Bud, Stoli Seek Product Displacement by Thom Forbes

Product placement -- a.k.a. brand integration -- has grown into a roughly $25 billion industry in the U.S., supporting its own battery of go-getters, an extensive Wikipedia entry, a Morgan Spurlock movie about the practice and its own awards competition and Top 10 lists. Now Anheuser-Busch and Stolichnaya vodka are attempting to create a new category of brand cultivation: product displacement, a.k.a. product disintegration. They object to the use of their brands by Denzel Washington's character, a heroic airplane pilot struggling with alcohol and cocaine dependence, in the movie "Flight." ...Read the whole story

  • food Del Monte Shows Life With New Campaign by Aaron Baar

    With consumers wanting (or saying they want) more fruits and vegetables in their diets, Del Monte Foods is launching a new advertising campaign emphasizing that their canned vegetables are just as nutritious (and easier) as fresh produce. ...Read the whole story

  • beverages Cheerwine Goes Global With 'Giveback' Concert by Karlene Lukovitz

    Cheerwine -- the bubbly, wild cherry-flavored soft drink that's an institution in the South -- calls itself a brand on the move, with a plan for 100% national distribution by its 100th anniversary in 2017. ...Read the whole story

  • retail Auto Buffs Focus For New EBay Channel by Karl Greenberg

    EBay Motors is reaching out to the enthusiast crowd with a new Web site devoted to aftermarket customizers and car lovers looking for muscle cars, classics, and automotive odds and ends. The online community and personalization platform is called eBay Garage. ...Read the whole story

  • retail Walgreens Wades Into Chem-Free Cleaners by Sarah Mahoney

    Walgreens is rolling out Ology, a line of personal and cleaning products formulated with gentler chemicals. Its announcement follows Johnson & Johnson's news last summer that it would reformulate all its products to remove dangerous chemicals. ...Read the whole story

  • pets Natural Pet Product Market Continues To Grow by Tanya Irwin

    U.S. retail sales of natural pet products totaled $4.1 billion in 2012, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 17% over the 2008-2012 period, according to Packaged Facts. ...Read the whole story

  • automotive Ford Continues Fusion Push: Competition Invisible by Karl Greenberg

    Print ads for the new Ford Fusion car show competitive cars becoming diaphanous when the Fusion is in the picture (thanks to on-vehicle paint schemes designed by artist Liu Bolin). Now the automaker has launched three TV spots supporting that idea. ...Read the whole story

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