Coke and Nestlé are revising a joint venture agreement to allow each to take back control of their respective brands that don't contain black tea, the companies said in a statement yesterday. But the move will have no effect on Enviga, the sparkling green-tea-based drink touted as a "calorie burner" that's being introduced by the partnership in parts of the Northeast this month. While Nestlé commands a strong presence in the ready-to-drink coffee market with its Nescafé brand, the partnership has hampered tea drinks of its own, says Bill Pecoriello, a Morgan Stanley analyst. The rejiggered partnership …

A new study of tweens and teens finds they prefer person-to-person interaction over instant messaging, cell phones and e-mail--teens (13 to 18) by 53% and tweens (8 to 12) by 81%. Other surprising findings in a poll of 1,487 kids by Alloy Media & Marketing and Harris Interactive: Both groups preferred landlines to cell phones, and respondents listed time spent with parents as more valuable than time spent with friends (especially among tweens). One sign of the times noted: the emergence of "online-only" friends--individuals teens have never formally met, but chat with regularly online. "What does it mean …

A new study of advertising that's designed to discourage kids from smoking suggests what many parents have suspected: Adolescents do exactly the opposite of what you tell them to do. The paper, which will be published in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health, claims that cigarette manufacturers' parent-focused ads actually increase the likelihood that teens will smoke in the future. It says the campaign offers no reasons why teens should not smoke, beyond simply being a teenager. "Theories in developmental psychology suggest that authority messages specific to teenagers invite rejection by those who have migrated …

A new ad campaign from the National Association of Realtors is attempting to battle dour headlines about the housing market with the cheery notion that "It's a great time to buy or sell a home." The $40-million campaign breaks today with full-page ads in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. TV and radio advertising will follow early next year. The ads argue that historically low interest rates, a large supply of homes on the market and the NAR's forecast of rising prices next year mean that it's an ideal time to buy a home. Many independent economists, however, …

Swedish premium car maker Volvo is introducing seven models or new versions of existing models over the next four years. The most intensive launch activity in its nearly 80-year history comes on the heels of Ford's surprise announcement in August that it expects its luxury European-car division to be unprofitable for the year. Among the vehicles on the way is the C30, a two-door compact aimed at the empty nesters and young, urban buyers who have made BMW's Mini a hit. Also coming to the U.S. next year is a sportier version of Volvo's flagship S80 sedan, equipped with …

Eukanuba, Procter & Gamble's 35-year-old specialty-store dog food, will roll out a new lineup next March that includes formulations for specific breeds of canines. Its new agency, Wieden & Kennedy, is preparing the way with a print campaign that carries the tagline "Feed the Breed." The new offerings include individualized foods for retrievers, German shepherds, dachshunds, boxers and Yorkshire terriers. The core target for the new brand proposition will be the roughly 33% of dog-owning households that are highly loyal to a particular breed, often dating back through generations of their families. "These are folks who go to dinner …

Chef Todd English and celebrity entertainer-MTV star vee-jay Susie Castillo are urging teens and tweens to create their own "kid-approved" salads in a new promotion by Fresh Express and Do Something, the national, nonprofit group that empowers young people to "change our world." The national contest and educational program--aimed at getting teens to develop healthier eating habits--kicks off today. Young people can enter the "Teens for Greens Amazing Search for Fresh Salad Recipe Challenge" at either the Do Something (www.dosomething.org) or Fresh Express (www.freshexpress.com) Web site home pages. Contest categories include the extra-personal "Signature Salad," the salad-to-end-all-salads "Silver Platter …

Ann Volkwein's "Arthur Avenue Cookbook" and bologna go together like a soup and sandwich at Mike's Deli in the Bronx. And Annie Leibovitz's "A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005" lies nestled between sweaters and skirts at a hip clothing store in SoHo. With book sales sagging--down 2.6% as of August over the same period last year--publishers are pushing their books into butcher shops, carwashes, cookware stores, and cheese shops--even chic clothing boutiques where high-end literary titles are used to amplify the elegant lifestyle they are attempting to project. The point, publishers say, is to follow customers who might not visit bookstores …

Home Depot is discontinuing two catalogs that it launched last fall in an effort to expand beyond its core brand. 10 Crescent Lane was a home-decor title targeting upscale women, while Paces Trading Company focused on high-end lighting. "As we monitored the progress of [Home Depot's] direct business, it became apparent that Homedepot.com and Home Depot Direct catalogs were drawing the most traffic," says Home Depot spokesperson Jean Osta Niemi. Merchandise featured in the defunct catalogs will continue to be sold through those outlets. HomeDepot.com receives 2.5 billion page views annually, and the company's overall direct …

Cingular is set to announce a new music service--in a first for cell phones--that will enable users to transfer music acquired from "all you can eat" subscription services, like Napster to Go, Yahoo's Y Music Unlimited or eMusic. Consumers will also be able to transfer songs ripped from CDs or downloaded in the MP3 and Windows Media formats. The service initially will support transferring music from personal computers to cell phones using a cable. Cingular is scheduled to add an over-the-air downloading component next year for compatible telephone handsets. The move, set to be announced as early …