Papa John's International Inc. has hired Bob Kraut as its SVP and CMO. Most recently, Kraut was SVP of brand marketing and advertising at Arby's Restaurant Group. He replaces Andrew Varga, who resigned the position in March. to become president of the pizza chain's agency of record, Zimmerman Advertising in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Kraut will report to Tony Thompson, Papa John's president and chief operating officer.

In the 1970s, Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee was the face and lips of a 'Suzy ChapStick' campaign, but the brand has gone without a celebrity spokesperson for the past decade until now, signing soccer star Alex Morgan, who ChapStick says 'embodies the voice of our consumer,' to star in a TV, print and Internet effort to support the launch of Hydration Lock. Morgan, who also just signed a new deal with Mondelez International, has a marketing roster that includes Panasonic, AT&T, Nike, Coca-Cola and Unilever's Degree for Women.

Ford wants to make up the distance after getting a late start in the Chinese market. Demand there is up 51% since the beginning of the year, so the company is expanding both its product line-up and production capacity. While it was an early participant in other markets in the Asia/Pacific region, it initially steered clear of China - which is expected to see sales of 17 million vehicles this year and as many as 32 million by 2020, according to consensus forecasts. As a result, it lags way behind major brands.

The NFL next year will for the first time play three regular-season games in London, tripling the number of games from last year and one more than in 2013, supported not only by a growing fan base in the U.K. but by an increase in marketing presence and activation from such partners as Pepsi, Visa, Anheuser-Busch, Bridgestone, Jeep, Microsoft, Virgin America, Castrol and Marriott.

Chevrolet is launching a full-blown marketing campaign for the re-engineered 2014 Malibu, a mid-cycle redux for "The car for the richest guys on Earth," the campaign states. The rich guys, it points out, are not down on Wall Street, in big law firms making partner, or avoiding paparazzi. "We're looking at this as an all-new launch," Chevy U.S. marketing chief Chris Perry told reporters at a media drive. "We need to put our investment behind it to make sure we're successful."

Papa John's International Inc. celebrated the opening of its 1,000th location outside of North America on Oct. 9 in London. The event featured founder and chief executive John Schnatter, who started the Papa John's Pizza chain in 1984, as well as fans waving flags from some of the 35 countries in which Papa John's now operates.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline dropped to $3.35 this week, according to the latest AAA Fuel Gauge Report. This is 5 cents less expensive than one week ago, 23 cents less than one month ago and 47 cents less than the same day one year ago. The year-over-year discount is the largest since Oct. 17, 2009. This is the longest streak of daily declines since Sept. 17-Dec. 12, 2008, when prices fell $2.20 per gallon over 86 consecutive days.

Volvo Cars is looking for spend efficiencies, thus the global agency review that started in June to help consolidate agency relationships around the world. Now it looks like it may be expanding to include the U.S. work, with estimated media budget of $50 million. It's held by Boston-based Arnold Worldwide. The automaker had earlier used a "Team Volvo" structure that allied Arnold Worldwide, SapientNitro and Euro RSCG 4D. But in 2011 it consolidated that approach and moved all of its business in the U.S. to Arnold.

The flavor of pumpkin is over-ripe right now: it's in M&M's, vodka, Pop-Tarts, beer, and other stuff. And it's increasingly becoming a year-round obsession, with sales topping $290 million last year, reports Nielsen. Pumpkin offerings domestically jumped nearly 19% last year. Starbucks, for example, has been selling Pumpkin Spice Latte since late summer in some parts of the country. Dunkin' Donuts rolled out its lineup of pumpkin products in early September.

Evidently kids like the Geico commercial featuring a talking camel who loves Wednesdays. Teachers at Vernon Center Middle School in Vernon, Conn., are about ready to call a general strike because students won't stop mimicking the ad. According to Superintendent of Schools Mary P. Conway, the problem students are mostly sixth graders, but several teachers have come forward to complain about the havoc being wreaked by the Geico Hump Day.