From the swarming Indian metropolis of Mumbai to the windy streets of Chicago, a resurgent Walmart is flexing its muscles a bit more these days.

For a couple of years, during the Great Recession, Walmart was naturally preoccupied with its sagging sales and other troubles at home. But with U.S. same-store sales back in a solid growth mode now after Walmart executives about-faced and returned to their tried-and-true promotional and merchandising formula, the company has freed up cash flow to look at other potential growth areas.

One of the most beckoning is India. Some critics are still lashing the Indian government for its move last Friday finally to boost its economy by allowing greater foreign participation in retailing investment in the country, and other measures designed to kick-start an economy that is slowing even though India's population growth continues.Continue reading...

"Has Coca Cola ceased to be a mere brand and evolved into a historically important cultural artifact?" That question was tweeted by Duncan Jones, David Bowie's son who is better known these days as an award-winning filmmaker. Jones included a link to a BBC story on this week's historic return of the Coke brand to Myanmar, making its first delivery in more than 60 years.

"The Coca-Cola Company has been a part of the community fabric in countries around the world for decades," stated Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. "In every nation and city where we do business, our employees strive to create economic value and build sustainable communities. We are privileged to once again have the opportunity to play a role in building a better future with the people of Myanmar."

In addition to referencing the Coca-Cola brand's position as the #1 brand in Interbrand's 2011 Best Global Brands report, the BBC notes that there are now "only two countries where Coca-Cola is not officially bought or sold - Cuba and North Korea ... due to trade embargoes with the US."

PepsiCo, meanwhile, last month signed its own distribution agreement to distribute Pepsi and its other beverage brands in the former Burma, with CEO Indra Nooyi commenting, "Over time, we believe we can build a strong business in Myanmar and play a positive role in the country's continued development."

Whatever that future holds, Nooyi announced other news today that impacts her company's continued development and her own succession plans: the resignation of PepsiCo president John Compton.

He's being replaced by Geneva-based PepsiCo Europe CEO Zein Abdalla, who is relocating to company HQ in Purchase, NY, and in turn handing over his office and title to Enderson Guimaraes, the current President of PepsiCo's Global Nutrition Group.

Kraft Foods has announced that its iconic Oreo cookie brand, which turned 100 on March 6th, is now a $2 billion brand globally.

Kraft, which just reported strong first quarter results and is on track to split (with Oreo moving into the new Mondelēz entity) by year-end, expects to book $1 billion in emerging market sales of Oreo products this year.

The Oreo brand is big in China, for instance, where its "double fruit" flavors such as a raspberry and blueberry combo and other twists are popular. More details on Oreo's double-stuff growth projections in Kraft's press release.

The world’s financial situation hasn’t been too stellar in recent years and plenty of consumers have been cutting back on the little extras of life. One continued cause for concern has been what will happen in emerging markets.

“Brazil got overheated, slowed down and is starting to come back,” Gary Fayard, the company's CFO, stated this week at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference, FT.com reports. “In general, if you look at developing and emerging countries, we’re not seeing significant shifts.”

In its most recent quarter, Coke reported “flat sales volumes in Brazil,” which worried analysts, the Financial Times reports. And Coke hasn’t been overspending in those markets either, the FT points out: “Coke had about $10bn in cash offshore last year, including $3bn in Brazil.”Continue reading...

Typically mentioned as the international competitor to Facebook, Orkut, Google’s “also-ran social networking site,” just launched a Google+ badge for users with both accounts – its first integration. “No, it’s not a big deal in terms of the feature itself (oooh, a badge), but it’s an indication of Orkut’s current status in Google’s eyes,” writes TechCrunch.

With 66 million users in Brazil and India, Orkut is alive and (sort of) well, but trailing Facebook substantially and may have missed the moment to level the playing field. In its recent IPO, Facebook said its active user base in Brazil had nearly tripled in 2011, placing it ahead of Google’s Orkut service as the leading social network in the country.

"I can't think of an example where Facebook has grown so quickly," commented Andrew Lipsman, VP of industry analysis at comScore, to Reuters. "It really just skyrocketed." So does that leave Orkut, which introduced many Brazilians to social networking, ditched at the dance?Continue reading...

With all the pontificating about the performance of traditional PepsiCo beverage brands such as Pepsi, it's easy to lose sight of a bright spot shining forth from the company's voluminous beverage portfolio, and one emanating from its controversial stable of better-for-you products as well: Trop50.

The low-calorie juice brand, sweetened with stevia and marketed in a campaign featuring 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski that originated in Canada, is headed to $300 million a year in sales after only three years on the market — a pittance, revenue-wise, compared with conventional orange juice, where PepsiCo's Tropicana brand is one of the leaders. But it's been an impressive ramp-up for a new product in a mature segment where all sorts of things have been tried before.

"We went after a segment who love the goodness of juice without also limiting calorie consumption," Kate Keller, Trop50's director of marketing, told brandchannel. "And they don't want to sacrifice the great taste of juice. They're getting the goodness of juice and taste and sugar at half the sugar and calories — it's pretty simple for them."Continue reading...

Adidas already pulls in billions upon billions in revenue each year. So what do they want? A little more, of course.

The 88-year-old German shoe and apparel giant is planning to target “teenage girls more influenced by music and fashion than sports” and expand its three-year-old NEO fashion outlets and “exploiting social-media platforms including Facebook and Twitter,” Bloomberg reports.

The hope is that the world’s 14 to 19-year-olds (or their parents, in many cases) will cough up enough cash in that competitive marketplace to net Adidas another $1.3 billion by 2015. Some of NEO's marketing tactics include tapping into teens' love of music, with a love song digital promotion for Valentine's Day, and convincing David Beckham (who has a longtime endorsement deal with Adidas) to put his name on a special collection for NEO.

“Teenage girls are a target group we didn't really reach so far, whereas boys are closer connected to Adidas via sports,” said Erich Stamminger, the board member responsible for global brands. “For girls, you need a bit more of fashion influence and that's exactly what we are offering with NEO.”Continue reading...

Anheuser-Busch InBev is planning to market America's Heartland brew — Budweiser — to Brazil as a premium brand.

Its plan is do more than just tell Brazilians "This Bud's for you" in Portuguese. AB InBev is planning to sell the world's third-largest beer market (and other emerging markets) on the American Dream, as AB InBev CMO Chris Burggraeve comments to Bloomberg Businessweek.

The move also makes sense as beer sales in America have lost their momentum in the last five years. Imports and craft beers along with lower-calorie brews are taking away major chunks of the marketplace once dominated by some big-name brands. For companies such as MillerCoors and AB InBev, that’s meant the loss of beaucoup bucks.Continue reading...