The company’s social media team noticed that comedienne Ana Gasteyer had been tweeting about her weight loss experience and brought her feed to executives’ attention. They quickly moved in to secure her as a spokesperson — and now she’s created a series of TV and online ads set to debut this month. We can see why they’d be interested after reading tweets like these:

Hey @weightwatchers Volunteered to churn butter at Pioneer Day/30 min Sat How many #activitypoints? Need tocover 11flapjacks/8 biscuits

— Ana Gasteyer (@AnaGasteyer) January 12, 2013

Hey @weightwatchers I binged on Children’s Gummy Vites can it be my cheat day?

— Ana Gasteyer (@AnaGasteyer) December 10, 2012

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Red-blooded Middle Americans like Gwyneth Paltrow have already let the world know how much they love the simple hosiery brand. Katy Perry worries about “look[ing] fat” without her SPANX tights, while Miley Cyrus refers to hers as “a gift from God” and Tina Fey sees them as “my dream come true” (we’ll take her word for it). Now the company and its media team prepare for the big time after blowing up thanks to the brilliance of its founder and its masterful promotion of a very basic concept: practical comfort tinged with feel-good new age vibes.

OK, we all love SPANX. But do we love SPANX enough to turn a pantyhose maker into a retail giant? The company’s first boutique opened in a Washington, DC suburb last month, and sister branches will soon grace the nation’s largest malls in King of Prussia, PA and Paramus, NJ. So will the little underwear startup grow big enough to take on Victoria’s Secret (aka the Fox News internship program)?

The brand’s selling point is very different than Victoria’s patented “make me sexy” bit: In keeping with the theme of self-acceptance and comfort, the company intends to greet shoppers at each store with “cheer squads” that will pave the way for “sales clerks with ‘super-shaping powers’” descending “to recommend products such as the $98 smoothing bodysuit to nip in the hips and enhance the thighs without plastic surgery”. Founder and Richard Branson student Sara Blakely described her vision of the stores as “a place where everybody knows your name — and your bra size!”

Sounds very specific!

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Billboard magazine, long seen as the ultimate tastemaker in American pop music for its top singles list, decided to join the 21^st century by revising its algorithm to include digital sales and online streaming services like Pandora and Spotify when determining which songs are most popular in a given week.

Sounds like progress, right?

Quite a few people in music don’t think so, because these changes give “stars with a pop-oriented sound and broad crossover appeal an advantage over other artists”. We have to agree: the fact that Psy’s “Gangnam Style” ruled the “rap” charts for more than a month while Taylor Swift continues to dominate the “Hot Country” category tells us that something in this new equation is a little off.

This excellent infographic demonstrates the fact that a mere six artists have all but dominated the Billboard charts over the past five years. According to most predictions, these new algorithms will result in more number one hits for Rihanna, Katy Perry, Maroon 5 and Flo Rida while making the climb to the top of the charts even steeper for independent artists and those who work in “niche” genres like country, rock and roll and, you know, pretty much everything but “pop.”

Billboard’s editorial director Bill Werde defended the changes on his tumblr page, but the whole story is ominous news for the vast majority of those who work in or care about the music business. Some have created petitions urging Billboard to abandon its new model, but based on the puny number of signatures collected so far we can’t see that working.

What do we think? Will these changes make it harder for music reps to promote their clients? How will the industry adjust?

(As a bit of a bonus, here’s Werde talking to Mediabistro’s Donya Blaze about the challenges of music journalism): continued…

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Katy Perry and a Moonman in 2010. She's among the nominees for this year's 'Best Video with a Message' award. Photo: PA

MTV‘s annual Video Music Awards — the coveted Moonman presentations — are now in their 28th year, set to air Sunday, August 28. Among the network’s most popular features — and still focused on music videos, of all things — the VMAs have also become a showcase of outrageous celebrity behavior, such as Kanye West’s rude intrusion during Taylor Swift’s speech, and the now-legendary Madonna-Britney kiss. These displays/publicity stunts tend to spur more post-show buzz than the actual award winners.

This year, MTV’s aiming to generate a different sort of post-VMA buzz, one that doesn’t rely on allegedly unplanned bad manners. The network last week announced the addition of a new award category, “Best Video With a Message,” meant to honor artists whose recent music videos featured a positive message or raised awareness of important social issues.

The category’s creation was a no-brainer, according to MTV president Stephen Friedman. “During the past year, we’ve seen a remarkable number of artists use their music to explore deeply personal experiences and issues they were passionate about to create powerful videos that resonated with and inspired millions of fans,” he said.

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For those of us old enough to remember the first broadcast, it’s hard to believe MTV turned 30 years old today.

The channel is like a kid in a comic strip: it never ages, and as one gets older, its appeal fades. Most people from Generation X say they cannot not even sit though a whole episode of it’s number one runaway hit “Jersey Shore.” It doesn’t matter. Like the artist it made famous, Madonna, it is a cultural chameleon, changing itself all the time to attract that top demographic of 18- to 34-year-olds. Mashable says the channel ushered in an a new vehicle for spreading the word about new music.

“Almost overnight, the music video became one of the most important promotional and marketing vehicles for the music industry,” the site says. Others say it has not lost its edge or its brand, by continuing to offend older folks (Jackass, for example).

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It’s no wonder Prince William’s cranky three-year-old goddaughter – and great-great-great-granddaughter of William Waldorf Astor — became an instant Internet sensation: As Aaron Morrisey at DCist.com noted, with a single pose, the blogger-dubbed “frowning flower girl” summed up how “most of us feel about the whirlwind, nonstop royal wedding coverage that has filled the airwaves over the past few days, weeks and months.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Katy Perry

In the video (which you can watch after the jump), Perry is singing a kiddie version of her song “Hot N Cold” with Sesame Street star Elmo. In the video, she’s wearing a yellow dress that, according to The Daily Beast, is designed with a mesh fabric covering most of her chest. Parents thought the dress too revealing.

A portion of the statement from the children’s program states, “In light of the feedback we’ve received on the Katy Perry music video, which was released on You Tube only, we have decided we will not air the segment on the television broadcast of Sesame Street, which is aimed at preschoolers.”

[Image of Katy Perry on the Today show via KatyPerry.com]

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Pop singer Katy Perry is joining a group that includes Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore.

What do they have in common? They’ve all endorsed Proactiv acne products.

Perry will “appear in television spots and online marketing campaigns sharing her personal experience fighting acne,” according to the official announcement.

Direct marketing company Guthy-Renker has been shooting the Proactiv campaigns for almost 15 years and will continue to do so with Perry.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.