In yet another sign that Japanese auto brands aren’t just sitting on their hoods waiting for vehicle supplies to return to normal, Nissan has pioneered the use of Quick Response (QR) codes among auto retailers in the U.S. market.

The codes perform functions for Nissan, its dealers and products similar to the information and communication assistance they lend shoppers at the supermarkets, department-store chains  and other brands that quickly have flocked to using QR. Recently, Toyota disclosed its own innovative mobile-information apps using SpyderLynk's SnapTags.

Launched in June with the 2012 Nissan Altima and Sentra models, Nissan’s QR codes are found on individual window stickers of the vehicles along with standard equipment, options, mileage, price and other information that is there by law. Smartphone users can snap a photo of the code and access specific vehicle information such as key features, available accessories, incentive offers and even dealer inventories.

The program “puts important decision-making information at shoppers’ fingertips while on dealership lots, helping sales personnel make a more effective presentation, as well as providing customers with a ‘silent salesperson’ if they are shopping the lot after hours,” stated Jon Brancheau, vice president of marketing for Nissan North America. “It’s a true mass-market effort across all products and all Nissan dealerships nationwide.”Continue reading...

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Bank of Scotland launches integrated campaign.Continue reading...

If you’ve got a piece of $2.53 billion coming your way, do you try to stop it? Well, you do if you’re a minority shareholder in Brazil’s second-biggest brewery, Schincariol. The Associated Press reported that the brewer’s minority investors "are seeking an injunction against the … bid by Japan’s Kirin Holdings Co. for a controlling stake in the Schincariol Group."

The three shareholders looking to stop the deal, which emerged earlier this week? Gilberto, Daniela and Jose Augusto Schincariol, who own 49.55% of the family-held company’s shares.Continue reading...

Japan’s national men’s soccer team is ranked 19th in the world and has qualified for the last four World Cups. There’s no reason to think the team won’t be making it to Brazil for the next one in 2014. And when it does, it looks like their fans will be able to enjoy the fine taste of Kirin beer.

Japan’s beer giant Kirin Holdings just purchased a majority stake in Brazil’s second-biggest brewer, family-held Schincariol.

According to Dow Jones Newswires, Kirin is shelling out $2.56 billion for a 50.45% stake in Schincariol, which only accounts for 10% of Brazil’s beer sales. (Meanwhile, 70% of those sales are going to industry leader AmBev.)Continue reading...

It can’t be much fun to be a Honda executive these days. The company and its products had become rather stodgy and predictable even before the earthquake and tsunami in March turned Honda’s supply chain upside down and resulted in a worldwide, disastrous drop in sales.

The results of Honda’s long, dark night are still showing up. For one thing, Honda just reported that its fiscal first-quarter operating profit plummeted, by 90%, and quarterly sales dropped by 27% as the company coped with the aftermath of the disaster.

To be fair, Toyota's net profit dropped 99% in its latest report (while also raising its forecast), while many analysts predicted that Honda wouldn’t report any profit at all for the period — and there is increasing hope for Honda on the production side.Continue reading...

It’s hard enough to lose such a huge game as the FIFA Women's World Cup Final after having a pair of one-goal leads extremely late in the match and then in the overtime. But a few members of U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team will feel the loss in their wallets as well.

Ad Age reports that the team probably lost $10 million in endorsements by losing the Final in penalty kicks to Japan. Forward Abby Wambach and goalie Hope Solo may be household names right now, but they may have lost out on $3 million or $4 million annually on marketing deals, the publication notes.Continue reading...

Panasonic last week demonstrated its Life Innovation Container at Jumbara 2011, a demonstration event hosted by the Indonesian Red Cross.

The container — easily transportable by sea, rail and land, provides electricity to power off-grid areas and support disaster-ridden areas — proved its mettle by helping victims of Japan's earthquake and tsunami in March, when it was donated and installed at a local disaster task force at Minami-Sanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture to aid rescue workers' communication facilities.Continue reading...

News of the World closure and fall-out (including editor's possible arrest, impact on BSkyB deal and The Sun staff protest) tests News Corp.'s and Rupert Murdoch's political skills.

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Deutsche Bank is in talks to sell BHF Bank.

Japan hit by another earthquake.Continue reading...