Stagnation is a dirty word at Procter & Gamble, one of the world's most successful CPG companies. So P&G is making some strategic steps to re-accelerate growth, heighten profitability and combat what at least are perceptions that the company has slowed down as one of the industry's engines of innovation.

P&G CEO Bob McDonald told analysts last week at the annual CAGNY conference that the company will cut costs totaling more than $10 billion over the next five years, including $1 billion in external marketing spending and reduction of more than 4,000 additional jobs in non-manufacturing areas including marketing.

In his presentation, McDonald said the cuts also are meant to address a mismatch between where the company spends much of its money in developed markets such as the United States vs. emerging markets where sales are growing fastest. P&G also has been hit by rising commodities costs and consumer resistance to resulting price increases in some markets.

Appreciative investors immediately bid up P&G stock by more than $2 a share, to close at $66.71 a share on Friday. Among the sources of savings, McDonald said, will be having consolidating its marketing operation and using more lower-cost digital marketing, as well as launching more multibrand marketing initiatives such as a 30-brand P&G effort built around the 2012 Summer Olympics. Even so, McDonald stressed that he expects 2012 marketing spending to be "roughly" in line with the total last year.Continue reading...

AIG reports a profit.

Apple CEO Tim Cook says company has more money than it needs and moves to appease shareholders as Proview brings China iPad trademark spat to US.

Best Western launches Facebook hotel reservations.

BP Gulf spill settlement looms.

Burger King eyes India's fast food market.

Cadbury Dairy Milk promotes fair trade chocolate in UK campaign.

Chevy-Ford rivalry heats up via NASCAR.

Chrysler and Carhartt discuss clothing collaboration.

Clorox CEO targets healthcare brands for acquisition.Continue reading...

Amazon's brand value soars 32% in Interbrand's 2012 Best Retail Brands report.

Apple's iPad challenger Proview is open to a settlement as Apple extends checks on Chinese suppliers. Apple also signed China Telecom as second iPhone seller.

Cabela's expands and rolls out smaller-store format.

Coca-Cola sponsors teen parties in Tanzania.

FedEx may be eyeing TNT Express.

Ford signals moderate growth and expansion in China.

Gap teams with fashion bloggers for Be Bright global launch.Continue reading...

Don't look now, PepsiCo and Kraft, but a proven CPG rival is coming after your global snacks business in a big way. Kellogg's just-announced acquisition of the Pringles brand from Procter & Gamble signals the potentially significant elevation of Kellogg's ambitions in snacks.

Kellogg was able to pick up Pringle's from P&G for $2.7 billion, of course, only after Diamond Foods — which owns the Emerald Nut brand — had to back out after an investigation of accounting irregularities with the co-op's walnut growers resulted in the replacement of Diamond's CEO and CFO.

Kellogg executives were openly thrilled at the opportunity to triple their global snacks sales in one move and to become the world's second-largest maker of savory snacks after PepsiCo's Frito-Lay brand.Continue reading...

Apple slashes iAd pricing again as mobile ad share declines as its stock price and size cloud analysts' view of the rest of the economy.

Avon names new CFO to steer it through scandal and layoffs as it woos HSN CEO Mindy Grossman to take over.

Boeing locks in biggest order with Lion Air.

Carnival Cruise social-media strategy examined in wake of Italy disaster.

Embraer shows off Jackie Chan jet in China.

Heineken to cut costs, invest in emerging markets.Continue reading...

And the votes are in... This past Super Bowl was one heck of a showdown, and not just involving the teams. The highly anticipated and heavily judged commercials have been hotly debated all week. As rated by ad-trackers including Hulu, USA Today and Nielsen, the outcome of votes have made it clear which ads reign supreme. Check out the winners below.Continue reading...

Who knew you could lose weight eating Cheerios? The oat-cereal brand has been spun a lot of different ways over its six-decade history, from a playful and convenient baby food to a government-certified cholesterol fighter.

Sales of Cheerios boomed a few years ago after General Mills focused on the heart-healthiness of oats. Then the feds fired a shot across GenMills' bow, instructing the company that Cheerios had gotten a bit too cheerleady in its front-of-package messaging about the cardio benefits of oats.

So now Cheerios has rebooted and re-emerged, this time as a weight-loss brand. A new partnership between Multi Grain Cheerios and Meredith's Fitness magazine is limited to 7.5 million specially marked boxes of the cereal that are supposed to be available in supermarkets through mid-year.Continue reading...

In the months leading up to this fall’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, there was much ado about the unauthorized piggyback practice of ambush marketing by non-sponsors.

New regulations and practices were put in place to be sure that any brand that hadn’t paid a massive chunk to sponsor the matches found even the teensiest way to affiliate itself with the event. The preparation for such a possible catastrophe seemed to put ambush marketing on par with terrorism.

Other than a bunch of scantily clad gals in stilettos handing out flyers for a strip club after one particular match, the RWC went ambush-free.

Now a much bigger event is coming, next year’s Summer Olympics in London (which organizers refuse to identify with its XXX Roman numerals, for some reason), and nobody wants any big-spending sponsors to be outdone by some fancy bit of ambush marketing.Continue reading...