Anheuser-Busch's "iconic Clydesdales loom larger than ever in the brewer's 2009 Super Bowl lineup" reports Jeremy Mullman. There are likely to be three commercials featuring them this year. All told, Anheuser-Busch's marketing brass previewed five of the seven spots that will air on Sunday, Feb. 1, in a conference call with reporters yesterday. A-B chief creative officer Bob Lachky admitted that the sale of the brewer to Belgium-based InBev earlier this year played a part in the decision to feature the workhorses. "People are looking to see what you're going to change," he said. "The best thing we can …

A-B is calling in the cavalry just in time, it appears. SABMiller PLC, the London-based brewer of Grolsch, Miller Genuine Draft and Peroni Nastro Azzurro lagers, says beer shipments fell unexpectedly in the third quarter as consumers pulled back on demand. And Copenhagen-based Carlsberg A/S is cutting 274 jobs due to a future "where we face more uncertainties and risks." Beer is "recession-resistant, not recession-proof," says Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer's Insights.

Sprint Nextel's prepaid mobile unit, Boost Mobile, is offering unlimited voice, text and Web access for $50 a month starting next week, a move that could spark a price war. The plan also has no roaming charges; rival plans do. Boost believes the new offering will be attractive to its existing customers and those of rival carriers, including the leading monthly contract providers such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T's Mobile unit and T-Mobile USA, Paul Taylor reports. "This plan is designed to be disruptive," says Matt Carter, Boost's president. "Wireless consumers know there's a lot of wrong out there …

I am always amused by the way some marketers leap off the Good Ship Advertising at the first sign of floating ice. The cigarette industry did it for years, claiming its advertising only influenced brand choice among people who already smoked. Now, Countrywide Home Loans is apparently trying to disassociate what it says it does in its advertising from what it actually does in reality by claiming that its ads are "mere commercial puffery." The mortgage company has repeatedly said in multiple venues that it is working hard to modify the mortgages of borrowers caught up in the subprime …

Eli Lilly and federal authorities say the pharmaceutical company will pay $1.4 billion for promoting Zyprexa, an antipsychotic drug, for unapproved or "off-label" uses. The amount includes a fine of $515 million -- the most ever in health care and the largest criminal fine for an individual corporation, John Russell reports. Under the settlement, no individual at Lilly will be charged with a criminal offense. Prosecutors said Lilly unlawfully promoted Zyprexa for agitation, aggression, hostility, dementia, depression and generalized sleep disorder, although the drug is approved only for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Prosecutors also said Lilly marketed Zyprexa to …

I tried to do the math on this but I haven't had time to press my morning java yet. It seems that some high-end caffeine-delivery systems are making the case that $1,000 and upwards really isn't so much to pay for a Mr. Coffee on Steroids if you add up all those $4-plus lattes at Starbucks. Bodum, which makes French-press coffee makers (including the $25 one waiting for my ministrations) and accessories like milk frothers, recently sent out a pitch saying users could save more than $1,000 a year making their coffee at home, Juliet Chung reports. Philips Electronics, …

It will consolidate business operations into two divisions. Samsung Electronics CEO Lee Yoon-woo will take on the added responsibility of overseeing a new Device Solution division combining the semiconductor and LCD businesses. The company also plans a Digital Media and Communications division to be headed by Choi Gee-sung, bringing together televisions, mobile phones and other consumer electronics.