• Amazon Reports Sales Up 51%, Profits Dip 8%
    Amazon has reported that while sales for the quarter ended June 30 soared 51% to $9.9 billion, profits dipped 8% to $191 million from $207 million on higher operating costs. Still, the company beat Wall Street expectations. Worldwide electronics and other general merchandise sales grew the fastest at 69%; sales in the media category grew 27% to $3.66 billion. North America grew 51% to $5.41 billion while international segment sales grew 51% to $4.51 billion.
  • Pink Doesn't Work For Breast Cancer Awareness
    A new study shows that use of the color pink doesn't build awareness of and fundraising for women's issues like breast cancer. Pink has been the central color in a multi-year campaign for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The problem, say researchers at Rotterdam School of Management, is that too many women directly identify with the color. Stefano Puntoni, a professor at the university, showed in a series of 10 experiments over three years that women were less likely to think themselves at risk and less likely to say they would donate to breast or ovarian cancer advertisements …
  • Whole Foods Posts Sales Up 8.4% In Quarter
    Better price image and strong selection drove an increase in comparable-store sales of 8.4% at Whole Foods for the fiscal third quarter, which far exceeded sales results at other public companies. The company posted net income for the 12-week quarter, which ended July 3, of $88.5 million, a 34.4% increase. Sales climbed 10.9% to $2.4 billion. Said Walter Robb, co-chief executive officer, "We are continuing to gain market share at a faster rate than most public food retailers, [which] we attribute to our value efforts, which have improved our price image, and to continuing to raise the bar in …
  • Ad Man Who Penned 'Please Don't Squeeze' For Charmin Dies
    John Chervokas, who is credited with having written "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" for the Procter & Gamble brand in 1964, when he was a junior copywriter, has died. He suffered a fatal stroke at age 74. The campaign featured Mr. Whipple, a Norman Rockwell-type grocery store proprietor who had to remind people to keep their hoods off the irresistibly scrunchy rolls of toilet paper. Chrevokas, who died in New York City, went on to a career in politics, holding the post of town supervisor in Ossining, N.Y., for five consecutive terms. "Squeeze the Charmin, Not the Budget" was …
  • Now Some Really Good News, I Mean Really Good
    You know how you love your iPad? Except for maybe one minor annoyance. Apple hates Flash, and refuses to run it on iPad and iPhone, preferring HTML 5. That means Internet pages have to run applications using both Flash technology and versions for Apple devices. But a new Skyfire app, VideoQ, offers a fix, letting users watch Flash within the app, via a link, Skyfire is planning on making VideoQ a video entertainment hub, but for now the product is a $1.99 app available first in North America only. California-based Skyfire plans to expand VideoQ reach later. Funded …
  • And Some Not-So-Good News
    Something else to worry about: children, who are heavy users of cell phones, could be at an increased risk for cellular-induced, tumors according to a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study says the radio emissions from mobile devices penetrate much deeper into the brains of children, and in the case of those five to eight, their heads will absorb twice the energy of the average adult.
  • And, Just Because It's Friday
    Remember that plastic model of a human being, complete with organs your dad gave you when you were a kid, hoping you'd go to med school? Well, if you ended up a car mechanic instead, here's the thing for you: A transparent Pontiac, and it's not made of plastic. Built for the 1939-40 New York World's Fair at a cost of $25,000 for the General Motors "Highways and Horizons" pavilion and touted as the "Glass Car," the vehicle is up for sale at Plymouth's Inn at St. John's, in conjunction with the Concours d'Elegance. "This car is very, very …
  • Olympics Are One Year Away, But Marketers Are Off And Running
    Most of the official marketing partners of the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic Committee and the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games are marking the one-year-to-go date of the 2012 Summer Games with marketing and/or activation. In London, official partners British Airways, BP, Holiday Inn, Lloyds Bank, McDonald's, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung, Thomas Cook and Visa are already talking up their plans and running early ads. In the U.S., among the marketing partners that will highlight the fact that the Olympic Games will begin on July 27, 2012, are Allstate, Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser), BMW, Citi, Coca-Cola, …
  • Kraft Changes Agencies Again
    Kraft is changing agencies on its Trident gum brand. JWT, a unit of WPP, which has had the brand for several years, is not participating in the just-launched global review. The agency will continue to work on other Kraft brands, including Halls and Philadelphia Cream Cheese and coffee brands Jacobs and Kenco. It is also working on local cheese and grocery businesses with the exception of Dairylea, Kraft said. Earlier in the month, Kraft gave its A1 steak sauce account to Seattle-based Creature. That brand, along with Jell-O, was given to MDC Partners' CP&B, and Cool Whip, which …
  • Summer's Eve Pulls Videos After Criticism
    Summer's Eve pulled three videos off its website and YouTube on Wednesday following claims that they were racially insensitive. The videos, from the brand's "Hail to the V" campaign by Dallas-based The Richards Group, have hand puppets representing vaginas. Two of the spots are meant to be black and Hispanic characters. These were criticized by some viewers, who complained that the voice work was racially stereotypical. The black woman is "Pam Grier and Lil' Kim all wrapped into one," wrote one online critic, while the Latina woman opens with the cry, "Ay-yi-yi." A Richards Group rep …
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