After a quarter-century hiatus, Bacardi's Martini Asti is back on U.S. television for this holiday season. The brand -- the world's largest-selling imported sparkling wine, according to International Wine and Spirits Record – is targeting women 25 to 30 through a campaign rolling out this month on national network and cable, including ABC, CW, E!, Style, Bravo, Oxygen, TLC, The Travel Channel and The Food Network.  The new "Let Go" spot for the Italian wine, filmed in Rome, depicts a stylish young Italian woman holding a large bunch of golden balloons, walking through the city's traffic and cafés …

It may come as no surprise that the most affluent households use the Internet more than lower income families, but now a number can be put on the Web wealth gap, thanks to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. Based on several recent studies, Pew found 95% of Americans who live in households earning $75,000 or more a year use the Internet at least occasionally, compared with 70% of those living in households earning less than $75,000.

 Southwest and Microsoft Windows 7 have partnered to make holiday travel experience jollier with "Holiday Photos on the Fly." Not to skip over Thanksgiving, Southwest employees are currently wearing buttons that say "Only turkeys charge for bags." The airline will offer a free adult beverage to customers flying on Thanksgiving Day. Beginning Dec. 2 and continuing every weekend until Christmas, Southwest Airlines and Windows will offer free holiday photos to Customers at 26 airports nationwide. Customers can stop by one of Santa's workshops in select Southwest Airlines airports to have their photo taken with Santa or in a …

Oprah gave away a lot of cars again. Well, not yet. But when Volkswagen of American actually starts selling the new new Beetle, the 2012 model, the 275 lucky members of the audience on Monday will each get the car. The "favorite things" episode was a stage for the Herndon, VA automaker to show the car's silhouette. The company will unveil the real thing this coming spring, probably at the NY auto show, and start selling it next fall. "Oprah Winfrey and the Volkswagen Beetle are two American icons, so when the "Oprah" show approached us with this …

A study commissioned by Zipcar, a car sharing service, says half of all 18 to 34-year-old drivers are driving less, and nearly two-thirds would drive less if alternative transportation options were available. KRC Research, which conducted the survey of licensed drivers last month, found that 45% of Millennials said they had "consciously made an effort to reduce how much they drive," and 64% said they would drive less if alternative options including public transportation, car sharing or carpooling were available in their area.   Cost of ownership was the biggest reason respondents gave for wanting to give up wheels. …

Restaurant brands' efforts to connect with on-the-go consumers will accelerate in 2011, as they scramble to leverage evolving mobile marketing/ordering technology and expand mobile units, kiosks and "pop up" facilities, according to a trends report from foodservice researcher/consultancy Technomic. Restaurants will also be challenged to offer healthier (but appealing), menu-transparency-driven offerings, and new pricing structures that preserve margins while meeting consumers' continued demand for deals.    The good news: Weariness with penny-pinching and some economic improvement should encourage the occasional splurge in "high experience," novel restaurant formats, and even in high-end eateries.  Also, Technomic sees opportunities in trendy "adult" beverages like retro cocktails …

Only a small portion of U.S. consumers are banking via mobile phone, but that group is starting to grow to become a measurable presence, according to a new study from Nielsen. The research firm found that 13.2% of households accessed their bank account through a mobile device in second quarter 2010 compared 20.8% who accessed their account using the bank's customer service call center. The mobile share is up from 11.6% in first quarter while call center access has remained relatively flat quarter-over-quarter. Mobile bankers tend to higher average balances ($64,303) versus ($48,384) for the average …

Allstate is targeting frequent road trip takers in a social media campaign for its Good Hands Roadside Assistance service. A recent survey shows college football fans are 21% more likely than the general population to take more than five road trips of 25+ miles during the course of a month. With that in mind, Allstate tapped one of college football's biggest fans to embark upon a series of road trips to top rivalry games in November and December to help launch Allstate's new pay-per-use roadside assistance program, which handles roadside problems such as flat tires, dead batteries or empty …

To make sure it gets its share of Black Friday traffic, Macy's is launching a series of comical new 15-second spots. In one, Martha Stewart brandishes a rooster and wakes a snoozing couple up. In another, Jessica Simpson serenades them with a song from her holiday album. And in a third, stragglers from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade wander through the bedroom, reminding the pair that Macy's is opening its doors at 4:00 am. "Essentially, they are quick, fun "wake up and get here early" messages," a spokesperson explains. Target is also running a series of comical ads, …

Mobile Content Venture, the joint venture created this spring by a dozen broadcasters including Fox, NBC and ION Media to expand mobile digital TV, said Friday it will deliver mobile programming to more than 40% of the U.S. population by the end of 2011. The group has committed to upgrading TV stations in 20 DMAs to provide live video to mobile devices. That effort spans 13 of the top 15 DMAs including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. To get the mobile video service, consumers will need an add-on component capable of receiving a specific type of mobile …