Are you sick of cable bills over $100 per month? Are you tired of paying for bundled cable channels that you never watch?

Thing may be changing as more people, particularly young people, are opting out of cable in favor of streaming services like Netflix and online TV options.

Even the CEO of Time Warner Cable is changing his tune in the face of new services like Aereo that offers everything that appears on CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, PBS and roughly two dozen other channels for less than $10 a month.

Now, more and more people are also getting set-up boxes as the ability to access online video and TV shows is showing up in Blu-ray players as well. The pressure on the cable companies and content providers to change the pricing model will just keep growing.

Red Bull is leveraging its lifestyle marketing and PR campaign with a new “World of Red Bull” video which features cool panoramic shots and extreme sports clips. They’re a great example of a company that knows how to capture the essence of their brand.

Microsoft is making a huge push today to promote the new Windows 8 operating system along with the Surface tablet. It’s a huge bet for Microsoft, as the try to take on Apple directly and get into the game in the tablet market, while still retaining its stranglehold on the corporate PC market.

We’ll see what happens. Radical upgrades often don’t work well for Microsoft. Remember Vista? I do. It was a complete disaster. Then Microsoft righted the ship with Windows 7, where execution was more important than bells and whistles. So we’ll see how consumers react, and then we’ll see how businesspeople react. The tablet revolution does have the potential to shake things up a bit in the workplace.

Still, we’ve reached a point where the changes affect how we use computing services and devices, but does it change other areas of business much? So much has already changed in the past 30 years that there might be areas immune to advances in the devices we use. Businesses still use brochures for some types of promotion despite PowerPoint, though they might use online printing and ordering brochures at UPrinting in order to save money. Even at the Microsoft event, you can be sure they have printed posters and displays to go along with the big tech screens.

We just seem to have reached a point where these upgrades make a big difference in some areas, but others just stay the same.

Here’s one of Capital One’s catchy ads featuring Alec Baldwin. The ad wasn’t deceptive, but apparently the bank was benefiting from other problematic business practices.

The nation’s consumer watchdog on Wednesday delivered its first enforcement action against the financial industry, fining Capital One for pressuring and misleading more than two million credit card customers.

Capital One, one of the nation’s biggest banks and credit card lenders, agreed to pay $210 million to resolve a pair of regulatory cases, the latest legal setback for the financial industry.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Wall Street’s newest regulator, accused Capital One of “deceptive marketing tactics.” The credit card company — which is known for its catchy television ads, asking “what’s in your wallet” — received a regulatory rebuke for misleading card customers into buying unnecessary products like payment protection and credit monitoring, according to the consumer agency.

It’s nice to see someone looking out for the consumer . . . finally.

Here’s an awesome ad from Apple’s old campaign comparing the Mac to the lame PCs of the era. This version with Gisele Bündchen really drove the point home that Macs were better in so many ways.

The question now is whether Microsoft can finally fight back. It will be releasing the new operating system along with new office software. Will it be a huge step forward as some are saying, or will it suck like Vista with Microsoft blowing the execution? In reaction to the new Surface tablet, Steve Wosniak made the stunning statement that it was as if Steve Jobs had been reincarnated at Microsoft.

We’ll see this fall . . . .

GM is going with a more global strategy for its marketing and advertising, hoping to save money but also improve reach and effectiveness.

After ditching costly Super Bowl ads, General Motors is betting a five-year sponsorship of the Manchester United soccer club will bolster its Chevrolet line in the first test of the brand’s new global marketing strategy.

Manchester United, the 19-time English champion football team, has a worldwide reach that fits with the automaker’s desire to make Chevrolet a global icon, Paul Edwards, GM executive director of global marketing strategy, said in an interview prior to the announcement.

“It’s clear that global football presented us with a significant opportunity to spread Chevrolet around the world,” he said. “We recognized that it’s not only the world’s biggest sport but also the world’s most engaged fans.”

The agreement follows GM’s decision this month to halt paid advertising on Facebook and forgo next year’s Super Bowl championship game of the National Football League in the U.S. The decision to sponsor Manchester United isn’t related to GM’s move to stop Super Bowl advertising, Mr. Edwards said. Still, the numbers are compelling.

When Manchester United played against Manchester City, “that audience around the world scaled to 600 million people,” Mr. Edwards said. “Compare that to the Super Bowl here in the States, which is roughly 110, 115 million, and you’re talking five times that audience watching one regular-season game. It’s significant.”

It’s an interesting approach, and it probably makes sense for such a global brand, especially for world vehicles like the Chevy Cruze. If it works for Chevy they’ll roll this out to Cadillac as well. Read the whole article for more insight into the strategy.

You can find some pretty risque commercials here in the United States, but this ad for Sayulita, Mexico is pretty awesome. Girls, bikinis and surfboards dominate the ad, and for that reason it’s a very effective tourism ad. I can’t wait for my trip to Sayulita!

These Ladies Like To Surf – Watch More Funny Videos

I like this campaign for Buick, one of those older brands that needs to totally update their image. Fortunately, the products have improved dramatically, and the Buick Enclave is a good example.

Now that the cars no longer reflect the brand that attracted only older buyers, the brand can start working on its image. Having a supermodel like Marisa Miller point out that the Enclave has both looks and substance, like her, is a great start. This luxury SUV is a perfect vehicle to drive the new branding effort, and Marisa Miller is a perfect match. Also, this is the kind of campaign that could get some attention online and in social media.

When you’re mapping out your marketing strategy for your business, regardless of size you should consider a wide variety of options.

Of course, in today’s world, online advertising, mobile advertising and social media are critical components that you need to consider. If you’re not sure what a Twitter account or a Facebook page can do for your business, then you better get some help. These are the basics, and there are plenty of other options for new media promotions such as Groupon as well.

On the other hand, traditional methods have been around for a long time for a reason. Some are going away with the emergence of the web, but many old-school methods can be very effective. Think about things like mailers, coupons in newspapers and calendar printing can help you get attention when your competitors are exclusively thinking about new media. Also, online ordering has made these traditional methods much more affordable and efficient.

So consider all your options and create the best strategy for your business.

The NCAA recently made moves to lock in rights for its “March Madness” trademark.

Quietly last October, the association paid $17.2 million to sports and entertainment marketer Intersport to stop using the term “March Madness,” which has been attached to the NCAA’s Division I men’s basketball tournament since the 1980s.

The settlement, spelled out in financial statements but unbeknown to most in the member schools and conferences, gives it sole ownership of a trademark that has been the subject of several legal disputes and challenges over the years. While large on its face, the eight-figure amount accounts for less than 2½% of the association’s $700 million-plus budget.

It’s another story about the business of college sports, coming at a time when we’re seeing scandal after scandal, mostly revolving around improper benefits like tattoos for memorabilia.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is asking why there isn’t a playoff system in college football.

The entire issue of money and college athletics will be front and center for the foreseeable future.