Chain Store Age
Just in time for SXSW, and aimed on growing into a digital-driven health brand, Under Armour has opened its first-ever digital headquarters, in downtown Austin, Texas. The 35,000-plus-sq.-ft. "Connected Fitness" center employs more than 100 engineers, data scientists, designers, and "product innovators." The five acres surrounding the office will have 1.5 acres of public open space and a plaza; a 30-story residential tower and 33,000-sq.-ft. of retail space.
Engadget
As part of a major initiative to get the UK into coding, the BBC is creating a new TV show about Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto" game. It isn't, however, a shoot-em-up translation TV of the world of the game. It's about the making of the game, per show developer Guy Cocker. BBC's "Make it Digital" campaign, kicking off this fall, is targeted at 11-to-12-year-olds and includes an element that aims to create 5,000 trainee positions for unemployed teens and generally improve the country's tech literacy.
Arstechnica
Walmart does not like Walmart.horse, a parody site. The company is demanding that the artist Jeph Jacques "discontinue any and all use" of the walmart.horse domain, which renders at a tumblr and displays a horse in front of a Walmart store. The company's cease-and-desist letter charges him with trademark infringement. The Massachusetts cartoonist said the site is "satire at its finest," and post-Dadaism using publicly available images. "The purpose is to provoke exactly the kind of response it has received."
Business Insider
McDonald's may have mocked the vegetable, but is apparently going to add it to the menu this year. Analysts at Janney Capital Markets seem to have the inside scoop on this. Citing sources at the company, they say the leafy green vegetable, whose natural environment is the quinoa tofu stir-fry, could be used in salads or smoothies. One place the vegetable won't appear is on a sandwich, based on an ad the company made earlier this year mocking vegetarians and foodies.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The huge staff layoffs at Target Corp.'s Minneapolis headquarters are a visible, tangible phenomenon in the city. The company on Tuesday let 1,700 people go, in the largest downsizing of its headquarters staff ever and the biggest at any Minnesota company since 2002. And 1,400 open jobs will not be filled. The cuts amounted to 13% of the 13,000 HQ employees in the metro area. Target employees reportedly huddled in skyways with colleagues who were let go, wiping away tears.
Detroit Bureau
Audi had another record year in 2014, selling more than 1.74 million vehicles globally - a 10.5% jump - with China and the U.S. leading. The result bested the company's predictions by nearly 500,000 units. Audi saw sales in China rise 17.7% and 15.2% in the U.S., which were the biggest increases of any of the countries where Audi sells vehicle with one exception: Brazil. The German maker nearly doubled sales in the country, where it sold fewer than 9,000 units in 2013.
Nation's Restaurant News
Yum Brands' unit Pizza Hut has tapped Visa and technology consulting firm Accenture to develop a concept "connected car" for mobile purchases from automobiles, the chain said last week. The partners expect to conduct a three-month test of the new commerce on wheels in Northern California this spring.
Chicago Business Journal
Two months after the relaunched the "I'm Lovin' It" campaign from Leo Burnett Chicago, McDonald's handled February like a desperate Jack London character in the Klondike trying to build a fire. Comparable restaurant sales in the U.S. plummeted 4% year over year. McDonald's attributed the huge falloff not to weather - even though parts of the country had a pretty miserable February - but rather to "ongoing aggressive competitive activity."
Cincinnati Enquirer
Kroger reported a $1.7 billion profit for 2014, constituting a 13.8% increase from the previous year. Sales rose 10.3% to $108.5 billion, thanks to last year's acquisition of the North Carolina-based Harris Teeter chain. Same store sales rose 5.2% last year. "2014 was an outstanding year by all measures. Kroger captured more share of the massive food market, delivered on our commitments and invested to grow our business," Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said.
Boston Globe
Cash payout to the U.S. Olympic Committee is a point of contention in Bean Town for Boston's Olympic bid. The group called No Boston Olympics objects to Boston 2024 having to pay $600 million to the USOC as part of a joint venture agreement whose terms are dictated by The International Olympic Committee. It requires that city Olympic organizing committees and the National Olympic Committees share sponsorship revenue.