More than 30 years after its last big slaughterhouse closed, Chicago's romance with cattle has taken a decidedly trendy turn: designer beef. With steakhouses abounding, diners can sit down in a restaurant where the steaks comes from cattle that shared the same father. Or they can enjoy a piece of beef just like the one designer Ralph Lauren dines on at his Colorado ranch. And in this health-conscious age, don't you know that Tallgrass Beef Co.--which opened last October and is sold in a handful of Chicago-area restaurants, upscale markets and even a school--is touting the nutritional benefits of its …

With Microsoft poised to announce an iPod challenger called Zune this week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs yesterday shifted the battlefield. As expected, Jobs announced a deal with Disney to offer its movies for downloading over the Internet. But he also unveiled plans to produce a device tentatively dubbed iTV, which will display movies, television shows and other videos purchased online on TV sets. Making TVs and personal computers work better together is seen as the key step toward the broad online distribution of movies and TV shows, although iTV will not be available until early next year. By showing his …

Brands like Juicy Couture, whose $200 velour tracksuits were made popular by celebrities like Madonna and Cameron Diaz, are becoming increasingly influential, even as fashionistas focus on New York runway shows this week. Expanding way beyond tracksuits, Juicy has become a lifestyle brand for women, men, and kids--with edgy, contemporary sportswear and accessories. Last month, Juicy launched its first national ad campaign in magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair and Elle, along with its first fragrance. Juicy watches will hit stores next month, and cosmetics and home products are in the works. There's even a plan to sell limited-edition Juicy guitars. …

Chevrolet is challenging college students to create a 30-second spot for a new line targeted at younger buyers that will be produced by its lead agency, Campbell-Ewald, and shown during the Super Bowl next February. The "Chevy Super Bowl College Ad Challenge" revolves around the Cobalt, HHR, Aveo and Equinox nameplates. Chevy will provide a specific creative brief. The students can assemble teams of up to three people, with campaign concepts submitted in a finished format, including storyboards and script. Faculty at schools that do not have teams participating in the contest will conduct the preliminary judging. Five finalists will …

Seeking to recover from its $10.6 billion loss in 2005, General Motors will launch the 2007 GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks with a massive push next month during World Series telecasts and National Football League programs. Silverado ads will emphasize the pickup as a uniquely American phenomenon, and are likely to feature music by rocker John Mellencamp, sources say. "It's steeped in Americana," says a source familiar with the campaign. "It's to put you more in the mode of the 'Like a Rock' campaign." GMC's commercials will highlight engineering excellence and capability, according to GMC Marketing Director Steve …

How do you market a regimen of twice-yearly injections to treat wrinkles on the lower part of the face that can cost more than $2,000 to maintain? The centerpiece of Medicis Pharmaceutical's new campaign for Restylane will be a contest called "Hottest Mom in America." Conducted in six cities--Dallas, Miami, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Toronto--Medicis hopes to sell the show to a TV network. Two episodes will be shot in each city, followed by a grand finale. The winner will receive a college scholarship for her child, and will become an official Restylane spokeswoman. The filming will be …

Marketers are tapping into the large pool of low- to middle-income consumers who tend to be more brand loyal than most. Casual Male is planning a big-and-tall brand aimed at the lower-income market later this year, for example. Last year, Procter & Gamble launched two products--Bounty Basic and Charmin Basic--aimed at the same price-sensitive group. Bounty Basic is now the seventh-best-selling paper-towel brand. The fastest-growing product in the financial-services sector is prepaid debit cards, most of which are being bought and used by people who don't have a bank account. Industry watchers say the current trend of creating products for …

Home Depot launched Home Show 06 last week, with brand-sponsored demos in 1,000 stores nationally and celebrity clinics in 20 stores. The expo is a revved-up version of the in-store classes and events it has traditionally used to drive store traffic. Home Show 06 activities center on innovative home products, including LG SteamWasher laundry system, GE Profile SmartDispense dishwasher, Thomasville Cabinetry door inserts, odor-resistant Puresque carpeting and n:vision CFL light bulbs. Three TV hosts from home-improvement shows on The Learning Channel will host in-store clinics in 20 stores. In addition, HomeDepot.com will host real-time, online versions of a popular in-store …

That battered old boot will be a New Balance running shoe in a new version of the venerable Monopoly board game Hasbro will release on Thursday. Four more of the eight tokens in the new Monopoly Here and Now edition will be branded, offering game players the chance to be represented by miniature versions of a Toyota Prius hybrid car, an order of McDonald's French fries, a cup of Starbucks coffee or a Motorola Razr cell phone. "We thought, let's try to get iconography that's much more relevant to people today," says Mark Blecher, svp for marketing at the Hasbro …

Both Coca-Cola and Nestle are developing superpremium java delivery systems that take aim at siphoning off customers from Starbucks' $6.4 billion global business. Coca-Cola's Far Coast, which boasts globally sourced gourmet coffee, tea and cocoa blends, is designed for coffee connoisseurs at upscale hotel and fine-dining restaurants. It will be introduced as a single concept store in Toronto's fashionable Yorkville district this month, and is backed by a print campaign using the tagline "Adventures by the cup." Coke also is unveiling a quick-service-restaurant brand called Chaqwa, to provide coffeehouse blends using the same machine that Far Coast does. Nestlé, meanwhile, …