Galliano, the designer for Dior who was caught on tape at a bar making anti-Semetic remarks has been shown the door by Dior and parent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Industry observers don't see Dior taking a hit to its brand equity. "My initial reaction is they gained respect by dealing with this directly," said Ronald Frasch, the president and chief merchandising officer at Saks Fifth Avenue, which carries Dior.

The Internet Advertising Bureau, at its leadership conference in Laquinta, Calif., gave its imprimatur to six online ad formats. The six ads, chosen to address advertisers' desire for more TV-like ads, are the culmination of a competition to revise the look of online advertising. There were 36 entries submitted by 24 companies. The winning ads are all fairly large and include hi-res and interactive elements like trailers and videos, games, quizzes and shopping modules.

Delta and the St. Louis Cardinals have signed a partnership that makes Delta the team's official airline. The one-year deal also makes the carrier exclusive charter airline of the Card. Delta will fly the team and staff on all road games during the 2011 MLB season. In December, the St. Louis Rams signed Delta as its official carrier, as well. Atlanta-based Delta this year signed a deal that makes it the official airline of the Los Angeles Lakers, and both Delta Air Lines and AEG signed a multi-year, multi-platform partnership that makes Delta an official founding partner and …

With the tagline "Let's Make Excellent Happen," the Boston-based athletic gear company New Balance is launching TV, print, digital advertising, engagement with the company's online community, and viral video content, plus point of purchase and events. Creative is via Boston-based Arnold Worldwide, which became New Balance's global creative agency of record in June. One of elements of the new push is a TV ad that features a track built by New Balance at Pier 54 in New York.

Columnist Lou Lumenick ponders whether the widely panned co-host effort by Anne Hathaway and James Franco was a marketing stunt to sell DVDs. Franco's "127 Hours" and Hathaway's "Love and Other Drugs'' didn't kill at the box-office.

The beverage giant spent over $2.9 billion last year in advertising, up 4.5% from 2009, according to Coca-Cola's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the company's biggest spend was in 2008, when it dropped $3 billion to tout its roster of brands.

To streamline operations and focus on its regional organizations, Burger King is making changes to its marketing team. The effort is being driven the company's new owner, 3G Capital, which brought in a new management team and laid off hundreds at corporate headquarters when it took the helm in October. Jose Tomas, chief of human resources at the fast feeder, said the changes don't presage more layoffs. "It's about greater efficiency and speed to market," he said. Among other things, the changes give executives expanded responsibilities.

Dell has hired three ad firms to support its global AOR Young & Rubicam. While Y&R continues to shepherd the global brand and Dell's enterprise business, the new agencies will support Dell's public and government sales, small and medium businesses, and consumer efforts. The agencies are, respectively, Minneapolis-based Barrie D'Rosario Murphy; Arnold Worldwide in Boston; and Montreal-based Sid Lee.

With its ShopAlerts location-based advertising platform, AT&T is opening shop for advertisers. The offering uses a platform from Placecast that sends consumers location-specific marketing messages when they are near a participating business. This is the first time a major U.S. carrier has offered large-scale location marketing. JetBlue said it will be among the first customers.

Target will start selling Tide and Gain in compact packages, part of Procter & Gamble's ongoing program to make its packaged goods eco-friendlier. The new detergents are compacted by one third, essentially offering the same number of loads in a smaller container. The company said it will do likewise with Cheer, Dreft and Ivory Snow, and that the new packaging can save up to 22 million pounds of total packaging in the U.S. and Canada each year.