Graves' spot for the insurance company, with the deadpan line "I was one lucky woman," can be viewed here. 

Marketers are increasingly using their employees to "humanize" their endeavors, Noreen O'Leary reports -- yet another indication of the growing importance of customer service in the marketing mix. Zappos and Lowe's have both recently launched campaigns featuring employees, or actors playing them, as have Southwest Airlines, Ford, Domino's, Bank of America, General Electric, Exxon Mobile and Verizon over the last year or so. The campaigns are also a big morale booster, according to multiple sources. A campaign featuring Domino's franchisee and employees not only tested well with consumers, according to the company's evp/CMO Russell Weiner, it …

Managing relations with their remaining independent bottlers will be key to driving sales and efficiency, Anjali Cordiero reports, even as PepsiCo and Coca-Cola digest the recent acquisitions of their largest bottlers. Many of the smaller operations are family-run enterprises with perpetual contracts, but they could find themselves squeezed by price promotions that the manufacturers initiate in regions they control. Thanks to cost-cutting driven by the consolidation, Coke and PepsiCo are expected to be able to offer retailers better deals, which could push smaller bottlers to do the same. "The pressure would be that they might lower prices to …

L.L. Bean, which remains very popular among a certain set of baby boomers, is gaining cachet with an unlikely group -- college students -- for its new Signature collection,  which launches today. Jenn Abelson reports that two friends who attend Bates College and Hobart and William Smith Colleges, respectively, have been particularly active in drumming up interest by recruiting friends at universities such Harvard and Carnegie Mellon to also tout the collection, which was styled for 20- and 30-somethings. The students have created a code name for the endeavor -- "Bean in the wiL.L.d'' -- …

Kraft's Tang brand, which was famous in this country a few generations ago as a powered drink that was developed for astronauts, is still going strong in overseas markets such as Brazil and China, Mike Hughlett reports. But the macaroni and powdered cheese product that is a staple in so many cupboards -- and dorm rooms -- here is not a big seller globally. The reality is that regional tastes play a large part in what will sell elsewhere. "Mac and cheese is iconic, but it's not one of our 10 power brands," says Sanjay Khosla, president of …

AT&T is introducing services today that allow its consumers to perform tasks on inexpensive cell phones that are usually accomplished only on pricey smartphones. Among them are an address book that allows consumers swap or upgrade phones without losing contact information, a messaging service that enables users to reply to a single person or as many as 10 contacts, and the ability to transfer photos and videos. The company says the services are part of a new category of phone, starting with the Samsung Strive, that it's dubbing the Quick Messaging Device. The Strive, which is $19.99 with …