Brands

According to Crain's Chicago Business, Kraft is rumored to be preparing sales of its Altoids and Life Savers candy brands, which could reap about $1 billion. The Northfield, IL-based food marketer is preparing to split from corporate parent Altria, and several lesser known brands are also slated to be sold off as part of the corporate restructuring. I wonder what the valuation for Altoids would be pre-Steffan …

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Hugh over at Gaping Void has been carrying the torch for the idea that "Branding Is Dead." It's a hot topic, if the long list of comments he generates is any proof. Here's my favorite response to Hugh's claim: "You're making an assumption that branding is all about advertising so that if you do shitty advertising you're not branding. Nothing can be further from the truth, in my opinion. Branding is what your …

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Cingular Wireless has merged with AT&T Wireless. New TV spots from BBDO New York--and their newly hired creative chief from Fallon, David Lubars--are now running. One spot features "The Weight" by The Band. I understand why Cadillac uses Led Zepellin. The people looking to buy once listened to the world's first heavy metal band. And they can imagine themselves doing so still, especially while stuck in traffic on the …

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Bog Cargill of Yellowfin Direct Marketing in Boston points out on his blog, A Fine Kettle of Fish, the number of brands jumping on the winner's wagon. He rates Metamucil's entry the best of the lot. CONGRATULATIONS BOSTON ON YOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. LET'S HOPE IT BECOMES A REGULAR THING! …

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The words, "I'm just browsing," have no place in the battle for desktop supremacy. For sure, Rob Davis is doing more than just browsing. Mr. Davis is young geek with big ideas. His latest is SpreadFirefox.com, a site where he not only spreads the word, he collects money to run an ad for Firefox in the New York Times. Correction, he collects a lot of money from a lot of people to run an ad for a firm he does not work …

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We will learn today where Pete Coors will be and what he'll be working on for the next several years. Will it be the interests of Colorado? Or the continued interests of the family business? According to E.J. Dionne, writing in the Washington Post, the campaign hasn't been all that great for the folks back home at the brewery. from Dionne's article: "Yes, it's tough having to sell beer and win votes from …

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Since it's election day here in America, I thought I'd go ahead and thank Diesel and KesselsKramer for providing us another, equally just, way to exercise our individual credit cards, I mean freedoms. KesselsKramer, an agency that is deft at the art of camp, must be credited for sporting one of the more daring agency web sites. Each time one comes to this Amsterdam agency's home page, another cheesy pitch is there to …

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from Ad Age: When the behemoth U.S. Postal Service found out that a young rock band had named itself "Postal Service," executives weren't happy. They sent a cease-and-desist letter to the band's label, Seattle-based independent Sub Pop Records. But what began as an argument over name rights turned into the mail-delivering institution's first cross-promotional music deal. Sub Pop executives suggested that the USPS …

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