Pinkvilla
Hollywood and Bollywood Actor Irrfan (who is featured in Ang Lee's "Life of Pi") says the Indian film industry needs to work on the way they market their films. "There are few areas we still need to work on, like the release of the film. The way it is planned in America, we still need to find that system. They find the right audience for the film. They really work on what kind of audience is going to watch this film and they release accordingly," he said.
Detroit Bureau
Did Ford fudge the mileage numbers on two of its new hybrid vehicles? That's been a topic of discussion in recent weeks as the Fusion Hybrid and C-Max Hybrid have been put through their paces by automotive reviewers. According to Consumer Reports magazine, the maker's two new models fall well short of their heavily promoted 47 mpg sticker ratings. The C-Max "people-mover," for example, delivered an average 10 mpg lower than promised during the non-profit publication's testing. The publication says overall mpg for the C-Max and Fusion models is off by 10 and 8 mpg, respectively, or about 20%.
Burger Business
Chipotle and Bertucci's are chains that have begun testing craft beers. But Smashburger's program involves multiple craft brewers nationally. In this Q&A, founder and chief concept officer Tom Ryan talks about the craft-beer program and Tom's Urban 24, the 24-hour "modern comfort food with an urban twist" restaurant he recently opened as a separate venture in Denver.
New York Times
Pepsi's campaign with Beyonce next year will involve much more than TV. The Purchase, N.Y.-based beverage giant is hoping to play Lorenzo de' Medici to Beyonce's Michelangelo (though perhaps the latter comparison is a stretch). Yes, PepsiCo will put Beyonc in ads, and give the impecunious singer many millions of dollars to fund her projects. The campaign will coincide with a blitz of promotion for her next album, which has no title or release date so far but is expected in 2013.
Supermarket News
Retailers take note: don't take down your Facebook page. Wegmans Food Markets shut down the Facebook page of one of its stores, and that made a lot of its customers angry. In a message posed on the site, Wegmans said it was taking the Facebook page down on Dec. 9 "because our Northborough (Mass.) store is now up and running." In the buildup to the opening of the store, the page had accumulated nearly 7,500 fans, some of whom reacted negatively. "This is disappointing," said one. "Each Wegmans store is a little bit different, so it makes sense to maintain …
NYSportsJournalism.com
Bo Jackson was arguably the greatest two-sport professional athlete ever, concurrently playing baseball and in the NFL, making the All-Star and All-Pro teams, respectively, and also staring in an iconic marketing campaign for Nike. Twenty years later, the just-turned 50-year-old Jackson, who is the focus of a new film from ESPN, "You Don't Know Bo," reveals why he does not watch football, why he does follow the exploits of NFL quarterbacks Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III and the pros and cons of his unique life.
Detroit Bureau
The once-explosive pace of growth in the Chinese car market has slowed down sharply this year - which means that General Motors had to wait until November to set a new sales record. With a month left to run up the final total, GM and its various affiliates have sold 2,593,642 units in China, compared with 2,547,171 for all of last year. The good news for GM - and its competitors - was that November saw a renewed surge in a market that has, over the past decade, seen sales nearly double in some years.
San Francisco Chronicle
"Call of Duty: Black Ops II," the latest installment in Activision Blizzard's best-selling video-game franchise, topped $1 billion in retail sales within its first 15 days of release. The sales figure, which relies on Chart-Track retail data, means "Call of Duty" reached $1 billion faster than the movie "Avatar," the record holder for feature films, Activision said. The previous installment in the series accomplished that same feat last year. It took 16 days to reach the $1 billion milestone, compared with 17 for "Avatar," which came out in 2009.
San Francisco Chronicle
Global tablet sales, led by Apple's iPad, will more than double to 282.7 million in four years as people leave traditional laptops for smaller, handheld devices, according to tech research firm IDC. The trend is driven also by new entrants powered by software from Google and Microsoft. IDC boosted its 2016 tablet forecast 8.1% from its earlier projection of 261.4 million. Tablet sales will eclipse those of personal computers by 2015, according to a prediction earlier this year from Boston research firm Yankee Group.
New York Times
Cigarette ads are back, but they are for the new kind that aren't made of tobacco: e-cigarette makers are taking to the airwaves, and the creative is a bit like the branding for Camels, Winstons, and Kent from back when. Ads for Njoy King carry the theme "Cigarettes, you've met your match" and ads for Blu eCigs carry the theme "Rise from the ashes." The actor Stephen Dorff backs Blu eCigs, which was acquired this year by Lorillard. Commercials for Blu eCigs, as well as brands like Njoy King, are running on cable networks, in the same way that spots …