It's tough being CNN. The brand that invented the 24-hour news cycle and which made its name covering the Iraq war and other crises has always had to find a way to drive tune-in when there isn't an OJ Simpson-on-the-lam or other breaking news story.

So if you're a CNN executive these or most other days, you're hoping — to yourself, at least — for another "drop everything and watch this" story to unfold somewhere in the world. Nothing really nasty, mind you; just something that will rivet viewers' attention on CNN the way they always do when something goes bad somewhere around the globe.

"The world still knows to turn to CNN whenever a crisis erupts," David Bohrman, the Current TV president who served as CNN's Washington bureau chief, commented to the Wall Street Journal. "That is the brand." And therein likes the rub.Continue reading...

Seems like the iconic Avon Lady needs to wed the skills of door-to-door digital sales with a dash of machismo to survive.

Yes, the fabled Avon Lady is struggling. New Avon CEO Sherilyn McCoy, who replaced Andrea Jung, has her hands full just turning around the company's operations. In a world dominated by e-commerce, Avon products aren’t even carried by drugstore.com, one of the largest online beauty products retailers.

Making McCoy's job tougher: Coty’s $10 billion unsolicited take-over bid, which saw Avon stock slip and attracted a "credit negative" assessment according to Fitch analysts.

“We believe the time for Avon shareholders to act is now,” commented Bart Becht, Coty’s chairman, to the New York Times. “Door-to-door is a growth industry in the U.S. Avon isn’t. There’s something wrong with Avon operationally.”Continue reading...

There was a time, not so long ago, that every athlete in the land dreamed of seeing his or her face on a box of Wheaties, "the Breakfast of Champions." Wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin has been there. Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench has been there. Soccer legend Mia Hamm has been there.

Probably the most famous Wheaties box, though, was the one featuring Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenner, who won gold in Montreal in 1976 and of course went on to be the step-patriarch of the Kardashian family. In all, hundreds of athletes have been on a Wheaties box since the practice began in 1934. It’s not looking good for the athletes of tomorrow to get the same pleasure. In fact, most athletes of tomorrow aren’t likely eating Wheaties for breakfast.

General Mills, the maker of Wheaties and a slew of other cereals, may be responsible to 32% of the cereal market domestically, but Wheaties is only bringing in 0.5% of the market these days, according to CNBC’s Darren Rovell. Back in the ’60s, Wheaties was powerhouse as it took care of 6.5% of all cereals, he notes.

"Wheaties had a clear brand identity," stated Lloyd Moritz, the editor of cereal blog The Breakfast Bowl, on CNBC. "The problem was they rested on their laurels."

Rovell points out that Wheaties has made efforts to expand with Honey Frosted Wheaties in the mid-90's, Wheaties Energy Crunch in 2001, and the two-year-old Wheaties Fuel — but none of them caught on.Continue reading...

When JetBlue Airways captain Clayton Osbon started wigging out aboard Flight 191 to Las Vegas last week and saying a long list of odd, disturbing stuff that resulted in him being wrestled to the floor by passengers and the flight crew, nobody was really too concerned immediately about what it meant to the JetBlue brand. After all, there was the safety of a flight full of passengers, a crew, and a man who was having an unfortunate and unbelievable meltdown.

Now, while prosecutors are aiming to get Osbon (who's facing criminal charges) held without bail and his wife released a statement via the airline, the questions are popping up on just how Osbon ended up being approved to fly by the company and if JetBlue has procedures and training in place for such things.Continue reading...

Ever wonder what all those extra fees on your phone bill are paying for? Well, some part of it goes to help the deaf and hard-of-hearing be able to make phone calls. The service is given to folks “at no charge to place calls to hearing individuals through text messages over the Internet that are relayed by employees of a so-called IP Relay provider,” Reuters reports. Companies receive about $1.30 for each minute of the calls from the FCC.

Well, the U.S. government does not like how AT&T has been handling its relay services and has taken the telecom giant to court, saying that it has cheated the government “out of millions of dollars by knowingly failing to prevent swindlers from using a subsidized telephone service meant for deaf people,” the wire service notes. This is in addition to a suit filed by a whistleblower who used to work at one of the company’s call centers.Continue reading...

It remains The New York Times' most emailed story two days after it was published: "How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work."

The explosive article tells the story of how, early last year, President Barack Obama publicly asked Steve Jobs "what would it take to make iPhones in the United States." Retorted Jobs, reportedly: “Those jobs aren’t coming back."

It's no secret that many of "those jobs" are in China, where Apple is increasingly under fire about the working conditions facing those who assemble America's favorite tech gadgets. But it goes further, with Apple no longer feeling "an obligation to support American workers." It's a direction that threatens to turn the iPhone into the Hummer of its day.Continue reading...

Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher’s comprehensive article in Sunday's New York Times is a tour de force on Apple, the expediency of business and a fundamental shift from American shores to global manufacture.

Why does Apple now outsource production of iPhones and iPads to China? Bottom line, Chinese factories are more nimble, way cheaper, and treat employees in ways unimaginable and illegal in the US or Western Europe — even if they ultimately produce vastly more product, more quickly. 

“It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that 'Made in the U.S.A.' is no longer a viable option for most Apple products,” says the Times. 

Apple’s relationship with the now controversial company Foxconn began in 2007, one month prior to Apple’s first iPhone release, when Steve Jobs complained of scratches on the prototype he’d been carrying in his pocket and demanded a new iPhone screen, demanding "I want it perfect in six weeks.”

When consensus was reached that this could only be accomplished in China, Jobs flew to Shenzhen, and in 15 days, Foxconn hired 8,700 mid-level engineers to meet his timetable, a task it would have taken US factories 9 months to accomplish. 

Today, Gizmodo notes, Foxconn employs a staggering “one million employees at their mega-factories/city/ghettos, where they manufacture 40 percent of the gadgets people have in the world, including iPhones, iPads, Xboxes and Sony whatevers.”Continue reading...

Made in China surfboards are taking market share from Australia's surfboard brands, according to Bloomberg. Blame undercutting on price by the Chinese manufacturers, along with rising production costs for the Aussies, who are also being slammed by "a strong currency that’s making their products less competitive overseas."

The dilemma, as Bloomberg puts it:

From Bells Beach to Brisbane, Australia’s board builders are facing a choice: close down, or try to preserve local designs and branding by applying them to products made abroad. “We have to adapt,” said Michelle Blauw, co-owner of Currumbin, Queensland-based D’Arcy Surfboards and president of the Australian Surf Craft Industry Association. “You can’t always point the finger and blame everybody else for the situation that you’re in.”

Another solution, beyond local branding and craftsmanship, is to better utilize digital marketing to more deeply engage with surf, board and action sports fans. Case in point: the D'Arcy Surfboards website offers a Japanese version, in addition to riding the social wave with a Facebook page and store, blog, on Google+ and on Twitter.

The Australian Surf Craft industry is also promoting "Made in Australia" labels to battle the cheaper imports and appeal to homegrown pride:Continue reading...