Kicking off this week's Brand Bites, model Bar Refaeli's new under.me lingerie line campaign channels an iconic cheeky tennis poster.

PETA take note: the Sierra Club's new "Coal Will Say Anything" campaign shows how it's done.Continue reading...

Weight Watchers has been bucking the tide in the weight-loss business during the year since introducing a huge wrinkle in its long-used diet-evaluation system, called Points Plus. And now, the company wants to apply its new success formula to male dieters.

Even though January is the seasonal high tide for Weight Watchers, Jenny (Craig), Nutrisystem and other dieting brands, overall the weight-loss business has been getting leaner these days. Recessionary times and consumers taking a dollar-saving, individualized approach to weight loss have been largely to blame for a lagging industry performance that gained only 2 percent last year compared with a traditional 6-percent year-on-year improvement.

That's one big reason Nutrisystem has increased its focus on men.Continue reading...

Apple still sees consumer demand for iPhone 3GS.

AT&T warns blocking T-Mobile deal will lead to higher prices.

Amazon provokes retailers with new price-check app.

Banana Republic opens Paris flagship.

Bill Gates rumored to consider returning to Microsoft.

Billabong uses augmented reality in new campaign.

Carrefour mulls merger with French supermarket chain.

Dean & Deluca expands from New York to Singapore.

Jamba Juice to tap into schools market with self-serve units.

Ford to restart dividend after five years.

GM CEO Dan Akerson acts aggressively to staunch Volt damage.Continue reading...

Walmart gifts holiday shoppers with Frank the Fruitcake web series.

War on Christmas, Part 4,327: Mill's Fleet Farm bans Salvation Army bell ringers. Invites inevitable criticism. Invites them back.

More trouble for Chrysler's JLo-Fiat Bronx ad. This time, allegations of copyright violation.

Olla condom brand's "Unexpected Babies" campaign sends men Facebook requests from their unborn children.Continue reading...

Asos sets sights on male fashion lovers.

Atari plots its comeback.

Au Bon Pain unveils new redesign.

Avaya plans to go public again.

Benetton readies image overhaul.

Blue Shield of California will cap earnings.

Borders finds another potential bidder.Continue reading...

OK, so the 83rd Annual Academy Awards was a bit of a snoozefest, with Colin Firth and Natalie Portman winning the best thespian categories (as expected) and The King's Speech sweeping the night.

On the commercial front, while the Oscars may not have "the Super Bowl for women" that some thought in terms of the caliber of the ads, there were some new campaigns — but also a lot of repetition and reprisals of Super Bowl spots.

What did you think of the commercials, if you caught them during the telecast on ABC? To jog your memory:Continue reading...

While charities are increasingly using not just the web, but social media, to spur donations, cause-wired philanthropy is coming of age for brands, too.

Startups like Social Reality evangelize to major brands the value add of becoming involved, while the powerhouse that is Facebook's Causes campaign has seen massive success connecting brands with consumers around a worthy cause.Continue reading...

Rue 33 Premium Vodka, the latest product offering from Sam's Club, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, illustrates that store brands are now completely entrenched in the shopping habits of mainstream consumers. The new product will be added to the discount retailer's growing Member's Mark store brand.

Store brands, also known as private labels, are a win-win situation for stores because they offer lower prices for consumers and higher profit margins by selling merchandise that has been produced without costly vendors in the middle.

Retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart fill their shelves with self-branded items that compete on price with a variety of big name national brands like Crest, Johnson & Johnson, and Purina. Supermarket chain Kroger has one of the deepest private-label manufacturing networks in the US and garners more sales from private-label products than Wal-Mart, its primary competitor in grocery sales.Continue reading...