Adidas may have closed its last factory in China, but the athletic brand still means to stay in the nation in a meaningful way with other suppliers and more importantly in the hearts of consumers. So far, the brand is headed in the right direction, logging a 23 percent jump in China sales in 2011 (to $1.5 billion) and a nine month sales growth of 16 percent. (Full year 2012 earnings to be announced March 7.)

Adidas will be facing down Nike, a stock Citi just upgraded based largely on the Swoosh's China outlook. Both brands are joined by other foreign names for the emerging China youth market.

The expectations and brand characteristics valued by China's youth have changed and keep changing. New stresses by the segment on creativity and individual expression are challenging athletic brands to up their games in China. The challenges facing athletic brands in China to control the brand message of free expression when targeting an age group that consumes a third of all clothing sold in are immense. Hint: Start with skateboarding. Continue reading...

LVMH acquires storied French luxury brand Arnys.

Nokia to cut 10,000 jobs, sells Vertu luxury brand.

GM plans to close Opel factory in Germany.

Amazon and Google rush to wrap up new gTLD domain-name suffixes with ICANN.

Applebees sees franchisee's new marketing campaign diverge controversially from corporate brand.

Aung San Suu Kyi warns investors off Myanmar's state oil and gas firm on historic visit to Europe.

Coca-Cola renews sponsorship of BET's 106 & Park.

Facebook launches real-time bidding for "Marketplace" ads.

GE promotes new refrigerator in online-only video.Continue reading...

Timberland is proud of its sustainable store design, talking up the eco-conscious retail elements at its San Francisco flagship in the video above.

It isn't just green at heart; it's considerably more green in the wallet, too. That's because it was just sold to the VF Corporation for $43 a share, or a whopping $2 billion.Continue reading...