With ice cream industry sales down in recent years--and stagnant the past decade--Baskin-Robbins will announce today a risky marketing move that it has resisted since its founding 62 years ago: It plans to sell soft-serve ice cream. The world's largest ice cream chain wants a piece of one of ice cream's few growth areas. Soft-serve sales topped $4.6 billion in 2006, up from $4.3 billion in 2005, the last years tracked by the International Dairy Foods Association. Soft serve represents 70% of all ice cream servings, says NPD Group. The soft-serve vanilla line will be Baskin-Robbins' largest product …

The pharmaceutical industry will have negative growth in 2011--the first drop in history--according to Alexis de Rosnay, global co-head of healthcare at Lehman Brothers. Indeed, drugmakers face their worst crisis in decades, as their revenues are under threat from shrinking drug pipelines, increased competition from generics and a slew of patent expiries. The industry's last big answer--up to about three or four years ago-- was to pursue large-scale mergers and acquisitions. But the mega-merger strategy has failed to create value for shareholders, and the hoped-for hothouse of new drug development never materialized. There are already some signs that companies …

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel are merging their wireless broadband units and will concentrate on rolling out a mobile network based on the emerging WiMAX standard. WiMAX promises faster download speeds than the latest networks run by cell-phone operators, and it's even seen as a potential competitor to fixed-line broadband. The new company is looking for a U.S. network deployment between 120 million and 140 million people by the end of 2010. The $14.55 billion wireless communications company will be called Clearwire. It is getting a $3.2 billion investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, giving …

Yum Brands was hoping for a brand lift from Saturday's Kentucky Derby, but instead found itself on the defensive after CEO David C. Novak stepped onto the podium following the race, grinned, and said: "What a great day for the commonwealth of Kentucky and the world. On behalf of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silver's and A&W, Yum Brands is the proud sponsor of the greatest event in the world..." By this time, bloggers, reporters and NBC itself were already telling of the collapse of Eight Belles, who was euthanized after finishing second. "I'm happy that the CEO …

Citigroup this weekend is kicking off a global ad campaign that reprises the tagline "The Citi Never Sleeps," which made its debut in 1978. In the new ads, Citi is dropping the word "The" from the tagline. Citi is engaging in the popular ad strategy of using a familiar catchphrase as a tonic during periods of economic and other uncertainty. The company has been on a cost-cutting drive, even slashing its dividend. Citi says it went to great lengths to save money on the campaign, using leftover footage from a previous shoot instead of opting for an expensive new …

Trying to build on the success of diet drinks Coke Zero and Sprite Zero, Coca-Cola's PowerAde Zero is hitting store shelves in time for the summer sports season, and tennis star Venus Williams will endorse it in print ads beginning next week. Other ads will tout its zero calories vs. Gatorade products by showing calories per 8 ounces: 50 for Gatorade, 25 for Gatorade's G2 and 10 for flavored Propel Fitness Water. Zero comes in strawberry, mixed berry and grape, artificially sweetened with sucralose and acesulfame potassium. "This is the first major brand to give hydration and electrolytes with …