They are calling it "Kashi" -- as in "go lean" -- and, indeed, one inside source tells Todd C. Frankel that as many as 450 jobs, mostly held by white-collar managers, will be cut. But Anheuser-Busch is spinning the overhaul of its U.S. sales and marketing team in a more positive light: as a way for the InBev subsidiary to strike closer relationships with both distributors and consumers. Even as it trims overall staff, A-B will increase it sales regions from five to eight with new offices in St. Louis, Denver and Charlotte. There will be renewed emphasis …

The ad campaign for 18 brands that Procter & Gamble has rolled out during the Winter Olympics is the company's largest corporate-marketing event ever, Jack Neff reports, but it has been a decade in the making. Neff talks with the executive leading the effort, global brand-building officer Marc Pritchard, about how the Olympic campaign came together (with due credit to Olympic CMO Lisa Baird, agency Wieden & Kennedy, and P&G chairman-CEO Bob McDonald) and why it makes sense (76% of American households watch the Olympics and it is the No. 1 sport of interest among women). "People like to …

Builders across the country are targeting the 55-plus homebuyer, anticipating that buyers in this cohort will make almost 270,000 purchases by next year. More than 60% of 55-plus homeowners -- 85 million people strong -- say they want to stay put, but the rest are at least interested in alternatives, Steve Brown reports. "We believe this segment of the market is going to lead the housing industry toward recovery as the market turns around," says Sharon Dworkin Bell, a senior staff vp of the National Association of Home Builders. More than 75% …

Toyota was restrained when its American rivals got into financial trouble last year, points out Toyota Division vp Bob Carter. Bradford Wernle reports that he's disappointed that certain competitors -- whom he will not name -- are currently, in effect, kicking the Japanese automaker while it's down. "I could have done conquest marketing but chose not to," Carter says. General Motor, Ford and Chrysler Group have all offered incentives to Toyota customers during its accelerator pedal recall crisis. Carter also takes a jab at media coverage while admitting that the company's problems were of its own …

Renee Richardson Gosline writes that after more than two years of researching the high-end accessories counterfeiting game, she thinks the likes of Chanel, Gucci, Coach and Cartier are taking a myopic view of the situation. Where they see rip-off, she sees a certain symbiosis. "The designer brand makers may not understand it, but phony bags are potentially a potent sampling tool," writes Richardson Gosline. Her research was conducted at purse parties where fellow upper-middle-class suburban women share feedback about fake merchandise. Most, priding themselves on their sense of priorities, initially said they had no intentions of spending the …

At Day Two of the American International Toy Fair in New York, Andrea Chang got a chance to check out some of the stuff that may sit under Christmas trees 10 months from now, from Fisher-Price's iPod Touch-like electronic toy for preschoolers called the iXL to a new version of Monopoly that has a circular board and fake credit cards. Buyers are struggling to find the right inventory for what promises to be another nail-biting holiday season. "You're always guessing, and you're guessing eight months out," says Eddie Moore, a site editor and buyer for Amazon. "You're looking …