Christmas merchandise has been at Costco stores since Sept. 1 Such goods will also start appearing at Home Depot on Sept. 19. Kmart and Sears will begin selling Christmas gear before month's end, as will Walmart and J.C. Penney. "Retailers are putting out a little bit of holiday stuff earlier each year," says Mike Gatti of the National Retail Federation's marketing division. "They know a substantial number of consumers will pick out Christmas tree ornaments even as they're picking out Halloween pumpkins."

Kindles are the fastest-growing connected device on AT&T's wireless network. AT&T's emerging-devices group is now driving wireless growth for the company, which took in $124 billion in total revenue in 2010. From April to June, AT&T gained 627,000 new connected-device customers exclusive of smartphone sales. The next such device AT&T will sell is Acer's Iconia tablet. The company also recently launched HTC JetSteam tablet on its 4G mobile broadband network, which promises speeds four times faster than its 3G network. It is accommodating these devices with a redesign of its 2,200 stores to include a new tablet and …

Amazon.com Inc. is in talks with book publishers about launching a media library service similar to Netflix Inc. for tablets and other digital books. Seattle-based Amazon, which makes the popular Kindle electronic reader, is also expected to release a tablet to rival Apple Inc.'s iPad in coming weeks. Customers would pay an annual fee to access a library of content.

Rosemarie Osborne, a self-described "skin junkie," is the chemist behind P&G's Olay brand. She is senior scientist at P&G's Miami Valley labs, and her job is to develop formulas to slow skin's natural aging process. Olay, worth $4 billion at retail each year, is one of P&G's premium products and most heavily advertised brands and is considered one of the company's most promising for sales growth globally. Osborne is one of more than 4,000 researchers on which P&G spends $2 billion every year. Here's her story.

Seeking to become the prime source of data for new media, Nielsen will release a new kind of report, a 30,000-foot view of social media. "State of the Media: The Social Media Report" says social media account for 22.5% of the time that Americans spend online, compared to 9.8% for online games and 7.6% for e-mail. The social media brand that Americans spend the most time with by an enormous margin is Facebook. During May, Americans spent 53.5 billion minutes on Facebook.com, up 6% from 50.6 billion minutes in May 2010. In the long tail behind Facebook that …

Heretofore, Procter & Gamble has been a middle-class brand in the U.S. But as the United States comes to resemble a developing country, P&G has had to address the sagging middle as consumers are trading down to lower-priced goods. The company, which says it has at least one product in 98% of American households, has launched a new dish soap in the U.S. at a bargain price for the first time in 38 years. Even before the recession, incomes of American middle-class families weren't keeping up with inflation, especially with the rising costs of what are considered the …

In this Petri dish, observe University of North Carolina students wearing corporate branding from American Eagle Outfitters. Look closely, as you will be tested on whether these students just happen to be wearing the brand or whether they are brand ambassadors. Watch as the American Eagle has teams helping to unload family cars, lug belongings to dorms, and give out American Eagle swag. About 10,000 American college students will be working on campuses for cash for brands like Red Bull and Hewlett-Packard PCs. College kids spent about $36 billion during the 2010-11 school year alone, according to projections …

Two billboards made from live bacteria have been mounted in an abandoned storefront window in downtown Toronto. Scientists created the advertisements to promote the film "Contagion," starring Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow. The living billboards, via Lowe Roche advertising agency in Toronto, use 35 different strains of bacteria and fungi -- including penicillin, mould and pigmented bacteria. Over time, the word "Contagion" began to appear on the billboards as the bacteria grew.

Dunkin' Donuts is recruiting franchisees for Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Houston and Waco, Texas; Lincoln and Omaha, Neb.; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.; as well as Santa Fe and Albuquerque, N.M. The company expects that restaurants in these new markets will begin to open in early 2013. "Dunkin' Donuts' plans for these markets is part of an accelerated yet disciplined growth strategy," said John Dawson, chief development officer for Dunkin' Brands. "We have generated considerable momentum in markets outside our core northeast markets and are excited to offer additional opportunities for both our existing and new franchisee …

Digital coupon companies like Groupon and LivingSocial are heading toward IPOs, which could give them enough cash to research and develop a range of marketing products. As marketers become more comfortable getting lower-cost marketing solutions from daily deal, flash-sale and digital coupon companies, marketing agencies could lose influence. The prominence of daily deal sites could, on the other hand, provide another channel for marketers to reach untapped customer segments. Groupon says marketers are using the channel to build awareness. "We've seen people considering Groupon for marketing early in the process," says Julie Mossler, PR and consumer marketing manager …