YouTube has taught you about the evolution of dance and zoology. Now it wants to do more by helping your brand become better marketed. 

The initiative, dubbed Show & Tell, aims to identify the most creative marketing ideas and recognize marketing work demonstrating "exceptional excellence and craft."

In its own words Show & Tell is "is a new gallery-style brand channel showcasing the best marketing and advertising campaigns on YouTube."

Wait, brand channel what?Continue reading...

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em seems to be the thinking behind an experiment by family-style restaurant Bob Evans Farms. The "home of home-style" is expanding into take-home goods on a retail basis in a new test (dubbed "Taste of the Farm") at its Westerville, Ohio location. The Bob Evans empire, which began life as a single truck stop diner in Columbus, Ohio, now boasts hundreds of restaurants and a spin-off chain, called Mimi's Cafe. The Evans brand promotes country living and farm fresh eating across the heartland of America.

As with most other big restaurant chains, it's been hit hard over the last couple of years by the recession and a resultant hesitance by many consumers to eat out as much as they used to.The upsurge in at-home dining has forced restaurants to get creative. Naturally, the brand stewards at the Westerville, Ohio-based chain thought: "Why can’t we go home with our customers, pick up some of that eat-at-home business, and extend our brand in the process?" Continue reading...

Would you stay at Hotel Louis Vuitton? How about the Veuve Clicquot Inn? Global luxury goods branding juggernaut LVMH is banking on the answer being yes. The company has just announced that it will develop and open a number of resorts branded under the Cheval Blanc name, a winery in Bordeaux.

The Wall Street Journal lists the co-branding opportunities available to LVMH under its new hotel umbrella: "LVMH's hotels will be a showcase for many of its brands. The Cheval Blanc in Courchevel has a Givenchy spa, and visitors can buy its Louis Vuitton and Dior merchandise in the hotel." These brand extensions are in line with competition, such as Bulgari Spa, Dubai's Giorgio Armani-branded hotel and the slowly growing Hard Rock Hotel and Casino empire. Continue reading...

Luxury brands like Lamborghini, Porsche, and Prada have put their marks on mobile phones, so why not Puma – a company that pitches itself as "the creative leader in Sportlifestyle." The Puma phone will launch in about ten days and it is likely to cause a stir.

The Why? For one thing, the Puma phone has a large solar cell that provides its power. For another, Puma is positioning the phone as a "sports phone" designed for an active lifestyle. It has a touchscreen, video recording and playback capability, and music. For the sports enthusiast, it includes a GPS tracker, stopwatch, and pedometer – and, more importantly, one-button access to the "Puma World Portal," a sports-rich website with all sorts of Puma content, as well as entry points to various social networks.

This latest brand extension for Puma provides more evidence that mobile phones have become more than communication devices – they are fashion accessories and symbols of a lifestyle. For fans of the Puma brand, the new mobile phone offers a more rugged, gritty, and green option in a category dominated by glitzier and sleeker mobile phones branded around technology more than compatibility with sweat and nature.

Subway plans to launch a line of breakfast items for a new menu. Considering the success companies such as Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks have had in the breakfast food category, the seemingly ubiquitous sandwich franchise intends to boost sales and reach a new demographic of time-strapped consumers on their way to work.

According to Wallet Pop, customers at Subway's national locations can expect calorie-conscious choices like “egg whites, Black Forest ham and whole-wheat English muffins” as well as breakfast sandwiches with eggs from free-range chickens. “Subway's new animal welfare policy will help improve conditions for animals within its supply chain and throughout the nation," said the Humane Society of the United States' corporate outreach director, Matthew Prescott.Continue reading...

The Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry thrives on new brand introductions. That's what tends to drive consumer interest and boost a company's overall sales. Historically, that's been true year after year.

Well not last year – 2009, a year unique in so many ways, reversed the trend of new food brands outperforming brand extensions. Instead, brand extensions dominated "New Product Pacesetters," according to a report just released by research firm Information Resources Inc. (IRI).

Remarkably, each of the Top 10 food and beverage brands was a brand extension. The top three on the list were Campbell's Select Harvest, Bud Light Lime, and Arnold Select Sandwich Thins. The rankings are based on the total Year One dollar sales across food, drug, and mass channels, excluding Wal-Mart. "Very few new products really hit it big," says IRI. "Marketers that have established a strong brand equity are working to maintain relevance by 'tweaking' existing lines."Continue reading...

Wal-Mart is on a roll.

Not only did it recently top Interbrand’s “The Most Valuable U.S. Retail Brands 2010” report, but the retail juggernaut is also claiming that every American consumer saves thousands of dollars a year just because there are 3,700 Wal-Mart stores across the country.

Regardless of whether you never enter a Wal-Mart and do your discount shopping instead at a Target or somewhere else, Wal-Mart’s case states that shoppers save big bucks just because of the deflationary effects of its pricing on the entire retail economy.

Now, Wal-Mart intends to intensify its similar deflationary effect in the financial-services sector. Low-income Americans, one of Wal-Mart’s prime demographics, are having increasing problems simply getting access to basic financial services – or having the incentive to use instruments as simple as a checking account.Continue reading...

There's news in golf this week... and it doesn't involve Tiger Woods. Fortune Brands has announced the sale of the Cobra Golf brand to PUMA.

The deal sounds like a win-win for both companies. In selling Cobra, Fortune can now provide full attention to its other category-leading golf brands, Titleist and FootJoy. Titleist is the top golf ball brand and its golf club sales have been doing well. FootJoy is the top brand in golf shoes and gloves. In buying Cobra, PUMA instantly enters the sport of golf. The company is, of course, known for footwear and apparel. While PUMA makes golf gear, the Cobra acquisition marks a significant entry for the German company into golf equipment.Continue reading...