GlaxoSmithKline recently signed restaurateur and vintner Joe Bastianich, who runs world-famous restaurants including Manhattan's Del Posto and Babbo, and serves as a judge on Fox's MasterChef. He is spokesperson for GSK's Blueprint to Quit stop-smoking regimen. Why? Nearly a third of all restaurant employees are smokers (one of the highest rates for any industry), and he used to be one of them. At the jump, a Q&A about the new project.

ExxonMobil, whose marketing roots with Nascar go back to 1978, has signed a multi-year partnership extension making Mobil 1 the "official motor oil" and also the "official lubricant technology partner" of Nascar through 2017. ExxonMobil said that 2013 would mark the 11th consecutive season in which the Mobil 1 brand has been an official partner of Nascar. The Mobil 1 brand's history in motor sports officially began in 1978 with a sponsorship of Williams Formula One Racing Team.

A survey Boston Consulting Group survey finds that more than 80% of Americans are willing to pay more for Made in the USA products. In conjunction with the National Retail Federation, Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon recently identified a three-prong strategy to help grow America's economy - employ Americans, employ American soldiers especially and buy from American producers. Right now, 2-out-of-3 products sourced by Walmart come from domestic suppliers. Simon pledged that Walmart would spend $50 billion on U.S. products over the next 10 years.

A source says Mazda is tapping Saatchi's China office to handle the Mazda 6 sedan and CX-7 crossover. The agency got the nod, per the source, after presenting for the account in Changchun. What was wrong with the encumbent? Word has it that the agency was spending too much time on account services and not enough on creative.

It makes sense to get women to talk about brands, as brand reputations are increasingly formed on social media. A new study by marketing agency Haygarth has quantified the value of word of mouth among women. Haygarth head of planning Anthony Donaldson says US surveys have found women control around four-fifths of all spending decisions, so persuading them to pass on their endorsements to others could be crucial to brands' fortunes. According to Haygarth's study, incentives such as free trials and promotions are important cues for recommending brands, as is the quality of the product.

Buick's new Encore compact crossover-utility vehicle is critical for the brand. It has been at pains to find a defining character in the amorphous near-luxury realm. But the Enclave has done well and now comes the compact CUV Buick Encore for young buyers who until now might not have even considered the brand. "We're going to see new folks...coming into the showroom," promises Encore marketing manager Lloyd Biermann, adding that, "They're going to be younger, as well."

Toyota's Prius has toppled the Honda Civic from its two-year reign as the bestselling vehicle in California. It was a thin margin. Toyota sold 60,688 of the hybrid last year, almost 26% of the Prius cars sold by Toyota in the U.S. last year. Honda sold 57,124 Civics. The Toyota Camry was third with sales of 50,250. The sales data are from the California New Car Dealers Assn. and tracked retail auto registrations, which do not include sales to rental car companies, government and other fleet customers.

Saying that "the category is under review following recent consumer and merchant feedback," Groupon has at least temporarily canceled all of its ongoing and planned deals that are related to firearms. According to an e-mail to DailyFinance, all deals tied to "shooting ranges, conceal-and-carry and clay shooting, have been placed on hiatus while we review internal standards that shape the deal inventory we feature." The news came to light after the owner of an Austin, Texas, gun shop was told late last week by his Groupon sales contact that the deal for his concealed-handgun training course was being canceled at …

Carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) have faced declining consumption as bottled waters, juices and sports drinks crowd the cooler. As U.S. consumption declined over the past eight years, beverage giants such as The Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group typically were able to raise prices enough to keep soda revenues growing. But soda sales at U.S. stores declined in the second half of last year. "The question from here is if that is the new norm,'' Steve Powers, a beverage analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said of the latest store sales numbers.

Facebook's new Graph Search feature offers something else besides your past to worry about: Facebook is now recycling users Likes and using them to promote "Related Posts" in the news feeds of the user's friends. And one more thing, the users themselves have possibly never seen the story, liked the story or even know that it is being promoted in their name. Thanks, Zuck. Minneapolis developer Craig Condon discovered this and is accusing Facebook of "impersonating people without their consent."