Financial analysts and advertising executives say that a new campaign for brokers Marsh & McLennan breaks the mold of insurance advertising, which has often relied on fear to sell coverage for hurricanes or plant explosions or lawsuits.

The ads have been running since late April as full-page ads in publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and The Financial Times, some in sets of three pages. One opening page begins with the headline question: "Climate Change Regulations, What's Your Upside?" Another starts, "Navigating China: What's Your Upside?" A third says, "Where There's a Risk, There's a Way."

With the idea of turning risk into a gain, "they're trying to reframe insurance," says Barbara E. Kahn, a vice dean at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Read the whole story...

Lego--the 70-year-old Danish toy manufacturer--beat out 600 companies worldwide for having the best reputation, according to a study conducted by Reputation Institute, a New York City-based consultancy and research firm.

Lego's high standing likely has to do with a turnaround following a misbegotten venture into online gaming and movies a few years ago, according to Charles Fombrun, executive director of Reputation Institute. "They ventured farther afield, and their brand got diluted," he says. That prompted leadership changes and bad press, but they've recently pruned their lines of business.

The Swedish furniture company IKEA moved from fourth place last year to second. More impressive was the Spanish grocery chain Mercadona, which zoomed from 29th place to fourth. Barilla, the pasta maker, fell to third from first. The Australian Wheat Board finished dead last, a notch above oil company Halliburton. Read the whole story...

The Zagat Survey--best known for its citizen reviews of eateries for the power-lunch set--recently published its first ratings for chain restaurants. Panera Bread Co. topped all 24 quick-service chains, while Outback Steakhouse reigned supreme over 21 casual-dining chains. Wendy's scored the highest among "mega chains" (those with more than 5,000 units) and topped the list for burgers. Country-kitsch Cracker Barrel took top honors among full-service chains.

The ratings seem to defy the recent sales results of many chains. Panera's same-store sales were flat for the first quarter, for example, while No. 3-overall Chipotle's comparable sales grew 8.3%. The demographics of the 5,535 volunteer participants may have something to do with the results: 61% were women; 39% were men, and their average age was 43--not the profile of the typical fast-food consumer.

At the very least, the results offer fast feeders new bragging rights. Wendy's put on its internal Web site a banner that reads "best mega chain with the best hamburger." CKE Restaurants' Carl's Jr. and Hardee's posted press releases trumpeting their scores. And Subway "in all likelihood" will post the reviews in stores. Read the whole story...

Product returns in the U.S. cost a hundred billion dollars a year, and a recent study by Elke den Ouden, of Philips Electronics, found that at least half of returned products have nothing wrong with them. Consumers just couldn't figure out how to use them.

Feature creep is partly the product of the so-called internal-audience problem: The people who design and sell products are not the ones who buy and use them. What engineers and marketers think is important is not necessarily what's best for consumers. And marketing and sales departments see each additional feature as a new selling point, and a new way to lure customers.

There is no easy solution to this. A product that doesn't have enough features may fail to catch a consumer's eye in the store. But a product with too many features is likely to annoy consumers and generate bad word of mouth. In theory, the best strategy would be to make the complex simple. Read the whole story...

Payless ShoeSource--which has long been known for cluttered, warehouse-like stores, budget shoppers and shoes that rarely cost more than $15 a pair--is buying competing shoe-store chain Stride Rite for about $800 million in a bid to move upmarket.

Stride Rite, which operates 300 stores, licenses or owns brands such as Keds, Saucony and Tommy Hilfiger Footwear. It targets parents who want nothing but the best for their youngsters. Its shoes often cost $50, while kids' summer sandals--which look a lot like the adult offerings from Payless--cost more than $20, according to the company's Web site.

Payless will change its corporate name to Collective Branding Inc., a holding company that will operate the Payless and Stride Rite chains under their own names, as well as Collective Licensing International, a brand development and licensing company. Payless officials said the unified company would be able to better target customer niches with a wide range of price points, as well as having an estimated 19% market share for children's shoes. Read the whole story...