K-pop phenom Psy's "Gangam Style" video beats Justin Bieber record to become YouTube's most-viewed video ever, with 805 million views on Friday (knocking on 824 million views now) to Bieber's 803 million for "Baby." Bieber, meanwhile, insults fellow Canadians by wearing overalls to pick up award from Prime Minister.

GM considers Buick logo change and bets it can make the 54-year-old Chevy Impala a head-turner again.

Black Friday in-store sales undercut by Thanksgiving early bird shoppers, mobile and e-commerce shoppers.

GSK and other pharma anger critics by paying for studies.

Hostess Brands eyed by Flower Foods.

Mango replaces Kate Moss with Miranda Kerr.

McDonald's testing Egg White McMuffin and variations on Quarter Pounder.

Mercedes-Benz taps Kate Upton for Super Bowl.

Nintendo's revamped Wii takes aim at a changed game world.Continue reading...

A few years ago, UGG was stomping all over its competitors, but these days, the Australian company is just dancing as fast it can to keep consumers buying.

Yes, there are still queues at the UGG store in New York's Soho district, but that's mostly among tourists, which is why the brand is opening in the trendier Meatpacking district, joining Patagonia and Lululemon in cozying up to crowds at the Standard Hotel and upmarket retailers such as Jeffrey in a bid to woo higher-end shoppers.

The brand sparked a sheepskin boot craze more than a decade ago, and while it's trying to shore up its US business with a new commercial featuring brand ambassador Tom Brady ("Pink Slip," above) and a new store aimed at men, its popularity persists in markets such as the UK, where this month, the company is opening its seventh concept store and working hard to woo kids of all ages.Continue reading...

Apple shares reach $700 as iPhone 5 shatters sales record.

Belvedere owes Bruce Willis for years of representing Sobieski vodka.

Burberry says strategy won't change as brand brings capes to London Fashion Week.

Chrysler and GM will get a chance at deal similar to new labor accord between Ford and Canadian Auto Workers.

Conde Nast plans French Vanity Fair.

Dole Food to sell businesses to Itochu.

Dos Equis finds some fans unimpressed with Obama endorsement by its "most interesting man" actor.Continue reading...

TD takes top spot on Interbrand's new Best Canadian Brands ranking.

JCPenney continues claw-back of new business model, plans to use term "sale" again.

Sara Lee renames North American business Hillshire Brands and narrows focus to meat.

Apple uses more celebrities in marketing; what does that say about new products?

Justin Bieber debuts another fragrance concept called Girlfriend.

Burger King expands in Russia.

Clear Channel shifts royalty deal for music artists including Taylor Swift's label.Continue reading...

Facebook I.P.O. raises regulatory concerns, as regulators review Morgan Stanley's pre-Facebook IPO actions and the social network's share price drops 18% below IPO price and shareholders worry. NASDAQ is also being sued by an irate investor, while Facebook, its bankers and CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also being sued. One hot commodity: Zuckerberg's post-IPO secret wedding to Priscilla Chan sees Claire Pettibone-designed wedding dress "go viral."

Apple's iPad played a key role in the largest debt restructuring in history, with 100 iPads saving Greece $140 billion. European banks were less prepared for the Greek economic crisis.

SAP to acquire Ariba for $4.3 billion in push into cloud.

Alcatel-Lucent technology made the Internet five times faster.

Amazon's massive cloud business raises questions.

FOX's American Idol lost nearly a quarter of its still-huge audience this season.Continue reading...

UGG Australia boots aren’t generally the things you want to pull on when the weather outside gets frightful, but the mild winter may have hurt overall sales in the last quarter for Deckers, the boot’s manufacturer.

SeekingAlpha.com opines that even though parent company Deckers owns other brands such as Teva and Sanuk, the company is made or broken on the success of UGG.

“We think the exceptionally mild weather created a tough selling environment, which dragged down sales and hurt pricing in the first quarter,” the site notes. “We also think some pent-up demand may accumulate because consumers didn't really have the opportunity to dress for the weather as much as they might in other years.”

The good thing is that Ugg boots are positioned as a classic — they don’t change too much year-to-year so whatever didn’t sell this winter can just be trotted out again next year. As SeekingAlpha points out, “UGG boots aren't merely a fad, but rather a staple of the American female's closet.”

Of course, UGG designs for men, too, as the brand's spring campaign and Tom Brady endorsement in the U.S. points out. And the brand offers more than just its iconic sheepskin boot.

All that doesn’t help Deckers at the moment.Continue reading...

Barring another outbreak of Tebowmania on the field at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, the New England Patriots seem poised to take another step on a return to possible Super Bowl glory by defeating the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

But if you were a brand executive assessing the field of highly paid athletes and betting on longer-term endorsement outcomes, not the scoreboard for this particular contest, on which starting quarterback would you place a bet: Tom Brady, the Patriots' pretty-boy field general with the California pedigree, supermodel wife in Gisele Bundchen and other trappings of a jet-setter lifestyle? Or Tim Tebow, the home-schooled Floridian, son of evangelical missionaries and run-minded leader who confesses to one 'vice': vanilla ice cream?

It's a timely question for a number of reasons, one being that neither has begun a full exploitation of his commercial potential.Continue reading...

Altria, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard face tougher tobacco marketing rules in US.

Apple launches app store for Mac software.

Bank of America categorizes clients, adds fees.

Boeing loses major 747 order due to delays.

BP spill inquiry to report that disaster "likely" to recur; and hears that microbes may have mitigated methane damage in the Gulf.

CNN books Oprah as first guest for Piers Morgan's post-Larry King debut on Jan. 17; Madonna still banned as "boring."Continue reading...