By pairing with Valentino and other designer brands such as Hugo Boss, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana, Procter & Gamble now rivals beauty titans L'Oréal and Chanel in premium-fragrance sales around the globe. Prestige fragrance--or perfume sold in high-end retailers--is one of the fastest-growing segments of P&G's $23 billion beauty division, with annual sales of about $2.5 billion. Navigating in fickle style circles hasn't been easy for the compulsively methodical and famously process-driven consumer-products giant. The Valentino camp is more quirkier in its creativity. Despite such differences, the two have survived a learning curve that has required cultural …

Only 4% of people believe Wal-Mart's new advertising claim that it saves the average family $2,500 annually, according to a survey to be released today by Wal-Mart Watch. The study Wal-Mart uses to back that claim, in fact, doesn't say people need to shop at Wal-Mart to get the savings. It says that "the existence of Wal-Mart saves the average family $2,500 a year." Global Insight, the author of the Wal-Mart study on which the claims are based, says some of the savings are a result of rival retailers becoming more efficient and lowering their prices in …

Some food firms see a big opportunity in the low-sodium category, most notably Campbell Soup, which unveiled a major initiative to cut sodium in its soups and beverages in 2006. Between January and August 2007, Campbells' ad spend for four lower-sodium soup products was $7.13 million, versus $32,300 in 2006. Del Monte has 25 low-sodium or no-salt-added products across its portfolio. Kraft also offers several low-sodium and unsalted versions of its products, such as Reduced Sodium Triscuits and Lightly Salted Planters nuts. So far, the growth of the low-sodium foods category is modest. Datamonitor Productscan Online reports …

Hanesbrands is ramping up sales and consumer awareness of its portfolio by boosting overall media spending by 40%, increasing consumer research and celebrity endorsements and a taking a fresh approach to product. The face-lift has been taking shape since the $4.5 billion corporation was spun off from Sara Lee in September 2006. Hanesbrands is now free to groom its brand portfolio, which includes underwear, bras, casualwear and activewear for men and women bearing the Hanes, Playtex, Bali, Barely There, Wonderbra, Just My Size and Champion names, instead of relying Sara Lee to dole out budgets. Like its …

Bella Sara trading cards have pastel colors, fanciful pictures of unicorns and virtual horses to groom, along with girl-power sayings like "Use your love to bring peace to the world." Peter D. Adkison, who introduced America to Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon trading cards, hopes they will convert 6- to 12-year girls to the world of card collecting. Adkison founded Wizards of the Coast, a game-publishing company that not only made Pokémon a household name, but enabled him to acquire Dungeons & Dragons. After selling the company to Hasbro for nearly $500 million in 1999, he bought Gen …