CarLabs unveiled what it’s calling a first-of-its-kind AR Facebook Messenger experience at F8, featuring work it did with Kia. The company says Kia was chosen due to its previous work with CarLabs in developing its intelligent digital assistant “Kian,” which launched in late 2017. Users of Kian in Messenger can place a 3D rendering of Kia vehicles into their location. The first of Kia’s vehicles to be featured is the 2018 Stinger.

New Hampshire-based Timberland says it is laying off dozens of employees as a part of what it says is a reconstructive effort. Timberland said it had laid off roughly 45 employees nationwide, including those at its headquarters in Stratham. The Portsmouth Herald reports the company says it is providing outplacement services to impacted employees in order to help them transition “into their next opportunity.”

Mothers of victims of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting in February are using Mother’s Day as an opportunity to thank Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart for changing their gun policies. Families from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are organizing a national “Shop In” day at the retailers on May 12, the Sun Sentinel reported Thursday.

Dove is once again teaming with “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” creator Shonda Rhimes to tell stories of real women who are expanding the definition of beauty. Season two of the Dove Real Beauty Productions show focuses on showing the journey of women and girls who have been impacted by the Dove Self-Esteem Project, and the intergenerational connection each has made around beauty, confidence and self-esteem.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. is taking a step further to advocate for gun control, part of a rapid transition for the retailer that’s also a major vendor of firearms in the U.S. The company has retained Glover Park Group to lobby Congress on the matter, according to a disclosure form filed in late April. The move is unusual for a firm in the retail sector, where few brands tackle such a politically charged issue for fear it will turn off customers.

The character of Uncle Drew, which came to life via a Pepsi Max marketing campaign featuring NBA star Kyrie Irving, is not only coming to the big screen but also to your breakfast table. Wheaties said that Irving would do double-duty on a Wheaties box, appearing in his Boston Celtics uniform on one side and on the other as the title character of the upcoming film, Uncle Drew. The limited-edition box will be available nationwide in late May. 

Little Caesars is being sued for $1 million by an ex-employee who says he routinely faced discrimination while working for the company in a Chicago location from 2015 to 2017. Dionte Lawrence claims his colleagues often called him the n-word, physically attacked him and even shook metal chains at him, calling him a "slave." He's suing for $1 million and claims he has suffered depression, anxiety, emotional distress and loss of income.

Subway named as interim CEO Trevor Haynes, who joined Subway in 2006 and is chief business development officer today. Suzanne Greco is retiring as CEO of Subway, more than three years after she was promoted to the role after her late brother and Subway cofounder Fred DeLuca stepped aside. Greco has set a June 30 retirement date, and will continue as an advisor to the company’s executive team.

A new study has found that consumers tend to make choices in a "boundedly rational" way. In other words, we rely on certain predispositions while at the same time keeping an open mind to evidence for making an alternative choice. For marketers, this reinforces the power of brand loyalty, while at the same time supporting the competitive power of testimonials, case studies and other means to demonstrate product or service quality.

For the past 10 years, the investment story on Apple was fairly straightforward. Investors and analysts only cared about how many iPhones it sold. And while that's still the primary metric for the company's success, it is no longer the only metric. The Apple story is more diversified than the company gets credit for, and its recent earnings report emphatically proves it.