Among the amusements: Gap's logo, Microsoft's kin, iPhone 4, Chevron and P&G's Charmin.

You know how every time you think about buying a new, more powerful computer, you weigh the benefits of waiting for the prices to keep going down? Well, that's over. The NPD Groups says the average retail price of a PC in November was up 6% from last year's record low. Big PC makers like HP and Dell are focused on premium machines and are seeing their profit margins expand. The price reversal is also driven by stabilization in laptop prices, which have been pressured by new tablets and low-priced netbooks. Shoppers' willingness to spend more on PCs …

The Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment, producers of the annual event that attracts a billion -- in person and on TV -- won't take any sponsor with a checkbook. The product has to fit organically. No surprise, then, that Nivea Lip Care brings its largest marketing effort to the crossroads at midnight, a time when more Americans than ever are sharing a New Year's kiss. Nivea will hand out 30,000 samples during the hours-long countdown. And it's got a contest going on its Facebook page that ties in. Others include Waterford Crystal and Procter & Gamble's Duracell. First-time …

Wholesale clubs and drugstores are behind the failure of the 110-year-old Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. -- and, really, has there been a better name for a company? -- which is filing for bankruptcy. A&P operates almost 400 supermarkets under the Waldbaum's, The Food Emporium and Pathmark names.

What was once a company woven into the fabric of the Danish establishment is now the world's fourth-biggest brewer, behind Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller PLC and Heineken NV, with revenue of 59.4 billion kroner ($10.54 billion) and an empire stretching from Copenhagen to Cambodia.

Now, advertisers are turning it into a social media game. Today, rivals Mercedes-Benz and Audi will unveil separate plans to launch high-profile social-media contests that offer hefty prizes to people who best use unconventional social-media tactics to tweet and digitally tout the brands before the Super Bowl. "Most efforts won't be able to stand out amidst the flood of 'Let's Do a Facebook Contest About the Super Bowl' marketing lemmings," warns social-media consultant Jay Baer. Even so, "The ones that don't do it will be left behind," says Pam Moore, a social-media consultant. But, she adds, the tweets …

What is a pharma giant to do when sales are being lost to new generic versions of its meds? Let's make a deal! And Pfizer is leading the way, with 51 mergers and/or acquisitions in 2010, followed quickly by Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis. The biomedical data tracker Life Science Analytics reports that pharmaceutical deals as of October were up 20% over the same period last year. Top areas for dealmakers were cancer treatments, 24%; infectious diseases, 18%, and central nervous system medicines, 14%. The most noteworthy change in the line-up of dealmakers was Sanofi-Aventis' move from 14th on the list …

At Dunkin' Donuts with my 18-year-old daughter last week, she noticed gift cards with personalized photos and remarked, "That's cute." It is, and it's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketers' efforts to make gift cards more appealing. This year, they record messages, light up, smell like gingerbread, can be texted and posted on Facebook and come with little holes for a finger puppet. Yet, only 13% of those responding to a Consumer Reports survey put gift cards at the top of their wish lists, although 62% said they plan to buy them. Enter, stage left: …