Move over, Jared.
Subway's got a new guy in town, and his name is
Michael Phelps. The mega-medal Olympian continues to score endorsements faster than his swimming records.
Number two fast food chain
Burger King has been testing
a new line of premium items. This includes ribs and thicker burgers, made with grills, batch broilers, and other costly new kitchen equipment.
The fast food chain's decision to move in the direction of higher-price items comes at a time when the
casual restaurant industry is struggling.
The Associated Press recently investigated the phenomenon of
widespread hatred for Toyota's "Saved by Zero" ad campaign. The
ad — which appears to play almost constantly during NFL games, among other things — has drawn the ire of viewers (currently, there are 10 Facebook groups opposing it, the largest of which has 2,500 members). I'm definitely among those who have gotten annoyed with the (admittedly catchy) jingle.
Teen Vogue is well aware that retail is in big trouble as reflected by its new concept for the 2008 holiday season. Retailers are thirsty for teenage girls to spend like they used to, so Teen Vogue is taking advertising for the demographic to the next level. This is one campaign that doesn't involve the magazine's go-to heartthrob Zac Efron and actually leaves out boys altogether — the magazine has tried to develop the ultimate girls spot in hopes of loosening up wallets.
Next month, number one
fast-food giant
McDonald's will unveil a
redesign of all its food products around the world. In what the corporation calls "the most comprehensive rollout in the brand's history," all 118 countries with McDonald's restaurants will launch new designs that advertise the chain's high-quality ingredients. The packaging, developed by UK marketing firm
Boxer, draws attention to fresh ingredients and preparation: The new
Big Mac box includes images of an onion, slices of cheese, a head of lettuce, and a freshly made hamburger, with the words "100 percent beef" and "all-beef patties" inscribed on the box.
Pepsi's redesigning their look and I've got a sneak peek at the logo redesign! The new logo, shown here at bottom right, is the 11th in Pepsi's 110-year history. It was designed by the
Arnell Group and took five months to create.
It's difficult to imagine the always-polished Ivanka Trump packing up leftovers for lunch, but
she recently blogged about sympathizing with the monotony of brown-bagging it.
With gas and food prices on the rise, more and more people are skipping the deli line and bringing lunch to work to save money. This is great, but all I hear is how boring a brown bag lunch can get and how people want something different, especially when they are stuck at their desks — something I completely relate to.
As colossal coffee chain
Starbucks struggles to keep up with past profit margins, its competitors continue to move in for the kill. Earlier this month, breakfast chain
Dunkin' Donuts introduced
its version of a recession deal. Now, in its latest ad campaign, the chain is
claiming it beat Starbucks in a blind taste test.In the campaign, Dunkin' Donuts, which is currently in the middle of a
national expansion effort, airs a new TV spot and launched a website,
Dunkin' Beat Starbucks, that will highlight the results of the taste test.
Coupon clipping is a cornerstone of countless families' food budgets, and it's a part of consumer culture that has seemingly existed forever. Like all things, the idea of companies printing coupons to be clipped by shoppers did start somewhere. Do you know which brand first introduced the concept?
The economic turmoil has produced some unexpected bedfellows, and the newest of these partnerships is between freshly scented laundry detergent and a well-known retail brand.
Procter & Gamble has partnered with Ann Taylor Loft to launch its Tide Total Care and Downy Total Care detergents. Upon purchase of machine washable clothes, the stores will dispense samples and coupons for the detergents, which claim to help clothes looking new for up to 30 washes.
