-Avis has agreed to buy car-sharing service Zipcar for approximately $500 million in cash. link

-The ATP is kicking off the 2013 tennis season with a new global campaign from London agency The Big Shot, which has come up with the tagline, “Beat This.” link

-JWT has released its list of “100 Things to Watch in 2013.” link

-WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell kicks off 2013 by proclaiming that paying company tax is “voluntary.” link

-Analysts are upgrading Facebook ad revenue estimates for 2013 and 2014 while also predicting that mobile ad revenue will surpass online next year. link

-This passed us by before the break, but former Goodby copywriter Jordan Miller resigned from her post as University of Michigan’s social media director amidst allegations that she lied about graduating from college. link

-Along with picking up agency of record duties for Heineken cider brand, Strongbow, L.A.-based Zambezi also was named AOR for Footlocker-owned e-commerce sports gear retailer, Eastbay.

-McCann Worldgroup launched its global adaptation/production business unit, Craft Worldwide, in 23 markets ranging from New York to London Singapore. The new arm houses 570 employees worldwide and works with clients including Coca-Cola, Xbox and General Mills. link

-It’s been around for a few weeks but the “Drop Stop” clip above that a friend sent over gave us a chuckle for some reason this morning. Happy Tuesday.

-Former Mullen SVP, digital strategy/marketing technology Gene De Libero and Doner alum Patrick Kearns joined Chattanooga-based agency, AREA203 Digital, as chief strategy officer and creative director, respectively.

-T3 hired former Mediabrands Audience Platform VP Greg Pomaro, as SVP/executive media director of its San Francisco.

-SodaStream, the home soda maker made famous recently thank to its ad created by Alex Bogusky and Rob Schuham at Common, announced its first-ever Super Bowl spot, which will essentially be a revised version of the original made specifically for the big game. link

-TED is celebrating the fact that its cumulative talk views have surpassed the one-billion mark by launching “TopTED” playlists, which includes submissions from members such as Bono, Ben Affleck and Bill Gates. link

-Boston.com has launched a new content marketing/advertising program for New England businesses called Insights. link

-The organizer behind the StopBeck effort to get Glenn Beck removed from Fox News is back with a new petition that urges Macy’s to dump Donald Trump. link

-Sir Martin Sorrell is facing more backlash from shareholders over his pay package. link

-Toronto agency, tag idea revolution, which works with the likes of Philips and Swiss Natural, has acquired hometown boutique marketing agency, adlib group. The latter will retain its name an independence with the support of tag resources.

-Red Bull blows our mind once again with the “Kluge” (above).

-Sir Martin Sorrell spoke to CNBC and blamed four “grey swans” for why WPP had to cut its revenue outlook for the second time this year (above). link

-Leo Burnett London appointed Matt Lee and Pete Heyes as creative directors working across all clients. The duo officially joins the agency in January.

-JWT New York’s Alicia Schiro picked up Corporate Event Planner of the Year nods from BizBash. link

-Brand Affinity Technologies (which is this) acquired the fan photography business and intellectual property of Printroom, a photography services platform.

-So, who won Apple vs. Samsung, round 127? link

-Former Adweek editor Michael Wolff tells us what he thinks the ad biz is sorely lacking. link

-A little bit of Halls adds plenty of swagger in a new effort from Ogilvy Cape Town (above).

-L.A.-based post-production company Therapy signed multi-disciplinary editor Lenny Mesina to its roster.

-Sir Martin Sorrell says “horizontiality” will be WPP’s focus come 2013. link

-Those damn bots are costing online advertisers $1.5 billion a year in wasted ad spend. link

-Ogilvy Chicago CD/copywriter Andrew Gall and freelance designer/Cramer-Krasselt alum Matt Webb are behind a new chooose-your-own-adventure book dubbed Make Your Own Bucket List. link

-Sir Martin Sorrell reports that WPP profits have jumped up seven percent, which coincides nicely enough with the holding company boss’s plan to move its HQ back to the U.K. link

-Minneapolis-based Martin|Williams has been appointed as AOR for South Carolina-based bedding brand, Sheex.

-TBWA\Chiat\Day LA welcomes RG3 to the “Heisman House” in a new spot for Nissan (above).

-Twitter rolls out its own form of interest-based targeted advertising. link

-Director/designer Karim Zariffa has joined the rost of NYC prodco, 1stAveMachine. link (pdf)

-Google has its eyes set on Siri as it launches a voice search app on iOS. link

-Fold7 designed a new site for British clothing label, Sunspel. link

-Lil Buck helps ring in Gap’s denim fall collection (above).

-Publicis Group’s VivaKi unit has teamed up with comScore to launch an viewability metric. link

-Speaking of Publicis, the holding company’s boss Maurice Levy has reportedly rekindled his feud with Sir Martin Sorrell over the IPG rumors. link

-Ryan Lochte: Now an advocate for kids peeing in the pool. link

-Yes, Sir Martin Sorrell will be one of the torchbearers for the Olympic flame. link

-180LA is helping Expedia launch its own “Anthem” (above). link

-VFX company Pixomondo welcomed EP Roma O’’Connor and VFX supervisor Joern Grosshans to its London office.

-Another day, another Google lawsuit, this time related to AdWords trademark infringement. link

-How will RIM’s hometown of Waterloo, Ontario fare if the company goes belly up? link

Despite his shareholder woes, we guess you can chalk up another win for Sir Martin Sorrell as his holding company WPP has agreed to acquire AKQA. The digital network will still operate as a standalone unit within the fold and continue to be led by founder/CEO Ajaz Ahmed and chairman Tom Bedecarré. As a result of the move, the latter will also become president of a new Silicon Valley-based outfit called WPP Ventures, which will explore new digital opportunities for WPP.

Says Sorrell in a statement, “We are thrilled to welcome AKQA’s unique team of technological innovators and entrepreneurs to WPP.  We have admired their creativity and technological skills for a long time along with their outstandingly effective and award-winning work for clients. We are looking forward to working with Ajaz and Tom to broaden their offer and our own, both geographically and functionally.  We are delighted to be united!”

Hyperbole aside, here’s a quick stat: AKQA currently has eight global offices and houses 1,160 staffers ranging from creatives and strategists to engineers and technologists. In addition, the Guardian reports that the WPP acquisition of AKQA is the “most significant deal” in the digital ad market since Publicis Groupe bought Razorfish three years ago.

-WPP shareholders have given a thumbs down to Martin Sorrell‘s big pay hike. link

-In case you missed last night’s AICP awards, here’s the opening title sequence for the actual show (above), which was created by Blacklist and Studio AKA.

-Indianapolis agency Young & Laramore teamed up with Brand New School to create an interactive game called “Disaster Blaster” for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. link

-The Mobile Marketing Association elected a new North American board of directors. link

-According to comScore, Facebook advertising does work. link