After a tumultuous year of experimentation, abrupt reversals and admissions of missteps, Wal-Mart Stores has a new -- and so far internal -- definition of what it stands for: "Saving people money so they can live better lives." The rallying cry will soon become a public strategy, evident on the shelves of its 4,000 stores and in nationwide ads. After a year of intense research, the discount giant now sees its 200 million customers as belonging to three groups. There are "brand aspirationals" (people with low incomes who are obsessed with names like KitchenAid), "price-sensitive affluents" (wealthier shoppers …

Procter & Gamble' CMO says that brands today need to be authentic, trustworthy and generous in the midst of a major cultural shift. As a result, P&G is turning into a starter of conversations and a solver of consumers' problems, rather than a one-way communicator, he says. Addressing a 4As Media Conference and Trade Show audience in Las Vegas yesterday, Stengel's keynote opened with his Second Life avatar visiting the virtual Leo Burnett, the marketer's real-world ad agency. There were plenty of references for the need to understand such two-way, community-oriented technologies. Stengel noted that his travels to Korea …

General Motors oft-maligned trucks were largely responsible for a 3.7% overall rise in February sales over a year ago, despite a flat U.S. market and disappointing results at rivals Ford and Chrysler Group. GM truck sales rose nearly 8% for the month, even while industry-wide Autodata Corp. reports that light truck sales grew just 0.2%. Excluding GM, light truck sales fell 2.5%. GM did better than anyone expected," says Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. Analysts say the truck market, long the bread and butter of American automakers, will continue to be squeezed by …

Absolut vodka -- the world's No. 3 premium spirit -- is about to be offered for sale by the Swedish government after 90 years in state hands. Absolut's parent company -- V&S Vin and Spirit -- is expected to have a price tag of $5.7 billion, following parliamentary approval for the sale Friday. The sale of V&S is sensitive, since the company founded in 1917 has been closely linked with the state's efforts to control alcohol consumption in Sweden. Critics say rushing to find buyers for V&S could leave the liquor maker in the hands of a profit-hungry company …

Trying to improve interaction between its characters and YouTube-watching, Nintendo Wii-playing guests, Walt Disney Imagineering this week debuted its latest creation: free-roaming, interacting audio-animatronic Muppets capable of "seeing" and "talking" to tourists. In their first appearances at Disney's California Adventure, bumbling scientist Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his meep-meeping sidekick Beaker joked and chatted with guests. The Muppets could see the color of the clothes the kids wore and the lollipops they licked -- casting a slight Big Brother vibe over the proceedings. Never wanting to divulge their secrets, Imagineers waved it off as "Disney magic" and "pixie dust." …

For contemporaneous coverage, comments and observations of the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Media Conference & Trade Show in Las Vegas this week, periodically click on this special edition of MediaPost Raw.

McDonald's president and COO Ralph Alvarez says that the company is seeking "destination beverages" to bring new customers to its restaurants and may add smoothies, iced coffee and other specialty coffees to the menu. McDonald's already has scored a hit beverage recently with the addition of premium coffee to its more than 13,700 U.S. restaurants a year ago. Alvarez says coffee unit volume is up 15% as a result. The introduction of a higher-priced coffee was part of the Oak Brook, Ill.-based chain's push to grow its breakfast business. The company is also planning a rollout of …

The elimination of trans fat is not the only innovation coming out of the oven with this year's batch of Girl Scout cookies. Although Thin Mints, Samoas and other stalwarts remain the same, there are cookie academies and colleges, as well as more intense sessions in marketing and business skills for girls 11 and over. Kicking off the selling season, a Kentucky Scout group last month held a five-hour cookie college in three cities, with 10 classes in marketing, money management, goal setting and the etiquette of approaching customers. In January, 600 Girl Scouts attended a one-day cookie college …

Red Bull has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a Rochester, N.Y., bar owner is passing off Mac Croc energy drink as Red Bull to customers who order such drinks as an "Eyeopener" (vodka and Red Bull) or a "VCR" (vodka, cranberry juice and Red Bull) in several taverns he owns. Red Bull claims the practice -- called "passing off" in the restaurant trade -- hurts its trademark, deceives the public and creates unfair competition by allowing the bars to profit by substituting a lower-priced product. Red Bull can cost $2 or more a can; Mad Croc can …

North American TV ads in which a nerdy PC guy keeps getting trumped by his hip Mac counterpart have been re-shot and re-scripted for the United Kingdom and Japan, both important markets and home to unique advertising and comedy cultures. In Japanese culture -- where direct-comparison ads have long been frowned upon -- it's rude to brag about one's strengths. So for Japanese versions of the ads, two local comedians made subtle changes to emphasize that Macs and PCs are not that different. Instead of clothes that cast PC as a nerd and Mac as a hipster, PC …