The lifting of trade barriers in several countries, a weakening U.S. dollar, the spread of cocktail culture to cities such as Beijing, Moscow, and New Delhi, and a Web site that is translated into 14 languages have been jacking Jack Daniel's export sales by double digits. Brown-Forman expects to sell more than 4.8 million cases abroad next year, marking the first time since its founding in 1866 that more Old No. 7 will be poured overseas than in the U.S. The brand's marketing strategy has been the same since 1957--a consistency that is practically unheard of in advertising circles. Even …

Deborah Lloyd, Banana Republic's executive vice president of product design and development, has been named co-president and creative director of Liz Claiborne's Kate Spade label as part of its plans to expand the brand to additional product categories and more than triple its sales over the next three years. Spade will focus on correcting its core handbags, footwear and small leather goods businesses between fall 2008 and fall 2009, says Claiborne CEO William L. McComb. But he adds that Lloyd could decide to launch categories such as jewelry by fall 2009, and apparel by spring 2010. McComb says Lloyd is …

Wal-Mart Stores yesterday introduced a recycled, reusable, washable shopping sack to help reduce waste generated from plastic shopping bags. The sacks will appear in stores on the West Coast this week, and will roll through the country eastward throughout the month. Made from 85% recycled materials--including four plastic drinking bottles--the bags carry as much as two to three plastic sacks. Consumers can purchase the bags at the checkout aisle for $1 each. When they have worn thin, they can be returned for recycling. The bags are part of Wal-Mart's sustainability program, which is helping to improve its reputation as a …

Cadbury Schweppes is abandoning the sale of its U.S. drinks unit--the maker of Dr Pepper and 7-Up--and will instead list the Americas Beverages division on the New York Stock Exchange. Although the seven-month search for a buyer was derailed by collapsing credit markets, CEO Todd Stitzer hasn't ruled out a sale completely, saying that he'll pursue "whatever creates most value for shareholders." Stitzer declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that Cadbury had met with members of Hershey Co.'s controlling trust to discuss a partnership. The decision leaves Cadbury to focus on increasing sales and margins at Dairy …

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood accuses Unilever of hypocrisy for Axe advertising that it says "blatantly objectifies and degrades" women at the same time that its Dove campaign praises women and their natural beauty. It has launched a letter-writing effort on its Web site and demanded that the company pull its Axe ads. Axe's U.S. Web site says that women turn into "lust-crazed vixens" around men wearing Axe, whose fragrance "acts upon the female libido and stimulates the clothing-removal section of the female brain." Unilever shouldn't be commended for Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty" while promoting products with a …

Nobody is thinking category. Everybody is thinking brand. But the category is the iceberg, and the brand is only its tip. If the iceberg melts, the brand will, too, says marketing guru Al Ries. Big companies are busy burnishing their brands, while entrepreneurs are looking for ways to dominate new categories. The Kodak name was the tip of the film-photography iceberg. But so far, no brand--including Kodak--has managed to climb to the top of the digital-photography iceberg. Just eight years ago, Interbrand ranked Kodak as the 16th-most-valuable brand in the world, worth $14.8 billion. This year, Kodak was No. 82, …

Web sites are latching onto the concept of recommendations as a way to sell new music. One such site--iLike--has attracted more than 10 million users in just a few months. Last week, AOL introduced AIM Tunes--a plug-in for the popular AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)--that lets consumers tap into the music collections of their instant-messaging contacts, discuss music and actually listen to the songs from their library while connected. Online music-subscription services Yahoo Music, Rhapsody and Napster have offered similar features--including playlist-sharing--but only paying subscribers could hear complete songs. But even with the explosion in digital sales--unit sales are up 46% …

Nintendo will start selling its Wii Fit home fitness game in Japan in time for the critical year-end shopping season. The announcement comes just a day after Sony said it would cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by 10% in Japan and launch a new, lower-priced PS3 model, to battle Nintendo's dominance. Wii Fit will be launched in overseas markets in 2008. The new game, which goes on sale on December 1 for 8,800 yen ($75), features a pressure-sensing mat called the Wii Balance Board, which looks like a set of bathroom scales and can sense when a person …

SABMiller and Molson Coors are creating a joint venture company in the U.S. and Puerto Rico to be known as MillerCoors. It is designed to create cost savings in the U.S., where SAB is the second-biggest brewer and Molson the third. Anheuser-Busch dominates the market with a 50% share. SAB and Molson say the deal will allow it to "compete more effectively in the U.S. against large-scale brewers, both domestic and global, craft brewers, and wine and spirits producers." The tie-up with Molson will also allow SAB to continue its expansion into emerging markets. It comes less than two years …

Deborah Wahl Meyer, who left Toyota to become Chrysler's marketing chief, is looking into programs that let companies target their television advertising by ZIP code. Chrysler already targets Internet ads based on potential customers' Yahoo searches, but Wahl Meyer wants to take what the company learns to the local level so dealers can beef up their own efforts to target customers. Meyer, the daughter of a former Chrysler plant manager, also says she wants to build on Chrysler's success in winning over black and Hispanic buyers and use what the company has learned to go after younger customers. She also …