LG Electronics signed artist John Legend as “brand ambassador” for its LG Signature premium product line, said the company Friday. LG will feature Legend in an upcoming holiday campaign, it said. The ambassadorship will extend into 2022 when the company collaborates with Legend’s LVE wine label at a Napa Valley event in the spring to promote the LG Signature wine cellar appliance, it said.
A Walmart "Deals for Days" event set for Nov. 3-7 gives top billing to a TCL 55-inch Roku TV, a “special value” priced at $228 online and in “limited quantities.” In true doorbuster tradition, the ad says, “Due to circumstances beyond our control select items may not be available in all stores. While supplies last. Sorry no rainchecks.” A Samsung Chromebook 4 is $112 off to $87 over the four-day span, and a Samsung 7000 Series 65-inch TV is discounted by $80 to $568. An Onn 32-inch sound bar has a “special value” price of $29. A Verizon iPhone 12 mini, shown as half off Nov. 3-7, was “out of stock” Friday. The item listing cited “limited quantities” for the sale, with colors varying by store. “Early access” deals are available four hours early to WalmartPlus members but not to trial members, said the fine print.
Headphones, laptops and TVs headline Target’s “early Black Friday" savings event Oct. 31-Nov. 6, the retailer said Thursday. A dozen TVs are part of the early Black Friday deal, including a 55-inch TCL 4K Roku TV ($399, down from $519), an Element 32-inch 720p TV ($10 off to $189), an LG 32-inch TV ($199); and a Westinghouse 43-inch 4K Roku TV ($349). Sale-priced Samsung TU7000 series 50-inch ($479), 55-inch ($499) and 65-inch ($649) TVs were shown as not available for shipping Friday, and Target stores in the New York area had very limited stock of the trio. In other deals, Beats Solo 3 wireless headphones are half off to $99, an HP 15-inch laptop is $200 off to $339 and Bose QuietComfort 35 noise-canceling headphones are cut $120 to $179. An Element 65-inch 4K Roku TV is discounted $350 to $299. Select video games for Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation are up to 60% off. If a Holiday Best deal price goes lower later in the season, Target’s Holiday Price Match Guarantee allows guests to match items at Target through Dec. 24, it said. Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Costco, Kohl's, Newegg, Office Depot, Sam's Club, Staples and Walmart were among the 29 competitors Target said it will price-match this season within 14 days of purchase.
T-Mobile agreed to pull TV advertisements with singer Gwen Stefani and NFL quarterback Tom Brady based on the recommendations of the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division. Both ads for its 5G network premiered during the Super Bowl and made fun of the problems of communicating on subpar networks. AT&T complained. “Both parties submitted consumer perception surveys in support of their respective positions: T-Mobile in support of its arguments that the Stefani and Brady commercials do not convey a disparaging message about AT&T’s service or network (or any other T-Mobile competitors generally) or a message that T-Mobile’s service is superior with respect to video calls, but instead use humor to emphasize the benefits of its 5G network; and AT&T to demonstrate that the challenged advertisements communicate a comparative and disparaging superior performance claim,” NAD said Tuesday. T-Mobile said it’s “disappointed with NAD’s decision but will comply with its recommendations.”
Technics announced R&B singer-songwriter Leon Bridges as a brand ambassador for the launch of its EAH-AZ60 and EAH-AZ40 true wireless earbuds. In coming months, Bridges will collaborate with engineers to test the latest products from Technics and work with the brand on several other projects, the company said Monday.
“Perfect for PlayStation 5" is the theme of a Sony marketing campaign touting five models of Bravia XR TVs as tailor-made for PS5 consoles, said the vendor Thursday. The campaign will promote two Bravia XR features to enhance PS5 gameplay. With auto HDR tone mapping, the console will automatically recognize individual Bravia models and pick the TV’s best HDR setting. An auto genre picture mode lets the TV automatically switch into game mode when gaming and not watching movies or shows, minimizing “input lag” to make the content more “responsive,” said Sony. Both features will require software updates, available in January, to both the TV and the PS5.
Consumers buying a 2021 LG OLED or QNED MiniLED TV at authorized resellers or LG.com through Nov. 12 can get six months free of HBO Max, LG emailed Thursday. Users access the $15 monthly streaming service through LG's webOS smart TV platform.
AT&T continues to be the most aggressive among major carriers “in terms of overall promotionality” behind the iPhone 13, reported MoffettNathanson Tuesday. The analyst firm teamed with data analytics company Navi to probe advertised iPhone 13 promotional offers, finding “a stark strategic divide between Verizon and T-Mobile, on the one hand, and AT&T on the other,” it said. Verizon's and T-Mobile’s best offers on the iPhone 13 series are exclusively available to premium unlimited customers, “who are, in effect, paying more for service in order to offset the cost of a free or almost-free device.” AT&T offers “its most lucrative promotions to all unlimited customers,” including those on the lowest tiers, MoffettNathanson said. Verizon’s and T-Mobile’s best offers “generally remain targeted at switchers,” while AT&T’s “remain focused on retention,” it said.
LG Electronics and Evil Geniuses partnered to sponsor a two-day, live-stream invitational series with top colleges and universities in esports that was due to take place beginning at 4 p.m. EDT Saturday with LG UltraGear gaming monitors on Evil Geniuses’ Twitch channel, they emailed Friday.
The FTC and six states "continue to misrepresent" Frontier advertising of its DSL speeds, the telco said in docket 21-cv-04155, asking the U.S. District Court for Central California Monday to dismiss the claim against it (see 2108160049). Plaintiffs "continue to tout their incredible shrinking advertisement to argue that defendants’ explanatory language is 'tiny' and 'inconspicuous,'" the carrier said. The ISP said the ad cited in the complaint was "purposefully rendered illegible" and "shrunken by 80%." The FTC declined to comment Tuesday.