Procter & Gamble is close to an agreement to buy Sara Lee's European air-freshener business, Jeffrey McCracken and Dana Cimilluca report, beating off a challenge by S.C. Johnson & Son for the manufacturer of Ambi Pur. London-based private-equity firm Lion Capital LLP, meanwhile, has hired Rothschild to conduct an auction of its Oregon-based Kettle Foods, sources say. Interested parties are said to include PepsiCo's Frito-Lay unit, and Snyder's of Hanover. Combe, a New York-based family-owned consumer-care products business that makes Just for Men and Grecian Formula hair-coloring products, Aqua Velva cologne, Brylcreem hair gel and Vagisil …

Jay Wang, a professor of strategic communications at the Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism at USC, tells Kai Ryssdal that a new ad campaign designed to show that Chinese manufacturing benefits everyone probably won't work in the U.S. because it's such a complex issue. But it's still worth trying, he says. "If you look at the contemporary business process, it is true that the made-in label is kind of antiquated because we engage business partners from all over the world to make a product and to sell a product," Wang says. Still, the 30-second spot …

Kroger's newest Marketplace store, which opens tomorrow in the Newport Pavilion in Cincinnati's urban core, has nearly as much general merchandise as food within its 128,000-square-foot space, Laura Baverman reports. But like all Marketplace stores, it will have expansive produce, prepared foods and meat/seafood sections -- and enough prepared food to satisfy the inner gourmand in all of us. Chefs in the Bistro section make themed meals daily such as Italian pasta or roast beef as well as made-to-order Boar's Head sandwiches. There are soup, salad and hot foods bars for taking-out or eating-in, as well …

A "deleb," according to lexspionagrapher Paul McFedries, is "a dead celebrity, particularly one used to endorse products." You might think it's derived from the also up-and-coming "delebrity," but that doesn't appear to be the case. A delebrity, evidently, is a famous fashion designer (combining designer and celebrity) of the sort that we've seen retail operations scurrying to sign in recent years. If "deleb" hasn't made it to your Twitter account yet, maybe that's because all three of McFedries' citations come from publications based in the U.K. An article by Katie Allen in The Guardian, for example, points out …

You've probably heard the broadcast reports that "Pepsi is dropping Tiger" but, as Natalie Zmuda's subhed points out, the "overexcited media" was "pouncing on weeks-old news." Move along, in other words, there's nothing to see here. "As reported last month, we decided several months ago to discontinue Gatorade Tiger Focus," Pepsi says in a statement, "along with some other products to make room for our planned series of innovative products in 2010." Introduced in March 2008, Tiger Focus purportedly enhanced mental focus and included 25% more electrolytes than Gatorade Thirst Quencher. Beverage Digest's John Sicher tells …

The California Milk Advisory Board has developed 15 "mini-documentaries" profiling dairy families throughout California to help sell its milk products, Patricia Odell reports.

Martha Stewart Living branded paint, a palette of 280 interior and exterior colors created by the décor maven and her Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia design team, will be sold at Home Depot come March in four interior and two exterior sheens. "Partnering with Martha Stewart on a new brand of paint allows us to continue our efforts in enabling our customers to easily coordinate decor and design elements when taking on home improvement projects, all while staying true to our commitment to value and everyday low price," says Gordy Erickson, Home Depot's svp of merchandising, décor. …