Pizza Hut will announce today that it plans to start delivering pasta on April 6--something no pizza chain does nationally. Its new Tuscani Pastas will come as Creamy Chicken Alfredo and Meaty Marinara. The price for the pasta is $11.95, the same as a large pizza with one topping. A serving feeds a family of six. Chief marketing officer Brian Niccol says that pasta could become as big a business as pies for the country's largest pizza chain and projects it could be 15% of business within a year. Pizza Hut pasta will be baked, not boiled, …

As part of a three-pronged assault on the U.S. market, Fiat is talking to Detroit's carmakers about sharing production of Alfa Romeos. It is also preparing to return its Iveco trucks division to the U.S. market, and to offer the pint-sized relaunched Fiat 500. Fresh from a turnaround from near-bankruptcy, the Italian industrial group plans to start North American production of Alfa cars by 2011 or 2012. CEO Sergio Marchionne says the weakness of the dollar against the euro compels European companies to manufacture here. But he expects to distribute and sell Alfas in the U.S. starting next year, …

William Bigley says he knows President Bush, owns a private jet and has seen flying saucers. He suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, but he does not want to take Eli Lilly's antipsychotic, Zyprexa, or any other drug prescribed to help him battle his demons. He told a judge in an Alaska courtroom that they were "poison." Documents being discussed in another trial in the same courthouse offered plenty of evidence that Bigley--whatever his delusions--has good reason to dislike the medicines. All anti-psychotics have side effects, and Zyprexa causes severe weight gain that can lead to diabetes, as well as …

Papa John's is pushing its pan pizza and its profile as official delivery pizza of National Collegiate Athletic Association March Madness with a Web site that invites fans to upload their best shots of tournament action to http://www.papaspanfan.com. Photographers receive e-mail confirmation that their pictures have been received, as well as an offer they can redeem online for a large Papa's Perfect Pan pizza with up to three toppings and two free 20-ounce Coca-Cola brand drinks for $12.99. The first 6,400 people who register to join Papa's Pan Fan Nation also get a shot at winning additional prizes, …

The Toy Industry Association, which represents more than 75 companies, says it won't make economical sense for its members to ship products to Washington if a bill that sets the toughest restrictions in the nation on the lead content of children's products the bill becomes law. Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the bill, and Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is expected to sign it soon. In a last-ditch effort to stop the measure, representatives of Mattel and Hasbro, the country's two biggest toy makers, met with Gregoire March 17, according to people familiar with the matter. At that meeting, and elsewhere, these …

Previous recessions have spawned the brand-management system, soap operas, modern cable networks, airline loyalty programs, the IBM personal computer, the iPod, Crest Whitestrips, Axe body spray and--for better or worse--fast-food value menus. Recessions also have been fertile ground for some retail chains. Home Depot opened its first two stores near Atlanta just before a recession in 1979. But today's marketers don't know much about marketing through recessions--or how good they have it when things feel so bad. Marketers should draw lessons from such examples of charging ahead despite recession, says Ed Rensi, former CEO of McDonald's USA …

Marketing executives say the breadth of products and services that are trying to piggyback on the 2008 presidential election is much greater than ever before, and Madison Avenue has gotten started much earlier in response to the unusually high drama of the early days of the campaign. A new ad campaign by XM Satellite Radio Holdings revolves around a mock election for the president of XM Baseball--New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter or Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. A current TV ad for Pizza Hut cobbles together clips from recent primary debates that show presidential hopefuls addressing the …

Focus group hypnosis is increasingly becoming a "secret weapon" for Fortune 500 companies and ad agencies alike, says Susan Spiegel Solovay, owner of Brandvisioning. Solovay has been hosting such groups for a decade. The former Grey executive's clients include about dozen brands including blue-chip beer, soda and telecom companies as well as 20 different agencies. A session, which consists of no more than eight people, takes two hours. The first 25 minutes are dedicated to introducing them to the process--which has nothing to do with stage tricks like quacking like a duck, Solovay points out--and getting them relaxed. …