Southwest Airline CEO Gary Kelly says that "it feels like our business is picking up some," and he believes that the carrier has weathered the recession without resorting to some of the add-on charges that most other carriers have instituted (although it has added pet and early-boarding fees). In a new TV commercial, Southwest ramp workers point to bags that fly free on the airline. But while it's a reminder to customers that Southwest does not charge for the first two checked bags, writes Andrea Ahles, shareholders may see a lost revenue opportunity. "I don't agree with Wall …

New Balance Lifestyle has launched a campaign around a limited release of the company's 574 Clips running shoe that includes a Polaroid in each of the 480 pairs of shoes with a five-digit code on the back that buyers can use to "claim" their shoe online, Todd Wasserman reports. Each pair of 574s is composed of leftover clippings from New Balance's Lawrence, Mass., factory. The goal is to create positive buzz among sneaker bloggers or "sneakerheads," as they are known. "They're vastly important for us because of the influence they have over the broader marketplace," says Taylor Duffy, integrated …

Jeremy Mullman reports that Pabst Blue Ribbon's sales have grown at the phenomenal rate of 25% this year, according to Information Resources Inc., even though it didn't spend a nickel on measured media in the first six months of the year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. So what's behind the boost? Mullman asked around, and it seems that PBR is benefiting from the after-taste of a highly effective word-of-mouth campaign from five years ago that made the brand an "'ironic downscale chic' choice for bike messengers and other younger drinkers." Sales surged by nearly 17% in 2004 and have …

Dr. Barry Popkin, co-author of a widely quoted study that noted the parallel between obesity and the rise in high fructose corn syrup consumption, tells Caroline Scott-Thomas that he should not have singled out the sweetener as the villain du jour. The result has been that consumers are shunning it and manufacturers are, in turn, removing it from products, often to replace it with sugar. Popkin says he was just putting forward a theory that was intended to instigate further research. "We showed later that fructose from sugar has the same effect," he tells Scott-Thomas. "We were …

Toyota will attempt to revitalize sales in the North American market by mounting a $1 billion marketing blitz in the fourth quarter -- a 30% to 40% bump in its usual spending, sources tell Kate Linebaugh. It also plans to expand its line of Prius gas-electric hybrids and will market it as a subbrand within the Toyota brand, according to dealers attending a meeting with Toyota President Akio Toyoda and his top U.S. lieutenant in Las Vegas. The Prius name is "an industry leader and has got such great brand recognition," says Peter DeLongchamps, a vp at Group 1 Automotive …

Spin Master products such as the magnetic action figures known as Bakugan Battle Brawlers and the Air Hogs line of model planes can be found in the bedrooms of just about any boy under 10, writes Christopher Palmeri. But the company is truly treading dangerous waters with a new doll collection -- dubbed "Liv" -- that's targeted to girls aged 6 to 10. "The odds are against any new product succeeding," Needham & Co. analyst Sean McGowan says bluntly. The founders of Spin Masters are three guys who met at the University of Western Ontario in the 1990s. …

Faberge has established a Web site where shoppers interested in --oh, say a $7 million dollar brooch -- can zoom in the way that they might using a jeweler's loop in a retail environment to pretend that they know what they're looking for. The company expects to close the seven-figure deals by dispatching sales representatives bearing real gems to clients' homes. The storied brand started taking orders over the Internet last week, Keith Campbell reports. Suffice it to say that it is not a hard-sell site. It does invite visitors to have a brief phone conversation …

Kevin Randall, who is director of brand strategy and research at Movéo Integrated Branding, does a tidy job of summing up the state of neuromarketing research -- "the practice of using technology to measure brain activity in consumer subjects in order to inform the development of products and communications" -- in his blog. In other words, neuromarketing research presumably removes the subjectivity and ambiguity of other forms of market research such as focus groups. While acknowledging that there's a bit of a "wild west" aura around the young field, he suggests that Nielsen's investment in NeuroFocus brings additional credibility …