A U.S. District Judge in Brooklyn yesterday ordered that a doctor and lawyer return confidential marketing documents about the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa to Eli Lilly. In his decision, Judge Jack B. Weinstein also chastised a New York Times reporter for his role in the matter. The documents were submitted to support patients who claimed Eli Lilly failed to adequately warn that Zyprexa can cause diabetes and other illnesses. The plaintiffs also said Lilly promoted Zyprexa for unapproved uses. The court had ordered the documents sealed. According to yesterday's order, Times reporter Alex Berenson suggested that David Egilman, a …

Volkswagen is launching a line of high-end lifestyle products like a cashmere wrap and slip-on driving shoes in an effort to woo women to its news Eos convertible. The decidedly upscale line--created by the New York design and branding consultancy, Aruliden--also includes a silk scarf and a rather bizarre coat-cum-two-person-blanket, complete with two head holes for back-seat passengers. There are also plans to introduce in-car items, such as a shoe holder for high heels. There is a dedicated online store, the Eos Boutique, to cut back on retail or distribution expenses. The creators also hope that …

Jeff Herbert, who joined Aflac as its first CMO last October, is centralizing sales and strategic operations under its marketing department. He has also created a business-to-business marketing practice. The latter will begin outreach to corporations about its workplace disability insurance and other services. Herbert says the changes would enable the sales, product-marketing and channel-marketing groups to become more consumer- and product-focused. Publicis Groupe's The Kaplan Thaler Group--which has handled Aflac's advertising since 1999 and created the iconic duck that quacks the company name in commercials--will continue as its agency for mainstream advertising and "other projects." But Alflac …

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, a unit of DaimlerChrysler, is in early talks to merge with Vanguard Car Rental, which owns National and Alamo, in a deal that would create the third-largest rental car company in the United States. It would be smaller than Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Hertz Global Holdings, but larger than Avis Budget Group in terms of revenue. A deal could push rental car rates higher. Prices have already risen 10% to 20% in the last year, as the Detroit automakers have tried to move away from providing discounted fleet vehicles to rental car companies and focus on …

Boots, the biggest pharmacy chain in Great Britain, plans to start selling Viagra over the counter on Wednesday--a day that carries the dual designation of Valentine's Day and National Impotence Day. Under the scheme, men age 30 to 65 that want the impotence-fighting drug will have a one-hour consultation with a pharmacist, who will take their medical history and check blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels. If no medical red flags are raised, the men can buy four Viagra pills for $97. For a refill, they will have to see a private doctor. Dr. Andrew McCullough, a sexual-health …

Go-To-Market Reinvention--a program Proctor & Gamble quietly adopted following its acquisition of Gillette in 2005--is resulting in double-digit sales gains and earning plaudits from Wall Street analysts. Thomson Financial projects Procter's per-share earnings to advance by more than 14% in the year, compared with 6% for the S&P 500. Go-To-Market's goal is to sell more products. That means getting a higher number of packages to the retailer, at Mach-like speed, and then making them more desirable once on the shelf. The former means reducing theft and other forms of loss, or shrink--an area where Gillette has considerable expertise. …

Coca-Cola has reached an agreement with most of the 56 bottlers that sued the company after it began shipping Powerade sports drinks directly to Wal-Mart distribution centers. The warehouse deliveries bypassed a more than century-old franchise system, under which bottlers sell directly to retail stores in their territory after purchasing concentrate from Coke. Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, says that warehouse delivery would be used only for select products at select stores. He says the model is the best way to price products competitively, get them in front of customers in individual stores and reduce empty shelves …

In an internal report, a top Toyota executive warns that the Japanese automaker could face criticism from consumers and politicians because its U.S. sales are increasing, while Detroit's automakers are losing sales and shuttering plants. Writing that recent market-share gains brings both risks and responsibilities, Seiichi (Sean) Sudo, president of Toyota Engineering & Manufacturing in North America, also says: "Our competitors are jealous of our success." Detroit's congressional allies of GM, Ford and Chrysler say it's not jealousy. They say Japanese automakers are exploiting an artificially weak yen to make their products more affordable. With a new Democratic …

Future advertising for Trim-Spa, the weight-loss supplement company whose ads had featured the late Anna Nicole Smith, will focus on "your neighbors, friends, family members," according to Trim Spa president Tony Azzizzo. Smith died suddenly on Thursday at 39. No cause of death has been determined. In a statement issued Saturday night, TrimSpa CEO Alex Goen said that while Smith's dramatic weight loss from the product had "helped to catapult the brand," its success "is not simply the result of Anna Nicole Smith." Earlier this month, Smith and TrimSpa were named in a class-action lawsuit alleging …

Heinz--which pulled the plug on its ketchup advertising in 2004--says it will launch "one of the largest TV campaigns behind the flagship Heinz Ketchup brand since the "Anticipation" spots of the 1970s this July. Heinz, which redesigned its bottle last year, has been relying on in-store promotions. The new model bottle--in the familiar 48- and 64-oz. sizes--is shorter and fatter than the slender-shouldered shape baby boomers remember from their youth, but it fits into fridge doors more comfortably. After the Fridge Door Fit hit stores in June 2006, ketchup "consumption" went up 78% because shoppers were …