George Clooney's character in the soon-to-arrive "Up in the Air" is a corporate-executioner-for-hire who tries to accrue 10 million frequent-flier miles in American Airlines' Advantage program. And while Clooney is clearly the star, the airline gets lots of "friendly" screen time in the marketing partnership, Hugo Martin reports. The Walter Kirn novel that writer/director Jason Reitman's script is based on had Clooney's character flying on a fictional Great West Airlines. But Reitman wanted to use a real airline. "American was represented by Rogers & Cowan, and we've worked with them on many clients," said LeeAnne …

Since Bill Pearce became the first CMO at Del Monte Foods in May 2008, the company has unveiled eye-catching ad campaigns such as the "nude fruit"-themed "Fruit Undressed" and has increased ad spending by 11% in its latest quarter. In a Q&A, Elaine Wong asks the former Taco Bell marketing chief to assess his progress in reinvigorating Del Monte with more "consumer-centric marketing" and his pursuit of "top-tier growth," "top-tier share" and "top-tier job satisfaction." He gives himself a pretty favorable review, not surprisingly, with a particular nod toward building out the company's marketing organization. "I think people …

Jack Neff reports that the recent Association of National Advertisers meeting in Phoenix "was a veritable parade of companies crediting a renewed focus on corporate or brand missions with turnaround or continuing success." At Procter & Gamble, they are touching and improving more lives more completely. At Unilever, they are helping consumers look good, feel good and get more out of life; it also has a e-mail and web relationship program called "Making Life Better." Wal-Mart credits much of its brand turnaround to distilling a Sam Walton maxim into the tagline "Save money. Live better." And General Mills …

Unilever expects the first results from its Genesis projects -- a code name for scientific breakthroughs usable across the company's product lines -- to trigger new products next year, its chief innovation officer Genevieve Berger tells Jeroen Molenaar. "We'll start with personal care and have a clear road map of applications in other categories," says Berger. She claims the products will be "big wins" but declines to go into any details. Innovation is widely seen as a missing ingredient at Unilever in recent years but has been a priority under new CEO Paul Polman. "Compared to marketing …