Expedia has launched a new brand advertising campaign for Europe, part of its Expedia Everywhere strategy. The strategy on making Expedia a service for personalized travel includes marketing initiatives that will be linked under the theme of People Shaped Travel. The effort, via Ogilvy & Mather, includes TV, radio, print, online and social media across Europe. The first advertisements appeared in the UK on June 20, and then roll out to Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The creative spotlights people who work for Expedia.

Some Americans look for such claims as "natural," "organic" and "grown in the USA" on food labels. The annual Eco Pulse survey conducted by "green" advertising research firm the Shelton Group asked 1,013 Americans about the best description to read on a food label. A quarter said they preferred to see "100% natural" or "all natural"; nearly as many said they sought out "USDA certified organic" or "100% organic," and 17% preferred "Grown in the USA."

Paul Eisenstein of the Detroit Bureau points out that "it's getting hard to tell the players without a scorecard, especially as Saab continues to spread its net, hoping to come up with cash that can keep the financially struggling company afloat." Here's the situation: One Chinese company came in to buy Saab, as did another, China dealership chain Pang Da. Now, apparently, a third Chinese company has offered to help Saab with $18.4 million in cash for 582 unsold Saab cars. Meanwhile, efforts continue to win the approval of regulators in Europe and China needed to ensure that several …

A Niketown store in Boston has removed T-shirts from a Newbury Street window display. Mayor Thomas Menino had sent a letter to the retailer, asking it to remove shirts that read "Get High," "Dope" and "F--k Gravity." Nike refused the mayor's request, saying the shirts are part of Nike 6.0, a youth-focused action sports campaign. But by Monday some of those shirts were gone, such as the "Dope" shirt, which shows skateboards and snowboards spilling out of a pill bottle. Nike says it didn't back down. "As is normal with any retailer, we consistently refresh our windows with …

Facing weak sales and growing online competition, Best Buy plans to sublease space at its stores. The chain's new stores will be in the 36,000-square-foot range, versus the current 45,000-square-foot footprint. The retailer, which has 1,300 stores nationwide, says it will wall off parts of its stores and sublease the space to smaller retailers, such as grocers, beauty supply stores, home furnishing outlets and others. "We can reduce our overall square footage while actually increasing our presence," Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn said at the company's annual shareholders meeting this week. "It's an opportunity to capture cost savings …

After two straight years of declining quarterly same-store sales in the U.S., officials at Walmart say the company will go back to what made Walmart work in the first place. The Bentonville, Ark., company will build a lot of stores, watch the bottom line, stack it high and deep, and sell it cheap every day. The company had started to move toward getting rich folks into its aisles and also did aggressive pricing to get consumers back who had left.

"Gene" Kummel is dead at 88. The former chairman, president and CEO of McCann Erickson and member of the Advertising Hall of Fame began his career in 1946 with Warner-Lambert, Co. He joined McCann Erickson as head of international operations in 1965, and became chairman in 1973.

Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit" Super Bowl commercial nabbed five awards at the Cannes Lions 58th International Festival of Creativity this past weekend. The two-minute "Born of Fire" ad with Detroit rapper Eminem pitching the Chrysler 200 was done by Portland, Ore.-based Wieden+Kennedy. Judges awarded four "Gold Lions" for Best Direction, Best Use of Music, Best Script and Best Automotive Commercial. A Bronze Lion was awarded for Best Editing.

Korea's fair trade officials have hit top South Korean noodle maker Nongshim Co. Ltd. with a steep fine for exaggerating the nutritional value of a new brand of instant noodles. The company said the Shin Ramyun Black brand, launched to commemorate its 25th year in business, was "close to a perfect food." Trade officials fined the company 155 million won ($143,670) for making that claim. "This was exposed as not true at all. The company said one thing and means another," said Lim Sung-chan, spokesman for the Fair Trade Commission, in an interview with Reuters. The Shin Ramyun …

Kroger reported last week that store sales increased for 30 consecutive quarters. Kroger CEO David Dillon said the company will keep doing what works: focus on customer loyalty via its Customer strategy. Dillon laid out plans at a shareholders meeting last week. "Our strategy is really to grow our relevancy to our customers," he said. "That becomes our bigger mission; to the extent that leads to new markets, great."