Today is National Bike to Work Day! Here's the marketing angle. If you are wondering whether you should do it, here's one columnist's answers to every protest you're likely to raise. But I'll add another one (for New York bridge crossers): free breakfast. That's right. Transportation Alternatives is giving you coffee, fruit, bagels, and muffins (so I hear) at several bike-able points of entry to Manhattan. Now that's my idea of marketing.

Rock band Train is marketing Napa Valley vineyard ACME Wine Movers and released a Cabernet Sauvignon by the name of California 37 (the title of the latest album). The latest bottle follows on the heels of a red called Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me), and the Calling All Angels Chardonnay. It's not new. Mendocino Wine Co's Wines That Rock series featuring the likes of the Grateful Dead Steal Your Face Red Blend, along with The Rolling Stones' Forty Licks Merlot, and others. Kiss launched a range of wines five years ago including Kiss Army Etched Wine Cabernet Sauvignon and the …

Ford Motor Co. will offer more new car models over the next three years than any other automaker, according to a Bank of America/Merrill Lynch report. Ford will change 26% of its lineup for the model years 2013 through 2016 compared with an industry average of 23%, the bank's annual "Car Wars" report said. General Motors Co. will replace 25% of its vehicles, followed by Toyota Motor Corp. at 24% and Nissan Motor Co. at 23%. Chrysler Group LLC will change only 20% of its vehicle lineup. Most of those new models will be crossover utility vehicles, luxury sedans and …

7-Eleven is pulling away from the pack as the U.S. convenience chain with the most stores. In the past year, the Dallas-based division of Japanese c-store giant Seven & i Holdings Co. widened its store count lead over Big Oil companies Shell Oil Products US, BP plc and Chevron Corp., and even Canada-based c-store giant, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., which operates the Circle K brand in the United States. The Convenience Store News' Top 100 convenience store chains added approximately 1,700 net new stores in the past year, a 3% increase to 59,434 stores. All together, the Top 100, listed at …

In marketing for Shape-ups, Skechers said the shoes would help people lose weight and strengthen and tone muscles, backed by clinical studies, Super Bowl spots and marketing campaigns with Kim Kardashian, Joe Montana and Brooke Burke. The federal government said the company misrepresented those attributes and wants Skechers to pay up.

The cerveza con caracter knows that its consumers are big supporters of soccer. Now, a marketing campaign is looking for ber fans who want to travel to a match and write about the game for national publication.

Starbucks Corp. has outlined shifts to its management team. Among the changes: Arthur Rubinfeld, a former head of global store development, has been named chief creative officer and president, global development and Evolution Fresh retail; Annie Young-Scrivner, formerly global CMO, has been named EVP and president, Starbucks Canada, the company's largest market outside the U.S; Colin Moore, previously SVP of the Americas division and president of Starbucks Canada, has been named SVP, Enterprise Optimization; and Craig Russell, formerly SVP, U.S. store services, has been named SVP, global coffee. Russell steps in as Dub Hay, SVP global coffee authority, retires in …

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the environmental campaigners must ensure future appeals don’t encourage illegal activity. The ruling came when the ASA got wind of a Greenpeace online banner saying, “redecorate a power station chimney” on greenpeacegiving.org.uk. The campaign asked supporters to donate money towards painting on power station chimneys to “crank-up political pressure and throw a vital spotlight on one of the greatest threats to our climate.” Greenpeace argued the appeal was “tongue in cheek” and the image showed the activists at Kingsworth power station, who were cleared of any criminal charges.

NATO is coming to the Windy City, and restaurateurs, confectioners and furniture makers are looking to cash in. NATO-related promotions are emerging on digital media. Itasca-based Walter E. Smithe furniture is offering a summit-related rebate to customers through Monday (code word: NATO). Magnolia Bakery has NATO cupcakes; Epic Burger is offering "99-cent fries for the 99 percent during NATO," Friday through Tuesday. "Whenever anything is in the news, people try to piggyback on it," said Jim Schmidt, creative partner at Downtown Partners, a Chicago advertising agency. "It dovetails with the awareness of their brand."

The Class of 2012 Hall of Fame, presented by Allstate, includes soccer star Kristine Lilly, decathlon great Dan O'Brien, track and field icon Gail Devers and the 2004 U.S. Softball Team led by Lisa Fernandez and Jennie Finch.