Battle Creek, MI-based Kellogg USA is letting shoppers vote on which of eight concepts based on Cartoon Network properties should become a cereal (choices include Cow & Chicken Puffs and Johnny Bravo Flakes). Kids vote via in-pack entry forms or at bigpickbreakfast.com in a back-to-school effort running through October. The effort will be tagged on 40 million packages and supported with P-O-P displays and various premium offers. The winning cereal hits shelves next summer. (Kellogg scored in the past with a Powerpuff Girls SKU.) The program kicked off last month during Atlanta-based Cartoon Network’s Big Pick weekend, a programming effort that let viewers choose which of 10 animated shorts should become a series. DraftWorldwide, Chicago, handles for Kellogg. Cartoon Network manages in-house.

Hoffman Estates, IL-based Sears, Roebuck and Co. will sponsor singer Brian McKnight’s fall tour and leverage through several activities. Sears Presents an Evening with Brian McKnight kicks off in mid-October in Detroit, stops in 38 cities, and wraps in Hawaii in December. The chain will support with a cause-related overlay tied to Washington, DC-based Police Athletic League and a 25-market sweeps that sends a grand-prize winner to the tour finale for a shopping spree and backstage meeting with McKnight. TV and radio spots support. New York City-based Wunderman’s Chicago office handles, with an assist from Paramus, NJ-based Einson Freeman.

Scooby-Doo is headlining a back-to-school promotion for Lincolnshire, IL-based Saputo Cheese USA. The Cheese Heads instant-win game will award one grand-prize winner a family trip to Atlanta-based Cartoon Network’s Hollywood studios to see how a Scooby-Doo cartoon is made. The game will be flagged on six million-plus packages during the back-to-school and Halloween periods. TV spots, a national FSI, and online banner ads support. In addition to other prizes, Saputo is offering a $3 bounce-back coupon good for video purchases of Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase. Flair Communications, Chicago, handles.

In a move that gives it a heightened global presence in cable television, Burbank, CA-based Walt Disney Co. acquired Fox Family Worldwide for $3 billion plus the assumption of $2.3 billion in debt.

Owned equally by News Corp. and Los Angeles-based content producer Saban Entertainment, Fox Family reaches 81 million subscribers domestically and another 40 million abroad and generates about $150 million in revenue annually. The channel, which will reportedly be renamed ABC Family, gives Disney a platform through which to reach teens and tweens too old for its namesake cable channel.

Disney said it will distribute content from its other TV holdings, which include ABC, A&E, ESPN, and Lifetime, on the network. The company also gains control of Saban’s 6,500-episode library, which features such successful properties as Power Rangers and Digimon.

“This acquisition strengthens our company’s worldwide business of family entertainment,” said Disney chairman Michael Eisner in a statement.

Universal Studios, Universal City, CA, signed its largest global marketing alliance to date with Toyota Motor Corp., Torrance, CA. The three-year deal gives Toyota first shot at product placement and promotions in Universal films and videos, as well as exclusive sponsorships in the company’s amusement parks.

New York City-based Nickelodeon’s new Nick Records signed a partnership with New York City-based Jive Records. Jive will oversee international front-line marketing, promotion, and distribution of music products while Nick coordinates on-air campaigns and promotional events. The first joint projects will be the soundtrack to Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies release Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and the debut of singer Nick Cannon.

Los Angeles-based Eastman Kodak Themed Entertainment signed a deal to become exclusive retailer of souvenir photographs at concert and theater venues owned by Clear Channel Entertainment, New York City. Trained photographers will patrol live events taking photos of attendees, then make the photos available for purchase at prices starting at $10. The program will encompass 1,000 music concerts and theatrical events at 38 venues.