Yahoo! teams up with Facebook for social site revamp as Marissa Mayer puts her stamp on the homepage.

GE sues Whirlpool over alleged price fixing in Europe.

New York Times puts Boston Globe on the block.

AB InBev updates Modela discussions with DOJ.

Alamo targets broader audience.

Apple files patent for slap version of rumored iWatch.

AT&T expands partnership with BMW.

Boeing plans to propose package of fixes for Dreamliner.

Burger King unveils new ads with a human element.Continue reading...

Accenture introduces global brand campaign.

Alamo trademark flap resolved in Texas.

Anna's Thins cookies adopt a new look.

Apple's iPad tested as voting device in Oregon, continues "App Store" fight with Amazon.

Best Buy ups holiday spending and introduces "Game On, Santa" campaign.

Boeing wins its biggest-ever commercial-jet deal even as mechanism for deal is criticized.

Cannes adds Mobile Lions award.

Coach pushes for China to become its No. 1 market within three years.

Deutsche Borse and NYSE seek to appease European Union.

Fiat introduces another TV commercial featuring Jennifer Lopez and its Gucci edition.Continue reading...

Eva Dowd was not happy with Alamo Rent A Car back in March when she got a call from a collection agency saying that she owed more than $1,800 for damage to a car she had rented in November in Hawaii, where she’d been visiting for her granddaughter’s baptism, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Dowd hadn’t received any calls from Alamo on the issue; the rep claimed that correspondence on the damage had gone to Dowd’s previous address in Georgia, though she hadn’t been in residence there since 2007. 

She didn’t want her credit to be ruined on a bogus claim. The Tribune reports that Dowd called American Express, where she had purchased extra car insurance, and the rep there told her that Amex would deal with Alamo. Except that Alamo wouldn’t deal with Amex.Continue reading...

Pollinating daily-rental fleets with new models has been a tried-and-true way for Detroit to build consumer interest and acceptability. And now, Nissan is applying this traditional strategy with the most non-traditional vehicle it has ever introduced: Leaf.

Enterprise Holdings plans to buy 500 of the all-electric Leaf vehicles and sprinkle them into the rental fleets of its Enterprise, Alamo and National brands in eight U.S. cities. The company also pledged to install charging stations at some of its locations in 30 U.S. cities beginning this fall and to purchase other electric vehicles as manufacturers make them available.

The announcement is a major development in Enterprise's Keys to Green sustainability program, and also represents another significant step forward for Leaf, which emerged basically from nowhere over the last year to capture the most buzz of any of the still-to-be-debuted electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.Continue reading...

If a certain group gets its way, the cry of "Remember the Alamo!" may give way to a new Alamo-related call: "Cease and desist!"

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, a non-profit group, have registered a federal application to trademark "The Alamo." The group, whose members volunteer as tour guides and help maintain the historic monument in San Antonio, claims that since it has operated the Alamo since 1905, it should maintain the rights to the property's mark.

But fret not, Alamo car rental and tissue service brands. Continue reading...

An airline brand thriving in today’s economy? That sounds as rare as the dodo, or at least as uncommon as an on-time, hassle-free flight. But Allegiant Air has not only enjoyed yet another consecutive profitable quarter, but the Las Vegas-based carrier was the envy of other low-cost airlines at last month’s World Low-Cost Airlines Congress in Barcelona.

Allegiant’s strategy, worth a look no matter what kind of brand you own or manage, is threefold: serve smaller markets neglected by the larger brands; cut costs by having customers pay for additional services they once enjoyed for free – without alienating those customers, of course; and partnering with brands in related businesses.

The typical Allegiant passenger travels from a small (usually cold) city like Bozeman, Montana, or Wichita, Kansas, to a vacation destination like Vegas or Orlando. That passenger will pay very little for his fare (an average of $87, one-way). But because of fees for everything from a glass of water to storing a quiver of arrows, he’ll be shelling out an average of $26 extra per flight.Continue reading...