JCPenney, in announcing stronger earnings and sales, says it is amping up its expense-reduction plans, and will deliver an additional $50 million in savings this year--some based on more efficient marketing spending. The Plano, Tex.-based retailer says its net income for the first quarter rose 6.7% to $64 million, up from $60 million in the first period of last year, beating earlier estimates. And while overall sales squeaked up just 0.4% to $3.94 billion, up from $3.93 in the year-ago period, due to its exit from the catalog business, same-store sales generated a 3.8% gain. The company attributed …

Primedia, once a major consumer media company that owned About.com, Channel One, and magazines like New York, this morning said a majority of its shareholders had agreed to sell it to affiliates of private equity firm TPG Capital for $7.10 per share, or a transaction value of about $525 million.

Between aging Baby Boomers and emerging countries, the $6 billion contact lens market is expected to double in the next five years, and CooperVision has set its sights on a bigger share. "The category is going through unprecedented changes," David Srere, co-president/CEO and chief strategy officer at Siegel+Gale, which handled the company's rebranding effort, tells Marketing Daily. "It's becoming more commoditized, with new channels—you can buy lenses online and at supercenters. That has weakened the connection between practitioners and lens wearers. And lenses are more than a medical choice now, they're also a lifestyle decision—they can change your eyes …

Shopkick, the app that automatically rewards users with reward points towards purchases when they enter participating retailers arrived with much fanfare last summer. Since then, the shopkick app created by the startup of the same name has attracted 1.5 million users, 40% of whom use it monthly, and 20%, weekly. The company has also built up a roster of large retail partners including Best Buy, American Eagle Outfitters, Target and Crate & Barrel in 80 markets across the country. The updated version of the shopkick app released today adds new personalization features including a "Faves" screen that lets users …

Facebook marketing firm Buddy Media has acquired Spinback, a New York startup that provides social commerce and analytics tools. The company's services include a plugin called EasyShare that lets consumers to share products and purchases via Facebook, Twitter and email; and EasyTrack, a dashboard for companies to track social sharing and the resulting traffic, conversions and sales. While Spinback's clients have primarily been retailers to date, Buddy Media plans to extend the company's tools to marketers and agencies as well to monitor e-commerce and sharing activity. The entire five-person Spinback team will join Buddy Media's New York headquarters …

An ad funded by Sprint that depicts a man wearing a pink polka-dot dress has drawn a flurry of complaints from the transgender community and has been pulled, reports the Hartford Courant.<P> The ad, which opposes the proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T, shows a photograph of a man wearing a sun dress that resembles a dress worn by the spokeswoman in T-Mobile advertisements. The headline reads, "It makes sense if you don't think about it."<P> The full-page, color ad ran in The Courant Tuesday and Wednesday and has appeared other print and online publications, …

It had to happen. An automaker had to prove its off-road capabilities by taking its vehicles down the Death Road. Well, Mitsubishi has done it. If you are a fan of hair-raising YouTube extreme-adventure clips (base jumping, the guy jumps out of planes with a little jet-powered wing on his back) you have probably heard about or more likely seen clips of the infamous Bolivian "Death Road." The Yunga Road, a treacherous 43-mile mountain notch from La Paz to Coroico, a road the climbs to over 15,000 feet, has gotten a reputation as the most dangerous on Earth because …

The self-regulatory group Digital Advertising Alliance has appointed Peter Kosmala managing director. Kosmala will oversee the group's program for online behavioral advertising and will be responsible for licensing the organization's icon, aimed at informing consumers about online ad targeting. Kosmala previously was with the International Association of Privacy Professionals and the self-regulatory group Network Advertising Initiative. DAA standards call for companies involved in behavioral targeting -- or tracking people as they surf the Web in order to serve them targeted ads -- notify users about the practice and allow them to opt out of receiving targeted ads.

Social content syndicator Clearspring Technologies has raised $20 million in a fourth round funding led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) and including New Enterprise Associates, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, and AOL co-founder Steve Case. That  brings the company's total raised to date to about $58 million. Clearspring's AddThis social bookmarking service is used by 9 million sites and reaches a monthly audience of more than 1 billion worldwide. The company's Audience Platform allows marketers to leverage the aggregate social data from AddThis to target advertising in real-time by interest, influence and intent. Clearspring plans to use the new capital to …

Google partnered with Lighting Science Group to make intelligent LED bulbs that will communicate in an open source platform with a new Google Android application that will let consumers remotely control lighting in the home with the bulbs installed. The bulbs will become available in grocery and home improvement stores later this year. The bulbs will communicate with each other, along with the home's wireless router, which communicates with the mobile phone to turn on and off or dim. The Google Android application will also recognize when someone is in the home or away. It took engineers at …