• Ford: America's Most Surprising Consumer Electronics Company
  • In E-Book Era, You Can't Even Judge A Cover
  • P&G Execs Talk About Changing Their Approach To Success
    If Procter & Gamble continues to do what it has done to succeed in the past, it will not succeed in the future. That comes from no less an authority than president/CEO Bob McDonald in a video interview prior to P&G becoming the first corporate inductee to the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame. That's why P&G is always looking to lead change within the industry, McDonald says. The next big thing? No real surprise there: Digital. "The end-point of marketing, or at least on the journey of marketing," McDonald says, "is a one-on-one relationship with any consumer." …
  • Consumers Want Brands That Are Socially Responsible
    Transparency and corporate responsibility have become far more important to consumers, according to a recent survey by Landor Associates, Penn Schoen Berland and Burson-Marsteller. Despite the recession, 75% of consumers believe social responsibility is important, it found, and 55% say they would choose a product that supports a particular cause over similar products that don't. "[Corporate social responsibility] can be the olive branch between struggling industries and consumers in cases where consumers are experiencing the highest expectations and the biggest let-downs," Scott Osman, global director of Landor's citizenship branding practice, tells Elena Malykhina. Although the …
  • 'Pinkstinks' Fights Girls' Toys That Are Too Girly
    Twin sisters in London have started an advocacy group called Pinkstinks to call attention to girls' toys that puts them "into a pretty little box" from birth while boys toys encourage them to explore and get dirty, Beth Gardiner reports. Abi and Emma Moore, 38, are pressuring retailers to abstain from stocking traditional stereotypes. For example, they successfully pressured supermarket chain Sainsbury's to repackage a doctor Halloween costume that was labeled for boys and a nurse's outfit labeled for girls and to abstain from gender labeling in the future. The issue clearly …
  • Chicagoland Turning Into A Drive-Through Test Bed
    The Chicago area is turning into a test ground for drive-through shopping, Sandra M. Jones reports. Analysts predict that the concept will be moving into the mainstream as baby boomers age and the Internet changes the way people shop. Kmart turned a store in Joliet into a drive-through warehouse that it renamed MyGofer. Meijer has installed GroceryExpress drive-up windows at stores in St. Charles and Aurora. In Mount Prospect, a recently remodeled Walmart also has a drive-through. Shoppers are comparing prices on the Internet and shopping 24 hours a day, says Rob Fleener, vp of business …
  • Anticipating Verizon's IPhone, AT&T Beefs Up Urban Networks
    AT&T executives set up a 100-day plan in mid-December to dramatically improve its much-criticized network in major cities, sources tell Niraj Sheth, hoping to improve coverage before Verizon comes out with its own iPhone. So far, the plan seems to be falling short in meeting consumers' expectations. "They haven't fixed the network and they're going to see a huge exodus to Verizon" when it gets the iPhone, says Charter Equity Research managing director Edward Snyder. But AT&T says its past problems with the iPhone have been a learning experience that any new carriers also will have to …
  • Will Walmart, Not Whole Foods, Save Farms & Make U.S. Healthy?
  • FDA To Examine Menthol Cigarettes
  • Titleist Tops Callaway In Golf Ball Patent Ruling
    A jury in Wilmington, Del., rejected Callaway Golf's $246-million claim that Titleist had infringed its patents for golf balls because the design and construction did not represent a new concept or innovation when they were issued in 2001 and 2003, Nathan Olivarez-Giles reports. Callaway had patented the use of multiple layers of different materials inside its golf balls. Titleist said the design was an obvious approach to construction and maintained that its own design was developed independently. Callaway said it would appeal. "We are extremely pleased with the court's decision, and we hope that this finally …
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