With the market for two-year-contract phones saturated, it's no longer just the Boost Mobiles of the world offering no-contract deals. Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint also are marketing more aggressively to those who seek flexibility by prepaying for minutes and data in month-by-month contracts. Says John Weber, an analyst at tech research firm IDC, "It's not just for those who fail [a credit check]. It's also for customers who want flexibility." The number of contract-based customers fell in the first quarter of this year vs. the previous quarter, the first quarter-over-quarter decline in industry history, according to research firm Recon …

Swedish cider maker Kopparberg is launching its first football themed campaign in the UK with a tactical push ahead of the England vs. Sweden Euro 2012 match on June 15. The brand is offering pubs and clubs across the UK "Swengland" packs containing "brigadeer" and "blonde" moustaches to be worn by England and Sweden fans, respectively, as well as the flags of both countries. The campaign is being run from Kopparberg's Facebook page, where fans and pubs can sign up to receive a pack ahead of the match.

Kraft Foods is asking independent developers and start-up companies to produce digital marketing projects for its Cadbury brand as part of a wider effort to "fundamentally" change how it builds relationships with consumers. The company will host a series of developer gatherings over the next 12 months to crowdsource digital initiatives for its marketing activity such as Joyville. It follows Cadbury's first developer event last month where participants competed for the chance to build an app for the brand's London 2012 sponsorship activity.

Barely a month after launching sales of the new Fiat 500 Abarth, the maker has told dealers it will no longer be able to supply orders for the rest of the 2012 model-year. The high-performance version of what Italians call the Cinquecento has helped kick-start demand after a rough launch for the Fiat brand - which led to the ouster of the marque's original marketing chief. But sales have surged in recent months, buoyed by more aggressive marketing and the launch of the new Abarth edition.

Consumers are more likely to follow you on Pinterest or Twitter than they are on Facebook, a new study shows. According to the 2012 Social and Mobile Commerce Study-a joint research project by the National Retail Federation's Shop.org, comScore and The Partnering Group consultancy-customers say they were following fewer retailers because of concerns about information sharing and privacy. But when they did follow, more often they're doing so on online bulletin board Pinterest. The survey polled some 1,500 consumers on their social media interactions. Respondents say they follow an average of 9.3 retail companies on Pinterest as opposed to 8.5 …

Leica, which has lost more than a third of its U.S. camera dealers to encroachment from Best Buy and other big boxes, not to mention digital devices, is planning new stores. The first U.S. location debuted in Washington, D.C., last month, and Leica plans one each in Miami and New York this summer. By March 2016, the company says its current roster of 37 stores will have grown to 200 worldwide.

JC Penney CEO Ron Johnson, speaking at the Piper Jaffray Consumer Conference in New York, told investors the company would be moving away from the term "month-long value" in favor of the simpler "sale." It's the latest marketing adjustment since the retailer reported a dismal first quarter. "No one really understood [month-long value]. What we intend to do is a sale; we run 12 a year," Johnson said. "That's a messaging change within our vision for how we want to compete. ... The back half will be better; the customer will understand, and there will be a lot of purchasing."

Eddie Bauer has named Michael Egeck as its new president and CEO. Egeck will replace David Chamberlain, chairman of the privately held company. Chamberlain had served as interim CEO since February. Egeck most recently was CEO of Nike-owned action sports brand Hurley International LLC, based in Costa Mesa, Calif.

Wells Fargo Securities surveyed beverage retailers that represent thousands of U.S. c-stores. Results show that beverage sales were strong over the holiday, with 90% of respondents indicating they believed beverage sales were better than Memorial Day 2011; 60% indicated a five-percent or greater increase. Also 91% said beverage sales in the second quarter of 2012 so far are up vs. Q2 2011. Among findings were that increased promotions appeared to drive sales with 43% of respondents saying beverage manufacturers/distributors' promotions boosted sales over the weekend, versus the Memorial Day holiday last year. Also online media and reduced priced points saw …

The Facebook news has been how the IPO Champagne bottle cracked the social company's hull as it sailed into the waters of public trading. But contributor Jonathan Gardner writes that the company will sail into riches as long as it keeps the tiller on pictures, images, jpegs, pngs, graphics and photographs. "The acquisition of photo-sharing network Instagram and subsequent launch of the Camera app revealed to the world what the wizards of Menlo Park have known all along, that the way to keep users engaged is to give them lots and lots of photos to view, post, and share," he …