Starbucks shaved a nickel or dime from simple drinks like 12-ounce lattes in certain markets yesterday but the price for some larger and more complicated beverages is increasing by as much as 30 cents, reports Melissa Allison in her "Coffee City" blog. It's part of a readjustment that will roll out nationwide over the next few months, according to spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil. When Starbucks last raised prices in the U.S. -- in July 2007 -- store traffic dropped, a trend that has continued. Starbucks management has blamed the prevailing economic conditions. O'Neil says the changes reflect geographic and …

A Bud Light "Fan Can" promotion that features beer cans dressed in local colleges' team colors is rolling out this month in retail outlets surrounding campuses around the country, reports John Hechinger. There are currently 27 different color combinations. Internal marketing materials say: "Show your true colors with Bud Light" and "This year, only Bud Light is delivering superior drinkability in 12-ounce cans that were made for gameday." Samuel L. Stanley, a medical doctor who is president of Stony Brook University in New York, calls the campaign "categorically unacceptable" in a letter to A-B. Alcohol-related deaths among college …

A study by the Journal of the American Medical Association says that professional medical associations' advocacy for the cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, has closely resembled the marketing campaign by Merck, Joel Rose reports. "The cliché is true," says the study's co-author, David Rothman, who teaches at Columbia. "The piper calls the tune."

A real estate developer observing Steve McCallion's brand strategy firm at work trying to create a narrative for a new residential community turned to him after a meeting and said, "I finally understand what you guys do. You orchestrate the obvious." McCallion writes that he was taken aback until he shifted his attention away from "the obvious" and to the "orchestration." "In an orchestration it's the collection of things that create value, not necessarily the things themselves," he writes. Too many companies look for silver bullet product concept that they can patent and protect. But, he says, the silver …

Wal-Mart isn't limiting its private label relaunch and product reformulation to the Great Value brand, says Andrea Thomas, the retailer's svp of private label brands. Thomas says the Great Value brand is the largest consumer packaged goods brand in the U.S. and "is every bit as big, sometimes even bigger" than national labels such as Coca-Cola, Tide, Cheerios, Ocean Spray and Starkist Tuna. But Great Value isn't its only private label. Wal-Mart recently introduced the new packaging for its Ol' Roy dog food, and expects to develop other private label products, Lana F. Flowers reports. Simple packaging helps …

Hiawatha Bray praised Kodak's new Zi8 pocket video camera in a review last week but she also referred to the droid-like name as "dreadful" and "lame." She apparently was not alone, she informs us this week. "We've heard a lot of feedback about our pocket video cameras. People love them, but hate the names," says Kodak CMO Jeff Hayzlett. So, after reading Bray's story, the marketing team decided to "ask the public what they'd like to see." A contest is aborn! And consultancy fees are avoided! You can make your suggestion …

Less than two weeks ago, General Motors announced plans for a compact crossover Buick in 2011 that would come with hybrid plug-in technology. Yesterday, responding to the negative reactions of a few dozen consumers, analysts and journalists to the design of a prototype they saw, the automaker killed it, Tim Higgins reports. You'll recall that one "sales and marketing guy obsessed with cars" named Joel Feder, tweeted that the unnamed vehicle was "hideous." "We were all struck by the consistency of the criticism of the compact crossover," blogs Tom Stephens, GM's …