Research firm BrandVerity's followup study on pay-per-click advertising finds that hotels could be losing direct bookings because a lot of brand ads for properties on search engines are taken by the online travel agencies like Travelocity and Hotels.com. The study found that trademark use by third-party advertisers was less common on Google and Google Mobile but frequent on Bing, Yahoo and AOL.

BMW, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen have signed on to industry-wide principles to handle consumer data and safeguard customer privacy. Crafted by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers, the principles will require the companies to receive permission for certain uses of data by model year 2017 at the latest, with a one-year extension available if engineering changes are required.

ESPN has promoted Seth Ader to VP marketing. Ader, formerly ESPN's senior director, oversees marketing for all league sports properties on ESPN. They include the NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS (and all soccer properties,) golf (The Masters, The Open Championship), tennis (all four Grand Slams including for the first time in 2015 the entire U.S. Open), the TCS New York City Marathon, Special Olympics World Games and Little League World Series.

NJOY is the top U.S. retail vaping product, generating a nearly 65% sales increase in the four-week period ended Oct. 5, according to market research firm IRI. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based electronic cigarette and vaping company's product portfolio now constitutes 23.7% of revenue in the category, per IRI Multi-Outlet data. The company recently launched a line of vape kits and e-liquids in addition to its rechargeable and disposable e-cigarettes.

Grocery store chain Price Chopper is changing its name and brand positioning, per parent company, the Golub Corp. The company said it will also begin a massive modernization this spring. The chain's new name will be Market 32, a reference to Price Chopper's founding by the Golub family in 1932. Price Chopper expects more than half of its 135 stores will be converted in the next five years at a cost of more than $300 million.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz are battling for the sales crown in the luxury car market. In the U.S., BMW held the title for the two previous years, but one of the two has been the leader since 2011, the last year Lexus held the crown. "One of the noteworthy facts in the October U.S. new vehicle sales results is that BMW now leads its arch-rival Mercedes-Benz by just 5,389 sales through the first 10 months of this year," IHS Automotive Analyst Tom Libby said.

The percentage of Americans consuming yogurt at least once in two weeks has grown 12.5% during 2004-14. That puts the product at the top of the list of fastest-growing foods of the past 10 years. After that is bottled water, pizza, poultry sandwiches, Mexican food and fresh fruit, according to a new NPD study.

The National Hockey League says it is seeing growth among fans, media and marketers equal to or better than any time in its history. "In 2006, 95% of the NHL's $2.2 billion revenue was generated by the clubs. Now, 25% of the league's $4 billion revenue is generated by the NHL," said John Collins, COO for the NHL. He said the strategy is to build the profile of outdoor games: the Stanley Cup, the World Cup of Hockey (in 2016) and (potentially the 2018) Winter Olympics.

Automakers seem blase about the Super Bowl this time around. NBC still has eight to ten 30-second spots left to sell for its 2015 broadcast of the game and has sold about 90% of the inventory available. But Seth Winter, EVP of sales for both NBC Sports and NBCUniversal News Group, said market pressures have halved advertising partners this year. "We would be in a far, far more accelerated sell-out if the automotives were just kind of advertising where they were."

Industry analysts say the approach Whole Foods Market is taking is the right approach to price investments. A.C. Gallo, president and COO, told analysts the company has been testing a variety of lower produce pricing strategies. "Combined with some external advertising, which is something we haven't done before, we seem to be getting good reaction, so we're encouraged."