PR Newswire (press release) - HEALDSBURG, Calif., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Bella Sera wines, imported from renowned regions of Italy, is announcing a relationship with Emmy award-winning chef and cookbook author, Giada De Laurentiis, to celebrate good wine, good food and the good company of family and friends.

"I believe that delicious food deserves delicious wine, so Bella Sera and I have partnered to create food and wine pairings that bring a taste of Italy to home," said De Laurentiis. "Bella Sera means 'beautiful evening' and my hope is that Bella Sera and I can help people create those at home every day."

Bella Sera and De

NBC2 News - NAPLES: A new brand of vodka hit a major milestone and the company brought in a big name from Hollywood to celebrate.

Famous comedian Dan Aykroyd was in Naples promoting his Crystal Head Vodka after the company sold its millionth bottle and he caused a fan frenzy.

Hundreds of fans waited in line to meet him Monday and to get a signed bottle of that vodka.

"I've given radio and television waves - audio waves and movies. I put things in people's eyes and ears - now I'm putting a nice taste in people's mouths," said Aykroyd.

Self described

by Joseph Hanlon, CNET - It's easy to dismiss a celebrity product endorsement as an empty money grab, but not so when the celeb is Black Eyed Pea's front man Will.i.am and the product is his BlackBerry. When speaking about his phone there seems to be an honest affinity between the man and the brand, a relationship he plans to capitalize on as a means to communicate directly with his audience.

"I've been using them since the very beginning; I'm a BlackBerry fan-fan," Will.i.am said.

At one time this may have meant Will.i.am used the same PDA handsets as the rest of world's "CrackBerrys," but not anymore.

by Christopher MacManus, Sony Insider - Taylor Swift, the lovely Grammy Award-winning country pop singer, songwriter and actress is the latest addition to Sony’s never ending cast of celebrity endorsers. We figured it wouldn’t be much longer before Swift popped up on the radar again after CEO and President Sir Howard Stringer introduced her at the beginning of Sony’s CES 2010 press conference. Swift’s work with Sony will appear on national broadcast TV, online, mobile as well as print mediums and focus on the sleek and powerful Cyber-shot DSC-TX7 digital still camera and its intelligent iSweep Panorama feature that captures ultra-wide panoramic shots in one easy

The Milk Processor Education Program, PR Newswire (press release) - Celebrity Chef Invites Moms To Share How They 'Milk the Moment' To Win Exclusive Family Dinner Experience
 
Download image NEW YORK, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Experts agree that sharing time together around the dinner table does double duty for building strong families – forging emotional bonds and helping kids develop healthy habits that can last a lifetime.

(Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100317/CG71819)

Moms agree on the value of dinner. According to an online survey of 1,000 moms by the National Milk Mustache "got milk?"® Campaign, the majority of moms recognize dinner is an important time to connect as a family (88%), and value it as

WJTV - Viking Classic, Mississippi’s premiere sporting event, and Century Club Charities, Inc. are pleased to announce the event dates for the 2010 Viking Classic.  This year’s event will be held September 27 – October 3, 2010, at Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss., making it the first event of the PGA TOUR’s 2010 Fall Series.

Viking Classic is also pleased to announce that renowned Chef Emeril Lagasse will headline the Viking Culinary Tent’s lineup of cooking demonstrations during the 2010 Viking Classic.

“We are so pleased that the PGA TOUR thought so highly of the Viking Classic by naming it the first event

By Jason Garcia and Sara K. Clarke, Orlando Sentinel - When AirTran Airways unveiled an Orlando Magic-themed Boeing 717 last week, the newly painted jet came with a celebrity endorsement: NBA star Dwight Howard.

Howard, the Orlando Magic center and a fan favorite, will endorse the airline in radio spots, online advertising and billboards.

Howard joins AirTran's other celebrity endorsers, including NFL quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Donovan McNabb, Major League Baseball players Ryan Braun and Tom Glavine, and race-car driver Danica Patrick.
No endorsements were forthcoming from the Orlando-based airline's pilots union, some of whose members picketed the carrier last week at General Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee, Wis.

In addition to serving as a

ESPN - USA - Michael Phelps proved he is the Olympic gold standard.


Now he's chasing a different kind of gold -- from corporations. And the question out there is whether Phelps can prove he's worth as much (if not more) out of the pool as he is in it.

Entering the Beijing Games, Phelps was reportedly earning an estimated $5 million annually from corporate endorsements, with deals from companies like AT&T, Visa, PowerBar, Omega and Speedo. Now that he's won eight gold medals, breaking Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record of seven in one Olympic Games, many in the sports marketing industry believe Phelps' corporate income could

AXcess News - Carson City,NV,USA - New York - Britney Spears was nominated for this year's MTV Music Video Awards after the singer bombed on stage last year, suggesting that her popularity is still strong with music fans, having gone from ditz to blitz as Britney makes her comeback.

Britney was in fact nominated three times for this year's MTV Music Video Awards, which includes Best Female, Best Pop Video and the coveted Video of the Year.

Last year, Britney Spears lipsinked her music video "Gimmie More" and bombed terribly.  But the pop singers fans flocked to her music with her new video for "Piece of Me", voting

About - News & Issues - New York,NY,USA - Politicians curry favor with celebrities because the latter often possess both money and influence. And, sometimes, politicians makes friends with celebrities because... well, they're actually friends.

Chicagoans Oprah Winfrey and Barack and Michelle Obama have been genuine friends for many years, long before the Democratic presidential nominee held White House aspirations.

But there's no denying that Oprah possesses an abundance of both money and influence. In fact, Time magazine named Oprah as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and her extraordinary influence continues unabated in the 21st century. And several publications claim that Oprah has been the

Phoenix New Times, AZ - Surrounded by autographed guitars and gold records, twelve aspiring rock legends took up their plastic axes in Hard Rock Cafe to compete in the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Rocks the Hard Rock contest. With a chance to fly to Boston and meet Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler (not to mention scoring his Red Wing Motorcycle) on the line, these video game virtuosos tried to out-rock the competition in the newest version of the popular rhythm-based video game.

Guitar Hero debuted in November of 2005, introducing the concept of musical instrument-shaped peripherals to the home console market. Since then Guitar Hero has had

Wall Street Journal Blogs - New York,NY,USA - The impact of celebrity endorsements in political races is hard to nail down, but economists at the University of Maryland think they have it figured out.

When media mogul Oprah Winfrey broke from her past tradition of staying out of politics and endorsed Barack Obama last year, there was much debate over how much Winfrey’s nod would benefit the Illinois senator in his race against former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton.

According to a study by university economists Craig Garthwaite and Tim Moore, it added about 1,000,000 votes to Obama’s column in the contested primary battle.

“We find her endorsement had a positive effect

New York Times - United States - EARLY last year, marketing executives at Totes Isotoner, a Cincinnati company that had spent the previous 30 years churning out a reliable lineup of humble umbrellas, crowded around a computer and listened to a teenage singer from Barbados named Rihanna breeze through a tune titled, appropriately, “Umbrella.”

The song, not yet released, had commercial, jingle-ready lyrics and a stick-in-your-head hook: “You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh.” Totes, which hadn’t deployed celebrity endorsements since the former N.F.L. quarterback Dan Marino hawked its gloves more than a decade earlier, was smitten. “Umbrella” became a corporate rallying cry, with

Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA - It simply wasn't enough for the ladies from "Sex and the City" to have the top-grossing movie this past weekend. Now, yet another "SATC" alum has her sights set on making it big in fashion.

Belk department store announced Monday that actress Kristin Davis, who portrayed Charlotte York in the HBO series, will launch an exclusive, self-titled brand of clothing at the store this fall.

The North Carolina-based retailer will sell Kristin Davis apparel, sleepwear, handbags and more at 125 stores and online at Belk.com. The line has been described as a modern, feminine take on merchandise such as dresses, knits and

Wall Street Journal Blogs - New York, NY, USA - Just when you thought there were no more uncommitted celebrities left in the Democratic presidential race, Puerto Rico’s cross-over hit making pop star Ricky Martin announced today that he supports Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Puerto Rico holds its primary Sunday. In a statement, five-time Grammy winner Martin said this election holds “historic repercussions” and said he supports Clinton because of her record with the Latino community.

“Whether fighting for better education, universal health care and social well-being, as first lady and senator from New York — representing millions of Latinos –she has always fought for what is most important for our families,” he

Forbes - NY, USA - Lacey Rose and Tom Van Riper Oh, the risks of celebrity endorsers.

Upscale clothier Christian Dior (other-otc: CHDRF.PK - news - people ) is the latest company to learn that lesson, dropping Sharon Stone as the pitchwoman for its skin care line in China after the actress publicly blamed the devastating earthquake there on the "bad karma" that comes from the country's dismal human rights record in Tibet.

Stone has plenty of company, of course. For every Tiger Woods, there's a Kobe Bryant. Following allegations that the Los Angeles Lakers basketball star and popular shiller sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman, he was

Adweek - New York, NY, USA - Actor Charlie Sheen, known for his antics in and out of clothes, will appear in a TV ad campaign with Michael Jordan for Hanes underwear starting next month.

Two spots, via IPG's The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., will debut on June 2 during the NHL finals on NBC. They will also air later in the week during the NBA finals and Nascar coverage on ESPN.

In both spots, Sheen is featured as a dedicated Jordan fan that finds out he is wearing the same brand of underwear as the basketball celebrity.

One spot, called "Phone Toss," shows Sheen running up to Jordan's car

San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA - Comedian Larry the Cable Guy has become the unlikely face of weight loss company NutriSystem.

The star, real name Dan Whitney, has lost 50 pounds using the NutriSystem program, and he is so pleased with the results he's decided to help promote the firm in a series of print and TV advertisements.

In a post on his Web site, the comic jokes, "Now I look just like Brad Pitt, only totally different."

The ads will be made public later this month.