The "Is Japan Cool?" campaign from All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline, aims to lure Americans to fly ANA and visit Japan. Unlike the UK's cocky (and to some, uncool) "Cool Brittania" campaign in the late 90's, it's a rhetorical question that peddles Japan's charms with a soft sell. Some might argue, too soft of a sell.

The goal of the “Cool Campaign,” now in its second phase, is to help Americans more easily understand places in Japan through pictures and videos mapping locations and enlightening visitors about cultural institutions, tourist attractions and quirkier trends (Cosplay, anyone?)Continue reading...

Best Buy stores to close in the U.K. as Carphone Warehouse sells its stake for $1.3 billion. In the U.S., BB will join post-Thanksgiving "Black Midnight" frenzy.

IAG, owner of British Airways & Iberia, pursues Portugal's TAP airline after agreeing to buy bmi (British Midland International) from Lufthansa.

Barnes & Noble expects to prod Amazon's Kindle with new Nook Color.

All Nippon Airways probes glitch in Dreamliner landing as Airbus tries to exploit longer-than-expected training time for the new Boeing plane.

Apple hit by piracy claim by leading computer scientist as brand rewards top executives to try to retain them for the post-Jobs era and threatens Google with new Siri "personal-assistant" search technology.Continue reading...

Amazon is set to unveil the Kindle Fire e-reader on Wednesday, with Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith on board, but Time Inc. negotiations going down to the wire.

Boeing confident about Dreamliner output as All Nippon Airways prepares for aircraft's first commercial flight.

Chrysler lets car buyers track production and delivery.

Coca-Cola CEO is "cautiously pleased" with company outlook.

Jay-Z announces the New Jersey Nets will be renamed the Brooklyn Nets, and that he'll kick off the NBA team's new home at the Barclays Center with an eight-concert series in Sept. 2012.

John Hancock extends "Who Knew?" campaign.Continue reading...

Apple slows down growth in China and plans reveal iPhone 5 on its campus, as Verizon sides with Samsung in Apple dispute.

Arizona and Lipton fight for first place in dynamic tea category.

Audi and its new A6 "take over" Jersey City in new branded content with FX.

Blockbuster unveils streaming movie service as Netflix secures streaming deal with Dreamworks.

Bloomberg and Time shuffle web heads.

Boeing offers bidets and electric window shades on new Dreamliner for All Nippon Airways.

Bud Light pairs with Pitbull in pitch for Cuban-American consumers.Continue reading...

All Nippon Airways defers deliveries of some 787s from Boeing and projects profit drop in wake of Japan disaster.

Bank of the West breaks brand ad.

BSkyB board votes to retain James Murdoch as chairman as the company plans a share buyback and a higher dividend and new phone-hacking allegations emerge and UK's top media regulator resigns.

Current TV names new CEO from “old” ranks.

Epocrates “free” ad-supported app lures doctors.

Fiat consolidates management of Chrysler with new global org chart.Continue reading...

Amazon aims to re-write tax policy for the internet era.

American Electric Power scraps plan for carbon capture at plant.

Australia carbon tax finds resistance.

Boeing clears tests of 787 Dreamliner with All Nippon Airways and meets with AMR to Airbus.

Borders on brink of liquidation.

Carrefour experiences weakening in profit.

Chrysler and Fiat merge management structure.Continue reading...

The skies in Asia may become a lot more crowded in the second half of 2011. That's when All Nippon Airways (ANA) plans to launch a new low-cost airline to compete with the likes of rapidly growing AirAsia and Qantas-owned Jetstar. In addition, another low-cost airline is in the process of being formed by Thai Airways and Tiger Airways, which is partially owned by Singapore Airlines.

While the new carrier will be a separate operation, ANA will own 39%, Chinese investment firm First Eastern will own 33%, and Japanese investors will own the balance.

ANA hopes the low-cost carrier "will stimulate demand for air services, with domestic fares that can compete with long-distance buses and trains, without cannibalizing its own business," reports the New York Times. The yet-to-be-named airline is expected to fly domestic short-haul routes and international flights out of Osaka's Kansai International Airport.Continue reading...

* 7-Eleven enters the bidding for smaller rival Casey’s.

* All Nippon Airways plans to launch the first low-cost air carrier in Japan.

* Anheuser-Busch InBev, L’Oreal and Unilever are among brands utilizing more online video to connect with consumers in China.

* Burberry aims to transform itself into an agile global retailer.

* CNN banks on new faces such as Piers Morgan to battle slumping ratings.

* General Motors needs to go into “attack” mode, new CEO Daniel Akerson tells employees.

* Goldman Sachs is fined $27 million by the U.K. government, but ranked #1 on Wall Street for employee satisfaction.Continue reading...