extra texture :: marketing news + trends

Norelco and Gillette, two of the oldest shaving brands and most traditional advertisers, have leapt into the world of edgy Internet ads with new pitches for young men. (more)

An army of robots suspended from the vast ceiling glide from one refrigerator-sized machine to the next. Their cargo: thousands of 12-inch silicon platters that form the raw material for Intel’s most sophisticated computer microprocessor to date. (more)

Disney films such as Glory Road and the animated Chicken Little will soon be available to own via computer download from the Internet-based movie site CinemaNow. (more)

Giant Eagle, Inc. here debuted a 5,000-square-foot, new concept GetGo “superette” in Wilkinsburg, featuring an expanded selection of more than 100 produce items. (more)

Many central Ohio merchants roll out the red carpet anyway, after Scotchgarding it. Make no bones about it, dogs are the newest faces at the mall. (more)

Forget miracle medicines, advanced aeronautics or genetically modified crops. When it comes to business research, the biggest laboratory in the world isn’t at Pfizer, General Electric or Monsanto. It’s online, at eBay.com. (more)

An Associated Press poll has found an impatient nation. It’s a nation that gets antsy after five minutes on hold on the phone and 15 minutes max in a line. So say people in the survey. (more)

Thanks to niche cable channels and even nichier Internet sites, advertisers can tailor messages specifically to tweens, leaving the rest of the world only dimly aware of tween culture. (more)

Teens prefer to type rather than talk, worrying parents and employers that techie teens are losing the art of conversation. (more)

Providers are working hard to make their phones easier to use — fewer steps, brighter and less cluttered screens, different pricing strategies — so consumers will not only use data functions more often but also be encouraged to buy additional ones. (more)

Shelf space. For retailers worried that their advertisements are reaching smaller audiences, it’s the final frontier. So, a Little Rock company is developing a different way to reach shoppers: video monitors attached to store shelves. (more)

In what could be the best Mirinda yet, Pepsi fans will surely welcome the new great taste of the beverage which features a smoother, richer flavour. (more)

Toy retailers have skinned their knees in recent years, but Troy Carlson is placing a half-million-dollar bet that he can run where the industry’s giants have stumbled. (more)

Researchers see a day when you’ll update your style with the click of a mouse. (more)

Soy sauce flavor — putting the ’scream’ into ‘we all scream for ice cream.’ (more)

The Nintendo Amusement Park is a project by three New York University students who want to create a life-size obstacle course based on Super Mario Bros. that lets players strap into a bungee system to jump 12 feet in the air, smash Goombas, collect coins and snag magic mushrooms, just like in the classic video game. (more)

Apple Computer and Nike’s new iPod-sneaker combination for monitoring exercise could be just the first of several activity-aware applications for the iPod — and maybe even a new gesture interface that uses movement to select songs or adjust the volume. (more)

A senior Nissan Motor Co. executive acknowledges that the recent plunge in the automaker’s sales in Japan was worse than expected, and he said the company is considering increasing its lineup of tiny cars in response. (more)

In a room that smells of musty waders, surrounded by camouflage hunting jackets and power tools, a small group of men is plotting strategy — not for catching the big one or bagging a 12-point buck, but to defend Ford Motor Co.’s leadership of the domestic pickup-truck market. (more)

The new Kodak Spotless Printing Solution Version 2.0 unleashes a wider spectrum of spot colours with greater flexibility for marketers and a more efficient production process for printers. (more)

The future of this 125-year-old photographic brand is indeed blurred as it undergoes a painful transformation to keep up with the times. (more)

Brand loyalty in the hotel industry is not near the levels it frankly should be … Consumers don’t connect with hotel brands with nearly the passion … that this category should allow. (more)

Thieves used to break into as many as five cars a week in the parking garage at Los Angeles’ Union Station. Then the Metropolitan Transportation Authority came up with a simple solution: They put a security officer on a Segway Human Transporter. (more)

The Sevens, a beer-and-wine tavern with an oak bar worn smooth by decades of drinkers, has two amenities that set it apart: a real cork dart board, and arguably one of the best jukeboxes east of the Mississippi River. (more)

Charles Saatchi’s online project Your Gallery, which provides a space for - to put it bluntly - any idiot to show work with the Saatchi imprimatur, made plenty of headlines for its attempt to find the Arctic Monkeys of the art world. (more)

His office overlooks the Arc de Triomphe, and as the boss of global advertising behemoth Publicis - owners of Saatchi & Saatchi - Maurice Levy is something of a monument himself. Alex Benady probes behind the smooth facade. (more)

Virgin Mobile USA, a cell-phone service used mostly by teenagers and 20-somethings, says it is giving its customers the option to earn free calls if they view and respond to ads on their phones. (more)

Declining sales and digital online piracy of comic books are threatening small U.S. publishers. (more)

If you think keeping fit is merely mind over matter, Lester Clancy has an invention for you — a cordless jump-rope. (more)

The ultimate cocktail which can only be mixed by a barman freefalling from 10,000 feet has been launched in Croatia. (more)