The American Association of Advertising Agencies Media Conference and Tradeshow (March), followed by its Leadership (April) and Account Planning (July) conferences, will run as usual, if a bit subdued, Max Lakin reports. Similarly, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's two-day program (May), which is being billed as a recession-relevant exercise, is "full-steam ahead," says Tarah Remington, the group's member-relations director. But it will be "pretty bare-bones," she says, without even an opening reception unless it's completely sponsored. The Association of National Advertisers says it will opt for more Webinars and call-in models for its conferences. Its Integrated Marketing …

Liz Claiborne, whose brands include Mexx, Juicy Couture and Kate Spade, is turning over its global sourcing to Hong Kong-based Li & Fung, which already handles supply chain management for brands including American Eagle, Tommy Hilfiger, and Kohl's, Jonathan Birchall reports. "I do think this will be seen as a bellwether, because we were the first ones out, and we stood by a model of owning and managing the sourcing on our own," says Bill McComb, CEO of Liz Claiborne. He characterizes the change to underlying shifts in the global supply chain since the end of the old GATT …

Akio Toyoda, Toyota's incoming president, has strongly signaled that he is abandoning kakushin -- or "revolutionary change" -- the term used by current president Katsuaki Watanabe to describe the way Toyota designs its cars and factories. It spawned technological advances, but led to cars that were often costlier to produce, Norihiko Shirouzu and John Murphy report. Toyoda is also working to fix a pricing strategy that put the company at odds with some U.S. dealers, who felt its cars were getting too expensive, sources say. Toyoda blames more than the recession for its current woes, and is sending the message …

This may not be what Akio Toyoda has in mind in terms of "getting out," but with strains of Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" ("everybody must get stoned") playing in the background, 1010 WINS news radio's Alice Stockton-Rossini asked listeners in the New York metro area this morning if they'd "gotten sloshed in [their] Snuggie" and suggested that they "Get up. Get out. Get hammered and still stay warm." My wife wasn't sure if it was a news report or and ad for Snuggies. https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next In fact, it all seems to be part of an …

President Barack Obama will appoint Federal Trade Commission member Jon Leibowitz to serve as the federal agency's chairman, Ira Teinowitz reports, which could signal a more aggressive stance and enforcement by the agency regarding online privacy and behavioral marketing. "Industry needs to do a better job of meaningful, rigorous self-regulation or it will certainly invite legislation by Congress and a more regulatory approach by our commission," Leibowitz wrote last week in a concurring statement to an FTC behavioral-privacy report. Leibowitz has also pushed the FTC to be more aggressive in taking on pharmaceutical company deals that delay consumers getting …

Apparently there is a limit to what airlines can tack on an extra fee for -- at least if no one else does it. Saying the policy has become a competitive disadvantage, US Airways Group is dropping the fees it charged for sodas, coffee and bottled water. The change is a retreat from the airline's "à la carte" pricing in which passengers pay more for any services beyond the basic fare. US Airways has said it expects to reap as much as $500 million this year from the fees, Mary Schlangenstein reports, including extra costs for select seats and …

A new survey from the CMO Council of 406 marketing executives finds that corporate politics, siloed data, poor adoption of customer relationship management systems, lack of top management support and not having ownership of profit and loss responsibilities are the chief vexers of marketing chiefs, Andrew McMains. "Calibrate How You Operate" suggests that such internal obstacles are distracting marketers from the core task of distinguishing their brands from those of their competitors. And they may partly explain CMO's short tenures compared to CEOs. CMOs are getting sidetracked by day-to-day tactical efforts or "random acts of marketing," and aren't …