After two years of double-digit sales growth and share gains resulting from its widely admired Campaign for Real Beauty, Dove's sales have abruptly slowed. The decline coincides with the February Pro-Age launch featuring Annie Leibovitz' photographs of grandmothers in the buff in Ladies' Home Journal. After growing 12.5% in calendar 2005 and 10.1% last year, Dove sales are up only 1.2% to $604 million for the 52 weeks ended Aug. 12, according to Information Resources Inc. Dove also lost 0.3 share points. In the 24 weeks ended Aug. 12, sales are flat and share is off 0.4 …

Procter & Gamble is dividing its Dawn liquid detergent into three tiers--premium, plus and base--and will support a massive restaging of the billion-dollar brand with a $65 million marketing effort. By creating tiers, P&G says it will be able to offer consumers added benefits and help drive product sales. The premium tier features Dawn Direct Foam and Dawn Simple Pleasures. The plus line includes Dawn Plus Odor Eraser, Dawn Plus Oxi and three scents of Dawn Plus Power Scrubbers. The base tier includes the original blue scent as well as anti-bacterial formulas, both in Ultra Concentrated and non-Ultra SKUs. …

Public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller has been pitching media outlets and Internet companies for several months on what it calls the dangers of Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising specialist DoubleClick. The pitches don't disclose that Burson is working for Microsoft, Google's largest rival. The deal, which requires approval by regulators, would bolster Google's already strong position in online advertising. Burson cites the deal as part of a larger discussion of "fair and free competition" in Internet-search and privacy rights of consumers. In Europe, Burson urged Internet companies to sign an online petition for a more "transparent and competitive …

Xerox says a printer hitting the market today makes printing a page in color as inexpensive as black-and-white. While B&W printers and components currently rule market share, the new Xerox printer aims to put color into more paper at a similar cost. IT research firm IDC, predicts only 21% of the printers sold in the U.S. this year will be color machines. The reason is cost. While a black-and-white page can cost less than a penny-and-a-half to print, the price tag is anywhere from 9 to 13 cents in color. Though the technology for the new Xerox …

A Wal-Mart initiative in which consumers buy items from the Web site and then have the items delivered to their local stores has surpassed the company's expectations. Aboutone-third of all online sales occur through this program, according to Raul Vazquez, Walmart.com's CEO. Offline retailers are increasingly offering a way for consumers to shop online but pick up the goods in stores, allowing them to avoid shipping costs and choose from a wider selection of items than their local stores can stock. Because customers tend to bolster these purchases with others once they get into the store, retailers …

Nike's earnings for the quarter ended Aug. 31 jumped 51% on strong international sales, but the company is taking a hard look at its U.S. operations, where sales increased only 2%. Urban teens continue to avoid high-priced basketball shoes at mall stores, and Nike's apparel and equipment sales in the U.S. fell by 1% on weak sales of Jordan-brand items and higher-priced fleece clothing and T-shirts. Nike says it will plunge more money into marketing and fancy new Nike-owned retail stores, but will sell its 12-year-old hockey subsidiary, Nike Bauer Hockey Corp. It's also launching a strategic review …

As more people turn to generic drugs and generic versions of some of the most common drugs come to market, the annual inflation in drug costs is 1% -- the lowest rate in the three decades, since the Labor Department began using its current method of tracking prescription prices. In the past year and a half alone, generic equivalents have become available for the cholesterol treatment Zocor, the sleeping pill Ambien and the blood pressure drug Norvasc. According to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2006, the average brand-name prescription cost more than three times the average generic: $111, …

Two bottles of The Balvenie Cask 191--a single malt Scotch priced at $30,000 per bottle--arrived under Brinks guard at a Toronto liquor store yesterday as part of a publicity stunt. One media specialist valued it as the equivalent of $300,000 in advertising because of the free articles that would presumably be written. To the palpable delight of organizers, about 25 reporters and drinks critics dutifully showed up with uncommon punctuality to partake of a tutored tasting of the single malt Scotch, led by kilt-clad Balvenie brand ambassador David Mair. The coverage will generate what fine beverage purveyors …

An idea to get millions of Americans across the country to participate in a National Wave--simultaneously twirling above their heads a red, white and blue towel called the "Official Uniting Towel of America"--appears to be gaining traction. The event is slated for Friday, July 4, 2008, at 9 p.m. Eastern time, before most local fireworks go off on the East Coast and at a decent hour in the West. Two old friends who conceived the plan feel the nation is divided more than ever over the war and politics. The idea crystallized in the small town of Freedom, …

Surveys rank customer service at Miami International Airport as among the nation's worst. So workers are taking classes in corporate customer service at the Disney Institute, learning leadership practices, team building, staff relations and communication skills--many of which were formulated by Walt Disney himself. Instructors at the Institute--a Florida-based unit of the Walt Disney Co. -- have coached thousands of executives and front-line workers from other companies such as Delta, IBM and General Motors. Disney started the Institute after it got questions from other companies about its customer service. After offering some behind-the-scenes educational tours, the Institute developed …