The telecom's "$5 add a line" campaign is now a family affair with hoops legends Walton and Barry and their respective sons (who show their dads little respect) joining Charles Barkley.

Gregg Lipman, managing partner at strategic branding consultancy CBX, says that "here we are, and this is what we have to offer" brand names were great back in the day of the three-martini lunch. But no more, and it has nothing to do with alcohol-fueled creativity. It has to do with our collective development of "marketing-dar," which he defines as "that internal warning bell that goes off when we know someone's trying to sell us something." It also has to do with flexibility. Kentucky Fried Chicken saw this coming back in 1991, when it became KFC. More recently, …

Bruce Horovitz writes about Panera Bread's "outside-the-box experiment" in St. Louis headed by Ron Shaich, who stepped down as the company's CEO last week. He has converted a former Panera-owned restaurant into a non-profit restaurant dubbed Saint Louis Bread Company Cares Cafe. A sign at the entrance says: "Take what you need, leave your fair share." "I'm trying to find out what human nature is all about," says Shaich. He plans to open two more cafes in two more cities in the next six months, Horoviitz writes, but won't say where. His goal is hundreds of cafés run …

Speaking of whimsical, Bill Briggs offers a rundown of 12 flashy fast-food menu offerings concocted with the intention of building buzz. Called "stunt foods" and usually bearing a "cutesy" moniker and a big ad budget, they also carry some marketing risk. This season's offerings include KFC's Double Down and IHOP's Cheesecake Pancakes. The leading bomb on Briggs' list is Taco Bell's Border Lights, which were introduced in 1995 with a $75 million marketing campaign. The menu items were said to carry one-fifth fewer calories and less than half the fat of other Taco Bell meals. It earns an …

Advertising for the Fiesta -- which Ford says is its biggest launch of the year -- will break on "American Idol" tonight with a quirky spot featuring the whimsical music of the folk/rock band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Brent Snavely reports. Ford is targeting Millennials for its first U.S. subcompact since 1997. The "American Idol" commercial begins with two people sitting in a Fiesta. The push-button starter is pressed, resulting in acrobats, skydivers and unicycles tumbling onto a city street. The tagline: "It's a pretty big deal." "It really is a great demonstration of Ford's …