Apple store employee moves to unionize.

Chipotle expansion plans hit by rising costs.

Citi defends delay in disclosing hacking.

Dell gives precedence to Chinese market for tablet roll-out.

Dole blitzes US cities to pump up banana sales.

Edmunds.com to launch Groupon-type channel for cars.

Ford is ordered to pay $2 billion to dealers in old pricing dispute.Continue reading...

Nissan's humorous new advertising campaign for its Leaf all-electric vehicle, called “Gas Powered Everything,” breaks this week. The TV commercials depict an absurd world where the evolution of energy for devices we use has stopped at gasoline power. That includes nearly everything that we’re used to running on electric power, from alarm clocks to dentists’ drills.

Point made: Electric power is superior and certainly suitable for automobiles because, gee whiz, gasoline power isn’t suitable for everyday appliances. Ha ha.

As amusing and well executed as these ads might be, they raise the question: Is Nissan really going to drive home the right message with the new 60-second ad and 15-second teasers that promotes GasPoweredEverything.com — which redirects to its Facebook page?Continue reading...

Burger King tests menu diversification. 

BMW launches "Don't Txt and Drive" public-service campaign.

Church’s takes on Chik-fil-A in chicken-taste test campaign.

Diageo and Pernot Ricard battle in China.

Exxon fuels chemicals drive in Asia.

Fiat ends four decades of Chrysler sales in Europe.Continue reading...

Nissan's new campaign for the Leaf asks "What if everything ran on gas? Then again, what if everything didn't?" The 60-second spot above will premiere on TV during the June 12th NBA finals, while the 15-second teaser spots below are running this week.

Jalopnik calls the campaign funny, while CopyRanter finds it illogical but notes that Chevy's Volt (not the Toyota Prius) is the car it's aiming for. You?Continue reading...

Air Canada launches new regional brand to replace Jazz.

Amazon vs. Apple "app store" spat continues, while Apple moves to trademark "startup."

Apple iPad 2 finally goes on sale in Japan this week, plus 11 other countries.

Barclay's posts disappointing results.

BP's Russian saga continues as net profit rises, Gulf clean-up costs continue.

Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf ace crash tests.Continue reading...

Apple hit with inevitable class action lawsuit over location tracking.

Donald Trump's birther fixation impacts personal brand, supposed presidential ambitions.

Enfamil settles mom's lawsuit over nutrient claims.

Facebook updates Groups, adds Send button.

GM minivan thrives in China post-US demise.

Kimberly-Clark and P&G to both raise prices.

Lenovo Honeycomb tablet coming later this year.Continue reading...

With the New York Auto Show continuing through May 1st, Nissan is promoting its World Car of the Year Award-winning Leaf with an eye-catching interactive billboard in Times Square. The copy: "The auto show has over 1,000 of these (cue smoke) .... But only one 100% electric, zero-tailpipe Nissan LEAF."

It’s been a long wait for the truly enlightened automotive consumers among us, but Nissan has assured America that we finally will be able to buy its Leaf all-electric vehicle in some volume. And Nissan is reminding us what Leaf is all about with a new ad campaign, above.

Everything about Leaf’s painfully slow introduction — opening “reservations” to handraisers around the US, state by state, and forming a queue of sorts to purchase the trickle of cars that have come in at first — is designed to build buzz, anticipation and acceptance as Nissan bulks up its production capabilities.

But in the process, Nissan also risked Leaf getting lost in the auto-marketing shuffle, as we pointed out yesterday.Continue reading...