Ambush marketing tends to pop-up in the most high-profile circumstances, and for Samsung, March 14 is D-day. While the mobile brand is busy heavily promoting its Galaxy S4 launch, it's obvious that competitors weren't going to sit on the sidelines and let Samsung have all the fun. 

LG took a swipe at Samsung in New York City’s Times Square, unveiling a massive billboard that directly rips off the Galaxy S4 ad. Not only does LG use a key element of Samsung’s design, but its sign is larger than Samsung’s and hangs just above it, neatly overshadowing Samsung's biggest announcement of 2013.

The billboard’s text also mirrors Samsung’s—which is set to unveil the Galaxy S4 Thursday in New York—reading, "LG Optimus G is here 4 you now" in a reference to the S4—while just underneath, Samsung's sign reads, "Be ready 4 the next Galaxy." The obvious implication is that you need to wait for the next Galaxy while the LG Optimus G is ready for the consumer right now.Continue reading...

Sure, we get the occasional brand vs. brand dustup in court, but the three-ring circus that opened this week, pitting Macy's against J.C. Penney and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia already has brought more color than that Apple-Samsung dispute last year—and that's without any of the colorful principals even making an appearance yet.

In the first day of testimony in a Manhattan court on Wednesday, the Stewart-Penney alliance and Macy's made the outlines of their arguments pretty clear.

Macy's believes that an agreement by Stewart's company to supply some of her homeware designs to a giant J.C. Penney "store within a store" violates Macy's agreement for its own Stewart-brand merchandise that has been renewed through 2018. Besides, they believe Martha Stewart and her company owe Macy's some loyalty because it struck a deal with her in 2004 when she was just out of prison for conspiracy.

J.C. Penney and Stewart, on the other hand, believe they're doing nothing wrong in planning to sell Stewart-designed stuff as long as it doesn't bear her actual name and likeness, which they concede would violate terms of the Macy's deal. Besides, this argument goes, a bunch of the stuff has already been manufactured overseas and is on boats on the way to the U.S. for their debut in Penney stores—and does Macy's really intend on asking these ships to turn around?Continue reading...

Kraft is moving to prevent Cracker Barrel restaurants from extending its store brand into American supermarkets, where Kraft's Cracker Barrel cheese brand has been a major player since 1954.

There was seemingly no big threat to Kraft or to its Cracker Barrel cheese trademark when Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel Old Country Store sold merely a few grocery items under the Cracker Barrel name at small general stores attached to most of its 600-some U.S. restaurants.

But now that Cracker Barrel has struck a major licensing agreement with the John Morrell Food Group to sell Cracker Barrel-branded food products through grocers and mass merchandisers, Kraft says it is concerned that the restaurant chain's brand expansion could create confusion among consumers — and thereby damage the Kraft line.Continue reading...

The Keebler Elves may make some fine crackers and cookies inside their massive treehouse, but Kraft Foods is hoping to force the Kellogg-owned Keebler and Sandies to find a new way to keep their products from going stale.

Kraft filed suit in Chicago federal court Wednesday with the claim that Kellogg “improperly uses one of its patents,” Reuters reported.

The dispute stems from the resealable packaging that Kellogg uses (and customers like). Kraft claims it's too similar to its “Snack ‘n Seal” packaging.

Another food packaging design dispute is moving through the Chicago federal court system. An inventor took H.J. Heinz Co. to court last summer claiming that the company's “Dip & Squeeze” packaging too closely resembled his patented design.

Kellogg and Kraft may be competing on another front this week as well.Continue reading...

While one third of the Occupy Wall Street movement is working on bail money, and another third on getting the mace out of its eyes, the other third is thinking about actions to further spread the message and expand the movement. One of the possibilities is an "Occupy Black Friday" campaign.

In various cities, those involved in the Occupy movement this week floated the idea of an "Occupy Black Friday" plan to keep the momentum going on the biggest shopping day of the year. While it's not clear what these plans are, the approach has a precedent.

"Buy Nothing Day 2011" is still being promoted by AdBusters, the Canadian organization credited with (at least co-) launching the Occupy Wall Street movement. Will Occupy Black Friday be a day of confrontation or one of passive boycott? And if it's the latter, will anyone care?

The very loosely organized OBF movement has thus far expressed a number of motivations for its actions. There are, of course, the standard gripes about corporations and profit and a nation of blind consumerism. But a subset of OBF is motivated by outrage at the demands placed on employees.Continue reading...

Blockbuster is in full steam “carpe diem” mode, reaching out to Netflix customers who are up in arms about the price hike with Blockbuster Total Access, a time-limited nationwide promotion for Netflix customers who jump ship.

AT&T, meanwhile, has fired back at Netflix for blaming bandwidth capacity as a factor in its pricier plans. The saga is worth of a Hollywood movie; but not, if Netflix has its way, on DVD.

Blockbuster, the now Dish Network-owned DVD renter, is making hay on its Twitter and Facebook feeds of a quick-response free 30-day trial, followed by a choice of two access plans: continue to receive Total Access for $9.99 per month for “1 Disc” at a time, or $14.99 per month for “2 Discs” at a time.Continue reading...

After running TV and print advertising mocking its rival Vodacom's recent rebranding in South Africa as "a lick of paint," the mobile carrier Cell C was ordered by the country's Advertising Standards Authority to pull its TV advertising (see another spot below) and tweak its print ads.Continue reading...

McDonald's has proven once again that it can successfully appropriate ideas from competitors into its own fast food system. When McDonald's introduced McCafe espresso drinks earlier this year, it was a shot across Starbucks' bow. It worked — McDonald's coffee sales soared to double the 2006 figure.

Turning from hot to cold, for summer 2010 the burger chain launched fruit smoothies and, given North America's heat wave, the timing couldn't be better. The Wall Street Journal reports that in July, McDonald's had its biggest monthly same-store sales boost since January 2009, attributed partially to the new smoothies. McDonald's president and CEO Don Thompson said the company is "blowing away the high-end projections" they had for smoothie sales.

Smoothie competitors aren't taking the news lightly. Jamba Juice, whose business revolves around smoothies, just released a mock ad (watch after the jump) poking fun at a supposed "Cheeseburger Chill Smoothie" made from, you guessed it, a cheeseburger.Continue reading...