• From Trusted To Busted: Brands Have A Credibility Crisis
  • 4As Bringing Groups Together To Revamp Ad Industry
  • Carl's Jr., Hardee's Parent Bought By PE Firm For $619 Million
  • Estee Lauder Creates Corporate Marketing Center Of Excellence
    As svp, corporate marketing, Georgia Garinois-Melenikiotou will lead Estee Lauder's new Corporate Marketing Center of Excellence team, which is changed with developing the company's global consumer knowledge and marketing capability. Most recently, Garinois-Melenikiotou was president, beauty global business unit strategy and new growth at Johnson & Johnson. Her marketing experience includes the establishment of a consumer marketing/customer knowledge/innovation function at J&J and the expansion of marketing capabilities across the company, according to an Estee Lauder release.
  • Danica Patrick Adds New Partner To Endorsement Roster
    As she transitions from Indy racing to NASCAR, Danica Patrick has signed with retail chain Academy Sports.
  • Women's Clothing's Downward Sales Trend Declines
    Middle-income women are not only shelling out their dollars for vodka (see story above), they're also starting to "splurge" on clothes for themselves again, Sandra M. Jones reports. The uptick in the women's apparel market however, is still measured by a lesser decline than in the overall market -- 3% in the fourth quarter as opposed to a 5.1% drop in total U.S. apparel sales from the previous year before, according to NPD Group. "For the fashion industry, this is a very important sign," says NPD's chief analyst, Marshal Cohen, because women account for more than half of …
  • Diageo Ready To Spend Again; Says Promotions Have Hit Bottom
    After 18 months of reduced advertising expenditures and discounting, the president of Diageo's U.S. unit says the marketer of Johnnie Walker Scotch, Captain Morgan rum and Smirnoff vodka is "stepping up activity pretty significantly." Larry Schwartz isn't saying how much the company will be spending, but he's ready to talk price with the "new consumer out there." "We're spending more to convince them to pay another one or two dollars a bottle," Schwartz says. "The level of promotions has bottomed out." One target consumer will be middle-aged women, who reportedly account for 62% of vodka purchases made in …
  • Kraft Gets Real With Athenos Sampling Effort
    Kraft has launched a roving sampling tour for its Athenos hummus brand and is also working with restaurant and entertainment guide Metromix, and US Weekly magazine in sponsoring a series of three-question quizzes, Elaine Wong reports. Among the brand verities: Athenos is sold in 11 different flavors and is made with "real" ingredients, including chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic and, of course, 100% olive oil. "What the game is all about is finding the truths in a line of questions, and in the process, we're also revealing truths about the Athenos hummus brand," says brand manager Marshall Hyzdu. …
  • Coca-Cola Bottler Deal Signals Shift In Distribution Strategy
    Coca-Cola's purchase of Coca-Cola Enterprises' North American operations marks a major change in a strategy that the company has pursued since CCE was formed as a publicly traded company to distribute Coke products in 1986, Betsy McKay reports. The deal was likely given impetus by PepsiCo's pending acquisition of its two largest independent bottlers. Owning their bottlers gives companies greater flexibility in negotiating with retailers. Coke Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent, however, calls the proposed acquisition "a natural evolution" to address changing consumer trends, particularly toward non-soda drinks such as bottled waters, juices, teas and energy drinks. …
  • 10 Marketing Ideas That Changed Everything
    Every now and then, a marketing idea comes along that not only generates huge, instantaneous buzz and moves plenty of product but also infiltrates the culture in subtle ways for decades to come, proclaims this byline-free roundup of 10 such rarities. "It doesn't happen often," says Michigan State's Bruce Vanden Bergh, "because it takes a combination of the right people with the right skills, the right climate and luck." No. 1 on the list is NW Ayer & Son's 1938-birthed campaign for the De Beers mining company that gave us "Diamonds Are Forever." Michael Cody, communications professor …
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