Will Boston be to "inbound" marketing what Madison Ave. was to "outbound" marketing? That's the wistful concluding question of columnist Scott Kirsner's piece tracing the evolution of social marketing from 10 years ago when books like Permission Marketing and The Cluetrain Manifesto first appeared. "Before, you had to buy access to the consumer in some way, like purchasing a direct mail list or buying an ad in the Yellow Pages," says David Meerman Scott, author of the book The New Rules of Marketing and PR. But now companies talk directly to their customers through blogs, social networks, Twitter, and …

The United Auto Workers union would end up owning a sizable stake in Chrysler LLC under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection plan that the automaker is expected to file as early as next week, Jeffrey McCracken, John D. Stoll and Stacy Meichtry report. The deal would let it get rid of some liabilities, allowing Fiat to cherry pick which operations it wants if a deal is forged, sources say. Meanwhile, Fiat has begun talks with General Motors about joining forces in Europe and Latin America, sources say. The Italian company could wind up buying a majority stake in GM's Opel. …

Procter & Gamble's philanthropic efforts under the $100-million-a-year "Live, Learn and Thrive" program for children open up new markets for its products, create new generations of consumers and build loyalty to its brands in nations where diapers, detergent and razors are not common items, David Holthaus reports. Working with Unicef, P&G donates the cost of one tetanus vaccination for newborns in Africa for every package of Pampers purchased in the U.S. and Western Europe. The number of deaths from the disease dropped 87,000 in one year. Along with saving lives, the program is a cornerstone of a strategy to …

Thanks to two upcoming blockbusters -- a "Transformers" sequel and a GI Joe movie -- Hasbro expects overall increases in sales and earnings this year despite announcing Monday that first-quarter profit was down 47% compared with the same period last year. Hasbro has been more aggressive about transferring its properties to film than rival Mattel in recent years. "Hasbro is pursuing a strategy of finding long-term studio homes for its brands and involving top writers and directors early on in the creative process, while Mattel has taken a property-by-property approach that is far less trusting of Hollywood talent -- …

In a call with Wall Street analysts, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell sounded "downright morose," Peter Burrows reports -- the latest in a string of indications that the company is being battered by the economy, netbooks, Apple and its difficulty to crack new markets such as smartphones, TV systems, and online search and advertising. "We remain more cautious than most," Liddell said. "While we'd all like to hope that the recovery will be short and painless, we unfortunately think it will be slow and difficult." At the same time, Burrows writes, Microsoft is taking pains to deal with its …

Del Monte is breaking a $15-million "Stretch Your Dollar" ad campaign behind its canned fruits and vegetables that stresses the advantage of buying canned products over fresh or frozen products --- and value has a lot to do with it, Elaine Wong reports. But Del Monte CMO Bill Pearce also say that Del Monte wants to overcome the notion of its not being as "fresh" as frozen or store produce. "The accepted consumer belief was that [canned goods] couldn't be as good," Pearce said. "[But] as it's picked at the peak of freshness and often prepared and …

Sales of the Kindle e-book reader "have exceeded our most optimistic expectations," says Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.