Jack Neff takes a look at the whole range of Procter & Gamble's forays into the service business from Mr. Clean car washes to Tide Dry Cleaners to MDVIP, a concierge-physician service in which participating primary-care doctors cut their patient loads roughly 75%. Plus, chairman-CEO Bob McDonald sees the service mentality as extending beyond the growing franchise businesses. "We're also working on services on our existing brands, for example, where you walk up to the shelf, take a picture of the UPC code on your phone, and you can download information about the ingredients in that product, which you …

With compact disc sales continuing to plummet -- they are down almost 16% this year -- Universal Music Group has announced it will test a $10 recommended retail price for many of its CDs, Rico Gagliano reports.

No one argues with the need for consumer research, writes consultant Tom Hinkes, but marketing is not a science. It requires intuition, flair and vision.

New rules that take effect on June 22 severely restrict the way that tobacco companies can advertise and sell cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, especially to children and teenagers. Lyndsey Layton reports that the rules are the result of the broad new powers Congress granted to the Food and Drug Administration last year to regulate the ingredients in tobacco products and the way they are distributed, sold and marketed. "This is truly a historic announcement in our country's public health history," says Howard Koh, assistant secretary for health. "This is designed to prevent our children from becoming the …

The DreamWorks animation studio and Wal-Mart have forged an unprecedented merchandising partnership in which the retailer will carry more than 100 "Dragon" products and be the exclusive U.S. retailer of nearly all licensed products, excluding the DVD release, among other items. The retailer is setting up elaborate merchandise displays in 2,500 stores -- including 20-foot Viking ships -- for the movie's launch next week. It is also co-financing an ad campaign depicting a dragon swooping into Wal-Mart. "It is a different business model for both of us, and we're both going to be evaluating how it works," says Wal-Mart …

Columnist Tom Walsh finds it telling that J. Patrick Doyle, the new CEO of Domino's Pizza, spent his first days on the job last week in India, where it opened its 300th outlet, and Saudi Arabia. The future of the company's growth is overseas. "In the next three to five years, our sales outside the U.S. will surpass our sales here," says Doyle. About 55% of Domino's $5.6 billion in sales last year were in the U.S., but domestic growth will largely come from taking share from mom-and-pop stores and small chains. Doyle says that the …

Joel Ewanick, the vp of marketing for Hyundai Motor America who was widely praised for developing the "Hyundai Assurance Program," is becoming Nissan's vp of marketing with responsibilities for marketing communications, pricing and product management, Lindsay Chappell reports. Ad Age named the company its "Marketer of the Year" for 2009. The Hyundai campaign features Jeff Bridges guaranteeing customers that they can return their Hyundai without penalty if they lose their jobs. Hyundai named Chris Perry, its director of marketing and advertising and a 12-year veteran of the company, as interim head of its marketing department and …

Those leggy, if somewhat anonymous, creatures who have populated M&M advertising since the Fifties are the most beloved spokescreatures in America, according to a poll of 1,500 people by E-Poll Market Research. They garnered a 64% approval rating, hammering our personal favorites, the Geico Gecko (tied for fifth) and the Aflac Duck (seventh), who both manage to give personality to an industry that's inherently devoid of it. But we digress. Dorothy Pomerantz and Lacey Rose point out that fictional characters, such as Tony the Tiger (No. 3), come without the flaws and foibles that any real Tigers might possess. And …