The Saab Automobile division of General Motors filed for creditor protection this morning after both the Swedish government and GM refuse its request for additional funding, Steve Goldstein reports. "Pending court approval, the reorganization will be executed over a three-month period and will require independent funding to succeed," it said. It will continue to operate as usual in the meantime. Saab's plight has put Sweden's center-right government in a tight spot, write John Reed and Robert Anderson in the Financial Times. Saab employs 4,100 people in Sweden, and an estimated 15,000 domestic jobs would be at risk …

"The power of the brand remains persuasive," writes Carol Lewis. "Coca-Cola, Lego, Hoover, Oxo and Google have all seeped into everyday vocabulary." Oxo? Well, if you lived in Great Britain, you'd get the reference. The Marketing Society there has named it the top brand of 1983, when the Oxo family -- which was to become one of Britain's most popular "soap operas" in a series of 42 ads over 16 years -- was introduced. Now the Marketing Society is asking its members and readers of The Times to vote on their "most loved brand" from the ones it has …

Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley reasserted yesterday that his company does not plan to cut prices despite pressure from retailers to do so, Ellen Bryon and Anjali Cordeiro report. "We are not after mindless share and volume growth at any cost," Lafley said, adding that most P&G brands are maintaining or expanding their market share, even while being "nicked" by competition from lower-priced private-label goods. Other CEOs speaking at a conference at Boca Raton also defended their higher prices. "We haven't had any gunfights with retailers," said Clorox CEO Don Knauss. "They weren't easy conversations but everyone accepted …

Amidst all the gloom about stock prices reeling and shelf prices ratcheting, Jeremy Mullman has found a novel marketing story about the Minneapolis Police Department, which is cleaning up its image in an effort to improve minority recruiting. The effort by Kazoo Branding, a local firm, has turned into a brand makeover, in fact, replete with a new slogan ("Be looked up to") and redesigned squad cars. When rank-and-file cops got wind of a new emphasis on "compassion" in department communications, a fairly rough pushback ensued, Mullman reports, particularly among the "grizzled veterans." "I'm used to dealing with …

Roy Colton, 67, and Harry Bernard, 78 -- whose fashion and retail consultancy clients included Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, Fruit of the Loom, VF, Levi Strauss, Gap, Ocean Pacific and Perry Ellis -- committed double suicide on Feb. 7. Their bodies were found in the San Francisco apartment they shared. They had been life partners for 43 years, as well as business partners. Friends and colleagues say the two may have been planning the suicide for some time because of health issues, Lisa Lockwood and David Moin report. Operations of the company have ceased, according to

By cutting Saturn, Pontiac, Saab and Hummer from its roster, General Motors risks a further slide in its eroding market share, write Kate Linebaugh and Neal E. Boudette, since drivers of those nameplates have little interest in getting behind the wheel of a Chevy, Caddy, Buick or GM truck. In January, GM had U.S. market share of 19.5%. Without Saturn, Pontiac, Saab and Hummer, its share would have been 16.9% -- a percentage point less than Toyota's. GMs plans represent a major shift in thinking. Part of the formula that enabled it to remain the world's largest auto …