The Athenos brand, owed by Kraft Foods, launched an advertising campaign in January at the "Hollywood Helping Haiti Golden Globes" event. The campaign is an attempt to revive the brand’s lagging market share, while it uses a tactic quite different form its previous communication strategy.

Mercedes-Benz, one of the world’s leading auto companies, announced a 10-year agreement worth close to $100 million to put its name on a new 18,000-seat arena in Shanghai. This is the first time that an indoor sporting site will take on a cooperate name in China.

On Oct. 30th, China Unicom launched the official Chinese debut of Apple Inc.’s iPhone in Beijing. The world-famous smart phone brand has officially landed on the most populous country in the world. China Unicom, the second-largest state-owned mobile telco, threw a debut party to kick-off its sale in Chinese market.

The Chinese sportswear company Anta Sports Products Limited recently signed an agreement with the famous footwear producer Belle, planning to acquire two of the group’s subsidiaries. One of them is Full Prospect, which owns and manages Fila.

The Play Label of Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) recently announced a partnership with the fashion retailer Claire's to promote an upcoming series of video games to be launched this October. “CHARM GIRLS CLUB, My Fashion Mall” is the name of this new series, and it will include four different games, targeted at young girls aged 8 to 12. The launch of the new series of video games will also be supported by a website.

In mid-July, just days after Li Ning Company Limited announced its acquisition of China’s third most popular badminton brand Kason Sports, Japan’s Mizuno Corp. announced it would close 200 unprofitable stores in China. While Li Ning brand is expanding through acquisition, Mizuno is decreasing its presence in the Chinese market. This contrast reflects the different fortunes experienced by domestic and foreign sports brands in the year following the Beijing Olympics.

Over the past decade, China has become a lucrative and growing market for international brands. Dickies, a popular clothing brand in North America, recently opened 2 new retail stores in Shanghai, one in Xinzhuang Parkson and the other in Cloud 9 Shopping Mall. Dickies entered into China last November, and they have opened a total of 7 outlets in Shanghai thus far. 

In the digital age of information overload, brands may find that their target markets are becoming more and more difficult to reach with traditional advertising and communications methods. A recent trend is for companies to utilize online and social media to increase brand awareness (Please see previous news on Sunkist, Unilever, and Twitter). But marketers from Sunsilk have found a unique human channel to promote their products— flight attendants.