Walt Disney Co. and Payless ShoeSource will announce today that Payless will exclusively make and sell shoes featuring characters such as Disney Princesses, Winnie the Pooh and the cast from Power Rangers. It is both companies first direct-to-retail program for character footwear. Disney has been moving toward direct-to-retail deals, in which it collaborates closely with a retailer that gets an exclusive product. That is different from the traditional retail model, in which the company signs deals with licensees, which take the products to retailers. Payless, a leading retailer of kids shoes, has been shifting its strategy to …

Nokia expects to reach a global TV and Internet audience of 150 million and live audiences of 1.3 million people by hosting New Year's Eve music events in five cites this year. The festivities will begin on New Year's Eve in Hong Kong's Ocean Terminal and then travel west to Mumbai's Andheri Stadium, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro before the grand finale in New York. Each event will treat music lovers to performances from international artists, including The Black Eyed Peas and Scissor Sisters. The performances can also be viewed online at …

Analysts are watching retail turnaround artist Dawn Robertson closely to see if she can work the same magic at Old Navy, which continues to be an albatross for Gap, that she did for Myer, Australia's largest department store chain. Gap hired Robertson last month to replace Jenny Ming, who had been with Old Navy since it launched in 1994. During her tenure at Myer, Robertson integrated edgy designer labels such as Stella McCartney and Viktor & Rolf; improved store layout, making it easier to navigate; introduced the "Basement," a young-fashion area, complete with a Virgin Megastore and cafe; …

Step into a cafe, peruse a bookstore and maybe you'll hear it--a voice that appears out of nowhere: "Hey you, over here, don't turn around ... can you hear me? Do you ever think about murder? About committing the ultimate crime." It's new technology called audio spotlighting, and Court TV is the first to use it in advertising. Here's how it works: When someone walks in front of a motion sensor, a 30-second ad is triggered. The sound is directed to a very specific, limited area. Until now, the technology has only been in used by museums, like …

Blue Moon, a Belgian-style wheat beer, is one of the fastest-growing craft brews in the U.S. Craft brews are usually made by small companies, but Blue Moon's pedigree is Molson Coors Brewing Co., the third-largest brewer in the country. Molson Coors won't talk in detail about its strategy for the beer. But as the beer has become more widely known, so have some of its tactics: playing down the beer's connection to its corporate parent; avoiding TV ads; using distributors that know how to sell smaller brands; and targeting key markets and accounts. In what turned …

As its Wii gaming console sold out across the country in its debut yesterday, Nintendo unleashed a barrage of marketing that promoted the gaming system via print advertorials, tie-in sweepstakes and TV spots. "The crux of the campaign is to demonstrate how much fun Wii is to play, and that goes for every member of the family, regardless of their age or experience level," says Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing, Nintendo of America. A 60-second TV spot breaks today that shows a father mistaking the Wii remote for his TV remote control. He then becomes immersed with …

Good Housekeeping magazine is undergoing a broad-based effort to overhaul the image of its century-old brand. Its biggest selling point is years of accumulated trust, based on the Good Housekeeping Research Institute and its seal that certifies that advertisers can pass its tests. The seal was first introduced in 1909, when there was little regulatory oversight of consumer products. The phrase "of approval" is not officially part of the name, but it became part of the American vernacular. With time however, the seal's profile has ebbed. An updated version of the magazine's test lab opened last month …

Concept cars don't usually move from auto-show stage to auto lot very quickly, but Toyota's FJ Cruiser is an example of a brand following the wishes of its potential market. When the FJ was first introduced at the 2003 Chicago Auto Show, it attracted so much attention from onlookers and journalists that Toyota moved the car into production a scant six months later. The FJ Cruiser is both utilitarian and funky chic. Unlike many other compact SUVs and especially CUVs (or crossover utility vehicles), the 4x4 version is designed for true off-road driving. Conspicuously absent are any traces …

A sleek Cadillac tailored to the Chinese market is being unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show this week. It is longer and plusher than models sold in the U.S., but underneath, the car has the same chassis, engine, transmission and other key components as its counterparts in the U.S. and Europe. In effect, the Cadillac SLS is General Motors' poster model for new-car development. As GM--and other major carmakers--fight to survive in a fiercely competitive global marketplace, they are tweaking vehicles to appeal to local markets. At the same time, they are wringing costs out of manufacturing by hewing …

Just as its most famous customer--James Bond--has done in the new "Casino Royale" movie, Italian gun manufacturer Beretta has reinvented itself. Beretta, which has been making firearms since 1526, is best known for its handguns, but it has started to reshape itself from a gun maker into a luxury outdoor brand. The transformation began with the purchase in 1995 of Franchi, a gun maker that had run into difficulties. Beretta also took full control of Benelli, a high-end shotgun-maker. A series of other acquisitions in Finland, Turkey and China expanded its range of rifles and shotguns. Meanwhile, Beretta diversified, …