Brand-e.biz
Girls can "ruin their girlhood" by spending too much time on social networks. The new Stanford University study looks at data from girls between the ages of 8 and 12 - all subscribers to Discovery Girls magazine - who spend considerable time using social media and finds that they are likely to be less happy than their less-networked peers.
Advertising Age
Call it the beverage version of auto business: when the going gets tough, automakers sometimes double down on muscle cars. Al Carey, a Frito-Lay veteran named CEO of PepsiCo Americas Beverages in September, talked up PepsiCo's sugary sodas and salty chips at Beverage Digest's annual Future Smarts conference in December.
Advertising Age
Facing flat market shares and growing investor pressure to cut costs, Procter & Gamble Co. plans to eliminate about 1,600 "overhead" or non- manufacturing jobs, including some in marketing, and is banking on digital marketing to help contain media spending long-term, executives said on the company's earnings conference call today.
The Detroit Bureau
A new study by the National Auto Dealers Association released ahead of its convention in Vegas, shows which brands have the best relationship with their retailers.
Convenience Store News
One month after getting new owners and a $150-million cash injection, Quiznos is turning its focus toward growing its holdings. Brian Belmont, Quiznos' chief development officer, said the company plans to open 80 to 100 new domestic units this year, along with another 80 locations in convenience stores and other non-traditional locations. Last year, the chain, which has 2,300 U.S. locations, and 650 international stores, opened 176 locations, including about 70 convenience store units.
Nation's Restaurant News
Denny's Corp. has a few strong consecutive quarters in the bag. Last year, the chain developed new menus, targeted marketing campaigns for Millennials and launched programs to aid franchisees looking to expand.
The Detroit Bureau
Who'd have thought Chrysler could report these kinds of numbers? On Wednesday, the long-troubled U.S. maker plans to report its fourth quarter and full 2011 financial figures which - analysts anticipate - could see as much as $2 billion in full-year operating profits.
Detroit News
A Jewish engineer and journalist, whose designs and published work in the 1930s laid out the basics for the Volkswagen Beetle championed by Hitler, was arrested, chased from Germany and nearly airbrushed out of history.
New Jersey Star-Ledger
Scarborough also found Giants fans are older and more male, while more Patriots fans are slightly younger and include significantly more women. Giants fans are more racially diverse. Scarborough reports 12% of Giants fans are Hispanic, compared with 5% of the Patriots' base, and Big Blue's audience is 13% African-American, compared with 4% of New England fans.
Just-Drinks.com
PepsiCo has declined to comment on reports that it is grooming certain executives as successors to shortly replace CEO Indra Nooyi, or that it plans a spike in drinks advertising spend.