Spinoffs and master limited partnerships (MLPs) will continue in the convenience store business, as several companies, like Valero, dispense with their convenience store and gas station assets Valero Energy Corp., which spun off its entire retail division in May. From the retail c-store perspective, spinoffs have unlocked value for companies; they also can provide tax benefits and provide more flexibility.

For the Detroit three automakers, rental fleets were a place to off-gas huge volumes of cars nobody would buy. No more. Big U.S. retail sales last month were possible because of demand but also because automakers anticipated it. And that meant they could slash less-profitable fleet deliveries. "We're not leaving any fleet business on the table, and we're fulfilling our orders, but right now the retail business is on fire," said Erich Merkle, chief sales analyst for Ford Motor Co.

Sometimes good s**t happens (to paraphrase new PM Tony Abbott's maligned comment about a soldier's death in Afghanistan.) His victory in the federal election and the end of a hung parliament have shifted sentiment in the advertising market. Chief executives and media buyers predicting a markedly stronger end to this year and the start to 2014.

New Birds Eye CEO Belio Leoni Sceti is looking to reposition Birds Eye and is starting by repitching its agency accounts. Reports are he wants to hire 20 new staffers in marketing and new product development to shift perception of the frozen sector from "desperation" to "inspiration." Birds Eye dates back to 1922 when Clarence Birdseye, a biologist for the U.S. government, set up Birdseye Seafoods and patented the "quick freezing" process.

Dunkin’ Donuts said it has inked two franchise agreements that put the chain back in the UK with 50 stores in London.  The Canton, Mass.-based chain said it signed franchise agreements with The Court Group to open 25 units in East London and with DDMG Ltd. to open 25 outlets in East London over the next five years. It is also in “advanced discussions” to open 100 more stores there over the next five years.

With the MLB playoffs and World Series less than a month away, Unilever's Dove Men+Care has asked several players, including Torri Hunter, Chris Sale, Ben Zobrist and Matt Wieters, what it means to 'raise a team at home' and how it feels to be on the road away from their kids, supported by an Instagram promotion offering tickets to a 2014 MLB season-opening game.

Already the official pizza sponsor of the NFL and 18 teams, Papa John's has joined with league marketing partner Pepsi to bring a season-long campaign during all 13 broadcasts of "Thursday Night Football." It includes a TV spot featuring NFL Network host Rich Eisen and Papa John's founder John Schnatter, a weekly special at the pizza-maker's Web site and a Twitter-based element that is offering a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII this February in MetLife Stadium.

TrueCar.com, an online auto shopping site, works something like an online bidding market. Consumers can compare prices between dealers for a given model and dealers therefore benefited by offering low transaction prices. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether dealers colluded to hurt TrueCar Inc. in 2011 and 2012 by agreeing not to deal with the site. Dealers at that time criticized TrueCar's business model and last year many participating dealers dropped TrueCar.

Nissan showed its NISMO Concept Watch at Frankfurt this week. The sleek glass sheathed bracelet connects a driver to the car and his or her physiological drivetrain -- heart rate, etc. The automaker says it first step into wearable technology and representative of its strategy with performance cars of putting fans first.

It seems the statute of limitations has run out on 9/11 being sacrosanct for promotional tie-ins. Companies are getting into the spirit, yes, but with questionable taste. AT&T used 9/11 memorial images on Twitter to tout its phones. One egregious golf course offered a $9.11 special. At the jump some examples: Pretzel Crisps using an Instagram image of a flag made of bags of its Pretzel Crisps. The company, like AT&T, put out a mea culpa.