After launching ads in print and on digital this year, India-based Meridian's campaign for Piaggio India's Vespa will hit TV. The creative idea is that Vespa is not just a mode of transportation, but is an individual retro-cool style statement. Ravi Chopra, chairman and managing director, Piaggio India, said, "Vespa is not just a scooter, but a way of life. Its Italian design and style has endured the many decades of changing lifestyles."

China has replaced the United States as the biggest market for luxury vehicles made by Volkswagen Group. Sales of vehicles in China from VW units Bentley and Porsche will pass those sold in the U.S. this year, said Jimmy Jin, head of Market Intelligence China and ASEAN, at Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Taco Bell's Cantina Bell menu has lifted the chain's perception of quality among consumers, according to research from YouGov BrandIndex. The firm BrandIndex, which measures consumer perceptions of hundreds of brands in the United States, found that Taco Bell's "quality scores," or the measure of survey respondents' opinion of the brand's quality, rose steadily since the July 5 launch of Cantina Bell, significantly narrowing its gap with fast-casual rival Chipotle Mexican Grill and overtaking the average perception of the quick-service segment's overall quality score.

Yoplait has rolled out original and Yoplait Greek frozen yogurt pints and bars. The frozen yogurt contains live and active cultures, real fruit and uses natural flavors, Yoplait said. Both original and Greek pints carry a suggested retail price of $3.99 each.

Columnist Brad Carraway cites MediaPost reports on how political advertisements are just as local as they are national. Bad news for small advertisers. Yes. Especially with Super PACs cash sprawling all over the election, pushing smaller brands and locally based advertisers off the media calendar as effectively as WalMart pushes them off the map. Carraway notes that Kantar Media CMAG projects that total political-ad spending this election year will be up more than 30% from the last election cycle. His suggestion: go digital, experiential and location-based mobile.

Japanese retailer Uniqlo is set to open its first West Coast store in San Francisco. Chairman Tadashi Yanai wants to make $10 billion a year in the U.S. and achieve status as No. 1 apparel retailer in the world by 2020. "Faces of the People" is its new campaign, a multimedia effort featuring innovators from New York and California, such as chefs, entrepreneurs, musicians, writers and artists, which furthers the brand's "Made for All" positioning.

Chevrolet's decision to resist "family values" critics and advertise in the gay media was rewarded with the Amplifier Award from GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, during a well-attended session in New York City last night. The Chevy ad showed a new Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, framed between a more conventional Silverado pickup and Malibu sedan, declaring, "Mom, Dad, I'm electric," a humorous twist on the classic challenge of gays coming out to their family. The ad was originally published in a Michigan alternative lifestyle publication and cost the General Motors division just $750 to run. But it …

In a ceremony held last month at the Insight NACS Future of Convenience event, Centra Rochestown, an Irish convenience store that combines fresh food, a deli and an inviting dining area, was crowned the 2012 International Convenience Retailer of the Year. This is the third consecutive year the award has gone to an Ireland-based c-store. Statoil Fuel & Retail, the Norway-based petroleum and c-store chain that was recently acquired by Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., was a highly commended runner-up in the Insight NACS competition.

A trademark registration has been filed under the McDonald's name covering ground and whole-bean coffee. Coffee is a $2 billion-plus business for McDonald's in the U.S., but the chain is signaling an interest in following Dunkin' Donuts, Tim Hortons and others into the coffee-retailing business. Asked for comment on the trademark application, a McDonald's spokesperson downplayed its importance, saying, "We register a lot of trademarks. That's nothing new for us."

Brands are linking up with entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial spirit. That's true in a big way in the auto business. Several brands have launched de facto venture capital arms to get new ideas. Lexus is the latest, having established a contest called Lexus Ignition in which a Facebook app is soliciting votes on eight technology startups, whose four winners will split up to $100,000 in funding from Lexus US. The startups range from a maker of audio speakers out of "eco wood" to the designer of "the world's first pocket-sized video-stabilization case for a smartphone that eliminates shaky video," per …