P&G sees profit soar and revenue drop in latest earnings report.

Kimberly-Clark pulls back in Europe.

Twitter encourages brands to find and use their authentic voice.

Apple earnings report on Thursday will be closely watched.

AT&T sees slowing in wireless-subscriber growth.

Barbie CMO looks to Royal Caribbean cruise experience launch in new year.

Best Buy shakes up management.Continue reading...

Adidas dumped by university over labor concerns.

American Airlines expects thousands of job cuts and faces rash of late, canceled flights..

Anschutz plans to sell its entertainment group, part-owner of Los Angeles Lakers, in AEG sale to include LA's Staples Center.

Barry Diller and Scott Rudin enter e-publishing of books.

Caesars to rebrand Imperial Palace as The Quad.

Campbell Soup Co. boosts digital marketing.

Canon slashes prices in India.

Coca-Cola heirs lose $37M in foreclosure crisis.Continue reading...

GM expected to announce Manchester United sponsorship today.

Nike is selling its Cole Haan and Umbro brands.

RIM shareholders see outright sale as best option for BlackBerry maker.

Amazon may end up sharing California tax as NJ tax collection kicks in.

American Idol owner rebrands.

CBS says Super Bowl advertising is more than half sold.

Caterpillar sees strikers hunkering down.

Chevron is sued in Canada by Amazonians.Continue reading...

Nike shares jumped this week in the wake of the company's quarterly report, which showed sales in China and the US bolstering its global profits.

Nike, Inc. — the corporate parent of Nike, Cole Haan, Converse, Hurley and Umbro brands — announced an increase to its fiscal 2015 revenue target to a new range of $28-30 billion, up from its previous target of $27 billion announced in May 2010.

The company also increased its fiscal 2015 revenue target for the NIKE Brand to $24-25 billion, up from its previous target of $23 billion. The announcements were made during an investor meeting at its headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., where the following video showcasing its brands globally was shown.Continue reading...

Is the world ready for "Sugarpova"? It's a new brand of candy and sweets, leveraging the brand value of tennis star Maria Sharapova, expected to launch at the US Open in August.

This is just the latest commercial venture for the world's highest paid female athlete whose branding acumen seems to be as sharp as her tennis game.

The 24-year old professional tennis player is a winner in more ways than one, ranking number seven in the world's single women tennis players and having made over $24 million from June 2009 to June 2010, according to Forbes.

While Sharapova has earned her fair share from playing tennis, she has done even better from her commercial endorsements.Continue reading...

Yesterday may have seen a plummeting stock market, but that's yesterday. For the next five years, the world's leader in athletic shoes is planning to run with the bulls.

In the company's first meeting with analysts in three years, Nike boldly proclaimed it has plans to fuel growth by more than 40% over the next five years, hitting $27 billion in annual sales versus its $19.2 billion sales tally for last year.

CEO Mark Parker expects most of that projected growth to come from existing brands, but he's not ruling out acquisitions. Nike owns the Cole Haan, Hurley, Umbro and Converse brands.

Converse, which the company acquired in 2003, is already a billion-dollar business, and Nike wants to at least double that by 2015. It's testing Converse retail locations with the brand's first standalone store opening soon on Boston's hip Newbury Street, and it's also looking to regain brand ownership from international licensees.Continue reading...

Diet Coke's latest ads target a younger generation of consumers. [Brandweek]

Netbook manufacturers are tailoring products for children. [Reuters]

Stop & Shop will see a 24-hour strike by its workers starting tomorrow. [Boston Herald]

Diane von Furstenberg will lend her talents to Claridge's in London. [WWD]

YouTube initiates an auto-captioning feature to aid searching. [Econsultancy]

Borders begs for another loan in order to save its failing business. [Daily Finance]Continue reading...

Porsche enters the hybrid game with its GT3 R sports car. [CNN Money]

Cole Haan's campaign features freakishly good-looking "normal" people. [BrandFreak]

Coach, Hermes finally open menswear stores to fill void. [WSJ]

Snickers latest commercials play on hunger pangs. [Adweek]