Canada may have the image of being a fairly peaceful place (except perhaps in the corners of hockey rinks across the land), but there was a whole lot of discontent in the months leading up to the introduction of its current flag 50 years ago.

The nation’s former flag featured the British Union Jack and many did not want to lose it. When the current flag was voted to take that flag’s place in 1965, it was contentious and, as former Prime Minister Jean Chretien told CTV News, “Those who had voted for the flag got up to sing 'O Canada' and unfortunately they were booed."

There was even some decidely unCanadian pushing and shoving between members of Parliament after the vote. Now Canadians are falling overthemselves to honor the flag.[more]

The Canadian flag’s 50th anniversary on Sunday was marked with great fanfare as well as the introduction of the nation’s first-ever fabric stamps. "The flag has become part of the fabric of our lives," says Deepak Chopra, President and CEO of Canada Post in a press release. "As these stamps travel far and wide, they will be a fitting tribute."

What’s a tribute without a little social media involvement as well?

The Canadian government has asked its citizens (and honors) to take help wave the flag in the Share Your Moment With the Flag Challenge. It is as simple as taking a picture of yourself with the flag (or using an already existing one) and posting it on social media with the hashtag #flag50.

It wasn’t just everyday folks who got into it, either. Canadian brands such as Tim Hortons and the Toronto Blue Jays did it as well.

The sunglasses and athletic crossover marketplace is crowded, with Ray-Ban, Chanel, Prada and plenty of others doing battle in the space.

Oakley is aiming to differentiate itself with a new branding campaign that aims to use its pack of sporty ambassadors and social media touchpoints to expand its brand awareness and market share in the US and abroad, reaching 22 countries.

Entitled “One Obsession,” the campaign highights pros and non-pros who are focused on their passions, whether it's a professional sport or exploring "a remote mountain peak, backyard trail, secret surf spot or suburban garage."[more]

The campaign spans a roster of athletes and countries, as teased in a 60-second hero video released today (watch above) that will be followed by short videos highlighting different athletes' stories of following a dream and passion.

Touchpoints include "digital, social, advertising, outdoor, retail activations, live events and an enhanced digital experience on oakley.com/oneobsession."

As a press release notes,

Athlete stories of inspiration from around the globe will unfold throughout the year across multiple disciplines, including skateboarder Eric Koston, surfer Gabriel Medina, cyclist Mark Cavendish, all-star baseball player Matt Kemp, Moto GP champion Marc Marquez, cricketer Virat Kohli and badminton player Lin Dan.

Beginning in April, ONE OBSESSION will be brought to life through unique brand moments around the world. Three brand hubs will open to the public created for the community to live out their passions in skateboarding (Los Angeles), urban cycling (London) and baseball (New York).

The call to action:

Every great creator, athlete and innovator is driven by an internal passion – a desire to turn their dreams and ideas into reality. We all have a special place where this obsession lives in the real world, from a remote mountain peak to a suburban garage. Join over 450 Oakley athletes in a global movement and celebrate where you #liveyours. Join the movement: http://www.oakley.com/oneobsession

"It's really a call to action for people to live their obsession," the brand's SVP of marketing, David Adamson, tells Ad Age. "We're trying to create a platform for consumers and athletes to facilitate a conversation around that."

As enticement to get everyday folks to also use the #LiveYours hashtag and check out the upcoming brand experiences, Oakley will randomly reward people with “surprise experiences that will bring the digital connection Oakley aims to foster to the physical world,” Adamson told Ad Age.

One star that won’t be involved in the campaign is rapper Pitbull, who is suing the brand for apparently using his name on a line of sunglasses without his permission, TMZ reports.

Oakley's “Pit Bull” line has rankled the performer, who has his own sunglasses under his name—and now wants his attorneys to make defending that their "One Obsession."

Cadillac has revealed the underpinning of its looming brand "resurrection" in the lead-up to the debut of its new marketing campaign during ABC's 2015 Oscars ceremony telecast on February 22. Borrowing from one of the most famous speeches by Theodore Roosevelt, Cadillac's new global tagline and brand positioning theme will be "Dare Greatly."

Seeding the new platform, the brand quietly launched a social media and outdoor teaser campaign in recent weeks with the hashtag #DareGreatly, ahead of releasing a video on YouTube that quotes from a key passage in a speech by President Roosevelt commonly known as "The Man in the Arena," which he delivered in 1910 at the Sorbonne in Paris.[more]

A female voiceover intones the passage while downtown street scenes from New York City, including Soho and Dumbo, are shown from the point of view of someone driving its streets, featuring none of Cadillac's products.

Cadillac has been teasing "Dare Greatly" with billboards in a handful of major US cities (including one at the iconic corner of Broadway and Houston in Soho) that have been using excerpts from the speech to challenge viewers to think of themselves as principled, indefatigable, impassioned contrarians, because that is what Cadillac is going to do as a brand.

Initially, the outdoor signage only displayed a quote without an author or "owner"; on Sunday, additional copy revealed the brand behind it with the hashtag, #DareGreatly.

"It is not the critic who counts," the billboards read, quoting Roosevelt. "Credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena ... who errs .. because there is no effort without error and shortcoming ... who at best knows ... of triumph of high achievement ... or fails while daring greatly."

Ahead of officially opening its new NYC headquarters, General Motors' luxury brand hosted a Men's Day at New York Fashion Week over the weekend at its new HQ in Soho even while the interior was still taking shape, featuring the fall collection runway show for the up-and-coming (and CFDA Award-winning) Public School label.

It's all part of Cadillac CMO Uwe Ellinghaus's bold plan to revitalize the identity of the brand by cloaking it in a particularly American kind of determination, accomplishment and style, even while this is a global campaign.

His conviction has been that, while Cadillac is making its best products ever, sales have been falling short lately in the US because the brand has lapsed into an indistinct identity that hasn't inspired premium car buyers to come its way instead of going with "safe" choices like rival German brands.

brandchannel spoke with Ellinghaus in the brand's new hometown New York, just several days before the Feb. 22 debut of the bold (and cinematic) new platform and brand positioning during the 87th Academy Awards on ABC, which will go a long way toward determining the success of his efforts over the last 15 months.

bc: Why do you need to do all of this? What's wrong with the old Cadillac brand?

Uwe Ellinghaus: We want to resurrect the Cadillac brand and bring it back to greatness. There is a great product-driven change as well, as the brand is embarking on a new journey and investing billions of dollars in new products, including the CT6 [top-end sedan] that we'll reveal at the New York International Auto Show.

But the Cadillac brand needed to change. We've lost some of our old customers and we're not conquesting enough new customers—because we lack relevance. We need to have a new point of view to show why we're relevant and to get across how much Cadillac has changed.

You can't just put product—even great product, which we have—in front of people. If the brand isn't relevant, people don't care.

bc: So you've come up with an approach that appeals to what you call "entrepreneurialism"—the idea of taking risks and demonstrating the sort of irrepressible drive that compels people to start businesses?

Ellinghaus: Yes, and it's tapping into the Millennial mindset. Becoming a banker isn't cool anymore. But if you develop an app, you're successful. The "corporate world" has lost appeal. The idea to be self-employed is universally shared.

bc: You've made a big deal about resurrecting the Cadillac brand in a form that differentiates it from "the Germans." How are you going to do that?

Ellinghaus: We can allow more passion than the Germans allow, because passion is infectious. The German (auto) brands are ordered and disciplined. They are about technology; we aim for ingenuity.

But is this credible for Cadillac? Yes. Passion is in our blood, in our body, in our birthplace. After all, a 61-year-old founded the brand. And in the Fifties, Cadillac design showed a forward-looking spirit, like the cars wanted to get to the moon!

But we won't "outdo" luxury; we won't use "attention to detail" and other craftsmanship cliches. "Luxury" is associated with European brands more than with American brands; we're not LVMH or Bentley.

Luxury consumption has become so much more intrinsic over the last 20 years. It is about stylistic individuality, not status. And now so many more people have access to luxury goods, with low interest rates [in the US enabling big-ticket purchases].

We want to "outwit" luxury, to dare greatly and create interplay among the brand values of boldness, sophistication and optimism, and yet be inviting and approachable. We want to inspire. We want people to dream Cadillac again instead of demonstrating one-upsmanship such as "more horsepower," "more torque," etc.

bc: Hasn't Cadillac repositioned itself before?

Ellinghaus: Yes. But this is a reinvention, not just a repositioning. And it's a product renaissance as well. So we have the right to say we are "daring greatly" ourselves. This is not just a "campaign." We want people to say, "Look how much Cadillac has changed." And we will get some criticism.

But we already have gotten a very strong endorsement of the campaign: from the US Cadillac dealer council. They have seen the campaign elements already and they are strongly behind what we are doing. And it is they who experience daily what lacking relevance has meant for the Cadillac brand. They have been ready to embrace this change.

bc: Recently, Cadillac has trimmed some sedan prices because you've gotten resistance from consumers and dealers; essentially, that's what happens when you have worthy products but a weak brand, right?

Ellinghaus: Yes. And this campaign will help people acknowledge that the cars deserve the reputations and pricing that they have.

Fiji Water is the No. 1 premium bottled-water brand in the US but has never felt the need to advertise on TV—until now.

The brand owned by Roll Global debuted a $30 million marketing campaign on Monday, under the banner "Untouched," with a series of 30-second spots (and the hashtag #EarthsFinest) designed to reinforce the brand's autheniticity by promoting the pristine origins of its pure water source along its namesake homeland.

The water really does come from Fiji, from a source on the island of Viti Levu at an ancient aquifer "deep within the earth where it remains protected from external impurities," as the brand puts it in a press release today.[more]

Transport yourself to the peaceful tranquility of the islands of FIJI. #EarthsFinesthttp://t.co/HUeVZLPMAIpic.twitter.com/FNyer4bIJa

— FIJI Water (@FIJIWater) February 16, 2015

"Fiji Water has been subtly telling our story for more than two decades," Clarence Chia, vice president of marketing for Fiji Water, commented.

"As we continue our growth trajectory, we wanted to re-introduce the brand more broadly to consumers," he added. "The 'Untouched' campaign beautifully tells our brand story and we are excited to share that message with the world."

Roll Global, which has owned the brand since 2004, is the power behind other products formerly considered commodities that it has turned into powerful natural-products brands, including the Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice and Wonderful Pistachios. Its latest such effort has revolved around its new Halo mandarin-oranges brand.

While Fiji Water has been around as a brand for two decades and reports that it outsells all other premium bottled-water brands combined in the US, it stands to benefit from a sharpened identity in a beverage segment that is only continuing to grow, on its way to eclipsing the rapidly declining carbonated soft-drink category as the largest in the global beverage business.

Its first ad campaign not only celebrates the natural beauty of its namesake homeland, but also features an original soundtrack by Grammy-winning composer Lorne Balfe, who worked with members of the Nawaka Village Methodist Choir in Fiji to create a stirring choral score.

brandchannel spoke with Chia to find out why now, and why this ad campaign (watch more spots below).

bc: What's the strategy behind the timing of this first-ever TV campaign for the brand?

Clarence Chia: We have quite a bit of momentum, and we're focused on really doubling our growth year over year. We started 2015 by creating a new label for the brand. With our TV campaign, we have two goals: tell the story of Fiji Water and remind consumers that it really does come from Fiji. We're excited about the potential for our brand and our business.

Already, we're the No. 1 premium bottled water and if you look at the entire category, we grew twice as much last year as the category growth. That's quite amazing considering that the other brands include Evian, Smartwater, Aquafina, Dasani. But we want to compete even with carbonated soft drinks (CSDs).

bc: What did your research tell you about whether US consumers appreciated the actual origins of Fiji Water?

Chia: We have seen some research about it. Some consumers don’t know that it really does come from Fiji. That’s why we're making it the main point of our ads. It's a differentiator for us.

Lots of other bottled waters are spring waters or are produced through a reverse-osmosis process, or even come from municipal water; we're one of very few artesian waters out there, and the only one in the top 10. That's where Fiji Water gets its minerals, and it's a superior source because of how it's protected from the elements.

bc: And you're pretty convinced that greater awareness of these facts will make a difference to bottled-water consumers?

Chia: Consumers are trying to make healthier choices. We know in 2016, for instance, that bottled water will overtake CSDs as the top beverage category (in the US). And so we wanted to educate a broader consumer base about what makes us unique—that it starts with clouds, rainfall, filtering and filtering underground and picking up essential minerals that give us our signature soft taste.

Also, that we have a state-of-the-art facility sitting on our aquifer where natural pressures force it into bottles where it’s sealed. It's difffrent from everything else in the marketplace.

bc: How would you sum up this campaign overall?

Chia: It's a $30-million integrated campaign and will run throughout the year; the ads will be on primetime as well as all cable networks, garnering 4.3 billion impressions.

bc: How do you look at the branding and marketing and product limits that naturally occur around a product with this specific set of attributes?

Chia: We are looking into new product innovations as well as lifestyle and other usage occasions. The product is so unique and it is untouched, so we really don’t want to change the core product itself. But we're really looking at product innovations for the future—packaging, as well as other usage occasions such as fitness.

Below, watch the other Fiji Water commercials along with a new video for its existing sustainability campaign, partnering with Conservation International to project Fiji's natural resources and rainforest:

TOP STORIES

Nissan "With Dad" commercial winsYouTube Super Bowl Ad Blitz (more in our Q&A with SVP Fred Diaz).

Lance Armstrong is ordered to pay $10 million to promoter who helped expose his doping fraud.

New York Fashion Week sees social marketing go mainstream as Tommy Hilfiger shows NFL fever on brand's 30th anniversary.

JetBlue's new CEO struggles to appease Wall Street and passengers while Starwood Hotels CEO resigns in "mutual" agreement.

Apple creates auto industry nightmare with EV plan as Apple Watch not seen as ready for full health tracking, despite ordering more than 5 million watches for initial run.[more]

MORE BRAND NEWS

Global authorities identify massive cybertheft from financial institutions.

Brand Keys releases annual loyalty rankings.

Cadillac reveals "Dare Greatly" global brand platform.

Citroen makes badge change for DS.

Coca-Cola Enterprises boss defends aspartame.

Domino's Pizza expands to Azerbaijan and Cambodia.

Dr Pepper sets sights on delivering "balanced lifestyle."

Ford touts fuel economy in new F-150 ads and asks Tencent to tailor WeChat app for its China aims.

GM fights to preserve bankruptcy shield against ignition-switch claims.

Google's Vint Cerf warns of "forgotten century" as old computer files fail.

Hershey's and Godiva ranked among top social-media brands on Valentine's Day.

Hyundai plans to enter hot US commercial vehicle market.

Kate Spade New York tapsFossil for global watch partnership.

Krispy Kremeapologizes for "KKK Wednesday" promotion for kids club.

Krispy Kreme hull is advertising KKK Wednesday. I don't know. I do not know. pic.twitter.com/19pXLFxXsw

— WARNING: Ed Zitron (@edzitron) February 17, 2015

MTV India shores up content and creative with new hires.

McDonald's introduces Shakin' Flavor Seasoning in limited-market test.

Mondelez acquires Enjoy Life foods and its free-from cachet.

Oakley launches global "Obsession" campaign with athletes.

Red Robin rolls out tabletop tablets nationwide.

Ruth's Chris begins steakhouse-remodeling effort.

Snapchat may play a role in Turner's March Madness coverage plans.

Starbucksintroduces dessert-like lattes.

Twitter looks to expand user base.

Vodafone turns focus to broadband as it seeks to catch up to rivals.

Volkswagen also recognizes anti-UAW group at Tennessee plant.

Kanye West reveals secret dream to become brand director of Gap.

Wall Street Journal renames "Marketplace" section "Business & Tech."

Whole Foods plans to expand Instacart partnership.

WhoSay grows celeb network of brand endorsements.

& Canadian entrepreneur unveils the Neptune Hub smartwatch.

The annual North American Toy Fair is on in New York, with licensing partnerships bringing together brands that tap into the toy industry's top trends of 2015, from the maker movement to tech innovation and beyond.

Case in point: Mattel is partnering with Google to reinvent the View-Master from its 1939 roots as a proto-3D virtual reality device, relying on cardboard disks with stereoscopic images inserted in a plastic device and observed through a viewfinder. Now View-Master is using a different kind of cardboard: Google Cardboard, which uses an Android smartphone app to deliver a 360-degree animated environment. 

While Barbie is struggling, Mattel is hoping that a partnership with ToyTalk to make its "Hello Barbie" doll Siri-like and interactive with voice recognition, will pay off.[more]

Other top toy trends include "smart" playthings and aquatic toys that make a "splash" and that perennial favorite: dinosaurs, which bodes well for the new CogniToy being developed in partnership with IBM's Watson.

Zoomer Dino, Spin Master’s “pet” dinosaur that can be ‘trained’ to sit, speak and react to commands, took home “Toy of the Year and was also named named “Boy Toy of the Year, while Crayola’s Paint Maker, a customizable arts & crafts kit, won “People’s Choice” award and was named “Activity Toy of the Year.”

"Open-ended forms of play will reign supreme in 2015, with an abundance of toys and games that allow kids to build, customize, create, and develop important skills through play," said Adrienne Appell, TIA trending expert. “With many kids today leading very structured lives, open-ended play gives them a chance to relax, have fun, and enjoy being kids without prescribed rules or restrictions.”

"We are also seeing aquatic- and dinosaur-themed toys popping up in just about every category," she added, in addition to "pint-sized collectibles."

With the "Frozen Fever" short coming to theaters ahead of "Cinderella," Frozen is still red-hot for Disney. No surprise, "Frozen" was just named Property of the Year at the “Oscars” of the toy industry during the 112th North American International Toy Fair in New York.  

Powerhouse toy brand LEGO announced its biggest release of new building sets ever this year, totaling 313 new products. LEGO FUSION was named e-Connected Toy of the Year, while Educational Toy of the Year went to LEGO Technic and Preschool Toy of the Year was presented to LEGO Juniors. 

In the less high tech and more maker (inspiring girls to make their own accessories) category, Barbie's Mattel sibling American Girl is booming.

Its new Grace Thomas Parisian bakery-themed doll flying off shelves, and just struck a global licensing deal with Fashion Angels, designer of tween girls’ lifestyle and active-wear to design and produce “trend-right and fashion-focused arts & crafts products.” 

“American Girl is well known for celebrating girls and fostering their creativity,” said Jean McKenzie, EVP of the American Girl brand. “Expanding into the craft category with a leading lifestyle company like Fashion Angels allows us to inspire even more girls with new and creative ways to express themselves.”

To mark the 80th anniversary of Monopoly, Hasbro is launching a campaign with BuzzFeed, asking fans to vote on which global cities should be featured as property spaces in MONOPOLY HERE & NOW games launching this fall. The campaign runs through March 4, with sharing encouraged on social via hashtag #VoteMONOPOLY.

“This innovative campaign demonstrates how we continue to keep the MONOPOLY brand relevant by empowering our fans to help create today’s game,” said Jonathan Berkowitz, vp global marketing for gaming at Hasbro.

And that’s the name of the game for the entire toy industry—staying relevant as gaming comes full-tilt into the digital era.

The running world has embraced barefoot running since 2009’s “Born to Run” showed the world that doing such a thing wasn’t just for the complete oddballs and might be medically sound.

Now, though, some runners seem to be going in the other direction. Instead of taking their shoes off or strapping on some minimalist footwear, some are putting on “maximalist” shoes, ones that have a whole lot of extra cushioning.

According to the New York Times, the Hoka One One brand is leading the way in this new movement, signing up brand ambassadors and pulling in $48 million in sales last year, a 350 percent increase from 2013.[more]

One of those new ambassadors is 30-year-old Leo Manzano, who holds both an Olympic medal in the 1,500 meters as well as being the fifth fastest American all-time in the event. He set that mark last July, a week after he started using Hoka One One so he’s sold on the brand; after all, the cushioning has helped him deal with his plantar fasciitis, an inflammation in his foot.

“They’re not your normal shoe, but I actually think they’re better than normal,” Manzano told the Times. “When I first saw them, because they’re so big, I thought they’d be heavy. But they’re incredibly light. My legs felt really fresh after a long run in them. It’s like running on a cloud.”

Endorsements don't get much better than that. Hoka One One, which joined the Deckers brand portfolio that includes UGG Australia and Teva in 2012 after being founded in 2009, is seeing its customer base grow from just serious ultrarunners into the more recreational market, the Times notes.

The year Deckers purchased Hoka One One is also the same year that sales of minimalist shoes reached its apex with $400 million being spent in 2012. Perhaps those runners will take a while before buying a new pair, but when they do, it’ll be a dramatically different marketplace.

One of the largest brands in that movement, Vibram, settled a lawsuit last May over the company making false claims about its shoes health benefits.

That’s not the only legal hot water Vibram has gotten itself into. Just last week, the family of Abebe Bikila, the deceased Ethiopian runner who won the 1960 Olympic marathon while running in bare feet (and set a new Olympic record), sued Vibram for using Bikila’s name in marketing materials without permission, the Associated Press reports.

Some Vibram shoes had been named after Bikila and Vibram trademarked the name in 2010. Bikila also won the 1965 Olympic marathon, but this time he did it with shoes on. However, it was only 40 days after having his appendix removed. That’s a move that isn’t recommended—even with Hoka One Ones on your feet.

While Hoka is banking on consumers seeing the brand as being good for preventing potential injuries, the brand isn’t pushing itself explicitly that way. As the Times points out, “few studies exist on the effectiveness of extreme cushioning” and Hoka is surely keeping a close eye on the troubles Vibram is going through.

Either way a runner goes, it is all about personal choice and need. There was a study released last year that wearing shoes might be better for runners than going barefoot, but that doesn’t mean the shoes never should come off. After all, what better way is there to do a beach run than barefoot?

This year's Super Bowl confirmed how much the public loves dogs in advertising.

Now Buick is following up on its "Woof" commercial (watch below) that ran during the Westminster Kennel Club dog show telecast on USA Network Monday night for the all-new Enclave by inviting regular dogs to participate.

As you can watch below, the brand's new social campaign customizes the spot with user-submitted dog names and video clips. [more]

What’s all that barking about? Find out now. #ThatsABuick#WKCDogShowhttp://t.co/tgAjKroyWyhttps://t.co/65wdEHvBEk

— Buick (@Buick) February 17, 2015

The bark to action: "Experiencing the new Buick for the first time can cause quite a stir around the neighborhood. Even Man’s Best Friend has a little trouble recognizing the new Buick. Watch as neighborhood dogs “woof” about Champ’s new Buick Enclave. If your dog can bark, he can star in our latest ad. Visit http://www.buick.com/woof.html"

See one example of a user-customized campaign below; check out other canines in the first pack of results on Buick's YouTube channel.

Ah, show biz. Apparently it can really make your head spin. #dizzy#ThatsABuickhttp://t.co/tgAjKr6Y50http://t.co/GUNhfw3Jok

— Buick (@Buick) February 17, 2015

Buick wasn't the only auto brand to go to the dogs during the dog show on USA Network, of course. Subaru ran a spot from its "Dog tested" series:

John Oliver, the bespectacled British comedian and host of HBO’s "Last Week Tonight,” spent a good part of his show on Sunday showcasing to what ends Big Tobacco will go to keep its profits up despite continued data on the health risks involved with smoking.

Oliver highlighted lawsuits filed by Philip Morris International, the world's biggest tobacco manufacturer and parent company to brands inlcuding Marlboro, in a bid to stop plain packaging, including threatening to file against bigger countries such as Australia and smaller nations including Paraguay and Togo to keep those countries from creating any kinds of barriers from residents of the world seeing its packaging, logos, and marketing materials.

The show also introduced the character of Jeff, a diseased lung in a cowboy hat that recalled the Marlboro Man, to “help” the countries and Big Tobacco come to a compromise. As part of a mock public health campaign, the show's producers bought bus-stop ads in Togo with Jeff and also sent a load of T-shirts for distribution in the country.

In addition, Oliver encouraged viewers to use the hashtag #JeffWeCan, which has been burning up Twitter and Facebook.[more]

Philip Morris, displeased, released a statement that gasped in indignation at Oliver's tactics and claims:

“'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' is a parody show, known for getting a laugh through exaggeration and presenting partial views in the name of humor,” the statement read in part. “The segment includes many mischaracterizations of our company, including our approach to marketing and regulation, which have been embellished in the spirit of comedic license. While we recognize the tobacco industry is an easy target for comedians, we take seriously the responsibility that comes with selling a product that is an adult choice and is harmful to health.”

The release goes on to mention where consumers can get more “balanced” (and PMI-approved) content. It did not mention the news from a year ago that four of the brand’s Marlboro Men have died from smoking-related diseases.

One of the main battles the tobacco industry (which also must be dismayed that Oliver has renewed his contract for two more years) is fighting is against putting its brands into plain packaging.

Beyond PMI, Japan Tobacco (owner of the Camel and Winston brands) is threatening to sue Ireland this week over proposed plain packs, while British America Tobacco has been rattling its sword in Australia.

Plain Packaging: Weighing up the evidence - read our collection of papers here http://t.co/y9RuspeDB9

— Addiction Journal (@AddictionJrnl) February 17, 2015

New research from the British journal Addiction shows that the effect of such packaging “suggest they can deter non-smokers from taking up the habit and may cut the number of cigarettes smokers get through,” Reuters reports.

While the scientists involved say it's too early to get totally substantial evidence, the studies already indicate an effect on consumers when tobacco is sold in plain packaging. This spring, the UK plans to follow Australia’s lead and require all cigarettes to be in unbranded packaging.

Meanwhile, Oliver’s show caused an unexpected fuss for another reason.

Australian director Rick Mereki discovered that footage from his short film "Move" (below) is being used in Marlboro ads without his permission, Australia’s News.com reports.

At least Rolex and Citizen don't have to worry about Apple taking over their essential business: providing portable devices that mainly tell time. Apple's looming smart watch debut is more of a wrist-borne PDA.

But can carmakers assure themselves of the same sort of thing? The recent disclosure that Apple is sniffing around auto manufacturing (codename: Project Titan) as a diversification ploy is leaving the car industry pretty unsettled at the prospect that Apple is training its brand, its growing cadre of car experts (including some from Tesla)—and a chunk of its $178 billion in cash—on taking a chunk out of their hides.

It's not that Apple shoots aces on everything. Even as it's gearing up for an initial manufacturing run of five million units of the Apple Watch, its biggest major new product since the iPad in 2010, the company has backed away from its initial ambition to make the device largely a health-monitoring implement, the Wall Street Journal reported. [more]

One reason: It has proven very difficult to monitor people with dry or hairy skin. There also are potential regulatory challenges looming.

But for the most part, the Apple Watch is on track for its April debut, as the world's most valuable brand entertains app developers at its Cupertino, California, headquarters; prepares retail employees to promote the device and preps its stores to showcase it; and has thousands of Chinese workers toiling around the clock to get ready for the launch. It's even rumored to be the last major project by iconic Apple designer Jony Ive, which Ive denies.

Reports are that some versions of the wearable device will rank as among the most expensive products Apple has ever sold, including $4,000 Mac computers. But Apple has indicated that early order levels for the weatch are similar to early sales of iPad, which sold 7.5 million units in the six months after it arrived in April 2010.

Rumblings about Apple's interest in building its own car, fed by a Journal report on Saturday, are rumbling through the auto industry. Apple has a bigger warchest than nearly the entire auto industry, and the demonstrated capability to change the course of business history. Everything about Apple potentially entering the car business is a legitimate threat to some—and a legitimate excitement to others.

But carmakers are hoping that Apple is only interested in nailing software and apps for self-driven cars, for example, rather than the more extreme possibility that the company will want to build its own entire electric vehicle. They latch onto reassuring opinions of outsiders such as Eric Gordon.

Apple previously hadn't been in the phone business and then "succeeded" in disrupting it, noted the University of Michigan business school professor. "But the car business will be more difficult by two orders of magnitude. You can easily contract with a company in China to do the simple assembly of a phone but you can't so easily do it with the complicated assembly of cars."

Maybe not. But if anyone can pull it off, Apple might well be that company.

Google Glass is exiting the consumer market, opening the door to Sony to launch a pair of smart glasses all its own.

The Japanese firm announced today that a developer edition of its SmartEyeglass wearable tech will go on sale next month.

The pricetag: $840, which is cheaper than the $1,500 Google was charging for a beta version of Glass.[more]

According to today's announcement, "At launch, a selection of SmartEyeglass apps will be available for download from Google Play (apps can be found from the SmartEyeglass host app on the smartphone). This includes SmartEyeglass apps that let you access Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, RSS, calendar and voice control."

Sony demoed SmartEyeglass at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, showing how it allows people to take pictures, access GPS directions and read text messages. The device can also create an augmented-reality overlay over the real world, provided that the wearer pairs it with a smartphone.

The new SmartEyeglass will be available to developers next month in Japan, the US, Germany and the UK, with a full commercial release next year.

New York State is already poised to be the first state to establish Bitcoin-specific financial regulations, but will its largest city further legitimize the controversial cryptocurrency by joining the ranks of those that accept it as payment? New York City councilman Mark Levine is proposing just that, citing as motivators the potential savings on credit card fees, and the hope of attracting tech talent.

New York is not alone in its curiosity. Many companies have experimented with Bitcoin in the last year, including Microsoft, Dell, and Newegg. Almost all of these, however, don't ever touch Bitcoin directly, instead using a payment processor, Bitpay or Coinbase, to immediately transform a customer's Bitcoin payment into dollars. Overstock.com, meanwile, not only accepts BTC in partnership with Coinbase, but also allows its employees to be paid in it.

Many skeptics are wary of Bitcoin, however, and not without reason: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lists hacker vulnerability, lack of protections, high cost, and fraud risk as dangers to be aware of.[more]

At both a consumer and corporate level, price volatility is also an issue: in the last week, the price of Bitcoin has fluctuated between $220 and $260 per, and in the last year, the rate has bounced between $660 and $175. And while CoinBase and BitPay have provided a reliable way for companies to convert BTC into cash, the same cannot be said for consumer exchanges, which are notoriously prone to spontaneous failure—sometimes with catastrophic results.

There's also a very visible problem with Bitcoin that has little to do with the currency itself: its perception. It's been at the heart of numerous criminal scandals. It served as the currency of choice on the online black market Silk Road and itssuccessors. Money launderers flock to it. It's been the backbone of securities fraud, with some claiming that the currency itself is little more than a decentralized Ponzi scheme.

These factors keep the Bitcoin user base small. It's impossible to gauge the exact number of users—Bitcoin users end up with many account numbers by design, just as credit card users use many different numbers as cards expire, are compromised, or are replaced. But Overstock.com, one of the only companies to make such numbers public, reports that the currency accounts for just 0.25% of daily sales revenue.

Why is that? Perhaps it's a Catch-22. It's possible that once New York State's BitLicense sets some ground rules for cryptocurrencies, and New York City provides a reliable place to use them, consumers may start to overlook Bitcoin's flaws and foibles, and the fledgling currency might finally take off. But that will only happen if NYC is willing to overlook these flaws and foibles itself—or decides that the pros outweigh the cons, and finally takes the plunge.

What's more, if New York City Council does accept Councilman Levine's proposal, they've got two considerations: not just how to accept it, but how to get the people of New York on board.

—James Mueller is a writer and voice haver in NYC. Follow him on Twitter: @maimsjeweler

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Excited to introduce @emilyandmeritt as our spring style ambassadors. Visit http://t.co/x8GpYKnCMk for curated looks. pic.twitter.com/LNLlpzfUrL

— Old Navy Official (@OldNavy) February 17, 2015

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It was 1991 when we got our first Mac. It was a Macintosh LC, nicknamed “the pizza box”, and “LC” I now know stood for Low Cost, but I don’t remember it being cheap. In fact, at over $2000 it was the most expensive thing I had ever bought, next to my car.

A relentless series of desktops, PowerBooks and MacBooks, and now iPhones and iPads later, I still buy Apple products and expect to pay substantially more than for non-Apple choices. My new iPhone is at least two times the cost of an Android smartphone.

By definition, Apple products are premium because they cost more. But what needs to be recognized is that Apple has reinvented what premium means, and this reinvention is as profound as the innovation of the products they sell.[more]

Luxury is a very old idea
Premium is often regarded as synonymous with luxury, and signaling luxury relied on showing off what society regarded as scarce or difficult to attain. Luxury is an extraverted idea. The display of a Rolex on a wrist, or Mercedes in the driveway is display of achievement and status. Yet over generations of marketing, many of the signals of luxury are whitewashed over mundane products to give them a premium aura, creating nothing but hollow bling. Additionally, manufacturers and retailers look for a range of pricepoints on the shelf… to trade-up shoppers to higher-priced items via cosmetic upgrades or additional (often unnecessary) features. Lastly, luxury can be associated with being pampered, but many comforts that used to be exclusive, like air-conditioned vehicles, have been made common. Overall, arriving at premium based on the symbols of luxury is often an illusion, and consumers, especially millennials, are realizing it.

Premium is now introverted, not extraverted
Today premium is no longer an extraverted, but an introverted idea, thanks to Apple. There is certainly social currency in having a Macbook, iPhone, or the soon to be cool Apple Watch, but they represent a new kind of premium not about scarcity or pampering, but about potential. The luxury of potential does not rest on the cultural symbols of a society based on privilege, aristocratic splendor, or the imperialistic conquest of exotic furs and spices. Apple represents the unlocked potential of achievement, not the spoils. This is a game-changer for all premium brands, and will require re-tooling or we will see new, introverted premium brands quickly overtake the old guard. For younger affluent consumers, a Tesla is more desirable than a Mercedes, and the Apple Watch may well be more desirable than a Rolex, because they are more than products- they are accessories for a new attitude. This new attitude redefines what is valuable around who is in our lives, our sense of purpose, and how we engage, not what we own.

Apple may not have set out to redefine premium, but whether intentional or not, it is the result of their behavior as a Brand. To reverse-engineer Apple’s formula for the new premium idea, here are three phenomena that have added up to the “premium of the future” based on a change from extraverted to introverted.

Introverted Premium is the Why, not How or What
Traditional luxury often originates as fine craftsmanship, but it creates objects that are coveted and displayed, not ideas that are scalable. I will credit Simon Sinek back in 2009 for illuminating the idea of “Why” as a powerful way to lead and inspire organizations and appeal to consumers. Apple is obsessed about its "why" and as a result it creates products and experiences that are premium. To quote Sinek regarding his why-centric Apple idea- "Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?" These are introverted motivations. Simple, user friendly, even beautiful are qualities that we value personally, not to be broadcast socially. The simplicity allows one to express oneself and work more effectively, and beauty is both a metaphor for simplicity and an inspiration for our own great works. This earns our respect and creates desire. “Why” is the center of the circle, but how we all connect with the why is more mysterious, and just as important to being premium.

Introverted Premium transforms the Brand idea into a religion
Since the birth of the Macintosh with it’s graphical interface, “simple” has been the singular idea underpinning the Apple brand. The quest for simple unleashed computing on the masses in a way that may never have happened without Apple. But having a strong idea, a “why”, can only have success if it becomes religion and drives action. Apple made simple-ness into a kind of religion (albeit a “lowercase” religion). It had a prophet in Steven Jobs, a “spiritual center” in Cupertino, a liturgy in the famous Macworld EXPOs, and zealots from the creative class. Apple’s advertising and communications felt different and amplify “simple” into the belief that Macintosh is for smart, creative people who need a way to express their individuality, which attracts evangelists. The religion of Apple is always moving forward and bringing our own stories along with it. The brand provides us with technology-based optimism: an introverted doctrine of progress based on the individual’s escalating ability to achieve and connect.

Introverted Premium is an experience, not a thing
Apple is an experience above all else, and the majority of that experience happens when we are alone with our devices. After all, we unlock our experiences with our own personal Apple ID’s. We have our music, our apps, and our friends all personalized and organized in an Apple way. We create our own versions of the experience inside of a digital world tethered together and enabled by Apple.

It is easy to equate experience with a place like the Apple Store, but when your Brand is like a religion the store becomes a temple. The Apple Store creates a place to gather as a community and see other Applepostles. The store is a locus for the Apple idea that is experienced personally everywhere, without walls. The Apple experience is portable and omnipresent, and introverted. It is tactile in the products, aesthetic in the interfaces, audible in the sounds, human in the sales and support, empowering in the functionality, and it is well managed at every touch-point.

Apple gives us the recipe for the new introverted premium
The Apple experience delivers consistently in these three areas, providing the clearest vision of the new introverted premium:

1. It consistently presents a “why” brand idea through design, communications, and behaviors, and does not rely on the extroverted motifs of status and luxury that can be obstacles to acceptance or irrelevant to many cultures and groups.
2. It allows the triumph of our own stories over its own. It pulls the believer into an optimistic view of the future, with an endless well of innovation that will give us more power and control- the keys to new capabilities. The Apple Watch, for instance, promises to take our Apple experience into a new story of healthcare and wellness. We don’t doubt that it will.
3. Finally, the brand experience of Apple is about how we feel, not how we want others to judge us. This is the ultimate change in the premium paradigm.

There will always be luxury goods in the classic sense of Louis Vuitton and Prada because there will always be elitism. The future, however, will require a new perspective on premium, pioneered by Apple. Brands that seek a premium position in sectors like automotive, retail, travel, and dining will win by embracing an introverted, experience based mindset, the sooner the better.

—Bill Chidley is a Partner and Co-Founder at ChangeUp. Follow him on Twitter: @chillbidley

As comedian Chris Rock has pointed out, Black History Month is not only in the shortest month of the year, it's also the coldest—so don't expect to see many parades. But McDonald’s US is on a mission to extend the month into an all-year event. The brand launched 365Black.com last year as a Tumblr-based portal to help push the message.

As part of that effort the fast food giant has teamed up with a group of graffiti artists in Oakland, California, a collective that goes by the name of AeroSoul, for what it's calling the "Spread Lovin’" campaign—the next leg of its "I'm Lovin' It" reboot this year after the Super Bowl's "Pay With Lovin'" campaign.

The artists helping spread McDonald's message visually in their neighborhoods are part of the collective because they want to preserve and promote African art and pride, and use graffiti as a platform for positive messaging to inspire kids to remember that there is possibility and love in the world.[more]

“Spreading love on the community has a significant impact because it spreads the vibration, the consciousness, the awareness, not only on how people see themselves but how they see each other, and how they will behave,” says AeroSoul artist Cre8, in a McDonald's video promoting the campaign.

The AeroSoul partnership follows the “Pay With Lovin’” campaign that came to a close on Valentine’s Day, with the brand's Super Bowl commercial encouraging customers to "pay" for their meals by demonstrating an act of love of their choice, whether hugging, fist bumping, making phone calls to their mothers or dancing a few steps at the cash register.

McDonald’s is also celebrating this Black History Month by sponsoring a "Lovin’ Video Competition" at the 2015 American Black Film Festival.

The challenge: Create a 90-second to two-minute short film using the idea that “a little more lovin’ can change a lot” as its foundation. All future Steven Spielbergs have until March 24 to submit their entries, and the winners will be screened and honored at the 2015 ABFF being held in New York in June.

And in a franchise-led marketing nod to diverse leadership, the Black History Makers of Today and Tomorrow program recently celebrated six African-American leaders in Indiana.

Three of the recipients own or manage McDonald’s, while the other three include the Indianapolis Chief of Police, the Urban League’s President and CEO, and an “African-American Future Achiever.”

Fast Retailing, Asia’s dominant clothing chain, announced today a commitment to improve conditions for workers at its factories and that two of its China-based suppliers will reduce working hours following a report critical of factories making its Uniqlo garments.

Dongguan Tomwell Garment Co. has cut hours for factory workers, and Pacific Textiles Ltd. added one holiday per week and will reduce hours next month. The changes follow a January 11 report about working conditions at the two factories conducted by Students & Scholars Against Misbehaviour (SACOM), a Hong Kong-based NGO.

"Respecting human rights and ensuring appropriate working conditions for the workers of our production partners are top priorities for Fast Retailing, and in this we are completely aligned with SACOM," said Yukihiro Nitta, Fast Retailing Group Executive Officer responsible for Corporate Social Responsibility.[more]

Tadashi Yanai, CEO, also announced a pilot oversight program that will be in place by the end of March involving 30 percent of the fabrics used in Uniqlo garments. The program will be expanded to all of its textile suppliers by March 2016. The company will also increase unscheduled audits of indirect suppliers and provide training on labor rights for workers and managers.

Yanai inherited Fast Retailing from his father, and the company now employs more than 30,400 workers. His goal is to generate 5 trillion yen ($42 billion) in annual sales by 2020, beating Gap Inc. and the Zara family of brands.

Reportedly the richest man in Japan, Yanai’s wealth was estimated by Forbes at $17.8 billion in April 2014. Shoring up that fortune is surely a key part of the company’s agenda and bowing to increasing pressure from activists and consumers, Fast Retailing is changing course.

Social media pressure is making the company live up to Uniqlo's "Made for All" tagline, and has proven a powerful mirror of systemic human rights abuses in the global ecosystem.

“Workers in China have increasingly agitated against their labor conditions, with operations at Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd., a major supplier to Nike Inc. and Adidas AG, idled temporarily by labor protests last year,” reports the Business of Fashion. IBM, PepsiCo and Walmart were also affected by labor strife in the country.

Showing its burgeoning humanitarian muscle, Fast Retailing also responded to a request from the Government of Japan to donate a total of 8,000 items of winter clothing for internally displaced persons in Iraq.

The company’s All-Product Recycling Initiative has delivered more than 14 million clothing items to refugees and disaster victims in 53 countries and regions around the world, including Bangladesh, Philippines, Kenya, Liberia, and Syrian refugee camps in Jordan.

Back to business basics, Nitta said, "We believe that respect for human rights and ensuring fair working conditions are top priorities for the entire industry, and not just Fast Retailing.”

The company’s stated new course is a roadmap for any 21st century fast-fashion brand to follow in a shift to socially responsible purveyor of ethical, global fashion: “The Fast Retailing Group’s goal is to make clothing that meets the world’s highest standards.”

“This goal goes beyond producing top-quality apparel as it also encompasses the value in creating apparel utilizing responsible environmental and manufacturing processes in close collaboration with trustworthy partners… FR and its equally committed partner companies will continue to emphasize this approach as they work to change society for the better.”

As digital marketing meets luxury brands, every interaction informs the next customer engagement.

“The luxury industry is at a turning point,” said Chris Moody, creative director at Wolff Olins, to an audience hosted by The Guardian in association with Harrods Media.

Representatives from Guardian Media Network, Harrods and Jaguar Land Rover participated in the event, and digital technology was center stage, as audience members submitted questions to the industry experts using iPads.

Laura Schwab, marketing director, Jaguar Land Rover, summed up the current luxury car conundrum: “The amount of times people actually go to a car dealership has diminished. By the time they get to the door, all they really want to do is test drive. All the research, everything, happens online.”

“We don’t do a lot of print,” she added. “For Land Rover it is close to zero, and for Jaguar a small percentage of our budget. We do no big bulk emails. We have moved away from newsletters and into personalised content.”[more]

Schwab shared how Land Rover’s #Hibernot (the opposite of "hibernate") campaign started socially, promoting the notion that Land Rover owners “embrace winter in the UK, get out and enjoy it,” rather than being depressed or shut-in by the cold, which “really rings true to the core values of Land Rover.”

In December, the Roebucks decided to embrace the outdoors. On Day 1, they crossed the Infiniti Bridge. https://t.co/y9P9a3QSYE#Hibernot

— Land Rover UK (@LandRover_UK) February 18, 2015

Guy Cheston, media sales director at Harrods Media, agreed that while “print and other media have still got high circulations… that point will tip soon, particularly with the younger generation who haven’t grown up reading a glossy magazine every month.”

That's why Harrods created a game app, Stiletto Wars, to promote its Shoe Heaven.

“It is quite challenging to reach that younger female customer, which was the aim of our campaign. The only way that you could get the game was by downloading the Harrods app, so for us it was a fantastic success.”

Cheston referenced Nike and Burberry for creative digital marketing savvy. “They seem to have got it so much earlier than everybody else. It is very powerful. In terms of retail sales we can see how effective that can be in a Nike or a Burberry promotion compared with another brand which is less dynamic.”

Cheston also shared that Harrods has been experimenting with beacons—small devices embedded in signs or displays that can push information to nearby smartphones. He also indicated the company was interested in interactivity between fixed digital signage and mobile devices. “Can we get both talking to each other as people go through the store?”

The panelists agreed that “digital marketing means a change of mind-set and not just a change of medium,” which means measuring return on interaction rather than traditional ROI.

“You are building a relationship with people who may continue to use your product for the next 25 years,” said Moody. “Those interactions, particularly through social streams that you can get through digital, are super valuable. It would be a shame not to invest in that.”

But once invested, brands must be willing to step up. “You can’t decide ‘Oh, but we are a little tired and it’s Sunday,’” said Schwab.

The bottom-line on new technologies relative to customer engagement, “It comes back to being human,” said Moody. “You need to engage with people as you would want to be engaged with yourself.”

Like any messaging, digital marketing and smart technology must be transparent enough to let the humanity show through.

US consumers are less and less enamored of brick-and-mortar physical retailers but gaining satisfaction with online retailers such as Amazon, according to the new retail report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

The news from the survey of 70,000 US customers is especially bad for Walmart, which was named America's "most-hated" retail brand in the report, and a handful of other stalwart traditional-retail brands. But it's especially good for Nordstrom.

The researchers noted that "with the exception of internet retail, all retail categories show weakening or flat customer satisfaction" for its latest retail temperature check. Factors cited include higher prices, especially by discounters, while department stores and specialty retailers were relatively unscathed.[more]

Walmart sees no coincidence in its four percent drop in the index, ranking it at the very bottom of all department and discount stores, and the chain's subpar sales performance of late, featuring its weakest annual growth in five years.

Walmart now ranks even below struggling Sears and still-scuffling JCPenney, though those brands saw a five percent and three percent drop in the index, respectively. Kohl's also fell, by one percent, while Macy's rose by three percent.

"Walmart has done more than any other US retailer to make shopping a chore" lately, commented Bill Chidley, partner in ChangeUp, a retail and branding consulting firm.

After decades of driving down prices and curbing inflation, he added, Walmart now is "propelling more of their affluent shoppers to competitors who offer a better experience and adequately low prices."

Another pundit was quick to articulate why Walmart continues to struggle, even as the US economy picks up a little bit of steam and Walmart remains America's largest retailer.

Walmart doesn't always offer the lowest price anymore, and customers know this, Catey Hill wrote on Marketwatch.

Out-of-stock inventory issues continue to plague the retailer, and those frustrating times when items are in-store but mis-shelved. What's more, shelves are messy, staffers unsmiling, and quality control remains an issue for the world's biggest retail brand, she added.

It's also true that decades of criticism of Walmart, its business philosophy, its hiring and promotion practices, its environmental standards, and even the worldview of its founding family have beaten down the image of the chain in the minds of many consumers who might otherwise like to go there.

But that's only a factor with "the more educated and affluent" Walmart customers, Chidley said, and "not as much ... with the core of their shoppers."

Meanwhile, another troubled retailer, Target, can take some solace from the results: After a tough year or so that saw a huge data breach, a failed foray into Canada and questions about the very core of its brand, Target rose by four percent in the latest ACSI retail index to place only behind Nordstrom, Dillard's and Kohl's overall.

Kung hei fat choy! While this writing marks the official end of the Year of the Horse and Chinese New Year festivities worldwide are celebrating the Year of the Ram/Sheep/Goat, we've caught wind of a plethora of other branded merchandise to celebrate the lunar new year.

So without further ad-ewe, here is the conclusion of our two-part look (don't miss part one) of the good and the baaaaaaad:[more]

Premium alcohol is an important status symbol product category in China, a market that has boosted high-end liquor sales to mind-blowing levels in recent years. So it's no surprise that a few brands aren't letting a down zodiac year get their goat.

Johnnie Walker Blue Label has released a special bottle decorated with a ram with the good luck goat-mentioning Chinese chengyu ???? (san yáng kai tài). But that's not all.

It's also offering gold leaf-decorated bottles featuring the “Five Gods of Wealth." Diageo is certainly hoping the one-two-punch special editions will boost interest in China, where Johnnie Walker sales recently fell 30 percent.

Patron enlisted Chinese artist Peach Tan to create its Year of the Ram-inspired tequila bottle.

Château Mouton Rothschild also went blue with a bottle featuring ram artwork by Chinese artist Xu Lei.

Canadian winery Haywire released a branded Year of the Sheep bottle containing a wine "to pair perfectly with Asian cuisine."

If beer is more your speed, China's famed Tsingtao's limited edition brew featuring Year of the Goat bottles.

And what goes better with zodiac alcohol than zodiac cigars? Following its Year of the Horse smokes, Davidoff has released a set of Year of the Sheep cigars.

If liquor and cigars do not appeal, perhaps you might prefer a sweet treat instead.

Godiva's sheep chocolates can be found on Malasia Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Duty Free stores.

Belgian confectionary brand Confiserie Leonidas has released a special box of premium pralines.

Traveling for the Spring Festival vacation? Strap on one of  Tumi's new Year of the Ram commemorative luggage tags.

Before you go through customs, spruce up with your Estée Lauder Year of the Goat compact.

Or for your keychain, there is Swarovski's Year of the Sheep dongle.

Need a cup of tea or coffee to perk up your day? London's Harrods has the ideal Year of the Ram mug.

To update the first part of our look at the Year of the Goat, which included footwear brands, here is Converse's Year of the Goat collection.

Another brand that is doing things right this Chinese New Year is the increasingly popular NBA. The league's official NBA store onTmall.com (Taobao) is offering a selection of Spring Festival and Year of the Goat-themed team apparel. As an added bonus, a video of NBA stars wishes China "prosperity and wealth."

Looking for playthings? Lego is offering a Year of the Sheep set.

Hasbro, meanwhile, is selling a special edition Transformers Year of the Goat action figure. We wondered when we would see Xi Yangyang (???), one part of the wildly popular children's cartoon "Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf." And there he is on a Walmart Lunar New Year promotion (via Weibo).

And Year of the Sheep means it's no surprise Xi Yangyang is getting around. A human-sized "Pleasant Sheep" recently greeted Shanghai Airlines passengers en route to Hainan Island for New Year. IKEA Singapore also shepherded in the Year of the Goat with a sheepish pun that has consumers bleating.

Finally if you need somewhere to store all of these items, how about HP's Ram-inspired limited edition v231w USB flash drive?

But not all brands are having a good Year of the Goat. After releasing a scarf embroidered with the Chinese word for property ? ("fu"), Burberry experienced major blowback from Chinese consumers.

Burberry was slammed on social media for producing something that resembled the counterfeit luxury products found throughout China. Moreover, Burberry failed to recognize that during the Spring Festival the ? character is usually placed upside down in a play on the Chinese word for "arrived."

Not long after Burberry's blunder, Avery Booker, partner at China Luxury Advisors, tweeted that luxury watchmaker Panerai had seemingly made the same Spring Festival mistake.

We caught up with Booker, who told us he doesn't think these embarrassing efforts will hurt the brands in the long run.

"With virtually no exceptions, consumers have shown that they have very short-term memory about this type of misguided attempt at localization. Typically, items like the Burberry scarf are the object of Weibo scorn for a few days, but the audience moves on in a heartbeat."

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Microsoft gets serious with mobile.

Mondelez has big plans for smaller brands.

NBC sees "Nightly News"ratings slip in wake of Brian Williams' suspension.

Neiman Marcus hones its digital edge.

The New York Times sees advertisers flock to redesigned magazine.

Potbelly expands breakfast to lift sales.

Priceline reportedly plans purchase of Rocketmiles hotel-booking startup.

Qdoba propels sales with simplified pricing.

Samsung scoops up a mobile wallet to take on Apple Pay.

Sheba donates pet food to animal shelters.

Target is localizing assortments for its Express stores.

USPS delivers with movie tie-up.

Uber expands funding round by $1 billion.

Volvo touts redesigned XC90 as rebirth of brand.