One of the more promising product segments of late has been store brands, also known as private-label products, driven by consumer demand for value. Last October, a Consumer Reports study indicated that store brands can save consumers as much as 30 percent over brand name products — a welcome relief for the recession-weary.

The latest entries in the store brands category will test a market that has been largely untapped, so to speak: value-priced beer.Continue reading...

While drugstores are the place to go to get your cough drops and allergy tablets, they are also places to pick up another kind of medicine — the self-medicating kind found in alcoholic beverages. 

We recently wrote about Duane Reade luring Brooklyn hipsters by offering high-end bottled beer and fresh beer on tap to go in Williamsburg. Now Walgreens is going in a completely different direction: offering its own private-label beer at the low end of the price scale.

Quietly introduced in mid-December, Walgreens now offers Big Flats 1901 lager in more than 4,600 of the chain’s 7,655 locations, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“In just the first few weeks of sales consumer feedback has been very positive, as beer drinkers across the U.S. are thrilled to have such a quality brew at a value price,” Kathleen Burns, senior marketing manager at Novato, Calif.-based Winery Exchange (which produces private-label alcohol brands for retailers including Costco and Trader Joe's) said in a statement.

While we have to wonder at the name — “flat” isn’t a word that you want to associate with beer, although the name is meant to evoke flat boats that delivered goods to settlers in upstate New York — it’s obvious that the beer’s price is the real point here.Continue reading...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tells analysts the company's "job one urgency" is developing a tablet to compete with the iPad.

The battle of Colgate vs Aquafresh is unfolding in a New York courtroom over the right to use a "nurdle" (toothpaste squirt) on their toothpaste packaging.

Disney is selling Miramax Films for $660 miilion to an investor group that didn't include founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

Citigroup will pay $75 million to the SEC to settle charges that it failed to disclose subprime exposure to investors in 2007.Continue reading...

President Obama's first White House speech last night, which addressed the Gulf of Mexico disaster, lambasted BP's "recklessness" and promised the company's reparations fund and swift action, while also focusing on U.S. energy policy.

In response to Obama's speech, a BP spokesperson told CNN that the company shared his goals of "shutting off the well as quickly as possible, cleaning up the oil and mitigating the impact on the people and environment of the Gulf Coast," and viewed today's Washington hearing with BP executives "for a constructive discussion about how best to achieve these mutual goals."

BP, also under fire for staff "reporter" while blocking media, now faces more than 225 lawsuits in 11 states. TED's upcoming Washington event will tackle the oil spill later this month. More brands in the news after the jump.Continue reading...

California's State Assembly has voted to ban plastic bags in pharmacies, groceries, convenience stores and liquor stores, and, to require retailers to charge at least five cents for all paper bags - which must include recyclable materials.

This time around, the measure is backed by the California Grocers’ Association, whose major retail brand members include Safeway, Trader Joe’s, Costco, Whole Foods and 7-Eleven, as well as the notoriously conservative Chamber of Commerce.

Approval by California’s Senate on the proposed ban is not a done deal, although there is state precedent: San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban plastic bags in 2007.Continue reading...

Starbucks pranks consumers with "more sizes." [Starbucks]

More brands are finding e-mail helpful for marketing. [Brandweek]

Sustainable seafood was a poor choice for Trader Joe's. [Daily Finance]

Hulu may launch a subscription service to increase revenue. [Consumerist]