Donald Trump and Cindy Crawford are pushing their couches. And Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have a couple of chairs they want you to buy. Such boldface names are all over furniture today -- some touted at this spring's International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C. Among the first to enter the market was former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kathy Ireland, who in 1998 added furniture to the apparel, accessories and jewelry sold by Kathy Ireland Worldwide. Her collections with Standard Furniture brought in $500 million in 2003, or half of her company's annual sales. Such …

The new owner of Chrysler will have to market its way out of one of the great automaker inventory gluts of all time, as well as solve a huge positioning and branding issue -- namely, how to clearly delineate and define Chrysler's brand trio. Vic Doolan, non-executive chairman of consultant Courland Automotive Practice, says the carmaker has overlapping Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler models that compete too much with one another. Before a penny is laid out, Chrysler must better differentiate its brands, agrees John Morel, director-product and market planning at American Suzuki Motors. The Chrysler brand probably needs the …

Sponsors owning and producing their own shows--an idea dating to the beginning of TV--is getting a fresh look as marketers battle consumer ad avoidance and networks battle rising programming costs. Networks will only OK ideas they deem entertaining, and the show can't be too commercial (no "infomercials"). The marketer-network deals vary widely in cost and how the brand figures into the show, says Jon Kamen, CEO of production company @radical.media, which has worked on TV shows for Gillette, Unilever and Toyota. Gillette is producing an ABC prime-time reality series starring the group of NASCAR drivers--dubbed the "Young Guns"--who are …

Consumer group Public Citizen has asked the Food and Drug Administration to ban a two-and-a-half minute television commercial for Pfizer's Celebrex that it claims gives consumers a false impression that the prescription drug has no more safety risk than other painkillers. It was broadcast on "World News With Charles Gibson" on ABC and can also be seen on celebrex.com. The spot was the only ad during last Monday's "World News," as was a spot for Chantix--Pfizer's prescription stop-smoking drug--last night. Gibson says the new format with less advertising will be repeated on several Mondays this month. Celebrex …

Cadbury Schweppes is breaking a $50-million "Sweat smarter" marketing campaign at the end of May for its Accelerade sports drink. The ads tout Accelerade's promise of providing superior endurance for athletes, and will not feature celebrity endorsers. Thirty-five million Americans who exercise regularly are the primary targets. Acquired last year from PacificHealth Laboratories, Accelerade gives Cadbury an entry into one of the fastest-growing beverage categories. PepsiCo-owned Gatorade saw its volume grow 12.2% in 2006 and commands 82% of the category. Coca-Cola's Powerade had 11.2% volume growth but, after 15 years, has only grabbed 17.1% of the category, according …

Procter & Gamble global CMO Jim Stengel says the consolidation of marketing for its Oral-B product line with units of French holding company Publicis Groupe will be a relationship of equal partners that will work "without boundaries." He says the arrangement is a pilot that it hopes will be applied to other P&G brands in the future. The difference between this arrangement and an earlier experiment with Weiden + Kennedy on the Old Spice brand is that P&G only gave advertising and communication planning responsibilities to W + K. "That was putting two disciplines together," Stengel says. "This puts …

Denny's is running a new promotion in two markets--Austin and Syracuse--to motivate college students to visit its restaurants between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. It's offering 18- to 24-year-olds a "Pick 3" appetizer promotion for $9.99 on weekdays; visitors who show a valid student ID on Saturday nights receive a 20% discount. The company is sending out 10,000 direct-mail pieces to each market promoting its late-night menu and an exclusive online sweepstakes. Students can enter for a chance to win a $1,500 gift card for Dell and a $50 Denny's gift card. It will pick one winner from …

Commercial ratings--which will emerge in the U.S. next month and could be part of the 2008 upfront--will give TV networks a much stronger incentive to fix their business model. It rewards marketers whose ads people love, and penalizes those who produce ads that viewers hate. The reason: once networks start getting paid based on how many people actually watch the ads vs. how many watch the shows, they'll want to ensure that each spot helps hold the audience for the next. And the networks will have a strong interest in passing those incentives along to marketers. In …

After investigating an anonymous letter it received two months ago, the board of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide pressed former CEO Steven J. Heyer to explain a large number of emails and text messages to and from female employees on a variety of topics outside normal working hours. They also questioned him about his hiring and promotion practices. Heyer--who denies any impropriety--resigned last week and says he opted to forfeit an estimated $35 million of severance compensation because he was "burned out" and "wanted to walk away from this job with my head held high." Heyer--who …

American Express will break a new campaign Monday with the theme "Are you a cardmember?" The questioned is answered with demonstrations of what American Express believes are the benefits of its charge cards. The new execution replaces "My life. My card," which has been running since November 2004. The new inquisitive theme will be the centerpiece of a multimedia campaign with a budget estimated at $400 million to $500 million. The strategy is to convince consumers that there are meaningful advantages to carrying the green, gold, platinum and other colorful charge cards--even if it means paying fees not assessed …