Sunday, September 27, 2009

September 27, 2009

McDonald’s Reins In Chicago Pride to Keep Rio Olympics Fans

By Courtney Dentch and Shruti Date Singh

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics puts McDonald’s Corp. in a pickle.

McDonald’s is a corporate citizen of the Chicago area, with 2,000 employees at its headquarters in suburban Oak Brook, 20 miles (30 kilometers) from downtown. Chairman Andrew McKenna served as co-head of fundraising for the Chicago 2016 organizing committee. A Summer Olympics in the city would offer opportunities for marketing to U.S. consumers.

Yet McDonald’s, the world’s biggest restaurant company, is forbidden by the International Olympic Committee from actively campaigning for Chicago. The IOC will pick the winning bid for 2016 from Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo on Oct 2.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

September 22, 2009 entry 2

NIVEA launches Visage Essentials Cleansing Range

nivea_essentials NIVEA has introduced a new range of revamped and improved Cleansing products in India that fit perfectly with modern Indian womens’ lifestyle and its needs.

Women today are always on the go and that fresh clean look is so important at all times. Increasing dirt, pollution and humidity is leading to higher incidence of cleansing our face. However, we need to take care that we maintain the skin’s natural moisture balance while cleansing. Only then, can we experience skin that looks fresh and supple all day long.

The new NIVEA Visage Essentials line offers new improved formulation, customized for your skin type. Products made for each skin type sport a distinct color code guiding women to find the right products on the shelf. The hero products of the range are the Refreshing Face Wash and the Oil Regulating Face Wash sporting unique packaging and improved formulation.

The new, NIVEA VISAGE face washes come in unique packs, made for easy handling and dispensing.

• The packs stand upside down without falling over, allowing them to be easily emptied

• The packs sport a flip-top cap which can be operated with one hand

What’s more they look great and fit easily in your purse!!

NIVEA Visage essentials cleansing range :
For Normal to Combination skin type

see full post here:http://www.brandstoday.in/2009/09/11/nivea-launches-visage-essentials-cleansing-range/

September 22, 2009

Pitt switches from Addidas to Nike for all sporting attire

By Evan Burgos / Senior Staff Writer

published: Tue, 22 Sep, 2009

When athletic director Steve Pederson came to Pitt in 1996, only the football and basketball programs were provided team apparel.

Smaller, less heralded sports teams at the University had to buy their own shoes and do their own laundry. In 1997, though, Pitt signed a deal with Adidas. With the exception of a couple of years in the early 2000s when the football program wore Nike gear, the relationship between Adidas and Pitt lasted 11 years.

In August, however, Pitt announced a new deal with sporting juggernaut Nike, which now outfits all sports programs at the school.

“When it came right down to it, it’s what our student-athletes are most comfortable in and feel strongest about,” Pederson said. “Our student-athletes knew our contract was coming to an end and hardly a day went by when someone didn’t say ‘I hope we switch to Nike.’”

Pitt will not divulge the terms of the agreement, but Pederson said that it is “a fairly long-term” deal. Earlier this year, North Carolina signed a 10-year, $37.7 million deal with the brand. In 2008, Memphis signed a five-year, $11.3 million deal.

The change means new uniforms and apparel for all student-athletes. It also means acclimating to new equipment after growing accustomed to Adidas. For most, it has been a welcomed change.

“The Nike apparel in general is a lot nicer,” Liz Carroll, a junior midfielder and forward for the women’s soccer team, said. “The Adidas stuff was just boring, the same stuff every year.”

find full article here: http://www.pittnews.com/node/20025

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

September 15, 2009 Entry 10

Inside Procter & Gamble's New Values-Based Strategy

A look at CEO Bob McDonald's road show promoting P&G's "purpose-inspired growth" strategy

By Rosabeth Moss Kanter

STORY TOOLS

On the anniversary of Lehman Brothers' fall, the question remains: What, if anything, has changed in the mentality of the financial community? While Wall Street wallows in tales of the fallen, a different, more promising approach to capitalism is rising.

Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products company, has just announced a stunning new business strategy to jump-start growth. It begins in a startling, almost counterintuitive way—with company values and sense of purpose. Invoke the heart and care about human needs, the strategy seems to say, and the money will follow.

New CEO Bob McDonald, who assumed office in July, is on the road promoting P&G's "purpose-inspired growth" strategy of "touching and improving more consumers' lives in more parts of the world…more completely."

See Full Article Here:http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/sep2009/ca20090915_398234.htm

September 15, 2009 Entry 9

Media, Marketers, Madison Ave Just Mad for Apple IPhone

Corporate Shift From RIM Explains Why There's an App for That

by Rita Chang
Published: August 24, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- If you've wondered why the marketing world is obsessed with creating apps for the iPhone, take a stroll down the hallways of Kraft Foods, Gannett and German publisher Axel Springer.

There you'll see a sea of iPhones as the brand makes incursions on RIM's BlackBerry, once acknowledged as the smartphone of choice for corporate America. In a recent conference call, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said about 20% of Fortune 100 companies have purchased a total of 10,000 or more iPhones since the handset's release in 2007, and scores of government agencies and businesses have each purchased more than 25,000 iPhones for their organizations.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook

In many ways, the iconic iPhone is sneaking through the marketers' corporate back door: Consumers fall for it and decide they want to use it as their business phone, too. The handset's popularity among corporate smartphone users and its support of the Microsoft Exchange mail server and other enterprise requirements have forced more and more IT departments to support them, landing the iPhone on the list of company-sanctioned phones.

See Full Article Here:http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=138602

Sunday, September 13, 2009

September 13, 2009 Entry 8

Nestlé Joins Gaming World to Sell Water

'Active Life'/Aquapod Deal Focuses on Healthier Choices for Children

By Claude Brodesser-akner
Published: June 22, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- In a clear shift in marketing strategy for a consumer brand aligning with a video-game title, Nestlé Waters' Aquapod (a natural spring water that appeals to kids with its rocket-shaped bottle) has signed on as a strategic partner for the launch of "Active Life: Outdoor Challenge." The title is a casual video game for the Nintendo Wii that Namco/Bandai will launch in September.

Torres' challenge: How to get children to prefer water after spending billions marketing soda.

In an unusually strong commitment to a casual game, Namco is readying half a million copies for sale by the end of the year.

Until now, consumer brands have been leery of associating too closely with a video game's launch, largely because the titles whose sales make them worth associating with also usually contained so much gore and violence that any marketing benefit would be negated. For instance, while it's true that "Grand Theft Auto IV" sold more than 6 million copies in its first week, it's also a game wherein players can actually burn a hooker to death. Games such as "Grand Theft Auto" and "Halo" also require skill and large investments of time. Casual games are video games developed to be played by anyone, even those who've never played a game before.

September 13, 2009 Entry 7

IBM Serves up an App for Wimbledon

Fans Using G1 Smartphones at Courts Will Get Updates, Maps, Menu Offerings

Posted by Emma Hall on 06.18.09 @ 03:11 PM

LONDON (AdAge.com) -- With the rollout of an "augmented-reality" app for Android phones, IBM is bringing state-of-the-art technology to the U.K.'s most traditional sporting event, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

As the tournament kicks off on June 22, the crowds at the All England Lawn Tennis Club will be able to use an Android smartphone application specially developed to enhance the event. IBM is touting the Seer Android Beta being tested during Wimbledon as the future for sporting events. The application, developed for the T-Mobile G1 phone, features location-aware technology that acts as a real-time guide to the tournament.

Android is Google's mobile operating platform that is used with the G1 handset.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

September 1, 2009 Entry 6

Procter & Gamble Will Sponsor U.S. Olympic Team

By KATIE THOMAS

Published: August 31, 2009

Procter & Gamble has signed on as a sponsor of the United States Olympic team for the Vancouver and London Games, a move that will place the Olympic rings on more than a dozen household products, from Bounty and Tide to Pepto-Bismol and Pringles.

The sponsorship, expected to be announced Tuesday, comes at a key time for theUnited States Olympic Committee, which has struggled to attract and retain corporate partners in the recession. Company executives said the deal would involve 17 brands. Procter & Gamble will capitalize on the Olympics’ appeal to women by running television advertisements for its beauty brands — including Olay, Pantene and Secret — during the Games. Olympic logos will appear on packaging and in-store displays to promote other products, like Charmin, Febreze and Scope.

Consumer research has shown that the Olympics appeal particularly to women, teenagers and adults ages 18 to 34, said Kirk Perry, vice president for North America at Procter & Gamble. “That encompasses our consumer base,” he said Monday in a telephone interview. “It connects at every income level. It is such an iconic and important event.

Full article found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/sports/01olympics.html

September 1, 2009 Entry 5

Avon Finds Magazines Work for Young-Skewing Brand

Study Finds People More Likely to Pay Attention to Print Ads

by Nat Ives
Published: April 01, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Avon introduced its young-skewing Mark brand six years ago with a heavy focus on print advertising. Then it brought online into the mix. Avon wondered recently whether it should still market Mark in print at all.

The study confirmed that the web is clearly better for fast, customized information, but people still tend to trust print more.

But happily for print publishers, a study designed to answer that question actually reinforced Avon's commitment to print. "This study helped show it wasn't about one or the other but following your target audience," said Maria Givens, senior manager for global media at Avon, in a presentation Tuesday during the annual Re:Think convention presented by the Advertising Research Foundation.

Find Full article here: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=135701

INB 337