Apple posts first profit drop in a decade.

AP Twitter hack results in brief panic on Wall Street.

Coach prepares for change as Creative Director announces exit.

Lance Armstrong is accused of defrauding US in lawsuit.

BlackBerry brings back keyboard phone as part of rebirth.

Coke launches 61 unique websites for new teen-focused campaign as company's board also undergoes youth movement.

Dell approves executive-retention bonuses.

FedEx fends off rivals for US Postal contract.

Ford sees profits rise to North American record, offsetting losses in Europe.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...

Procter & Gamble invented modern marketing, some would argue, in its 175 years. And now the company is hoping to reinvent it by leveraging digital assets, boosting marketing productivity and more narrowly focusing on the company's key brands in their most important markets.

As the company continues to come up off the mat from its criticized performance earlier this year, CEO Bob McDonald hasn't let his foot off the gas — or let up on his determination to continue to overhaul P&G so that it doesn't get caught flat-footed again.

During an analysts' presentation last week, McDonald said that P&G plans to cut more than twice as many non-manufacturing jobs as it already had planned, a further sign that McDonald continues to heed analyst and investor criticism over the company's bloated cost structure.Continue reading...

Depending where you were, you may have celebrated Halloween on Oct. 31st. At Procter & Gamble, they've been celebrating the company's 175th anniversary.

That's right: P&G – mother of such consumer packaged goods icons as Tide, Pampers, and Comet, among others – is now 175 years old, but a look back at the company's history reveals that the whole endeavor might not have started if an errant flame and a rapscallion hadn’t done their dirty work all those years ago — or if an opinionated father and father-in-law hadn't intervened.

Or put another way, Mr. Procter's failures in England led to P&G's global success today — and Procter took a Gamble that paid off.Continue reading...

Procter & Gamble is in the unaccustomed position of having to defend its business performance compared not only with rivals but with its own recent past, especially in North America and Europe.

For a company under that kind of watch, both perceptual and actual, what possibily could be better to get out there than images of U.S. Olympians — and their moms — taking advantage of P&G products at the company-supplied hair salon in the "home away from home" that it has set up in London?

The P&G Family Home pavilion at the Summer Olympics site has been a non-stop parade of Olympians and their family members, such as Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Breeja Larson (at right) and visiting fellow gold-medalist skier Lindsey Vonn (OK, she's a Winter Olympian) taking advantage of the salon's stylings featuring P&G's own family brands, and a photo opp showcasing the results.Continue reading...

"Sharpness is a state of mind," said Chow Yun-Fat (Master Li Mubai) in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. But sharpness might also might be a perfectly fitted Hugo Boss suit, like the one Chow is now sporting as the first ever Asian face of the brand.

Chinese consumers may still be trying to "find" Leonardo DiCaprio and his Oppo handset, but more and more, brands looking to reach the Chinese consumer — especially luxury ones — are opting for local celebrity.Continue reading...

America is settling in for a long summer of campaigning between the Democratic candidate President Obama and the Grand Old Party’s Mitt Romney. News of minor flubs by candidates and those who work for them will come up at bars, barbecues, and ice-cream joints across the land (or be completely avoided, for everyone’s safety).

Americans will likely hear a constant media drumbeat about red states vs. blue states that will be so loud, it will seem that the country is about to burst into a Civil War.

Just in time for this comes a new study from Buyology that members of the two political parties don’t just disagree on their candidates. They also mostly disagree on the brands they love, though there are three that help bring them together. Next time a president wants to have a bipartisan summit of some sort, he or she might want to involve Coke, Apple, and Visa. Those three names were named by both parties as brands they love.Continue reading...

BlackBerry-maker RIM plans to slash staff.

P&G will change candy-resembling Tide Pods on child safety concerns.

Formula One wins court challenge overturning 'F1' trademark‎.

Amazon will sell pre-paid wireless service in Japan.

Apple applies for patents on advanced stylus.

Two years after BP oil spill, tourists return to US Gulf.

Cisco pulls the plug on its Cius tablet.

ExxonMobil to vote on gay protections.

Facebook is reportedly developing a smartphone (with ex-Apple engineers).Continue reading...