The news leaked last week, but that didn't stop 125 journalists, business analysts and representatives from stores that might carry Starbucks' new instant coffee brand, Via, from attending CEO Howard Schultz' press conference in New York yesterday, C.J. Hughes reports. Schultz' remarks focused mostly on instant coffee's market potential. Both Costco and Target will carry Via in the spring, he says, and all of Starbucks' 26,000 stores worldwide will sell it by the fall. Three-packet boxes of Via will cost $2.95, or about $1 for an eight-ounce cup. "Everything about this coffee stands up to the …

Following a dispute with the company's bondholders, TV star and real estate mogul Donald Trump resigned from the board of the debt-laden Trump Entertainment Resorts last week, but he continues to own a stake of about 28%. Now he's trying to protect the value of the Trump brand name. "I'm not involved and I'm not on the board," says The Donald who, according to his NBC biography, is the "very definition of the American success story, continually setting the standards of excellence while expanding his interests in real estate, gaming, sports, and entertainment."

Environmental and health activists want lists and research results from such firms as Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive.

Many sites have been offering video music lessons, but Apple's high profile -- and heavy promotion of the video lessons within its 250 retail stores -- brings the idea of learning music online to higher prominence, writes Jefferson Graham.

Two themes emerged during this morning's perusal of marketing news on the net: some old brands are undergoing makeovers and some old brands are undergoing siege. First, the revivals. Procter & Gamble has divined that we're not quite as fastidious about spilled juice as we once were -- or if we are, we aren't in danger of spiraling into depression at the first sign of a tumbler tumbling. So, writes Ellen Bryon, "the quicker picker-upper is getting a pick-me-up.... In a new ad campaign for Bounty paper towels, when a volcano science project creates a mess, 'mom' …

The heyday of Finesse shampoos, conditioners, hairsprays and other products was the 1980s, when Unilever owned it. Now it's a bargain brand ideally suited to take advantage of the New Frugality. Trouble was, packaging costs were anything but frugal. Lornamead, which acquired the brand in 2006, decided to simplify the brand's icon -- which resembled a pinwheel in motion -- last year. The complex symbol conveyed how Finesse's products adapt to create "consistently beautiful hair," Becky Ebenkamp reports. As many as eight colors were used to create one icon and three different printing processes were needed to create the …

On Feb. 1, four months after it merged with Delta, Northwest Airlines began handing out peanuts, as Delta has been doing for years. News of the change resulted in a flood of negative comments on the Web site of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, where Northwest is based. "This is a very disappointing development," wrote one man who responded to the story. "My wife's allergy is so severe that if someone is sitting next to her and eating peanuts, the odor is enough to trigger an allergic reaction." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is taking on McDonald's for the way its suppliers kill chickens. The conventional way to slaughter chickens in the U.S. is to knock them unconscious with a jolt of electricity and then cut their throats, Mike Hughlett reports. PETA says it's more humane to gas the chickens, as is done to some extent in Europe. The campaign got underway Monday at McDonald's River North, Ill., restaurant. The protest featured Chrissie Hynde, of Pretenders fame, and about 20 other members of the advocacy group. They urged a boycott of McDonald's, …

Foster's, the Australian drinks group, has decided to hold onto its struggling wine business after a lengthy review, but it will separate it from its core beer operations. CEO Ian Johnston says retaining wine is not a "second best option" although he says a lot of hard work is needed to get the business to improve. He says the business has suffered from poor execution in the Americas and the abandoned "multi-beverage" model, where sales of different beverages were combined under one sales and marketing team. "We have confessed it has underperformed our expectations," Johnson says. "But this …