Stories about Apple and Steve Jobs abound in industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger's new book, but there are also anecdotes about his firm's work for other leading brands, including Disney, Louis Vuitton, and SAP. In brief case study after brief case study, writes reviewer Reena Jana, the author convincingly builds his argument that "creative strategy offers clear benefits over the traditional supply-chain dominated approach to business." Esslinger, who co-designed Apple's original "Snow White" line of PCs among other familiar products, relocated his firm, frog, from his native Germany to California at Jobs' behest in the 1980s. His loyalty …

Earthbound Farm, the nation's largest grower of organic produce, is announcing today that it will use only 100% post-consumer plastic in all of its clamshell packaging, Bruce Horovitz reports. It will be the first national cut-salad company to make this move although giant food makers, including ConAgra and Kraft, have been experimenting with greater use of post-consumer plastics. PepsiCo's Naked Juice brand, meanwhile, is unveiling plans to do the same for its bottles. Its clear, 32-ounce plastic bottles will be out on Monday. Its other bottles will be converted in 2010, saving the equivalent of 57,000 barrels of oil …

Michael Jackson was intimately involved in brainstorming what would become more than 300 items -- from jigsaw puzzles to games for children to rhinestone dog tags -- that were to be sold in conjunction with the "This Is It" concert series at London's O2 Arena later this month, Dawn C. Chmielewski. Universal Music Group -- not Jackson's label, Sony Music Entertainment -- developed the product line and marketing plan through its merchandise division, Bravado, which is unveiling the line in a partnership with Jackson's concert promoter AEG Live. Among other ideas, Jackson insisted on going beyond the traditional …

Marketing specialists generally applaud Johnson & Johnson's quick reaction to a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel's recommendation that sweeping limits be placed on acetaminophen, the generic name of its Tylenol brand. But they warn that it has a tough road ahead in asserting that its pills are safe if taken in the recommended dosage without overstating its case, Vanessa O'Connell and Shirley S. Wang report. Just three days after the panel's report was released, J&J ran carefully worded ads in major newspapers that conveyed the idea that neither Tylenol itself, nor its marketing, were to blame for any …

In the past few months, Burger King has seemed to establish a pattern of running offensive ads in one market or another that create a media storm of criticism. It then pulls the ads with apologies, Emily Bryson York and Rupal Parekh report. The most recent offense is a campaign in Spain that depicts a Hindu goddess atop a ham sandwich with the caption: "A snack that is sacred." "While Burger King isn't new to edgy ads, the pattern of offense, advertising retractions and free media has become predictable, and more frequent," Bryson York and Parekh write. …

The economic downturn clobbered Kodak just as its plan for refocusing on digital markets was gaining traction last year; sales dropped 24% in the fourth quarter and 29% in the first quarter. It's now counting on two new products to help it return to profitability by 2011: a consumer inkjet printer and a very fast digital-inkjet printer for catalogs and direct mailers, William M. Bulkeley reports. In other upbeat news, CEO Antonio Perez says Kodak's current consumer printer is performing better than it originally expected because customers buy about eight ink cartridges a year, double the industry norm. …

Google says it is developing a personal computer operating system that will be an extension of its Chrome Web browser. It will be targeted at the rapidly growing netbook market. Google is also starting an effort to expand sales of its productivity applications like Gmail. Both efforts are aimed squarely at Microsoft, Elise Ackerman reports. But just how worried should Microsoft be about the new OS? Not that much, writes Fast Company's Kit Eaton.  "Breaking into that market is going to be hard, as the average consumer tends to think of Windows first, and sometimes Macs …

The Obama administration yesterday outlined a variety of measures to prevent the spread of salmonella, a bacterium that causes more than 1 million illnesses each year in the U.S., Jane Black and Ed O'Keefe report. They are the first steps toward overhauling food safety regulations that have been blamed for a stream of food recalls and related illnesses and were recommended by a working group created in March to emphasize prevention, enforcement and improving the government's response time to such incidents. The FDA will now require that egg producers test regularly for salmonella and buy chicks from suppliers who …