Bacardi USA's answer to Captain Morgan is Colonel Roosevelt.

The marketer's flagship rum brand on Monday plans to introduce a TV commercial evoking the history of the "Cuba Libre," better known as the rum and Coke cocktail, which Bacardi says was created in Cuba in 1900 as then-Col. Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders helped fight for the nation's independence from Spain.

Directed by Jake Scott, the spot is the first in a series of ads that will emphasize the historical events that shaped the 151 year-old brand, which has links to the creation of other rum cocktails such as the Daiquiri and Mojito. Global parent Bacardi Limited began looking back last year, with a global campaign celebrating the brand's 150-year anniversary. The new campaign -- called "Vivimos! ("We live!") -- was created for the U.S., although elements might be expanded globally. It is the first work overseen by boutique agency OW, which Bacardi USA recently brought on board to oversee brand and creative strategy.

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Like a host of other brands, Yahoo has a millennial problem, and its potential acquisition of Tumblr could be a step toward fixing it. But could new ownership help Tumblr with one of its biggest problems -- drawing major advertisers?

The companies are in talks about an alliance, some kind of investment or even an outright purchase of Tumblr by Yahoo, according to reports that began with AllThingsD on Thursday night. For CEO Marissa Mayer's Yahoo, a deal with Tumblr would check many boxes: social, mobile, content and buzzed-about native ads, which Yahoo recently introduced to its home page.

A deal or sale also makes sense for Tumblr, a six-year-old company that's raised $125 million to date but just began building out an ad platform last year, with an emphasis on formats that blend with the aesthetic of a platform that's about beautiful visuals and animated GIFs. Tumblr's sales team is still small and its products still deemed experimental, though its head of sales, Lee Brown (a 10-year veteran of Yahoo himself), has said that he expects the company to become profitable this year. Yahoo's relationships with ad agencies and marketers could certainly help Tumblr's business along.

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Brandon Allen, CEO and one of the twenty-something co-founders of Santa Barbara-based vineyard Slo Down wines, bares his buns in a thong and cheekless chaps in a new online campaign to promote the vintner's "Sexual Chocolate" wine.

The wine's name pays homage to Eddie Murphy's band from "Coming to America." It also provides lots of fodder for the three ads, which all turn on risque themes. In the first, Allen, dressed in a tuxedo jacket and thong and with Sexual Chocolate in hand, steps into a menage-a-trois -- and turns it into a menage-a-quatre.

In another execution, he carries his glass into a marijuana-filled room while a third spot finds him chained up in an S&M den. The point being, that Sexual Chocolate is the perfect partner for all your good times. The spots were created in-house and directed by Baker Smith of Harvest Films.

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The concept behind Kidzania -- essentially a theme park that's about work -- is growing like a weed abroad, with 12 existing locations and openings scheduled this year in Kuwait City, Cairo, Sao Paulo, Mumbai and Istanbul. The first U.S. location is due in 2015 in a city to be determined, and it's up to Cammie Dunaway, U.S. president and global CMO, to explain the concept to American children and their parents.

Started in Mexico in 1999, Kidzania exposes children to the working world and money management by letting them earn a virtual currency. Kids apply themselves in various career paths, all courtesy of brand sponsors. They can perform surgeries in a Johnson & Johnson hospital in Portugal and work in a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Dubai. Their earnings could go toward renting a car in an Avis rental office, or kids could do the prudent thing and deposit their hard-earned cash in a bank to earn interest.

The brand accomplishes an unusual trifecta of appealing to children, their parents and global marketers who are already looking for ways to talk to the next generation of consumers. Ms. Dunaway -- a speaker at Ad Age's CMO Strategy Summit in San Francisco next month -- gave some insight into the strategy behind where to set up shop and how to promote such an unusual brand.

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As much as we all talked about 2013 finally being the Year of Mobile, I'm convinced that it actually is going to be the Year of Video. Here's why:

Viewing is growing on video, with more time spent on more devices. Too much is made of falling network prime-time ratings. According to our estimates at GroupM, overall video consumption is up year on year by about 3.7%, assisted by viewing of streaming video on PCs, connected TVs and mobile devices. According to the latest comScore, on average, 183 million Americans view 215 videos each month online. Mobile's big boost is also being driven by video, with Cisco forecasting that by 2016, two-thirds of mobile traffic will be viewing video.

Dynamic content is growing audiences. The rules are being re-written on the back of strong original programming investment. Cable network AMC's "Walking Dead' was the second highest rated show on prime-time television, beating top network shows such as FOX's "American Idol" and ABC's "Modern Family" in straight 18-49 ratings. Netflix's "House of Cards" reportedly pulled in 2.7 million viewers in its first 12 days, which is about the same as what premium cable network Showtime's pilot of "Homeland" achieved in live and on-demand viewing when it launched in 2011.

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A newly sober single mom, stay-at-home dads or brothers in the army? Tell us which new sitcom premise is getting the broadcast axe first this fall. You can find previews below for your reference.

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Advertising Age makes a cameo appearance in Reddit's new ad-sales pitch deck in the form of a quote grabbed from my recent column about the social-news site: "Reddit has become, simply put, mainstream media." (See slide 3.)

Reddit's new sales and strategy boss, Mike Cole, sent me the whole deck last night and I'm sharing it with you here because, well, it's pretty funny. It tries to make the case for Reddit's reach, cultural power and user engagement using the lingua franca of Reddit: goofy images.

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TV viewers will be forgiven if they feel a sense of deja vu when new shows debut in September. With competition from cable and the web growing, broadcasters are leaning more on past successes and big names to find fresh hits.

NBC is reviving "Ironside," a hit police drama from almost 50 years ago. Fox is bringing back Kiefer Sutherland in "24" after three years on the shelf and ABC is anchoring a night of new shows with a spin-off from parent Walt Disney Co.'s "Avengers" movie. Shows based on "Dracula," "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" are also on network schedules.

Known concepts with big-name actors are a proven way to grab viewers, said Neal Baer, exec producer of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" for 11 years. A star's name can make a show stand out early on, providing comfort to programmers without necessarily boosting costs that can run as high as $4 million for a single hour of TV.

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Greg Karber -- a self-described "writer, performer, video-maker, cultural critic and entrepreneur" based in L.A. -- doesn't mince words. His YouTube video titled "Abercrombie & Fitch Gets a Brand Readjustment #FitchTheHomeless," starts with the words "Abercrombie & Fitch is a terrible company," and things only get more harsh from there. Scroll down below the video for the back story.

Though Abercrombie-bashing has been in fashion for years now, Karber appears to have struck a nerve with the media stunt his video outlines: He's started a campaign to get people to donate Abercrombie & Fitch clothing to homeless people to punish the teen and collegiate clothier for its elitist attitudes.

Karber's video shows a screenshot of a headline, "Abercrombie Says It Would Rather Burn Clothes Than Give Them To Poor People," from a site called Elite Daily ("The Voice of Generation-Y"), which cites a two-year-old interview with an unnamed A&F district manager who said the chain declines to donate its damaged and defective clothing to the needy because, well, Abercrombie is an aspirational brand that doesn't belong on the poors.

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The Financial Times's blog and some of its social media accounts were hacked today, with messages appearing on the sites relating to the conflict in Syria.

The FT Trading Room account on Twitter posted two messages. One said "Syrian Electronic Army Was Here," and the other "Do you want to know the reality of the Syrian 'Rebels'? Just watch this video." The link showed a man cutting the heart from a corpse as an unidentified voice says "I swear in the name of god that we will eat from your hearts and livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog."

The attack on the Financial Times accounts again highlights users' concerns that it's too easy to compromise social-media channels such as Twitter.

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A week after the biggest advertiser in the world -- Procter & Gamble -- announced it would stretch the time it takes to pay agencies to 75 days, packaged-goods giant Mondelez has gone a step further, instituting 120-day payment terms.

Execs across adland are decrying the practice, saying it verges on unethical. But they also say they feel helpless going up against such big players who wield massive ad budgets and work with dozens of agencies.

Shops may want to begin holding frank discussions with clients, however, given more and more marketers are reexamining the length of time they have to pay vendors. From advertisers' perspective, it's all about maintaining a competitive advantage or not allowing a competitor to gain one.

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A new campaign against child abuse built around a sign that looks different to viewers of different heights has made its way onto the Viral Video Chart, entering at No. 2 and beating clips from usual viral powers such as Samsung. The sign, from Spanish non-profit The ANAR Foundation, shows only short viewers -- children -- a hotline number to call if they need help.

Another new entry on the chart was Audi's video starring the old Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the new Spock (Zachary Quinto), introduced as "Star Trek: Into Darkness" approached its opening this weekend -- even though the movie officially has a tie-in with Mazda. The video came in at No. 4 with more than 5 million views this week.

Heineken's new "Road to the Final" campaign about the UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley Arena and Google's "Here's to the Moms" campaign, which debuted before Mother's Day, also appear on the chart.

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Does the future of media include breaking-news headlines materializing in front of your eyes as you walk down the street?

CNN and Elle magazine have become the second and third media brands with apps on Google Glass, following The New York Times, and all three are testing early adopters' appetite for a constant stream of content served to them on the go. In their current form, the apps seem to follow the vein of push notifications mobile phone users get increasingly frequently from The Times and The Wall Street Journal. Unlike the apps those push notifications bring users to, however, the media brands' Glass apps aren't allowed to carry ads.

The revenue opportunity is currently minuscule in any case. Google Glass is still only available to a small group of people -- mainly developers -- who plunked down $1,500 for the privilege of beta-testing the device.

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I am the CEO of a digital agency. I also chair the board of an association of digital agencies. My problem is I don't know how to tell people what I do.

It's not that I don't know what I do. I just don't know how to describe it in terms that people will understand. The problem is that the word "digital" has become obsolete. Every time I hear it or use it I cringe.

What isn't digital these days? TV is digital, you can't even get the old kind anymore, whatever that was. Photography is digital. The old days of film are so gone, but do you see Canon trumpeting their digital cameras? Digital vs. what? So here we are, professional marketers, and we are using a word to describe what we do that has no real meaning anymore.

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Glass Explorers -- Google's term for the world's select few Google Glass owners -- will soon be able to share their experiences through platforms other than Google's. Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter are all developing apps, or "Glassware," for the wearable device, the companies said Thursday. So get ready for all kinds of Glass explorations in your social feeds.

The companies' arrival on a nascent platform previously limited to apps for The New York Times and networking service Path mean Glass is getting increasingly social. But it still isn't obviously lucrative for anyone but Google.

That's because the company has been adamant about not allowing outside developers to serve ads in Glassware.

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JC Penney's net loss widened in the first quarter as the department-store chain works to rebound from former CEO Ron Johnson's failed makeover.

The loss expanded to $348 million in the quarter ended May 4 from a deficit of $163 million a year earlier. CEO Myron Ullman, who returned as CEO last month, has been increasing promotions to revive sales and raising cash by borrowing $850 million from the company's credit line while pursuing a $1.75 billion loan. First-quarter sales declined 16% to $2.64 billion.

"The loss was a little worse than I expected, but this story isn't about this quarter, it's about looking out," said Rick Snyder, an analyst for Maxim Group in New York. Mr. Ullman is "taking the right steps. He's trying to get the customer back, and the way to do that is discounting and couponing again," he said.

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Like gin and tonic, celebrities and booze have been mixing for decades. Who can forget Billy Dee Williams for Colt 45, Bob Uecker for Miller Lite or Frank Sinatra for Michelob? Even Orson Welles did it for Paul Masson Champagne, after more than a few (inebriated?) takes.

But these days, it seems like everyone has a deal. Do you know what brand Perry Farrell endorses? Do you know who Perry Farrell is? Dr. J (who has been retired for 26 years) has a new deal, as does CeeLo Green, Mad Woman Christina Hendricks and the Zac Brown band. But who backs what? It gets pretty confusing.

Test your knowledge with our 12-pack celebrity booze endorser quiz.

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Advertising Age brought its Women to Watch franchise to a third continent this week, celebrating the inaugural class of Women to Watch Turkey, in a partnership with local licensing partner MediaCat, part of Kapital Media.

The evening event, held in Istanbul's Swissotel on the European banks of the Bosphorus, honored 14 women in Turkey's advertising and marketing industry. Women to Watch, which has been celebrated for 16 years in the U.S. and was inaugurated in China last fall, acknowledges women who have already accomplished significant milestones--but are poised for even more achievement ahead.

"Receiving an award motivates a person to do a little bit better and it's a great recognition not only for myself but my whole team," said Galya Molinas, region president of Coca-Cola Turkey, Caucasia and Middle Asia. "And if we're able to inspire other people, particularly young people with this, there wouldn't be a happier person than myself."

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USA will expand into original sitcoms, the network said at its upfront presentation for advertisers on Thursday.

The cable network, known for its light-hearted "blue-skies" dramas, introduced the two comedies, along with a "Psych" musical special and two new dramas at its pitch for the upcoming season.

But executives reserved the biggest fanfare for "Modern Family," a series that originated on ABC but which will run in syndication on USA starting in September. Linda Yaccarino, president of ad sales at USA parent NBC Universal declared it her favorite show, and USA talent appeared in a video welcoming "Modern Family" to USA's family.

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Two prominent agencies that are part of Omnicom Group -- BBDO and Goodby Silverstein & Partners -- were forced to make sizable staff cuts Thursday due to client losses.

BBDO's cuts were linked to the agency's recent loss of one of its biggest U.S. accounts, Procter & Gamble's Gillette just weeks ago. After a seven-month review, the business was awarded to WPP's Grey, a major blow give BBDO's relationship with the brand spanned nearly 80 years.

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The CW today described an upcoming schedule that doubles down on the sci-fi, the supernatural and the strange. Dramas about normal teens, President Mark Pedowitz explained, now struggle to make noise.

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Walmart reported first-quarter sales and earnings that missed forecasts, but it's forging ahead with more local price-comparison ads and e-commerce investments amid signs its executives see that both are working.

Earnings of $1.14 per share for the quarter ended April 30 fell a penny below analyst forecasts. Comparable-store sales for the nameplate U.S. stores fell 1.4%, compared to a forecast of "about flat," breaking a streak of six positive quarters.

But executives pointed to things they said are producing positive results, including aggressive pricing, particularly on groceries, backed by local market-basket price-comparison ads on TV and radio that U.S. CEO Bill Simon said will now expand to 70% of Walmart's markets, up from the current 60%.

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Machinima -- one of the largest channels on the world's largest video platform, YouTube -- is now available without a computer, by way of Xbox Live.

The video entertainment network is already available on iOS and Android apps, but the deal represents its first expansion to a big distribution network beyond YouTube itself. It's also the first time that Xbox Live has simultaneously introduced an app in all of its 41 global markets.

While Machinima is expanding -- the move actually began late last month -- its arrival on Xbox is also a bit of a return of the company's roots: Machinima started out by posting video content related to Xbox video game "Halo." It later grew to encompass all aspects of "geek" culture -- graphic novels, superhero movies and hit TV shows like "The Walking Dead."

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Mozilla's plan to prevent third-party cookies by default is on pause. The company this week decided to test blocking third-party cookies by requiring users to enable the feature -- rather than automatically opting them in.

"There are many conflicting claims about how this patch will affect the Internet," wrote Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla.org and CTO and senior VP of engineering at Mozilla, in a post on his personal blog today.

"Why debate in theory what we can measure in practice? We are going to find out more and adjust course as needed. This is the essence of the release test cycle."

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These days fast food chains are spending big marketing dollars on trying to convince consumers they've got healthier, fresher options.

Subway has long been marketing its "Eat Fresh" tagline (and who could forget the "$5 footlong"?), but even it had a simpler message in its early days. Take this Subway ad, one of the chain's first. In case it's not clear from the fashion choices and the actress with the Dorothy Hamill haircut, this spot is from 1977.

The chain's plea to consumers is uncomplicated: when you're hungry, get to a Subway restaurant as fast as your legs can carry you.

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In April 1998, Andy Grove, then president and CEO of Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, introduced the idea of the strategic inflection point. He described this, in "Only the Paranoid Survive," as "a time in the life of the business when its fundamentals are about to change. They are full-scale changes in the way business is conducted, so that simply adopting new technology or fighting the competition as you used to may be insufficient."

This is the point at which many agencies now find themselves -- though often they seem to be in denial. They moan and groan about the cost of participating in RFP-based new-business pitches, but aren't positioning themselves to adapt to clients' changing expectations, so they can compete for the new business.

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Pranking was the theme at this year's Turner upfront event for TNT and TBS.

Turner Entertainment President Steve Koonin kicked off the annual pitch to ad buyers on Wednesday by showing the audience his "physical prowess" -- in the form of stunt doubles wearing grey Steve Koonin wigs. One came out juggling while riding a tricycle, another emerged breakdancing and a third back-flipped out onto the stage.

Comedian Will Ferrell later introduced himself in a video as the head of Turner, since "Funny or Die bought Turner Broadcasting in a deal that rocked the industry." In reality it was Turner who was the buyer of Funny or Die -- and only of a minority stake at that -- in a deal announced at least year's upfront.

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The CW is reshuffling its entire schedule to make room for its five new dramas next fall, the network said today.

The network, a joint venture between CBS and Time Warner, will again wait to begin its season until October, a strategy it adopted last year in an effort to air premieres away from the larger networks' new lineups and massive promotional campaigns.

It is also continuing to invest heavily in genre shows as it looks to broaden its audience and two female-skewing series, "Gossip Girl" and "902010," disappear from the schedule.

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A 24-year-old Ogilvy PR employee in Beijing has died after suffering a heart attack while at his desk. Ogilvy China confirmed the young man, Gabriel Li, passed away suddenly, but local media reports that followed -- saying his death was caused by overwork -- have not been substantiated.

According to a Beijing Times newspaper's account, Mr. Li let out a yell and collapsed while working in the office Monday evening. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Mr. Li was a junior staffer at the WPP-owned agency, part of a team that serviced a technology client.

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