Hilton Worldwide will launch iPhone and iPod Touch applications for seven of its hotel chains by the end of this year. It is the first time the company has used the channel in the US. The free apps for the Hilton and DoubleTree brands launched November 10.

This month, clothing retailer Gap launched a pilot loyalty program in the Vancouver, BC area. Once consumers opt-in, the program known as Sprize tracks purchases via a card swiped at checkout. If the price of any of the purchased items from the store drops within 45 days of the purchase, the customer will be credited the difference to his or her Sprize card.

Third-quarter earnings for the "big four" advertising holding companies were dismal year over year, yet experts queried by DMNews painted a rosier picture for digital advertising — because it shows ROI.

Bob Evans Restaurants and Food Products has named Brunner its advertising agency of record. The multimillion dollar account was won following a competitive review. The incumbent agency was Chicago Creative Partnership.

Global payment company MoneyGram International has launched its MoneyGram Rewards program in Canada. The program currently runs in the US, Germany, Spain and France. Users can sign up for the program by phone, Web or at an agent location. Users receive a loyalty card that tracks the number of money transfers the user completes. Users receive a 5% discount on the money transfer fee for the third through fifth transfers and a 10% discount on the sixth transfer and any thereafter.

Chicken fast-food franchise El Pollo Loco conducted a 24-hour-long contest on October 26 that gave one customer free chicken for a year. The promotion was developed on short notice after the company heard about rival KFC's plans to give consumers a free piece of chicken the same day, said Julie Weeks, VP of communications at El Pollo Loco.

Food- and animal-safety product maker Neogen will launch a business-to-business loyalty program for veterinarians next month. Specifically focused on its equine prescriptions, the program will give a rebate of up to 6% to vets who purchase those items. The program will run from November 1 through next February.

IHoops, the official joint youth basketball initiative of the NBA and NCAA, has launched iHoops.com, the online hub for parents, players, coaches, officials and administrators of youth basketball programs nationwide.

'Cosmopolitan' launched the Cosmo Karma Project, a social media initiative sponsored by Estee Lauder, to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, on October 26. The magazine also seeks to grow its subscriber base with the initiative.

Cloud computing firm Salesforce.com and Adobe have partnered to offer a joint data platform incorporating the Force.com platform and Adobe's Flash technology. This is the first time Salesforce.com has partnered with another company on a product. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.