Wine marketers will begin touting new single-serve bottles this coming holiday season as part of a new and growing trend among younger wine drinkers. The single-serve bottles traditionally available on airplanes and hotel mini-bars are known as "187s"--the number of milliliters in each bottle. Last year, sales in the category jumped 17 percent to $75 million. Driving the trend are younger consumers who don't view wine drinking as only for special occasions. They are willing to mix and match wines with food, and want to sample new varieties without buying a whole bottle. Peggy Fox, vp-marketing at Centerra Wine, part …

While other candy marketers tout dark chocolate in a "good-for-you" vein, M&Ms is taking the opposite approach. In a new ad campaign for M&Ms Dark Chocolate, M&M's mascot Red is playing hopscotch in front of Edvard Munch's dark masterpiece "The Scream" at New York's Guggenheim museum. The candy's parent company, Masterfoods USA, is offering a reward of 2 million dark chocolate M&M's for the return of the painting, which was snatched from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, on Aug. 22, 2004. Masterfoods has been building up national distribution of the new product since July. It is adopting a lighthearted …

In the fragrance marketing industry, the classic lives. In an increasingly competitive environment, where launching a new scent can be prohibitively expensive, a growing number of companies are relaunching old brands to appeal to a new generation of perfume-wearers. The latest rollouts involve big ad campaigns--and in some cases, more prominent displays in department stores. For example, Coty Inc. is "reinvigorating" ck one, a fragrance that got buzz 12 years ago as one of the first big unisex scents on the market. Also this fall, in time for the big holiday push, Clinique--owned by Estée Lauder Cos.--has scheduled its biggest …

The Minis are coming! The Minis are coming! In a new promotion designed to herald the launch of a new model of the popular small car, more than 3,300 Mini owners are participating in a two-week, cross-country road trip. Dubbed the Mini Takes the States rally, the trip will take drivers--who pay their own way--3,123 miles through 19 states, from Monterey Beach, CA to the Lime Rock Vintage Festival in Connecticut. The brand is using the trip to fuel brand ambassadorship and tout the arrival of 415 Mini GPs (a limited-edition high-performance version of its Mini Cooper S) in the …

Credit-card marketer Discover wants consumers to think that their credit card is a little easier to use than the competition's. That message will be delivered in a new TV spot for the brand that will debut Sunday night during the telecast of the Emmy Awards. The spots show animated orange-handled scissors that are eager to cut up over-hyped cards, gathering like a flock of birds as Gershwin-esque music plays in the background. One 60-second spot closes with the questions: "What if you could get rid of the things you don't like about credit cards, the hype, the confusion? What if …

The idea of attaching a marketer's name to a sporting event (the Nokia Sugar Bowl) or a stadium (Minute Maid Park) or advertising on a major sporting event (Super Bowl) has been around for a long time. But energy-drink marketer Red Bull is rewriting the rules of sports marketing. Rather than employing traditional methods, the company is trying a new approach that seems to be working. It doesn't just sponsor teams and events: it owns them. In March, Red Bull bought the New York MetroStars of Major League Soccer and renamed them the New York Red Bulls. Next year, the …

Kimberly-Clark is introducing two new diaper products that will replace the marketer's current line of Huggies Supreme diapers. Dubbed Huggies Supreme Gentle Care and Natural Fit, the two super premium products are said to be softer and more absorbent. "The Natural Fit has a new, different hour-glass shape that we hope will make older babies feel as comfortable as when they are naked," says Robert Thibault, president of K-C's childcare division. The Gentle Care diapers are made of a new material called Cuddleweave, which the company says will provide newborns with a more comforting and secure feeling. The new products …

Major retailers believe when it comes to marketing to teens, the best route is to go straight to the source. In the upcoming back-to-school shopping season, they are placing their advertising where teens will see it most. The plan calls for targeted TV ads--and, of course, Internet ads. For example, J.C. Penney will be the sole retail sponsor for MTV's Aug. 31 Video Music Awards, while Wal-Mart and Target have created a MySpace-inspired networking site. The moves are inspired by research that shows the influence teens have over buying decisions is rising. Nearly 68 percent of parents say that kids …

American Suzuki Motor Corp. is hoping that a magic combination of timing, increased ad spending and luck will help it sell 100,000 vehicles in the U.S. this year--a milestone that would be a first for the automaker. Although the company was unable to sell even half that amount from 1989 through 1999, so far this year, sales are up to 65,000 units through July. Now, with a hefty ad budget of more than $100 million (compared to $77 million in 2004) and high gas prices that have turned consumers away from SUVs, Suzuki may be poised for a breakthrough. "We …

Chrysler's Jeep brand plans to give away a new four-door Jeep Wrangler in a new promotion next month, but the winner is going to have to get his hands dirty. Actually, the winner will get filthy because the only way to win is to slug your way through a three-foot-deep pool of slushy, slippery mud looking for sticks. Aptly titled the Jeep Stick in the Mud Challenge, the promotion kicks off Sept. 29 at the opening of the Texas State Fair, where 120 randomly selected participants who registered at a special Web site will wade through a mud-filled above-ground pool. …