The winter deep freeze is upon us and that can only mean one thing—awards season! On Monday, Advertising Age unveiled the names on its Agency A-List, among the agencies is PR firm Edelman, which ranked No. 8.

Seems Edelman is one of the darlings of the PR and advertising agency awards; Adweek named it PR agency of the year.

And speaking of awards, the deadline to enter the PR Daily Awards is fast approaching. Have you entered yet?

Wonder if the news puppets team from Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO will win any awards for “The Puppet’s Court,” the station’s coverage of a federal corruption trial after cameras were banned from the courtroom.



No word on whether a trial will take place following the “death” of William Shatner. After 14 years as Priceline’s wheeling-and-dealing “Negotiator,” the spokesman was killed off in one last heroic gesture of savings before ultimately succumbing to the fate of a fiery bus crash.



It’s also curtains for Research in Motion co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who are calling it quits with the maker of the BlackBerry. They announced their resignations on Sunday.

Enough of the macabre, let’s hear a story of survival worthy of a Gloria Gaynor anthem: How Esquire magazine endured the dark days of publishing.

Now, if you’re looking to endure Valentine’s Day with your sweetheart this year, White Castle is offering lover’s a “Hot & Steamy” promotion that includes reserved, personal table service, free dessert, and more. How … romantic.

Hot and steaming is how I also take my coffee, but I’ve never had it inside of a cargo container. Enter Starbucks.

If you haven’t signed up for Google+ or Gmail—but have been meaning to—you’re in luck. In what Digital Trends reports as an “all-or-nothing” strategy, signing up for a Google account ropes one into joining the online giant’s social network, perhaps a response to criticism that Google has performed poorly when integrating its Web products.

Google has succeeded in destroying our memories—or so claims a new study that suggests the ease of performing a simple online search has resulted in a change to what our minds recall.

You know what else prevents us from recalling events? Beer. And beer-maker Sam Adams launched a new campaign, the “Crowd Craft Project,” to crowdsource the brand’s Facebook fans to create a new collaborative ale. Fans will help determine the color, clarity, body and character of the malt, hops and yeast. The beer will make its debut at this year’s SXSW in Austin, Texas.

While brands seem to excel at product placement, there is one place they haven’t been as successful infiltrating—the set of “Modern Family.”

Brands aren’t the only one’s picking an issue with the entertainment industry. Concern for copyright protection that’s fueled the much buzzed about fight over SOPA and PIPA has Silicon Valley and Hollywood media at odds.

Meanwhile, Target is battling with its suppliers over a “showrooming” dilemma, a process win which shoppers enter the store to examine a product in person, only to purchase it from an online competitor at a cheaper price.