Tuesday, December 23, 2008
  • sportsNHL Names McDonald's Its Official QSR by Karl Greenberg

    McDonald's' activity around the sponsorship will begin with the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic 2009, and then the NHL All-Star Game in Montreal. The company says it has also bought advertising on NHL Network and NHL.com and NBC and Versus. As part of its activation at the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic 2009, at Chicago's Wrigley Field, McDonald's will give away $5 McCafé-themed Arch Cards to fans seated in a select section of the park during intermission. ...Read the whole story

  • automotiveEdmunds Sees '08 Auto Sales Down By 18% by Karl Greenberg

    "Despite the unit sales increase from November, December's expected 9.8 million [seasonally adjusted annual rate] will be the lowest of the year," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. "As questions about the economy remain unanswered, many consumers are reluctant to respond to the incredibly generous deals available on new cars." ...Read the whole story

  • financial servicesHumana's Online Games Make A Case For Health by Aaron Baar

    One application, available via Facebook," is called "The Battle of the Bulge." Users answer a few questions and are assigned a virtual waistline. Through the Facebook network, other users can "fling fat" at you, which would expand your waistline and lead to a possible online heart attack. Answering health-related questions correctly can shrink the size of the virtual waistline and enable you to throw fat at your friends. ...Read the whole story

  • restaurantsRestaurants Face Inflation-Adjusted 1% Sales Dip in '09 by Karlene Lukovitz

    While the industry is "experiencing unprecedented challenges due to the economic recession and elevated food prices," National Restaurant Association President/CEO Dawn Sweeney stressed its innovation and responsiveness to the needs of budget-conscious consumers--who are expected to spend nearly half of their food budgets in restaurants in 2009. ...Read the whole story

  • trendsRestaurants Focus On Kids, Local And Green by Karlene Lukovitz

    Quick-serve operators ranked healthy kids' meal options as the top food trend in their segment for 2009. In a separate "what's hot" survey of more than 1,600 American Culinary Federation member chefs, nutritionally balanced children's dishes came in fourth among the 200-plus culinary items listed, and fruit/vegetable side items for kids ranked sixth. ...Read the whole story

  • researchSouthwest Tops In Value, BrandIndex Finds by Les Luchter

    BrandIndex derives brand scores from 100 to -100 by subtracting negative feedback from positive. In this respect, Southwest nabbed a 40.0 value ranking, flying well above No. 2 JetBlue (16.9), which itself was miles ahead of No. 3 AirTran (3.0). In buzz, Southwest also soared, with a 30.6 score vs. JetBlue's 8.9 and Continental's 2.4. ...Read the whole story

  • Walgreens Sales Up, But Curbs Expansion Plans by []

    While business is relatively brisk at Walgreens' pharmacies, the Deerfield. Ill.-based retailer is further cutting back its expansion plans, citing the tough economic climate. Sales for the first quarter of its fiscal year rose 6.6% to a record $14.9 billion, and comparable store-sales gained 1.7%, while net earnings dropped 10.4% to $408 million. Prescription sales, which make up 66% of sales this quarter, climbed 6.2%. "We continue to post solid sales results and achieve strong cost control in this difficult retail environment," company executives said in a release. "Customer traffic strengthened through the quarter and we're making substantial progress on ... ...Read the whole story

  • Yokohama Rotates Team Members by []

    Fullerton, Calif.-based Yokohama Tire has promoted Dan King, from VP/sales to VP/sales and marketing, and Mark Chung, from director of strategic marketing to director of corporate strategy and planning. Reporting to King (in addition to the consumer and commercial field sales organizations) will be Jim Mayfield and Fred Koplin, director, marketing communications. Chung will be responsible for product planning, product mapping, corporate planning, market research and motorsports. Also, Jim MacMaster is being named COO, while retaining his EVP/business division title. Jim Quinn was promoted from director, operations to VP/operations.--Karl Greenberg ...Read the whole story

  • Mars Extends NASCAR Partnership
  • Honda, Fox Partner For Music Promotion
Who's Buying Jewelry? by

Top 10 DMAs that are home to adults who bought fine jewelry in the past 12 months: 1 Harlingen/ Weslaco/ Brownsville/ McAllen, Texas 2 Norfolk/ Portsmouth/ Newport News, Va. 3 Richmond/ Petersburg, Va. 4 Baltimore 5 ...More