BMW Championship

BMW Championship
September 7-13, 2009
Cog Hill Golf & Country Club (Chicago, IL) 

The BMW Championship carries on a rich tradition that began in 1899 with the Western Golf Association's first championship. The BMW Championship, the third in a series of four PGA TOUR Playoff tournaments designed to determine the FedExCup Champion. As the centerpiece of BMW's continued partnership with the PGA TOUR and the WGA, we are proud to add this tournament to the long list of golf events bearing our name around the world.

In 2009 the BMW Championship returns to Chicago, where the top golfers in the world including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and defending champion Camilo Villegas, and more compete for what promises to be one of the most exciting golf events of the year.

BMW Owners

As a BMW owner, you'll have the opportunity to experience this premier golf tournament unlike anyone else. Simply enter the online BMW Championship Owners' Pavilion to learn more about exclusive benefits available to all BMW Owners. Once inside the Owners' Pavilion you can find details about BMW owner-only access to the BMW Championship, complimentary ticket offers, golf tips, and more. It's your chance to be a part of the action - before it even starts.

Check out more information at: http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Experience/Sports/BMWChampionship.aspx

Clunker Program Spurred August Sales

DETROIT — Auto sales perked up in August because of cash for clunkers, but both General Motors and Chrysler struggled after emerging from bankruptcy protection.

Total industry sales in the United States increased 1 percent during the month compared with August 2008, and rose 26 percent compared with July.
Much of the improvement was attributed to the government’s popular cash-for-clunkers program that gave consumers vouchers worth up to $4,500 if they traded in an older, gas-guzzling model.
But even as most automakers posted gains in August, sales at G.M. dropped 20 percent and Chrysler’s sales fell 15 percent.

Ford posted a 17 percent gain in sales in August, partly because its Focus compact car was one of the top-sellers in the clunker program.
Both G.M. and Chrysler have found it difficult to keep pace with the market after their trips through bankruptcy this year.

Analysts said their performance was not surprising, given that the companies were drastically reorganizing operations after receiving financial bailouts from the Obama administration.
“We’re still going through a phase of restructuring for both automakers,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of the auto-pricing Web site TrueCar.com. “We really didn’t anticipate anything to happen in terms of their product lineup or their marketing efforts in this short a period of time.”
G.M. executives, however, stressed that it was beginning to rebuild sales and restock inventories after cutting back production this year."

Reference Original Article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/business/02auto.html?scp=5&sq=ford&st=Search

Hey, PC, Who Taught You to Fight Back?

SEAN SILER would never be mistaken for a movie star. A former Navy officer who wears glasses and is a tad on the heavy side, Mr. Siler works at Microsoft, where he oversees the Windows division’s adoption of new Internet connectivity software called IPv6.

But there were audible gasps last summer when Mr. Siler, 39, auditioned for Microsoft’s new ad campaign for Windows, created by Crispin Porter & Bogusky, the Miami agency best known for its cheeky work for Mini Cooper and Burger King.
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding?’ ” recalls Rob Reilly, one of the agency’s executive creative directors. “It couldn’t have been more perfect.”

Everybody agreed that Mr. Siler looked exactly like PC, the character played by the comedian John Hodgman in Apple’s popular “Get a Mac” ads that lampoon Windows-based computers and those who love them. Two weeks later, Mr. Siler reported to a nearby television studio. The agency dressed him in PC’s dorky uniform — white shirt, baggy khakis, brown sport coat and matching brown tie — and handed him a script with the lines: “I’m a PC. And I’ve been made into a stereotype.”

Mr. Siler joined a parade of environmentalists, budget-conscious laptop shoppers, mixed martial arts fighters, mash-up DJs and remarkably tech-savvy preschoolers who appear in Microsoft’s new campaign, which is intended to show that real Windows users aren’t all clueless drones."

Reference Full Article at:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/business/media/30ad.html?scp=6&sq=microsoft&st=Search

Dell Says It Has Earned $3 Million From Twitter

"These days, lots of companies are talking about their “Twitter strategy,” but few have figured out how to measure what amassing hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter does for their businesses. Dell has shown that it can go directly to the top line.

Dell said Thursday night that the company had earned $3 million in revenue directly through Twitter since 2007, when it started posting coupons and word of new products on the microblogging site. In the last six months, Dell Outlet earned $1 million in sales from customers who came to the site from Twitter, after taking 18 months to earn its first $1 million. Dell has also earned another $1 million from people who click from Twitter to Dell Outlet to Dell.com and make a purchase there.

Dell joins companies like Starbucks, JetBlue and Whole Foods as one of the most active corporate Twitter users. “It’s a great way to fix customer problems and hear what customers have to say, it’s a great feedback forum and it leads to sales — how can you miss?” said Richard Binhammer, who works in Dell’s corporate affairs office and is active on its Twitter accounts.

Twitter made exactly $0 from those Dell sales, something that will very likely change. Twitter’s founders have said that it someday hopes to make money from its corporate users, with paid accounts that offer additional features like analysis of the traffic to businesses’ Twitter profiles and verified accounts so customers know they are not dealing with an impostor. When asked whether Dell would pay Twitter for an account, Mr. Binhammer said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Dell uses Twitter to send out coupons, including some that are exclusive to its Twitter followers. It is particularly useful for the Dell Outlet, Mr. Binhammer said, because the inventory of returned and refurbished products fluctuates. If it gets 30 flat-screen televisions one week, for example, it can alert its customers. Dell Outlet has 624,000 followers on Twitter."

Reference article at:http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/dell-has-earned-3-million-from-twitter/?scp=7&sq=dell&st=Search

Coca-Cola Deleting ‘Classic’ From Coke Label

After 24 years, one of the most famous blunders in marketing history is quietly coming to end.The Coca-Cola Company is dropping the “Classic” from its red labels in some Southeast regions, and the word will be gone from all of its packaging by the summer, the company said Friday. The story was first reported by the trade publication Beverage Digest.

The “Classic” designation — which appears under the “Coca-Cola” script on labels — was added to the packaging in 1985, to distinguish the original formula from a sweeter, wildly unpopular new version of Coke.

New Coke has long since disappeared from shelves, making the “Classic” qualification unnecessary. The font size of the “Classic” has been shrinking in the last decade, and the company removed it from labels in Canada in 2007.

“When people think Coke, they think classic, so more than two decades after introducing the word classic, the reason for being — quote unquote — for that word as a descriptor has disappeared,” said Scott Williamson, a Coca-Colaspokesman."

Reference article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/business/media/31coke.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=coca-cola&st=Search

Southwest Airlines to Expand Wi-Fi Access on Planes

Being able to market that you have Wi-Fi on your airplanes definitely appeals to those who fly, especially those in the business world who may not want to pay for first class every time they fly. 

Southwest Airlines said Friday that it had finished testing Wi-Fi Internet access on four aircraft and planned to expand the service to all its planes beginning early next year. Southwest said it would continue testing prices for the service through the end of the year.

Why is this important? Because other airlines have various technologies and/or services that make them more appealing (for example JetBlue has television).  This could give Southwest Airlines a competitive advantage. 

Reference article at:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/business/22bizbriefs-SOUTHWESTAIR_BRF.html?scp=3&sq=southwest&st=Search

Harley-Davidson to Sell Motorcycles in India

NEW YORK (AP) -- Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday it will begin selling motorcycles nextyear in India, the world's second-largest motorcycle market, where the company hopes its

iconic, heavyweight bikes will find a niche among the country's rising middle class.

The Milwaukee-based company said it has established a subsidiary near Delhi and has begun scouting the country for dealers.

''Given the rapid development of India's economy and physical infrastructure, this is exactly the right time to bring the world's greatest motorcycles to one of the world's largest motorcycling nations,'' said Mark Levatich, Harley's chief operating officer, in a statement.

India is the world's largest market for motorcycles behind China, but it is overwhelmingly dominated by smaller, inexpensive bikes used primarily for transportation, said Dilip Chenoy, director general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

It is also a market dominated by several well-entrenched Japanese and Indian manufacturers. Hero Honda, a joint-venture between Japan's Honda Motor Co. and India's Hero Group, holds the biggest market share among two-wheelers. Honda, Suzuki and Indian motorbike maker Bajaj Auto are also major players.

Still, Harley said the country's growing economy, rising middle class and expanded highway construction has created a market for leisure motorcycle riders.

''Motorbikes, scooters in India are family commuting bikes,'' Chenoy said. ''They tend to be more robustly built and the focus is on fuel economy, but there is an increasing market for leisure and high-end bikes which is beginning to happen here in India.''

"Levatich said the company would continue to push for lower tariffs but did not want to risk missing out on the rapidly growing market."

Reference original article at: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/27/business/AP-US-Harley-Davidson-India.html?scp=2&sq=harley%20davidson&st=cse