JCPenney slashes CEO Ron Johnson's pay, woos fashionistas with store-in-store bijoux bars.

Facebook dispute over Timeline trademark will go to jury trial; faces questions about new smartphone.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk will personally guarantee car buyback values as company introduces leasing.

A&W introduces Mini Polar Swirls via Vine.

Angelina Jolie opens school in Afghanistan funded by her jewelry collection.

Apple begins production of refreshed iPhone this quarter.Continue reading...

Apple loses iPad Mini trademark, and finds a fan in Kim Jong-un as North Korea rattles saber and tensions rise with U.S., while increased China headaches include hacking threat and iPad regulation.

Discovery Communications expands global channel reach and launches scripted programming.

Novartis loses cancer drug patent battle in India.

Amazon buys Goodreads community-driven user reviews website.

AMC reveals new tagline and logo.

Armani hires Cate Blanchett for $10M campaign.

AT&T scores with March Madness Twitter campaign.Continue reading...

It seems the great divide still exists—a great mother or a great worker. Now, two of the most powerful female executives have set their own standards for work/life balance, but there are faults to be had in both arguments.

Late last week, via an internal H.R. memo that was leaked to the press, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer banned working from home. The Google transplant has been in the process of turning around embattled Yahoo! since taking over in July 2012, but her latest move is inspiring more backlash than anything. 

"Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home," says an internal memo from HR director Jackie Reses, obtained by tech blog All Things D. "We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together."

“Even if that was what was previously agreed to with managers and HR, or was a part of the package to take a position, tough … It’s outrageous and a morale killer,” an employee told All Things D.Continue reading...

NASCAR brand refresh thwarted by P.R. crisis and YouTube takedowns after Saturday's fan-injuring accident during Nationwide race, while Danica Patrick is poised to make history as first female driver in pole position at Daytona 500. Dish Network, meanwhile, released "Memoriam" Daytona 500 campaign yesterday for its Hopper ad-skipping feature, a campaign that Fox has refused to run and Dish is trying to circumvent.

Microsoft joins list of hacked brands as Internet Explorer 11 rumored and Toyota Racing creates trackside app for Microsoft Windows 8.

Huawei unveils "Make it Possible" global branding campaign for Ascend P2 at Mobile World Congress, where Orange unveils own-brand 4G smartphone.

Coca-Cola forms major co-branding partnership in the Middle East.

Donald Trump tells the Financial Times his brand is worth $8 billion.

Dunkin' Donuts tops Brand Keys loyalty index for seventh straight year.Continue reading...

Donald Trump is not about to get out-bullied. The real estate mogul and celebrity designer is threatening to sue the organizer of a petition that urges Macy's to "Dump Trump" and its varied line of merchandise under the Trump name.

Through a letter from his lawyer, Trump has threatened a $25 million suit against Angelo Carusone, who started the drive on SignOn.org urging Macy's to sever ties with the lightning-rod personality. Trump's attorney alleges that Carusone is "tortiously interfer[ing] with Mr. Trump's business and contractual relationships" and accuses Carusone of "mob-like bullying and coercion" and "intentionally disseminating misinformation."

Carusone's response was to release a letter from his own lawyer defending his First Amendment rights, as well to call Trump a "bully" and describe Trump's brand as "consequence-free bullying and chicanery" in a press release. He told brandchannel that "threatening to sue someone for $25 million who lives in a studio apartment" and "to silence them—I'd say it's fair to call that 'bullying.'"Continue reading...

Although few would argue he doesn't have it coming to him, Donald Trump may be suffering from a bit of piling on these days.

Evidence? Well, there were reports in the New York Daily News (denied by The Donald) about intrafamily squabbles based on his children's embarrassment at some of his antics. In Canada, his Trump International Hotel and Tower is being increasingly surrounded by controversy.

But the biggest target on Trump is being painted these days by department-store shoppers, mostly women. Presumably largely because of Trump's licensing arrangement with Macy's, the retailer's approval rating with women over 18 has plunged dramatically in recent weeks in the YouGov Brand Index — now even falling below that of troubled rival JCPenney, whose problems seem to be operational rather than reputational.

Trump, eager to move on, went on Fox News Monday morning in a bid to clear his name, as he recounted on his Twitter feed today.Continue reading...

Century 21 enjoyed its own Super Bowl performance in February so much that the nation's leading Realty brand has scheduled an encore. A TV commercial by the company will appear during the third quarter of the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XLVII on February 3 from New Orleans.

"It was a powerful play for 2012," Bev Thorne, CMO of Century 21, told brandchannel about the brand's Super Bowl debut with a commercial that starred Donald Trump, Apolo Anton Ohno and Deion Sanders. "It turned into lots and lots of leads for our Century 21 agents, then turned into appointments and closed transactions."

The second Super Bowl ad, which Thorne talked up at the recent NAR Realtors Conference (above), will resemble the first one thematically, once again touting Century 21's agents as "smarter, bolder, faster." But this time around the brand is placing its commercial earlier in the game, right after halftime. Why not the third quarter again? "The timing happened to be good" because it was a close and exciting game, she said, "but we know there's always a good viewing audience right after the halftime show."Continue reading...

"Cher joins 400,000" is not an x-rated film for the AARP set — it's a headline trumpeting news that the singer/actress has signed a petition lobbying Macy's to "dump Trump."

Following Donald Trump's harsh comments against Barack Obama, including a $5 million offer to see the president's passport application and college transcripts, a "boycott Trump" effort has been growing. Macy's CEO was drawn into the fray after protesters zoomed in on Trump's "birther" comments its holiday campaign (top).

Trump's answer to anyone who opposes him is typically a metaphorical version of "you're fired." It's an impotent response to a boycott effort as impotent as Trump's hair piece.Continue reading...