Procter & Gamble's talking-stain ad, which made its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, sends viewers to a Tide To Go Web site--www. mytalkingstain.com--where they are greeted with games, prizes (1,000 will be given away each day) and a chance to submit their own YouTube ad spoof. The best ad submitted will be aired on primetime TV later this year. By the end of the night Sunday, mytalkingstain.com had received more than 30,000 unique visits, and more than 5,500 customized ads were created, the company says. The ad spot was also viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube.com. Visitors to …

Anheuser-Busch aired the best-liked Super Bowl ad for a record 10th-consecutive year, according to results of the Super Bowl Ad Meter real-time consumer focus group testing. Unlike many previous winners, A-B's ad didn't tickle the funny bone. It featured a Dalmatian who becomes personal trainer to a dejected draft horse eager to make the team pulling the famous Budweiser beer wagon. The other Top 10 ads: FedEx (FedEx beats giant carrier pigeons); Bridgestone (critters scream with squirrel missed by car); Doritos (giant rat goes for guy's bag of chips); Bud Light (fire-breather heats up romantic dinner); Bud …

Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Kraft Foods and Kellogg all have boosted--or at least maintained--their marketing budgets, even as they've had to implement cost controls elsewhere. And that trend looks set to continue as these giants are forced to hike prices in response to rising commodities costs--a move that will require them to continue pitching consumers on the merits of their brands. P&G and Colgate last week reported stronger-than-expected organic sales growth, at least in the U.S., along with strong earnings growth. Both said private-label market shares were flat to down in their categories. On the other hand, Kraft …

Although publishers can turn an electronic file into a printed book in a matter of weeks--as they often do for hot political titles, name-brand authors or embargoed celebrity biographies likely to be leaked to the press--they usually take a year before releasing a book. Why so long? In a word, marketing. Publishing still relies on a time-honored, time-consuming sales strategy: word of mouth. With the Internet and blogs, word of mouth travels more quickly today, but there's a glut of information. To help a book break through the static, publishers have to plan months in advance. "If it's a …

Prompted by a recent surge of prosperity in the Middle East, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are engaging in a fierce race to win the soft-drink allegiance of Arabs, especially youth. In the last few years, both have recorded more than 10% growth in annual sales in the region and executives say future prospects look promising. Though the two soda giants have been global rivals for decades, the Arab world until recently was almost exclusively Pepsi territory. For almost 25 years, Coca-Cola was boycotted in many Arab countries over its alleged support for Israel. It started selling again in the Middle …

As Ford Motor streamlines its global business around its flagship brand, General Motors is sticking to a different international marketing strategy. Rather than focus on one brand, it wants consumers to be able to choose from a fleet. Jonathan Browning, vice president for sales and marketing at G.M. Europe, says you need a portfolio of brands to reach a territory as diverse as his. Chevrolets are being marketed to entry-level car buyers, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe, Opels and Vauxhalls are for middle-market consumers with a "progressive" take on new technology. Cadillacs are popular with wealthy buyers …