Four young New York marketers, who live downtown, have launched a Twitter campaign to help restaurants damaged by Sandy. It started with a tweet by famed chef Anthony Bourdain, who, per marketer Paull Young, wrote that if one is in New York City, "eat downtown, tip up and send 20 bucks to the dishwasher." Young, and three other marketers dreamed up "Eat Down. Tip Up," a social media campaign meant to get people to eat locally in downtown Manhattan, tip generously and spread the word by posting bills on Twitter with the hashtag #EatDownTipUp as well as on their website, …

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is suing Dr Pepper Snapple, claiming 7UP advertising suggests that the drinks have antioxidants from blackberries, cherries, cranberries, pomegranates and raspberries instead of just added Vitamin E. Snapple's spokesman insists however that 7UP Cherry doesn't claim to contain any juice. The next iteration of the product won't have antioxidants at all, though there's 7UP Mixed Berry Antioxidant and Diet 7UP Mixed Berry Antioxidant.

At the same time, Tesla Motors' new Model S is the first entirely electric vehicle to be named car of the year (by Automobile Magazine), A judge in New York will take up a lawsuit against the company about how Tesla sells its cars at least in one place -- through its own store, instead of through a local dealership. Robert O'Koniewski, the executive vice president of the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association, is suing Tesla for opening a store in a local mall. A Massachusetts law prohibits a manufacturer from owning a dealership per O'Koniewski. An auto dealer association …

Marketing, sales, and customer service departments -- not IT departments -- are viewed as innovation engines in corporate executive suites, according to a survey released today by The Economist's Intelligence Unit. That's a problem, per Reggie Bradford, SVP of product development at Oracle, which sponsored the study. "Companies need to drive ROI for the relationship-building potential of social, and the way to get it is to marry data sets from offline sources with traditional ones. That means merging some of the central activities of the CMO and CIO." Only 17% of C-level executives queried in the poll said IT helped …

Frank van der Post has been credited with turning around British Airways since he joined as managing director of brands and customer experience in 2011. In 2010, BA posted its biggest ever loss of more than GBP500 million due to recession, a fall in passenger numbers and the effect of strike action by cabin crew. Last year, it was towards the bottom of the YouGov BrandIndex table for brand buzz, but since Van der Post came aboard, the airline has gotten to second place among all airlines in the BrandIndex buzz ratings.

A Toyota dealership in Qingdao was burned by protestors in a dispute over an island chain claimed by both China and Japan. What's bad news for the Japanese is turning into a hugely positive development for Detroit and European automakers. General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG all stand to benefit as Japanese automakers are forced to cut back on their sales and marketing efforts in the critical China market because of a political dispute over Islands in the East China Sea. The maker's market share in China dipped to 6.3% between July and September, compared with 7.5% …

Pizza Patron is running a co-branded promotion, "Ponte La Diez" or "Wear the 10," with Pepsi through the end of the year. The "Ponte La Diez" promotion offers customers a super-value $10 combo, which includes a large Choriquezo pizza, a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi, and a free Lionel Messi-branded T-shirt. The lobby of each store will feature a 5-foot-tall standee with Lionel Messi's image and other point-of-purchase displays.

Mahindra Automotive's campaign is the first for the India-based automaker that touts a full line of vehicles, in this case Mahindra utility vehicles. The "Live young, live free" campaign, which underlines Mahindra's leadership in the utility vehicles segment, is via Interface Communications. Robby Mathew, national creative director of the agency, said the idea was to tout Mahindra SUVs as having the ability to set owners free. The two-minute film is set in dramatic Indian landscapes to an English-language rock theme that repeats a "We live young...we live free" mantra.

Ryanair, recently ranked by a major brand research firm as one of the least-liked brands in the world, is going even further than charging to use the facilities. Michael O'Leary, CEO of the carrier, says he wants to do away with laws requiring passengers to wear seat belts on planes because they're useless. Thus, if people don't have to be sitting, he could sell standing room-only spots in the cabin for as low as GBP1 to European destinations. O'Leary insists that it would be totally safe because he's not saying the planes are going to go through areas of massive …

Amazon.com, which sells a lot of wine accessories, is taking the leap into selling wine. On Thursday, Amazon launched Amazon Wine, offering "more than a thousand wines" available to online shoppers in Illinois, 11 other states and Washington, D.C. Consumers can ship up to six bottles for $9.99 (okay, that's really $10), and Amazon is offering more than 1,000 wines with prices ranging from under $10 to over $100.