Kimberly-Clark is hiring Naked, New York, to help it and its agencies identify the best communications channels it can leverage to execute specific brand programs. Naked is media-channel neutral, so it will be able to assist K-C in exploring the best channels and outlets for specific brands, says Joey Mooring, a K-C representative. Tony Palmer, CMO at K-C, says that producing marketing efforts built around TV commercials is no longer relevant in today's business environment. "It is incumbent on clients to take an active role in reshaping the model," he says in a statement. Naked is not replacing …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

More than Valentine's Day and Mother's Day combined, Christmas is the season when scents translate into cents for the $3.96-billion fragrance industry. It pulls in one-third of its annual revenue in December, says Karen Grant, a beauty industry consultant for NPD Group. Women are the big spenders, buying perfume or cologne for other women or the men in their lives. Men account for less than one-quarter of fragrance purchases, Grant says. Few scents have a more faithful following than Chanel No. 5. First introduced in 1921, it's still among the five top-selling women's scents, according to Kline & Co. …

Americans are still the world's greatest consumers--they shell out four trillion dollars a year in retail spending--but it's surprisingly hard to make a lot of money selling them stuff. Retailers are undeniably good at the tricks of their trade. So why has retailing gotten so hard? In part, it's because of imitation: When one store hits on a useful gimmick, competitors copy it. But it's the Internet that's made the biggest difference, albeit not in the ways we often think. The Internet has changed how we shop by creating informed shoppers. In the past, retailers could make …