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.

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.

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.