P&G CEO Bob McDonald retires from troubled tenure as predecessor A.G. Lafley comes back to the company to take the CEO post.

Google faces antitrust probe over dominance in online display ads.

AT&T imposes new wireless fee and adds iPhone to pre-paid GoPhone program.

Apple faces potential setback in e-books case.

Boy Scouts of America vote to allow gay scouts into its ranks. 

Campbell Soup's parent acquires Plum Organics.

Daimler and Ford strengthen technology ties.

Dodge banks on Fast & Furious 6 tie-in to rev flagging Dart sales.Continue reading...

When companies age, they turn to innovation as the way to get their corporate blood pumping again. That's clearly the case with the Campbell Soup company, which has come out with a variety of new soup products, broadened its product lineup under the V8 brand, and taken other innovative steps since Denise Morrison became CEO about a year ago. But it's still been a rough ride as she seeks to turnaround the company's financial results — she's closing two factories due to "excess capacity" and laying off 700 workers in an attempt to "improve supply chain productivity."

Morrison told a group this week that there's been a definite method to her approach, including using "disciplined creativity" based on studying the successes of other innovative firms, and a team-based product-development philosophy that she learned in part from firms in Silicon Valley.Continue reading...

Nokia faces key test under new CEO, launches mobile streaming music in US and expanded app library as part of today's reveal of Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices. HTC's Windows Phone series will also be branded under 8 series following Samsung's mobile rebranding move.

Audi to build plant in Mexico as automaker markets S series with NFL tie-in.

Method sold to European green-cleaning rival Ecover.

3M drops planned acquisition of Avery Dennison under U.S. antitrust threat.

Amazon adds movies to streaming service in new challenge to Netflix.

American Airlines can reject pacts with pilots, judge says.

Apple is embarrassed by data leak ahead of iPhone 5 reveal on Sept. 12.

AT&T and Texas to test text-to-911 safety initiative.

Best Buy's new CEO hits the store floor in first week.

BP dinged as U.S. reiterates gross negligence charge in oil spill.Continue reading...

There's more riding on the shoulders of New York Giants star wide receiver Victor Cruz this year than hopes for the team's repeat of a Super Bowl championship: He also must bear part of the burden of turning around Campbell's woeful soup franchise.

Campbell will feature Cruz in a reprise of its "Mama's Boys" campaign of old for Chunky Soup, an iconic effort that harks back to when Americans still ate more Campbell's soup each year than the year before. That isn't the case anymore for Campbell even after the Great Recession, increased advertising spending, and the latest move — a spate of new products aimed at Millennials — have failed to turn around the fortunes of this venerable soup business.

That's why Campbell's CEO Denise Morrison this week was finally telling investors that, "by itself," the soup business "cannot take us where we want to go." Her vision of a Campbell of the very near future is based on its Pepperidge Farms brand, growing V8 beverage franchise and its recent acquisition of Bolthouse Farms and its packaged fresh foods and juices.Continue reading...

When it comes to product strategy, Campbell Soup has gone through more twists and turns over the last several years than one of the noodles in its classic Chicken Noodle Soup.

The world's leading maker of soup has come up with heartier flavors and lighter flavors, chunkier textures, new ingredients, heart-healthy blends — you name it. The company also has infamously tacked back and forth about sodium reduction in its soups, firset embracing the idea as a major new platform and then, recently, trimming back its salt-cutting ambitions in the interests of taste.

Once again, Campbell is stirring the pot, this time under new CEO Denise Morrison, who presented her strategy to analysts in New York this week that the Campbell Soup Company has a few things cooking to jump-start growth.

Her new approach "requires moving from a high dependence on line extensions to more disruptive innovation, new and differentiated products, packaging and category segments that create new pathways for growth."Continue reading...

Bank of America is pushed by regulators on contingency plans, as more than a dozen suits against big US banks are expected to be filed in the coming days over bad mortgages.

AstraZeneca fails to beat Pfizer in match of anti-cholesterol drugs Crestor and Lipitor.

BP raid in Russia is suspended.

Baidu, China Mobile and ICBC rank among top brands in China, survey says.

Campbell's profit takes a hit on declining US soup sales.

China Telecom plans UK mobile service before London 2012 Olympics.Continue reading...

And here we thought Yahoo's Carol Bartz was a pioneer among female CEOs using salty language.

Only, Denise Morrison isn't yet CEO of the Campbell Soup Company — she moves into the C-suite on August 1st — and she isn't hurling expletives, but addressing the issue of actual salt: as in, exactly how much salt do Campbell’s customers want in their soups, and in which soups?

As president of Campbell USA, Morrison, who is taking over from CEO Doug Conant, was one of the company’s biggest proponents of its healthy eating commitment and full-court sodium-reduction strategy of the last few years.

That gained Campbell some props from food activists and gave the company lots of “new and improved” products to market on a better-for-you basis. But it hasn’t done a lot for sales: Campbell reported a 7% decline in soup revenue for the quarter that ended May 1st.Continue reading...

No soup for you!

And by "you," we mean your children, grandchildren and future generations of consumers.

If the free market has its way, and it usually does, it seems the consumer food category known as "soup" will be a quaint thing that oldtimers tell young whippersnappers about.

"Oh lordy, back in my day we had aisles full of soup. Soup for kids, alphabet soup, soup for one, low-fat soup, organic soup, chunky soup, creamy broth, soup we ate on its own as a meal — soup, glorious soup!"

The tempest in a soup bowl comes from new consumer demographic data showing that when it comes to soup, the up and coming generation just isn't nuts about soup.Continue reading...