Customers of organic, non-GMO food brand Annie's are running an online petition to get new owner General Mills to pledge to uphold the brand's homegrown organic standards. Despite a promise from the company, the petition authors fear General Mills will add genetically modified ingredients to the macaroni mix. "Annie's is on the record as supporting GMO labeling and General Mills is not, so there is kind of a conflict in ethics when it comes to GMOs," noted Julie Mastrine, spokeswoman for Care 2, the company that hosts the site on which the petition was created.

McDonald's Japan has introduced a limited-edition Halloween cheeseburger to counter Burger King' Japan's new Kuro burger, which was released in early September. On both, the buns are black. The McDonald's version includes two beef patties, yellow cheese, spicy yellow sauce and fried onions. Burger King Japan is sporting an all-black burger, including the buns. The Kuro Burger has bread and cheese, both blackened by bamboo charcoal, and a special sauce made from squid ink.

Twitter is investing $10 million in a new group called Laboratory for Social Machines at the MIT Media Lab. The five-year grant will come with access to the Twitter firehose, and historical data going back to the first tweet ever sent.  The group will be led by Deb Roy, associate professor at the Media Lab and co-founder of Cambridge startup BlueFin Labs, which Twitter acquired in 2013.

Cadillac will market around three brand values: bold, optimistic and sophisticated, said Uwe Ellinghaus, Cadillac’s global CMO. “We made the very, very deliberate decision to roll out our new look and see ... at exactly the same time we launch our new top-of-the-range car,” said Ellinghaus, who joined Cadillac early this year after working for BMW and luxury pen, watch and jewelry maker Montblanc International.

Sears Holdings Corp. said  it plans to sell most of its stake in Sears Canada in order to raise up to $380 million in cash by early next month. CEO Edward Lampert and his firm ESL Investments will fully exercise their rights, which will bring almost half of the money -- $168 million -- to Sears coffers in mid-to-late October. The Hoffman Estates-based, IL retailer has been selling or spinning off business units, including Lands' End, to stay afloat.

Using Jeff Goldblum, a great storyline, hilarious hijinks...and Jeff Goldblum, we have the best ad of the year if for no other reason than it manages to make the least  emotionally compelling product on Earth, lightbults (GE) completely memorable. View at the link. It includes a piano where the bench is a hot tub. Enough said.

Ballantine's Scotch whiskey has released the latest episode in its series "Stay True Stories" with musician and DJ, Black Coffee. The series, via M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment and M&C Saatchi London, was shot in various global locations and features people who embody the "Stay true, leave an impression" brand mantra.

Coca-Cola’s "Share a Coke" personalized-bottle and can campaign, which came to the U.S. this summer, helped turn around a decade-long sales decline. Coke sales are up more than 2.5%. Though the campaign is ending, executives are strongly considering bringing it back next summer. The packaging started in Australia in 2011, and people have hunted on eBay for cans with names. One couple even used it to announce a new family member.

TBS is backing its broadcast of the American League Wild Card Game, AL Division Series, and AL Championship Series with a marketing campaign starring actor Bryan Cranston humorously re-enacting iconic post-season events featuring the music of AC/DC. Craig Barry, SVP of production and executive creative director for Turner Sports, says the key is using tactics that get both core and casual baseball fans to tune in.

Kia will have no fewer than 23 vehicles on its stand in Paris this year, which starts Oct. 4. Among them is the new Rio, which hasn’t been updated since 2011. “The Kia Rio was our best-selling vehicle nameplate worldwide in 2013, with a total of 471,000 sales, and among our top-three sellers here in Europe with 56,821 units delivered. Improvements to this model are of major significance for our brand,” said Michael Cole, chief operating officer, Kia Motors Europe.