Brooks Brothers next month will introduce Black Fleece--a high-end collection by avant-garde designer Thom Browne--with the biggest print-ad campaign in its 189-year history. Browne is known for ankle-baring gray-flannel suits and cropped jackets--a departure for the epitome of the buttoned-down retailer. The campaign--estimated to cost $7 million--is packaged in six-to-24 page spreads that begin with traditional Brooks Brothers clothes, such as ready-to-wear suits ranging up to $1,900. It ends with two facing pages featuring models in $2,700 suits designed by Browne, with his signature fitted style. The tagline on those pages, "Style For A New Generation," is a play …

After a vigorous debate centering on drug companies' right to free speech, Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-Calif.) attempt to forbid companies from advertising directly to consumers until new drugs have been on the market for at least three years was stripped from the drug-safety bill that passed the House last week. The end of Waxman's proposal, however, may be the beginning of a new debate over drug advertising. Critics are increasingly concerned that the ads encourage consumers to demand drugs they don't need, and in the process put themselves at risk of suffering dangerous side effects. Rep. Pete …

In an era when consumers have so many choices, major consumer products companies are focusing on relating to real lives over ad glitz. Procter & Gamble marketing chief Jim Stengel, for example, has focused on increased consumer research, including "immersion" in which marketers spend hours at a time visiting, shopping, and talking with people. Delia Passi, a consultant and author who specializes in marketing to women, sees results of that thinking in such consumer products as Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s Kleenex, which has been adding decorative boxes and such features as nose-soothing aloe vera. P&G and other consumer …

Mercedes-Benz is launching its 2008 C-Class sedan with ride-and-drive event in 11 markets next month that it hopes will rope in younger buyers. Mercedes considers the C-Class a "feeder vehicle" that will help develop loyalty in the brand. Invitations to the events are being made via a direct mailing and an e-mail blast to 200,000 prospective customers. Recipients are directed to a Web site where they can register to attend the free drives. The roster of cities includes the opening Aug. 4 weekend in San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York and Washington, D.C. The invited prospect …

New Blockbuster CEO James W. Keyes says that a few of the tried-and-true strategies he developed as CEO of 7-Eleven might work well at the video rental chain: tailoring the product line to each store, relying heavily on data and automation and reducing the size of the retail footprint. Keyes hopes to make Blockbuster stores smaller on average, and to customize titles at each store based on rental patterns, much the way he says a 7-Eleven in one neighborhood might have stocked more Corona and another across town stocked more Coors Lite. A keen believer in crunching data, …

Procter & Gamble has a goal of increasing total sales by 5% to 7% annually over the next three years. As part of that mission, it is looking to tap roughly 1 billion additional consumers--most of them poor women who live in developing countries and buy their wares from mom-and-pop stores no bigger than a closet. P&G calls such locally owned bodegas, stalls and kiosks "high-frequency stores," because of the multiple times shoppers visit them during a single day or week. Though most are rudimentary--usually operating out of the owner's home--these shops are a vital route into developing …

Beginning next month, Wal-Mart stores that sell a lot of Bibles will carry a line of faith-based toys from One2believe. They target parents who wants their kids to play with a Samson action figure, not Spider-Man. About 425 Wal-Mart stores nationwide will devote two feet of toy-aisle shelf space to the products, says Melissa O'Brien, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. The toys are based on biblical stories. For example, there's a set of 3-inch figures based on Daniel in the lion's den for about $7. A 12-inch talking Jesus doll is about $15. And 14-inch Samson or Goliath action figures are …

MGA Entertainment's overtly sexy Bratz dolls will decipher complicated algebra problems with the same gusto they apply tp lip gloss when "Bratz: The Movie" is released Aug. 3. Also, they volunteer to do household chores and chirp lines like, "My mom is my hero." Despite sales of more than 150 million since their introduction in 2001, negative public perception has prevented the Bratz from blossoming into a full-scale entertainment phenomenon. Parents and child advocacy groups have long argued that the dolls--with their fishnet stockings, pouty lips and micro-mini skirts--encourage preadolescent sexuality. The four characters--Chloe, Jade, Sasha and …

People who pay more for hand-crafted cheese, bread, beer and wine are showing a willingness to do likewise for distilled spirits. Tiny Tuthilltown Spirits--which makes bourbon, rye, corn whiskey and vodka--is selling faster than it can be bottled. Owners Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee cook up whiskey that can run $40 for a half-sized bottle in a jerry-rigged still installed in a barn in Gardniner, N.Y., 70 miles north of New York City. Tuthilltown also rides the wave of the "buy local" movement. Their vodkas are made from local apples--Erenzo stresses that it's not apple-flavored vodka, but …

Responding to reports in the Sunday Times of London and The New York Times that it is putting its Volvo unit up for sale, Ford Motor Co. says that it is not negotiating with anyone to sell the Swedish automaker. Citing unnamed sources, The New York Times says Ford decided to entertain offers following a board meeting last week. "To my knowledge, we are not in negotiations with anyone about the future of Volvo," says Ford spokesman Tom Hoy. Last month, Ford said it was reviewing its position on Premier Automotive Group brands Jaguar and Land Rover, fueling …