has been behind various cricketing events and has been associated with IPL T20 for the past few years.

Linc Pen would continue as a partner of both the Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders from IPL 2010. Additionally this season, they will also be the Principal Sponsor for the Deccan Chargers.

Yamaha ties up with Deccan Chargers as official team partner

Max New York Life Insurance has associated with Pune Warriors India as principal sponsor and official team partner for the IPL Season 4.

ACC Limited, India's leading cement manufacturer, is pleased to announce the renewal of its association with Kings XI Punjab in Season 4 of the Indian Premier League 2011.

Byte: ACC has a long and rich history of being associated with the game since the 1940s and 1970s when many of the country's great cricket players were employees of the company. The legendary Madhav Mantri joined ACC as a young executive in 1946. ACC was amongst the first companies in India to offer full-time employment to cricketers during this period. Several cricket legends were employees of ACC during their active cricket careers like Rusy Mody, Ramakant Desai, Bapu Nadkarni, Dilip Sardesai, Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar and Karsan Ghavri among others. India's Test team at the time often had seven or eight players who were also full-time employees of ACC. So close was this bond that sportsmen affectionately referred to ACC's second name as being "All Cricketers Company".

Aus/NZ hailed ‘the world’s toughest backyard’ in cricket world cup promo

'United By Blue' - Nike's celebration for winningCricket WC 2011

Nike premiered "United By Blue," its latest and final Nike Cricket TV spot of this tournament season. Again capturing the 'Just Do It' spirit of the sport, the ad celebrates Team India's historic tournament win by mirroring the passion of a country united through cricket and the realisation of a dream.

Nike India marketing director Sanjay Gangopadhyay said, "The celebration brought to life in "United By Blue" represents the celebration going on all over India. The entire country is united by blue. This incredible win has only deepened the relationship between the streets and the stadiums. The kids inspire Team India and the national team inspires the kids. It's been a shared journey, a shared dream. And now it's a shared victory with 'Bleed Blue' now becoming part of the Indian Cricket lexicon."

Floriana Group is Rajasthan Royals team sponsor

Rajasthan Royals launched their team's new jersey and welcomed Floriana Group as team sponsor and HDFC Life as the principal associate team sponsor for IPL4.

Designed by Puma, which is the franchises' official kitting partner, this year's jersey is the lightest among the ones used in all the past three IPL seasons. Made with Polyester and lightweight mesh back, the jerseys are made to give high breathability in soaring temperatures. With uniquely styled names and numbers inscribed in Dazzel gold, the royal blue jerseys have cut and sew panels with Dazzel inserts.

Bridgestone ties up with Mumbai Indians

Bridgestone India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corp, has signed up as the associate-sponsor of the Mumbai Indians (MI). The tyre maker will be associated with a cricket team, starting with the fourth edition of IPL and will continue to be associated with MI till 2014.

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The Bridgestone logo which highlights the slogan “Your journey, Our passion” will be exhibited on the non-leading arm of MI team jersey

Nadal replaces Schumacher as Bacardi ambassador

Bacardi has signed up tennis star Rafael Nadal to replace Michael Schumacher as its global social responsibility ambassador. Schumacher's three-year deal with Bacardi concluded at the end of 2010.

Bacardi's 'Champions Drink Responsibly' campaign, created by 23red, runs across advertising, PR, experiential and social media.

This also includes a YouTube channel and, for the first time, a 'Champions Drink Responsibly' Facebook page.

Red Bull Racing stays in fashion - with Pepe Jeans

Red Bull Racing is set to maintain the style that helped it achieve two world championships, with today’s announcement that Pepe Jeans will continue as the team’s official team clothing partner, with an extended and increased deal for 2011.

Tottenham Hotspur sign five-year kit deal with US brand Under Armour

Under Armour, the American sports clothing manufacturer, has signed a five-year kit deal with Tottenham Hotspur, understood to be worth around $25m (£15.5m).
The Baltimore-based company will manufacture the football club's playing kits, training wear and replica shirts from the 2012-13 season.

Kevin Plank, the former American football player who established Under Armour in 1996, said the UK will be a "foundation market for the global business we're building".

Sony deal adds new dimension to Wimbledon

The All England Lawn Tennis Club has reached a multi-year agreement with Sony in order to show the Wimbledon singles finals in 3D.

2011 will be the first year the men’s and women’s singles finals, plus the men’s singles semi-finals, at the Wimbledon Championships will be shown in 3D in selected cinemas across the globe.

The 3D coverage will be produced in partnership with the BBC, the host broadcaster of the tournament, and will then be offered to international broadcasters. Sony will also work with theatrical distributor Supervision Media to take the action into cinemas.