• Cancer Experts Shoot Down Genentech's Avastin For Breast Cancer
    A federal committee of cancer experts advising the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday made it more likely Genentech's drug Avastin will no longer be readily available as a treatment for breast cancer. In a series of 6-0 votes, the committee endorsed the agency's own proposal to revoke the approval of the drug for use against advanced breast cancer. The researchers and physicians voted that the drug was neither safe nor effective and unanimously rejected a proposed compromise offered by Genentech that the approval remain in place while the company conducts another clinical trial to try to confirm that …
  • BJ's Plans To Go Private With $2.8 Billion Deal
    The Westborough, Mass., company will be taken over by two private equity firms, Leonard Green & Partners and CVC Capital Partners. Leonard Green, of California, already has retail investments in companies such as J. Crew, Petco Animal Supplies, and Whole Foods Market.
  • Family Dollar Stores Reports Weaker Q3
    Family Dollar Stores said third-quarter sales and gross margins were weaker than it had expected. For the quarter ending May 28, net income was up 6.5%, to $111.1 million. Sales rose 7.8%, to $2.15 billion. Comparable-store sales were up 4.7%, driven by both increased traffic and a higher average ticket. "Softer-than-expected sales, particularly in seasonally sensitive categories and greater-than-expected gross margin pressure resulted in earnings per share that was a penny below our original guidance," said Kenneth T. Smith, senior vice president and chief financial officer.
  • Hugo Boss Plans Record Marketing Spend To Support Selection Line
    Hugo Boss AG, the German luxury clothing company, said it will spend a record amount on marketing this year to support the reintroduction of the Boss Selection line. The clothier said it will boost spending on advertising and sponsorship to about 6% of revenue from last year's 5%, CFO Mark Langer said in an interview at the firm's Metzingen, Germany headquarters.
  • Google And Heineken Seal Ad Partnership
    Heineken and Google have struck a multimillion-euro deal to partner on digital advertising, including YouTube video and mobile ads. The deal, spanning more than 20 international markets, is the first long-term collaboration directly between Google and a large brand. In exchange for committing to a minimum amount of advertising investment across Google's sites, Heineken will be given access to special consultancy, data and discounts from the search company. "We feel a partnership with such outfits is a competitive advantage," Alexis Nasard, Heineken's chief commercial officer, told the Financial Times last week at the Cannes Lions advertising …
  • Monkey See, Monkey Buy?
    Keith Olwell and Elizabeth Kiehner, two New York advertising executives, learned that captive monkeys understand money, and that when faced with economic games they are like people. So if they can cope with money, how would they respond to advertising? Yale University primatologist worked with the two and their company Proton on a research project, the result of which is a monkey ad campaign unveiled at Cannes. Olwell said the idea was to test of ads would change capuchins' behavior. Santos plans to kick off the experimental campaign in the coming weeks. "If they tend toward one and …
  • Auto Dealers And College Jocks: Risky Business
    The local car dealership sticks to the local college athletics program like flies to ... flypaper. The pigskin scholarship kid is likely to step into the local dealership before he steps into basket weaving class. But Columbus, Ohio, used car dealer Jason Goss, an Ohio State Buckeyes fan who goes to OSU games as a guest of the players -- many of whom have bought cars from him over the years -- is in the spotlight for the deals. He said he can't recall when the allegations that his dealership gave student-athletes and their relatives special deals started. …
  • Macy's Offers Retail MBA To Vendors
    Last month, Macy's launched "The Workshop at Macy's," a vendor-development program for women- and minority-owned businesses. The four-and-a-half-day boot camp aims to teach them how to get their merchandise onto Macy's shelves. Though woman- and minority-owned fashion businesses are plentiful, it's often difficult for them to become vendors to department and specialty stores. "You have to be of a certain size to supply not just New York [stores] but [those] across the country," said John Robinson, president and CEO of the New York City-based National Minority Business Council. "Yet many minority- and women-owned firms are still …
  • Brooks Brothers To Sell Licensed Merch For Ivys
    Harvard and Princeton men are some of the college males who will soon be able to buy college-branded apparel at Brooks Brothers. It is the first time in its almost 200-year history that Brooks Brothers has agreed to a line of licensed college merchandise. The agreement between Brooks Brothers and the college division of IMG Worldwide Inc. allows for the sale of merchandise from 15 schools, including Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, and NYU. "The key for us is re-establishing our connection with what we call the college community -- students, faculty and alumni," Karl Haller, vice president of strategy and …
  • Patti Smith On Advertising: Less Is More
    Patti Smith, musician and poet, gave a talk at Cannes Lions ad festival about her music, her memoir, and the creative process. In a post-talk press conference, she took questions about advertising, and while she's not an "expert" she, like all of us, knows what she likes, and that's less bombardment and more creativity. "People that use advertising would be smarter to give the public less advertising but more creative advertising." And: "The Internet is based on advertising, and you can feel almost like you're being devoured."
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