SAP moves into cloud computing as brand projects $10B boost from banking software.

Coca-Cola plans to invest $2 billion in Florida orange groves.

Disney second quarter soars 32% on theme parks, ESPN ad sales as company withdraws trademark application for Dia de los Muertos.

Alibaba IPO anticipation grows on revenue surge.

American Airlines launches Klout-based promo.

AOL profits boosted by advertising.

AT&T presses case in lower bandwidth spectrum case.

Bitcoin startups begin to attract real cash.

Burger King makes bold move with delivery expansion.Continue reading...

It doesn't get any better than this for American's pizza brands—March Madness.

Pizza Hut, Domino's and Papa Johns are all jockeying for sales and brand enhancement as the nation embarks on its three-week feeding fest watching the NCAA men's basketball tournament on TV.

Domino's is the official pizza brand of March Madness for the second year in a row, but its rivals aren't about to lie down when there's all this seasonal pizza to be sold.

So, for instance, now through the championship game on April 8, Papa John's has an online promotion that can result in an offer for a free large pizza with up to three toppings on a future order. At the same time, Papa John's is competing for mouths at a time of a potentially significant hiccup for the brand, as its CMO, Andrew Varga, resigns to take the reigns of Zimmerman Advertising. The only consolation for Papa John's is that Zimmerman handles its advertising.Continue reading...

Facebook plans to announce facelift of its News Feed.

Taco Bell officially releases its Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos today. 

Time Warner to spin off Time Inc. as CEO Laura Lang exits.

Adidas posts weaker earnings on Reebok.

Baskin-Robbins plans to triple franchise size in Australia with new partnership.

Birds Eye commended for healthy eating campaign.

Boeing needs to provide more answers on Dreamliner firest to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Costco backs minimum-wage increase.

Cracker Barrel adds lower-calorie items.

Dell sees buyout deal threatened by activist investor Carl Icahn.

DirecTV bemoans rising program costs.

Google expands Street View in Europe.

Jamba Juice looks to fresh juice to boost sales.

Lego eyes tie-up with "The Simpsons" on Fox.

Moe's Southwest Grill readies first national ad campaign. Continue reading...

Domino's Pizza is living as large as one of its new, fresh-dough pan pizzas these days, posting strong domestic and international growth and planning to garner extra funds from franchisees for marketing this year to support its increasingly robust brand platform.

CEO J. Patrick Doyle has managed to get Domino's into a growth groove by relying on its increasing international presence, rising brand equity, expanding menu, store modernization and experimentation and an industry-leading digitization initiative. Same-store sales in both the U.S. and abroad were up by about 5 percent during the fourth quarter versus a year ago, Domino's reported this week, and the period marked the 76th consecutive quarter of international same-store sales growth.

"The joy of pizza is that bread, sauce and cheese works fundamentally everywhere, except maybe China, where dairy wasn't a big part of their diet until lately," Doyle told brandchannel. "And it's easy to just change toppings market to market."

Continue reading...

The Super Bowl is either an excuse for a phantasmagoria of purposeless eating, or the stage for a veritable symphony of snacking. Either way, QSR and CPG brands have been gearing up for Sunday for months — and not just in the game-day advertisements that are being run at great expense by Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Coke, Doritos, Wonderful Pistachios and other kings of Super Bowl consumption.

Take Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, for example, both owned by Yum! Brands. This week, Pizza Hut expanded its "Hut. Hut. Hut" Super Bowl campaign it's been promoting on Facebook by offering all Americans a free sample of its latest "product innovation" on Tuesday afternoon at any of its 6,200 U.S. locations. The chain wouldn't reveal the nature of this innovation but said it'll become apparent by being integrated into the content of CBS's pregame show. All that is necessary to activate this promotion is for one of the quarterbacks to yell "Hut!" during the game — which seems very likely.

On the Taco Bell side of the company, the brand plans to introduce the new Cantina Bell Steak Burrito in a pregame ad and, of course, already has released its Super Bowl ad featuring young-at-heart seniors. Copy at the end of the ad  points viewers to Taco Bell's Facebook page, where consumers can participate in a "Live Mas Monday" on Feb. 4, during which a free churro willl be given away with any purchase during regular storehours at U.S. locations.Continue reading...

Super Bowl XLVII may be unique in that one of the biggest potential branding opportunities has suddenly materialized less than two weeks before the Big Game. And the opportunity is called the Brothers Harbaugh.

It seems unlikely that even the biggest brands would be able to land a deal with Jim or John Harbaugh, or both, this close to the Super Bowl, given that each is now consumed with how to beat the other's team -- and that, for the winner at least, there should be plenty of endorsement opportunities after the game.

But some marketers may be able to figure out how to tie themselves tangentially at least, maybe even convincingly, to what already has become the most intriguing Super Bowl story line perhaps in decades: the mutual success and striving of two accomplished opposing coaches, less than two years apart in age, who happen to be siblings. They're also young for their profession, telegenic, well-spoken and smart.

So we await news on Brother International or some other less obvious brand figuring out how to tap into all of that. In the meantime, there are plenty of other brands gearing up for a Super Bowl lift ahead of Game Day, including Mercedes-Benz.Continue reading...

Ford tops Experian loyalty ranking as automaker earmarks "billions" for relaunching Lincoln — and may alter marque to please Chinese car buyers.

Apple stock slides on disappointing iPhone 5 sales.

Lance Armstrong creates buzz in advance of "emotional" TV confession with Oprah Winfrey.

Alibaba says founder is to leave CEO post.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz are chasing younger buyers.

Brandweek is being revived, at least in name.

Burberry says own-store sales rise but wholesale suffers.Continue reading...

Domino's has a history of leading the pizza-delivery business, starting with its 30-minute guarantee many years ago. More recently, the brand has overhauled its recipe, its marketing and other essentials of its business model in an effort to stay ahead of the pack that also includes hard-charging Papa Johns and other worthy competitors.

So it's little surprise that Domino's has kicked off the new year looking for a way to press an advantage in another important area of the pizza business: online ordering, which now facilitates one-third of its U.S. orders. Wooing even more customers into online ordering is crucial in the first quarter, when TV viewing of college-football bowls, NFL playoff games, NCAA basketball and March Madness spurs pizza orders.

Domino's has just launched a limited-time campaign featuring a new "currency": Domino's Dollars. Customers who order two medium two-topping pizzas for $5.99 each via digital ordering — online, mobile or via phone apps — will receive $5 in the new Domino's Dollars that they can use toward their next online order within 10 days of receipt.Continue reading...