Plastics companies are looking at new ways to market themselves and that includes using social media. In a new survey, over half of 310 plastics companies are boosting their B-to-B marketing budgets, but Mary Scheibel of marketing firm Scheibel Halaska said their messages need to be focused on things like how they have changed post-recession to offer more efficient or better services to customers. Only 74% of marketers polled said that Marketing is only "somewhat aware" of their efforts. "I tell a lot of people in this industry sector, 'you spend a lot of time telling me what you do, …

A study of a series of five large surveys done between 1971 and 2009 in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and Britain show beautiful people are happier in general than the hoi polloi. University of Texas-Austin economists who sifted through the data report that the economic benefit resulting directly from one's pulchritude accounts for at least half of one's happiness. The researchers say beauty helps income because good-looking people make more money and marry people who are also better looking and higher earning. "The majority of beauty's effect on happiness works through its impact on economic outcomes," said Daniel …

"Hyundai Assurance," a job-loss guarantee that Hyundai Motor America introduced in 2009 when the economy was in deep muck, is getting its walking papers. The marketing gambit allowed buyers to return a Hyundai vehicle if they lost their job or suffered other financial catastrophes during the first year of ownership. But now, with the economy on the mend, the offer is being shown the door by month's end. Surprisingly, only 350 people who bought a new Hyundai during the period in which the offer has been in effect asked Hyundai to take their car back. But it was a …

Unilever's Vaseline Men brand today launches a promotion called "Keep Your Grip Challenge." Linked to the NFL and NFL draft, the game, via New York-based Story Worldwide is at KeepYourGripChallenge.com. It asks men to try to keep their grip on a virtual football using keyboards to elude defenders. Brand pitchman Michael Strahan taunts and coaches.

Whole Foods will open beer tables serving both beer and wine at more than a dozen of its national stores prior to national rollout. Over the past year and a half, the company has opened five bars in Whole Foods Market stores in California, Arizona, Illinois and Texas.

Target is in talks with the Chicago Housing Authority to build a store at Cabrini Green, an urban public project on Chicago's South Side. The last of the high rises will be demolished this week. Target didn't confirm, but a Housing Authority spokesperson said discussions are on.

LinkedIn is riding the food-truck cuisine wave to tout its new LinkedIn Today social news platform. The company has the trucks in San Francisco and New York to give away coffee. You can follow the trucks on Twitter.

The fast feeder, which has reconfigured its fries, is launching a new effort via Kaplan Thaler Group. The company put the new fries on the menu last fall and has since seen orders with fries increase 10%. According to Kantar, the company in December spent $17.7 million of its measured media against the item, versus $26.9 million for all products in that period in 2009. The new ad push, launching this week, touts Wendy's fries as different from competitors' products as part of its "You known when it's real" push.

A federal court is giving the green light to a lawsuit to against Campbell Soup Co. that accuses the company of selling lower-sodium soups at premium prices when they had almost as much salt as regular soups, thus misleading consumers. The suit -- brought against the company by four New Jersey women -- says, among other things, that Campbell's 25% Less Sodium Tomato Soup actually has 480 milligrams of salt, as much as its regular tomato soup. The company tried to dismiss the case, saying that the federal Food and Drug Administration does not require Campbell to specify how …

The Sports Authority has signed to be category exclusive sponsor of Major League Lacrosse. The deal puts Sports Authority on jerseys, gives the company branding at stadiums, commercial time on MLL games broadcast on ESPN, title sponsorship of the MLL All-Star Game and a weekly show "Inside the MLL."