American Apparel, the cheeky clothing brand that loves to push buttons (including its recent topless women campaign) and last week saw billionaire investor Ron Burkle cut his stake, faces a key financial test today. 

According to WWD, "If American Apparel misses the mark of $20 million in EBITDA for the year ending today, the producer of brightly colored basics will likely have to either amend the deal or go into default." EBITDA, short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, indicates a company’s ability to pay off its debts.

Coca-Cola, Statoil and Volkswagen are among the companies scaling back operations in Egypt as protesters take to the streets and a "march of millions" is planned for Tuesday to demanding the resignation of president Hosni Mubarak.

YouTube's CitizenTube has been posting videos from protesters, such as the prayer beside army tanks above, while foreign governments are sending in charter flights to help their nationals flee the country, sparking chaos at Cairo's international airport.

We've reported extensively on the impact of counterfeit goods on brands around the world, but it seems that the latest place to acquire knock-offs of red-hot brands might be very close to home. It's your local flea market.

Local markets have become ever more popular because they offer recession-strapped consumers a wide variety of merchandise at discounted prices. While outdoor bazaars hawking secondhand goods may seem like small fry in the global war on knock-off luxury, designer and other branded goods, in recent years they have become a prime focus for vendors peddling brand name merchandise — particularly when the merchandise is fake.Continue reading...

Some brands had a great year, including Ford, Old Spice and Apple. Other brands — well, not so much. But there are plenty of reasons that some of those brands that had a lousy 2010 shouldn't look forward to 2011. Brandchannel looks at ten down-on-their-luck brands that should be optimistic in the new year:

1. BP: The "small people" don't seem to have forgotten what happened on BP's watch in the Gulf of Mexico this year. But the big people seem to be forgetting quite well. At the time of writing, BP's stock was up to nearly $44 a share, considerably more than its near low of just $27 six months ago. At this rate, BP's brand will have made a full recovery by the end of 2011.Continue reading...

Krispy Kreme, the American donut-maker, is seeing unprecedented business at its stores in Australia — where it's just out of receivership — for a simple reason: it's giving away a million dollars of stock.Continue reading...

Dannon USA’s brandmeisters are maintaining a stiff upper lip in the wake of the $21-million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general over health claims for Activia and DanActive.

But this reversal — added to a class-action settlement last year in which Dannon agreed to stop making immunity-system claims for the product — may become an existential threat to the brand.

Indeed, the combined impact of these stunning legal settlements threatens the very foundation of probiotic-based brands that have become remarkably successful in just a few years.

“Millions of people firmly believe in, benefit from and enjoy these products, and Dannon will continue to research, educate and communicate about the benefits of probiotics on the digestive and immune systems,” Dannon USA said in a prepared statement. “The essence of Dannon’s advertising remains unchanged and will continue to be truthful and in compliance will all laws and regulations.”Continue reading...

To many WikiLeaks supporters, the organization's greatest threat is clear: the hostile governments and nefarious corporate entities dead set on keeping secrets secret. But there is another threat to WikiLeaks and it's much more mundane: an increasing lack of brand focus.Continue reading...

The question has been asked before, but never so loudly and intensely as now: Does American Idol still have what it takes to remain America’s most-watched show? When the decade-old Fox reality series returns in January, will it remain king of the hill on prime-time television – or will its recent ratings slide intensify?

Such ponderings have new prominence, of course, because of the departure from the show of its symbolic father — iconic judge Simon Cowell — after nine seasons.Continue reading...