NFL settlement with referees clears the way for marketers.

Tempur-Pedic goes to the mattresses to buy Sealy for $228.6 million.

American Greetings hears buyout offer from founding family and CEO.

Amazon rejects false advertising claim in Apple app store suit.

Apple-Google maps talks failed on voice navigation.

BAE proposed merger with Airbus parent EADS hits snag in Germany.

Bayer partners with feline vets.

BlackBerry 10 will determine RIM's fate as company courts app developers.Continue reading...

Time to hide the children and batten down the hatches. Kraft Foods is “ready to unleash a global snacking powerhouse,” chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld told investors and analysts in the company's presentation at the Barclays Back to School conference in Boston on Thursday.

The snacks behemoth will officially launch the Mondelez brand for the global marketplace on Oct. 3 and is hoping that consumers in China, India, and Brazil start chowing down more and more on such products as Oreo cookies (a $2 billion brand thanks to glocal versions in China), Cadbury chocolates, and Trident gum. Kraft will maintain another division under the Kraft name that will focus solely on the North American marketplace and features such grocery staples as Velveeta and Oscar Mayer.

While the CPG giant is predicting to have a 2013 profit of $2.60 per share, according to the AP, it is also expecting Mondelez to not come zooming out of the gate.Continue reading...

Jeremy Lin signs free agent deal with Houston Rockets, ending "Linsanity" in NYC if the Knicks don't make him a better offer.

Yahoo considers CEO of Hulu for top job.

Porsche tries to adjust to Volkswagen embrace.

Anheuser-Busch encourages responsible drinking.

Bausch & Lomb could go public by year-end.

Chevrolet plans to show off vehicles at MLB All-Star Game in Kansas City next week.

Chuck E. Cheese burns long-time voice with new mascot.

Dynegy files for bankruptcy.Continue reading...

Anybody who has even touched Facebook this week will be aware of the controversy a single cookie can make.

Kraft's Oreo brand chose to make a simple statement, in this visual social era, to show support for June 25th as Gay Pride Day with a rainbow-colored twist on its iconic cookie. The 100-year-old cookie brand posted a photo on its Facebook page on Monday depicting a gay pride-themed six-layer cookie with rainbow-colored creme filling and the words “June 25 | Pride” and the comment, “Proudly support love!”

It was also clear it wasn't real, with a small line of text reading "Made with creme colors that do not exist." 

The maelstrom of divided comments from its 26 million FB followers shows the deep division over the issue and the entrenched homophobia still alive (and unwell) — and also raises the question about whether brands should take a political stance and show their support for the LGBT community. (We say yes; your thoughts?)Continue reading...

When Kraft Foods announced in March that it would name its new global snack business “Mondelēz” as part of its upcoming corporate split, the world basically snorted in disdain. Say what? The pronunciation isn’t even exactly clear. Kraft says it's supposed to be pronounced "Mohn-dah-LEEZ," please.

Some crafty exec came up with the idea of combining the Latin words for “world” and “delicious.” It was a high-faluting idea that got dragged down through the gutter pretty quickly.

Shareholders in the company will get their chance to give their opinion on the name at the company's annual general meeting on Wednesday that will decide whether the maker of Oreos and Fig Newtons (sorry: Newtons) should be housed under the proposed Mondelēz name or not, according to the Associated Press.

A new name is necessary because Kraft is separating into two entities, one that needs a new name for the half that will house its global snacking brands, while the Kraft name will be used for the half housing its North American CPG/grocery brands. So the new name, whether it ends up being Mondelēz or not, must work for a worldwide audience.Continue reading...

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.

Fig Newtons have always played second fiddle to Oreos, beginning when both were Nabisco products and continuing once Kraft took over Nabisco. But now it looks as though Kraft may finally have landed upon a way to spotlight the quirky Newtons family of products and lend them an identity that surely will move them out of the shadow of Oreos — as a better-for-you snack.

New TV commercials for Newtons — as Kraft now calls the cookie formerly known as Fig Newtons — show fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries as well as emphasize that Newtons now are made with whole grains. It's part of an effort to move beyond the cookies' original (and still-offered) fig filling.

"And now, another Newtonism," intones the voiceover in one ad, for a new triple-berry filling. "Never beat around the bush — you'll just squash the berries." The ad closes with Newtons' new tagline, "One unique cookie."Continue reading...

Remember all that stuffy marketing from Kraft brands like Oreo, Trident and Tang? Well, once the newly named Mondelēz unit gets its freedom from Kraft in a spinoff of the company's fast-growing, internationally oriented snacks business, expect the marketing chiefs to push the envelope.

The brands to be deposited into Mondelēz — including the aforementioned Oreo, Trident and Tang — "tend to have a younger, vibrant appeal that allow us to push the edge of the marketing much further than some of the classic, traditional, more Midwestern-focused brands," said Mary Beth West, Kraft's chief marketing officer, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "That's not a value judgment," she insisted.

But West herself does plan to leave "Midwest" parent company Kraft Foods — based in Northfield, Ill. — to join Mondelēz. And she will be taking Dana Anderson, Kraft Foods SVP of marketing strategy and communications to join Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld, who is also decamping to Mondelēz.Continue reading...