Chipotle Mexican Grill has arguably become the country's most successful fast-food chain in recent years by rejecting almost every major technique on which the industry was built. Not only does it not show the product, it doesn't advertise on television. It doesn't franchise. It has some of the highest ingredient costs in the industry. And customers wait as long as 10 minutes in lines. Chipotle founder Steve Ells opened the first Chipotle in 1993 in an attempt to put a new twist on the taquerias he visited while working as a sous chef in San Francisco. Having trained at the …

Marketers such as Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble are listening closely to what people say online as the Web continues to morph from a medium of static sites to a place where dialogue and interactivity dominate. The companies are adding positions like community manager, new media strategist or blog strategist, and are actively engaging on the Web. Behind this tidal wave of new positions in companies and consultancies is the explosion in popularity of social networking sites and online conversations opening new potential marketing opportunities to companies looking to interact with consumers. But companies have to tread carefully. Unlike …

Cultural fusion is becoming an increasingly typical demographic. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1 in 5 U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 is Latino. Garcia and Rodriguez are now among the top 10 most common surnames in the nation. At least 50,000 Latinos in the U.S. turn 18 each month, UCLA demographer Leo Estrada estimates. Media companies and advertisers are grappling with whether to reach this growing audience in Spanish or English. Most efforts to date have been focused on Spanish. But some believe that strategy misses the sweet spot because it fails to recognize that the majority of …