Bd's Mongolian Grill CEO Rodger Head discusses how he plans to get customers to think of the brand as more than a stir-fry concept. The stir-fry chain, which has 34 locations in 13 states, primarily in the Midwest, finished 2010 with a 3% drop in same-store sales. Those losses year-to-date have narrowed to 2.4%, and the average check has inched up 40 cents. He is optimistic the chain can open as many as five restaurants this year and achieve a 1% gain in same-store sales.

General Motors will raise prices on most vehicles starting next month as it passes on raw material costs. The automaker told its 4,500 U.S. dealers that increases will average $123, or 0.4% starting May 2. The increases will be spread across Chevrolet's portfolio. The memo GM sent to Chevy dealers did not, however, mention the Equinox crossover or the Cruze compact, two vehicles that Chevrolet dealers are selling at a brisk pace. Rival Ford Motor raised its prices on April 1 by about the same percentage. Toyota, which is dealing with the earthquake and currency imbalance in Japan, is …

A new series, "Capitales del Futbol," a joint project of ESPN and MasterCard, is being shown across Latin America this month. The first aired last Sunday. The series is being shown at the same time in 18 Spanish-speaking countries and Brazil. The channel says this is the first simultaneous premier of this type. The program looks at Buenos Aires, Madrid, Milan and Rio de Janeiro -- all soccer cities. MasterCard gets branding in each episode, which highlights each city for visitors, and MasterCard commercials will air during each episode as well. The program includes "presented by MasterCard" microsites devoted to …

Coca-Cola is celebrating its 125th with a UK campaign showcasing its memorable ads from the past in a new spot that even features the song "I'd like to teach the world to sing" from the 1970's. Coca-Cola packaging will carry 125th anniversary imagery and there will be limited-edition glass bottles at stores. Outdoor elements include giant glass bottle replicas that blow bubbles and a Retro Poster Maker at Coke Zone.

Colt 45's new Blast fruit-flavored beverage features the rapper Snoop Dogg appearing in a Web video in a white fur coat and a bevy of scantily clad models. The sub-brand is focused on Twitter, Facebook and blogs, according to owner Evan Metropoulos. Snoop has eight million followers on Facebook and 3.1 million on Twitter, and has mentioned Blast on both frequently. The alcoholic drinks come in soda-pop flavors and that's a problem for groups like the Marin Institute, which says products like Blast appeal to kids and serve as a bridge to get them drinking at young age. …

Kosmix will become part of @WalmartLabs, based in Silicon Valley. While Walmart leads in the bricks-and-mortar retail world, its online business pales in comparison to Amazon. It even lags in packaged goods, which Walmart.com has focused on over the past year. It is well behind Amazon's Diapers.com and Soap.com, as well as Drugstore.com, which Walgreens agreed to buy earlier this year. Kosmix products include TweetBeat, a real-time social media filter for live events. Walmart says the site had 5 million unique visitors last month.

"Atlas Shrugged," shot for $10 million, shown in 300 screens in 80 cities and pretty much panned, has put the book back on the charts. And the flick might do well, too, if only because it has the kind of passionate fan base one only sees among pre-teens obsessed with vampires. The book made number four on Amazon bestseller list, and has been in the top 100 for the past 90 days.

South Dakota is a tourist destination. The haunting, empty big sky, Black Hills, that bike-crazed week in Sturges, and, yes, Mt. Rushmore are big business for a state that is so off the beaten path that a lot of roads that lead there are probably beaten paths. But tourism season is gearing up in the region, and marketing leaders there are looking to sophisticated marketing to lift tourism in a state that saw a record $1 billion in visitor spend last year. Last year the state's Pennington County got $304 million of that, a double digit increase over 2009, and …

Kraft is boosting digital, in-stadium ads, ads in program books, and messaging around Minor League Baseball Web sites and Facebook this year. The company has given online tool kits to retailers to use for in-store creative. And at the company's 30 core markets where ballpark attendance is high, it will increase in-store and team activation. Kraft is also partnering with TerraCycle to get customers to recycle cheese wrappers through a promotion called "Cheese Brigade."

Chrysler's Corvette fighter, the Dodge Viper, was supposed to go away. It may be coiled to strike again. The company has confirmed that it will revive the sports car. The new management team, run by CEO Sergio Marchionne will want to see more than just street performance from the vehicle: it would also like to see revenue performance -- profits not just promotional value for the Dodge brand.