As brandchannel reported earlier, Toyota is in trouble. It’s bad enough that one of the world’s most reliable automakers had to recall 1.1 million of its best-selling vehicles on the heels of yet another recall, but now the competition considers the Toyota brand not only damaged, but vulnerable.

Generally, one would expect car buyers spooked by Toyota’s woes to forgo their next Camry for a Nissan Maxima or Honda Accord, but GM and Ford are aggressively trying to insert a Chevy Malibu or a Ford Fusion into the equation. GM is looking to lure current Toyota owners to GMC, Chevy, Cadillac, and Buick showrooms by offering up to $1,000 to terminate a Toyota lease, $1,000 toward a new GM purchase, or a 60-month interest-free loan.Continue reading...

For decades, the founders and builders of General Motors relied effectively on a brand architecture based on creating lifelong customers by offering them brands and product lines “fit for every purse and purpose.”

So even the new, slimmed-down GM isn’t about to simply cast millions of its owners away as the company terminates its Pontiac and Saturn brands and peddles its Hummer and fate-uncertain Saab marques. Eliminating hundreds of GM dealers even of its surviving brands, such as Chevrolet, will untether even more customers.

After spending the last several years trying to wrest “conquest” sales from import brands, GM doesn’t want to make its hard-won customers easy marks for any competition.

That’s why GM is intensifying its efforts to reach 6.8 million owners of its abandoned brands who are now becoming “free agents,” and whose brand loyalty has become tenuous. It has just launched what Susan Docherty, vice president of U.S. sales, called a “massive initiative” to keep these folks in the fold, beginning with an “extensive” direct-mail campaign last month inviting them back into GM dealer showrooms for an oil change.Continue reading...

Kraft makes £9.8 billion hostile takeover bid for Cadbury today. [WSJ]

Retailer holiday ad spending increases, starts earlier. [WSJ]

Verizon will spend $100 million on the Droid campaign. [AdAge]

Apple to sell $99 iPhone to compete with Verizon Droid. [dbtechno]

With iPhone in its stable, Orange envisions a brand revitalization. [Times of London]

After successful GQ introduction, Conde Nast plans more Chinese magazine launches. [WSJ]

Novartis buys 85% stake in Chinese vaccine maker. [WSJ]

(More headlines: Ruby Tuesday's, Cadillac, ammunition.)Continue reading...

Another day, another dig at Hummer, the white hot epicenter of scorn from New York to Beijing. But environmentalists might want to check themselves: they may not have Hummer to kick around for much longer. And then what?

Brands are, of course, a set of attributes agreed upon by brand owner and consumers. And no brand may have suffered worse from the latter part of that arrangement than Hummer, the unthinking environmentalist's go-to brand shorthand for bad autoing. The brand is so synonymous with a lack of concern about the environment that it is assumed Hummer owners, while claiming they are attracted by the “American exceptionalism, rugged individualism, love of the frontier, community and freedom" characteristics of the brand, really just revel in the image of sticking it in Mother Nature's ear. Radical activist group Earth Liberation Front even set one Hummer dealership on fire several years ago.

But then there are facts.Continue reading...

After Cadillac solicits ideas from agencies, current shop resigns account. [WSJ]

Analysts see lagging growth in Cadbury's sales. [Times of London]

Nobel Peace Prize boosts Obama, America's brand. [FT]

Luxury brands rush to satiate consumer demand in China. [FT]

Carrefour strives to regain footing, focusing on lower prices. [WSJ]

Barnes & Noble to announce e-reader next week. [WSJ]

"This Is It," new/old Michael Jackson song, out today. [Idolator]

Stars Miley Cyrus and Courtney Love exit Twitter. [LA Times]

Motorola builds buzz for Android phones on social media sites. [Chicago Tribune]

(More headlines: Facebook, Forrester's Brand Advocates, TeenNick.)Continue reading...

Scripps to shut down Fine Living Network, rebrand as Cooking Channel. [paidContent]

The redesigned New Statesman site resembles The Guardian's. [Econsultancy]

Cadillac quietly alters logo. [Brand New]

They deserve a break today: McDonald's is shopping agencies for new slogan. [BrandWeek]

Thanks to Woody Harrelson, star of last weekend's US top-grossing Zombieland, the world now knows vegan Twinkies. His new film's plot revolves around the spongy cakes, which he spends munching as he looks for the last Twinkie on earth. As Michelle Boisson reports:

While Twinkie, by far, receives the most prominent brandcameo in the film—being totally integrated in the plot—in reality, Harrelson couldn’t eat the Hostess brand. Being a raw vegan, he had to have special Twinkie-like cakes made for him.

Zombieland may be a dangerous place, but it's also a brand fiesta. Many products make appearances in the comedy-horror film, ranging from the AK-47 to Cadillac Escalade, and from Animal Crackers to Purell. (See the brandcameo page for brandchannel's complete reference list of product placements in this and other top-grossing films.)

One well-known social media site also shows up, though it most likely didn't pay for the mention. According to Jesse Eisenberg's character Columbus, the best thing about Zombieland is: “No more Facebook status updates.”

The label "Cadillac plan" has figured prominently in the healthcare reform debate, referring to top-of-the-line coverage.

But does the term speak to the power of the Cadillac brand as "luxury"? Indeed, is Cadillac a higher luxury than a BMW? Why not call it a "Mercedes plan"? While once synonymous with luxury, Cadillac has gone more proletariat in recent years, introducing an SUV model and the CTS, both of which target younger, more hip consumers.Continue reading...

It's hard to believe, but the US economic recession has been a boon for South Korean automaker Hyundai. The economy car maker has not only secured its market share, but topped its August 2008 sales by 47 percent (while total industry sales were up 1 percent). The company has shown good stewardship of its customers and product line, making trust and reassurance integral to Hyundai's brand identity.

But how did Hyundai change its image as "a reasonable alternative to purchasing a used car" to a modest alternative to Lexus and Cadillac?

This year, Hyundai has been buoyed by the success of its new higher-end model, the Genesis,  The company's first $30,000-plus sedan won Car of the Year honors at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Its sales were bolstered by "inconspicuous luxury" consumers wanting to appear "that they, too, are cutting back," the New York Times reports.Continue reading...