Need some tweezers? How about a toothpick? Maybe a bottle opener? Magnifying glass? Fish scaler? Pliers? 

Depending on what version of the Swiss Army Knife you buy, you can get them all — along with plenty of other handy little tools in one place.

Those days, though, appear to be coming to an end for one Swiss Army Knife brand. Wenger SA, which has been making the knives since 1893, announced Wednesday that it is cutting the cord on the business, Bloomberg reports.Continue reading...

It turns out that Fresh & Easy was neither, in the end.

Tesco, the third largest retailer in the world, has announced that is ready to pull up stakes and close its 200 Fresh & Easy supermarkets in California and Nevada after a largely unsuccessful five-year run.

As Tesco CEO Phil Clarke put it about why the US grocery store brand is "under strategic review," "It just became clear to us that the journey to sustainable returns was going to take too long. ... It's likely but not certain that our presence in America will come to an end."

Tim Mason, deputy chief executive in charge of the U.S. business, has left the company, effective immediately, after 30 years of service. But as we reported back in July, the writing has been on the wall for Tesco's US expansion.Continue reading...

Above, watch Interbrand Global CEO Jez Frampton's master class on what makes a world-changing brand. In this program, Jez shares real-world stories as he discusses the building of world-leading brands, and the fundamentals of brand valuation that determine Interbrand's Top 100 Best Global Brands annual ranking. 

This video was filmed before a live audience for the What's Next? television series that airs across Latin America. It's produced by HSM Global, producers of the World Business Forum, and airs on their ManagemenTV network. It's also distributed online by HSM's Wobi.com, which provides insights and inspiration dedicated to building better businesses, better people, and a better world — all themes that Frampton discusses in this video.

If there is one thing that has characterized the renaissance of Chrysler over the last three years, it is an insistence by the company's leadership to ignore the doubters and forge ahead, following their vision.

That's why Fiat accepted the carcass of Chrysler from the U.S. government three years ago in the first place, why CEO Sergio Marchionne figured he could cobble together a competitive global automotive company from the two, and why he and his lieutenants make interesting — and sometimes daring — product and marketing bets in America.

Sometimes they work out uproariously, like the Chrysler 200 and the Eminem "Imported from Detroit" commercial that debuted during last year's Super Bowl. Other times they have worked out poorly, such as the 2011 debut of the Fiat 500 in the U.S. market, which led to criticism for the Jennifer Lopez music-video-style commercial for the car, and the subsequent ouster of former Fiat U.S. brand chief Laura Soave.

Chrysler and Fiat's CMO, Olivier Francois, says he has learned from these mistakes.Continue reading...

Following botched holiday web orders and a scathing media critique about the brand's strategy posted Monday on Forbes.com (title: "Why Best Buy is Going Out of Business Gradually"), Best Buy has been feeling the heat lately.

The consumer electronics retailer's CEO, Brian Dunn, today posted a frank (and rare) response on the company blog to address critics and reassure employees. Dunn apologized for the web ordering errors ("We worked to make amends with customers whose holidays were made less happy because of our mistake, and we're working diligently to make sure it doesn't happen again") and defended the company's strategy, including the need to create a seamless customer experience between physical and digital transactions.

He concluded, "we fully expect to receive our share of criticism – we’re a big company and we don’t always get everything right. But this is one of those times when I felt it was necessary not only to acknowledge our shortcomings, but to set the record straight on issues where facts are being obscured by rhetoric."

Read the embattled CEO's full letter and the responses here and tell us: Good move? Does Dunn come off as transparent or defensive?

Last week, McDonald’s basically told activists against childhood obesity to go jump in a burning hot Fryolater if they thought they were going to get rid of Ronald McDonald. This week, Burger King and its new ad agency are telling its mascot to take a vacation.

In fact, Burger King is getting a much bigger change than giving the guy with beard and crown a rest. The Miami Herald reports that the chain’s advertising, menu, and even stores are getting revamped.

Don’t worry, Whopper fans. The burger isn’t going anywhere, but the restaurant will try to go healthier with its menu choices and add such things as mango and mixed-berry smoothies with 100% all-natural fruit purees and Asian chicken salad with baby edamame, red cabbage and sesame lime vinaigrette, among a slew of others.

As for its visual branding, red and black will become the new dominant colors of the restaurants, the Herald notes.Continue reading...

After 100 years of being the leading producer of greeting cards, Hallmark is reinventing itself, and its marketing, to compete in a new world. Not only is Hallmark embracing new media, it is changing the very essence of its branding strategy.

This week, Hallmark officially launched a new campaign called "Life is a Special Occasion," designed to help consumers recognize and celebrate not just big milestones but "little 'us' moments" such as the "Mornings" spot above, in which moms surprise sleeping kids in a spot pegged to Valentine's Day.Continue reading...

Gatorade’s recently-introduced premium tripartite G-series product line (above) aimed at pro athletes and serious competitors was an attempt to turn the brand's financial performance around from its recent sales slide. The jury's still out, but if the strategy succeeds, a good deal of the credit may go to Gatorade’s huge investment in social media  ... and specifically, social media monitoring.

At the company's so-called Mission Control inside Gatorade headquarters in Chicago, four full-time staffers track what is being said about the brand on social media — and intervene when it seems to make sense. Few if any other CPG brands have devoted such immense resources to monitoring their social-media presence, and this is raising lots of interesting issues for Gatorade.Continue reading...