New advertising for Curves International--dubbed "The Body Campaign"--will celebrate women rather than focus on weight loss. The effort, featuring a "Your Curves will amaze you" tagline, breaks Monday. To better understand their audience (women, age 44-plus), Curves and agency Publicis Mid America, Dallas, conducted research that included the use of proprietary tools, such as Heart2Hearts, which are at-home talks with women, and Buzz Blast, which allowed them to monitor online conversations with technology originally developed for the military. "We monitored the online conversations so we could find out how women talked about Curves in a natural environment," says …

Prof. Ryuta Kawashima, who helped develop Nintendo's "Brain Age" games, is teaming with Toyota to develop cars that help seniors drive safely. Among technologies on the table is one that can determine a driver's driving patterns and curb any dangerous activity, such as slowing the car if it senses the driver is hitting the gas pedal for no reason. "We envision future cars will be able to monitor brain and emotional activity to back up elderly drivers," says Kawashima, a Tohoku University scientist. Other developments could involve a navigation system and temperature controls that help drivers stay alert, he …

The Child Study Center at New York University is pulling a 2-week-old pro-bono campaign created by BBDO that used the device of ransom notes to deliver ominous messages concerning disorders like autism, depression, bulimia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The note about autism, for example, reads: "We have your son. We will make sure he will no longer be able to care for himself or interact socially as long as he lives." Advocates for children with autism and for other special-needs children say the ads reinforce negative stereotypes. Dr. Harold Koplewicz, the Child Study Center's founder and director, says …

Honda plans to invest aggressively in research for hybrids and other new technology in Japan, says Takeo Fukui, president of Japan's No. 2 automaker. It will introduce a new hybrid model--which runs on gas and electricity--with an affordable price tag in 2009, targeting sales of 200,000 vehicles a year. Hybrid sales will make up about 10% of the automaker's sales by about 2010, Fukui says. Honda will invest about $425 million in a new research center in Japan to focus on next-generation cars, including hybrids and fuel cells, Fukui says. The center will be partially running by 2009, …

With one weekend left before Christmas, the toy industry finds itself competing with the resurging popularity of entertainment systems from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft along with recently released videogame titles. Then add Apple's iPhone to the picture. It all adds up to the toy industry's ongoing struggle against "age compression," the phenomenon of young children reaching for items used by older kids or even adults. These days, kids are grabbing for more adult experiences at ever younger ages, making it ever harder for traditional toys to capture children's imagination. According to market-research firm NPD Funworld, children begin …

The United States consumer products division of L'Oréal is starting an online campaign that sends up the concept of sponsors insinuating products into television shows, movies and video games. The campaign, which introduces a line of hair-care products called Garnier Fructis Style Bold It, includes a Web site, video clips and a blog. The target is men ages 18 to 34. The campaign for hair gel is presented to consumers as if Garnier executives had made a branded entertainment agreement with "a low-rent, three-letter broadcast network named after an animal," as one blog post describes it. The deal …

As part of the exclusive deal with MTV Games, Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer will set up a videogames incubation studio in Santa Monica, Calif., to create and develop titles. A videogame enthusiast, Bruckheimer says he wants to bring a "new look" to videogames in the same way he did to TV with his series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." He also produced "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Black Hawk Down" and other blockbusters. The collaboration is part of a growing effort by MTV parent Viacom to participate in the fast-growing videogame business. Viacom last year acquired Harmonix--the company behind "Rock Band"--and …