As ground beef prices soar, fast food chains such as McDonalds, Wendy's/Arby's and Burger King are absorbing the cost but are promoting "margin friendly" menu items such as chicken and salads, Paul Ziobro reports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says prices for 90%- and 50%-lean beef are 14.4% and 31.6% higher, respectively, than last year. Wendy's, for example, is focusing on promoting a new flavor of "boneless wings" and will launch premium salads later in the summer. Burger King is readying a limited-time bone-in pork ribs entrée. The price rise comes even as the National Cattlemen's …

By maintaining the quirky persona of its brand and keeping prices low, Subaru has notched record sales and market share as other automakers have stumbled in the recession, Jeff Green and Alan Ohnsman report. It has been the fastest-growing mass-market car brand in the U.S. for the past two years and was the 11th-most popular U.S. auto brand in 2009, up from No. 19 in 2008. The automaker's marketing centers on cementing its connection to customers, who are an eco-friendly bunch who value the freedom to go where they want, when they want. They are "customers who are …

New General Motors marketing honcho Joel Ewanick is shifting creative duties for the Chevrolet account to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners only weeks after it was consolidated at Publicis, Rupal Parekh and Rich Thomaselli report, although contracts have yet to be signed. He also is reportedly talking to long-time agency Campbell-Ewald, which may garner some below-the-line work. The agencies involved referred reporters to General Motors, which said it had no statement but likely would in the coming days. Goodby Silverstein handled lead creative duties at Hyundai and Porsche North America when Ewanick ran their respective marketing departments. "[GM …

Before we proceed, check out Toyota's viral-video wannabe for its Sienna minivan, a/k/a, the "Swagger Wagon." Automotive News' West Coast editor Mark Rechtin sees the spot as mined from the same vein of "delicious irony" that has granddad Roger Daltry still belting out "hope I die before I get old." And he appreciates the whimsy of it all. "Buying a minivan is a capitulatory purchase," he writes "It is throwing in the baby wipes at adolescent behavior, a final admission of parental responsibility. Face it, you can't look cool in a crumb-cruncher collector."

Is all this talk about sustainability just a fad created by pointy- heads that eventually will join the likes of soda-tax proposals in the dustbin of impractical do-goodism? Kai Ryssdal chats with Dan Esty, a professor of environmental law at Yale Law School, who has written that sustainability is, in fact, a "mega-trend" like the IT revolution that businesses ignore it at their own peril. "A leading set of big companies are really finding this as an important element of strategy ... ," he says. "What you use in the way of resources, how much …

Economic columnist David Leonhardt takes a look at Coca-Cola and PespiCo's campaign to defeat a soda-tax proposal in Washington, D.C., with the same successful tactics it used recently in New York and Philadelphia: a heavy newspaper and radio campaign that says a tax would most hurt "hard-working, low- and middle-income families, elderly residents and those living on fixed incomes" and would destroy jobs. Whatever happens in next week's vote in the District of Columbia Council, the issue is not going to go away, Leonhardt feels. Yale researcher Kelly Brownell says the link between obesity and soda is scientifically stronger …

Hewlett-Packard reported strong sales in markets around the world yesterday, easily beating analysts' estimates in an indication that customers who were deferring purchases are opening up the purse strings, Brandon Bailey reports. Businesses are investing in new computer systems to take advantage of advances in software and cloud computing, says Frost & Sullivan analyst Ronald Gruia. His research shows that more companies will increase their tech spending in the second half of this year. CEO Mark Hurd told analysts that HP is positioning itself for future growth with its spate of acquisitions over the past few years, …

Even its most loyal customers consume only three of every 10 cups of coffee they drink in Starbucks stores, the company says, and it estimates that it holds less than 5% of the brewed-coffee market in the U.S. That's a long way from where it thinks it can be. "We have a lot of opportunity both domestically and globally," Starbucks global CMO Annie Young-Scrivner tells Emily Bryson York. "We're looking at brewed-coffee expansion and, definitely, 5% gives us room to expand." Four in five cups of coffee are consumed at home, according to NPD Group. Young-Scrivner …