Using euphemistic tactics in both product design and marketing, Kimberly-Clark is introducing a new product designed for children and adolescents who wet the bed at night. K-C aims to win over not only parents of the sufferers, but the children themselves. The line of boxer shorts is styled after the short pajamas many children like to wear. The boxers--sold under the GoodNites brand--act as a disguise for the diaper lining. The shorts are made of a version of the paper drapes and surgical gowns made by Kimberly-Clark's health-care division, modified to crinkle less loudly. TV ads for GoodNites highlight the …

PepsiCo's Quaker division is rolling out Quaker Simple Harvest--an instant, multigrain hot cereal--with an estimated $25 million introductory campaign that includes television, print and online advertising, events at farmers' markets and a partnership with a nonprofit organization, Farm to Table, to encourage farmers to grow natural and organic foods. The cereal--which is made from whole grain rolled oats, whole grain rolled wheat, rolled barley and whole grain rolled rye--is being marketed with the theme "Celebrate the simple." Quaker products account for about 65% of the hot-cereal category, and 90% of the category is oatmeal. There was no consideration of introducing …

Amid the many vagaries of marketing research, one thing is clear: Consumers lie. About what they want. About what they need. Sometimes they do it purposely. Most often they simply don't seem to realize what they're doing at all. A.K. Pradeep and his peers in the field of neuromarketing say they have the solution--electroencephalography, or EEG--machines that measure brain waves. Pradeep claims that for the cost of a copy test, he'll give you back a number he calls the consumer's "propensity to purchase." He gets that by placing between 64 and 128 sensors on a consumer's skull to measure the …

The nationwide launch of Simply Vera Vera Wang at Kohl's last week was low-key at best--but sources close to the retailer say sales are trending four times ahead of expectations, and claim the line is selling five times better than Chaps, which Kohl's launched in 2005. The retailer ran ads for the collection in Vogue, In Style and Cosmopolitan, trumpeted Simply Vera on its Web site, hung banners over store entrances and received plenty of editorial play, but crowds never materialized. At the Nanuet, N.Y. store, for example, only four women visited the Simply Vera display during a two-hour period …

Despite the failure of fast-food trendsetters like McDonald's to expand into pizza in the past, Subway is dishing out personal-size pizzas at about half its stores nationally, and Dunkin' Donuts is testing personal pizzas at 15 prototype stores in six states. Fast foodies find it tough to resist sticking a gooey finger in the $28.5 billion pizza industry at a time when the pie biggies--Pizza Hut, Domino's and Papa John's--have seen growth stall. "The demographic of pizza eaters is about the same as oxygen breathers," says Steve Green, publisher of PMQ's Pizza Magazine. Recent pizza growth has been in artisan, …

Campbell Soup profits for the fourth quarter trailed analysts' estimates mostly because of a 15% jump in marketing and promotions costs to improve sales of Swanson broth, Prego pasta sauces and Pepperidge Farms cookies. Rising expenses for grain, dairy and chocolate spurred the soupmaker to boost prices last year, and the company says that steeper commodity costs will bring about price increases again this year. Revenue rose 9.6% to $1.59 billion, the biggest jump in more than two-and-a-half years. Campbell was helped by an 8% increase in U.S. sales of broth and a 1% gain in Chicken Noodle and other …

In a letter on Apple's Web site, Apple CEO Steve Jobs acknowledges that the company disappointed some of its customers by chopping $200 off the price of the iPhone's 8-gigabyte model, and says he has received hundreds of e-mails complaining about the cut. Jobs said Apple will hand out $100 credits for Apple's retail and online stores to any iPhone owners who aren't eligible for a rebate under the company's refund policy. The policy covers those who shelled out up to $599 within 14 days of the cut. Analysts said Thursday that Jobs erred by initially dismissing the gripes of …

Facing broadening questions about the safety of toys sold in the U.S. as the holiday season approaches, toy makers are asking the federal government to impose mandatory safety-testing standards for all toys sold here. Acknowledging a growing crisis of public confidence caused by a series of recent recalls, the nation's largest manufacturers propose measures that would require companies to hire independent laboratories to check a certain portion of their toys, whether made in the U.S. or overseas. Leading toy companies already do such testing, but industry officials say that it has not been enough. Industry executives …

One of the biggest themes emerging this week at New York fashion shows -- which are displaying styles for next spring -- is much longer dresses and skirts, many extending to midcalf or even the ankles. And pants, which were super-skinny just this summer, are flaring out to sail-like widths this fall. Also, tent-like trapeze dresses are giving way to close-cut pencil skirts. The longer looks are a big departure from the micro-mini shifts and short, youthful baby-doll dresses that have dominated stores and runways for several seasons. Designers -- who pooh-pooh the old stock-market adage …

Pepsi today unveiled low-calorie Gatorade G2, which it says represents the first brand extension in the sports drink category. With 25 calories per eight-ounce serving, it is designed to keep athletes hydrated when they're not training or competing. All the electrolytes in the original Gatorade are also in G2, Pepsi says. In the bottled water category, Pepsi will roll out Propel Invigorating Water, which is a new vitamin-enhanced water that is mildly caffeinated and lightly flavored, with 20 calories per eight-ounce serving. It will launch in three flavors--strawberry, citrus and berry, priced at 99 cents to $1.59 for …