Interbrand announces the 2013 Best Retail Brands report.

Coca-Cola honored with first Clio brand icon award.

Starbucks names new global CMO in former Sephora marketer Sharon Rothstein, as McDonald's passes Starbucks as most social brand.

Apple rumored to pull out the stops for the next iPhone to take on Samsung, which has replaced Nokia as top smartphone brand in China and confirmed it's developing a smartwatch to take on Apple's rumored wearable computer.

BlackBerry prepares to bring million-selling Z10 smartphone to U.S. on Friday with 100,000 apps.

Burger King hopes folks gobble up new turkey burger.

Carl's Jr. and Hardee's introduce Jim Beam bourbon burger.

Clorox introduces smart tube technology to packaging design.Continue reading...

Marilyn Monroe died back in 1962 with eight milligrams of chloral hydrate and 4.5 milligrams of Nembutal floating around in her system. The 36-year-old former foster child’s death was listed as a “probable suicide” by the L.A. County coroner.

While Monroe’s final years weren’t her best, she had already seared her image onto the collective American culture with her work in such classic films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven-Year Itch and Some Like It Hot, not to mention her sultry birthday serenade to President John F. Kennedy, who also happens to be the last person she called on the phone.

Like Monroe’s original name of Norma Jean Baker, most folks have pretty much forgotten about Monroe’s bad times and her image has become a symbol of sex and glamour. That’s been a lucky gift for Anna Strasburg, the wife of deceased father of method acting Lee Strasburg, the recipient of all Monroe's worldly goods.

Strasberg spent years taking various entities to court so she would clearly have the rights to Monroe’s image when it comes to commercial items. She cashed in and sold the rights to Jamie Salter’s Authentic Brands Group LLC and media company Neca LLC, according to Bloomberg. Salter, meanwhile, is already raking in cash every time any Bob Marley-related item causes a cash register to ring.

Don’t worry about the septuagenarian Strasberg. She stayed on as a minority partner in the company that planned to sell Monroe-branded makeup, lingerie and other products. The latest deal for the company has Macy’s launching a new line of Monroe-inspired clothing on March 15th, following the opening of the first Marilyn Monroe cafe (in Oakville, Canada) in November.Continue reading...

Lance Armstrong is stripped of titles and banned from cycling for life by international body.

Nissan joins hybrid parade.

Virgin's four-star hotels are coming to NYC.

AIG CEO defends company's "free lunch" to New York mag.

American Idol sees ad rates fall.

Ancestry.com agrees to $1.6-billion takeover deal.

Apple creates buzz with plans for smaller iPad as school sales buoy its tablet lead.

BP sells entire Russian stake to Rosneft.

Banana Republic plans to bring back Mad Men collection.Continue reading...

There’s a huge difference between a 13-year-old and a 30-year-old, but there is one thing that brings them together: sharing the role of bookends to the demographic group known as the Millennials. 

Now two years into its run with Madonna's Material Girl collection, repped by her blogging daughter Lourdes and Mick Jagger's model daughter Georgia May, Macy’s knows that this big swath of humanity is where the money is, and it's working hard to get more of them in the store. That's why the retailer is launching 13 new brands and expanding 10 other existing labels that it believes will resonate with millennials, as AP reports.

Molly Langenstein, group merchandise manager for Millennials for Macy's, told WWD that "We're serious about this and we're aggressively going after this consumer. This is not a test."

This youthful focus has been going on since March when the retailer’s merchandise team was restructured to pay or more attention to that age group. Ch-ch-changes are expected to continue over the next three years that include integrating tablets and other user-friendly tech into the shopping experience as well putting different displays on the shopping floor more often.Continue reading...

Albert Einstein has been dead since 1955 but that doesn’t mean the fuzzy-haired genius isn’t still causing controversies. 

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a beneficiary of Einstein’s will, was not happy back in 2009 when General Motors Photoshopped the well-known face onto the body of a buff bodybuilder in an ad that ran in People magazine for its GMC Terrain SUV. On “Einstein’s” arm was an “e=mc2” tattoo and the ad carried the tagline of “Ideas Are Sexy Too.”

Ideas may be sexy, but Hebrew University was not amused. It sued GM in 2010 and finally got its answer from a judge this week. Judge A. Howard Matz of U.S. District Court found that the use of Einstein’s image was “tasteless,” but not illegal, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. In addition, the judge noted that, even if the action had been illegal at some point, the University had no right to claim Einstein’s image as their own since it had been more than 50 years since Einstein’s death.Continue reading...

Chanel has released a trailer and the first chapter (below) for "Inside Chanel," the first time it's telling its brand story online with an interactive timeline and iconic advertising images such as Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol's No. 5 bottle.Continue reading...

We've just passed the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death from an overdose of barbiturates, but the world still can’t keep its collective eyes off of her visage — or brand. She may not have an annual week dedicated to her as Elvis does, but her doe-eyed, beauty-marked visage is stronger than ever.

Forbes, which has made something of a cottage industry out of tracking dead celebrities' brands, estimates that Monroe pulled in $27 million in 2011, third behind Michael Jackson and Presley in the dead-celeb sweepstakes.

Her image and likeness are controlled by Authentic Brands Group and partner NECA, which purchased the Monroe brand in 2010. The plan in process now, according to the Associated Press, is to upgrade “Monroe offerings from trinkets to cosmetic lines, spas, salons and apparel.”Continue reading...

P&G sees results boosted by sale of snacks division as its Tide brand turns to Betty White for advertising help.

Sony attributes weak financials to PlayStation sales slump.

Chick-fil-A braces for GLAAD's Friday "kiss-in" protest.

ABC and Good Morning America finally overtake NBC and The Today Show in key demographic.

ADM profits slide on higher corn costs.

Amtrak losses examined by Congress.

Apple requests sanction for Samsung as court battle heats up.

AT&T to acquire NextWave Wireless.

Beyonce plans to direct and star in film about her life.Continue reading...