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Google updates search results pages

New-Image.jpgGoogle’s new search results page will feature a tool bar on the left. (Google handout)

By Wailin Wong | Google has tweaked its search results pages, providing a panel on the left-hand side that allows users to further refine their query.

The changes address the ongoing challenge of “how do we get users to their answers as fast as possible,” said Patrick Riley, a senior staff software engineer who is the technical lead on Web search. “It’s not just about the search result page, but the whole process.”

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MillerCoors ends Coors Light deal with NFL

Associated Press | Chicago-based MillerCoors won’t renew its
Coors Light sponsorship of the National Football League after this
upcoming season is over. Coors Light had been the official beer of the
NFL since 2002 and this season will be its last.

MillerCoors CEO Leo Kiely says the company made an offer that expired
at midnight Monday but it wasn’t accepted. The company tells
distributors in a memo it couldn’t reach an agreement with the NFL over
the value of the sponsorship.

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Kraft holding house parties to launch new products

From the Chicago Sun-Times | Kraft Foods is sponsoring 2,000 house parties May 15 to market six new products, including oven-baked macaroni and cheese, Kool-Aid fizz tablets and 100-calorie packs of cheese cubes.

Get the full story: suntimes.com

Cubs owner Ricketts defends Wrigley Toyota sign

Toyota-Web-.jpgAn artist’s rendering of the proposed sign. (Cubs)

By Ameet Sachdev |
Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts said he is aggravated that the
proposed Toyota sign that the team wants to erect in the left field
bleachers has generated so much controversy, considering that his
family has already invested $10 million in repairs and maintenance at
Wrigley Field.

Ricketts, in a meeting Friday with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial
board, even suggested that the family’s future investment in projects
in the Wrigleyville community hinges on the approval of the sign. The
family bought the team and stadium from Tribune Co., parent of the
Chicago Tribune, last fall in a deal valued at $845 million.

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Americans more loyal to soda than company

From Reuters | Most Americans said they are more committed to their favorite television shows, soft drinks and car brands than the company where they work, according to a joint Reuters/Ipsos poll. Respondents said they were most committed to their country, families and doctors.

Get the full story: reuters.com

Desiree Rogers: New York or Chicago next

Rogers-Two-Web.jpgFormer White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers at a reception in March 2010. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)

By Melissa Harris | Desiree Rogers might stay in Chicago. Or she might move to New York. Or
she might do both.

“I’m still deciding if I’m going to be here or I’m going to be in New
York,” the former White House Social Secretary said during a Chicago
Advertising Federation luncheon Thursday at The Palmer House Hilton.

Although Rogers has been spotted at several events in Chicago since
resigning her White House post in February, she said she was moving out
of Washington, D.C., in early May, and that her job prospects were “wide
open.” After her remarks, she told reporters that ideally, she would
like to split her time between New York and Chicago.

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Sears’ top marketing officer Gerstein resigns

By Sandra M. Jones | Sears Holdings Corp. is in search of a marketing chief, again.

The company’s senior vice president of marketing Richard Gerstein resigned this week, the Tribune has learned. Gerstein is the second top marketing officer to leave the operator of Sears and Kmart stores since investor Edward Lampert took control of the company five years ago.

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Google tops list of world’s biggest brands

Tribune staff report | Google is the world’s most valuable brand this year, according to a study released by research firm Millward Brown Optimor. The firm’s fifth-annual BrandZ survey ranked 100 brands worldwide, based on consumer opinions and market data, and translated them into a dollar value. McDonald’s ranked No. 6, dropping 1 percent in value.

When most key financial indicators plummeted, the value of the top 100 brands rose by 4 percent in the last year to more than $2 trillion. Here are the top 10 global brands, their assigned worth and the change in value during the last year. See a PDF of the full list of 100.

Get the full story: Google tops list of world’s biggest brands.

PETA uses Bea Arthur in anti-McDonald’s ad

bea-arthur-peta.jpgFrom the Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Actress and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activist Bea Arthur is being featured in an anti-McDonald’s ad posthumously, to mark the one-year anniversary of her death.

The ad targets chicken-slaughtering techniques used by McDonald’s suppliers with the tagline, “McCruelty: It’s enough to make Bea Arthur roll over in her grave.”

Get the full story: seattlepi.com

McDonald’s updates ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ ad campaign

From Crain’s Chicago Business | McDonald’s global chief marketing officer Mary Dillon introduced an updated take on the company’s 7-year-old “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign Thursday. The ad partners involved in changing the slogan include Leo Burnett Worldwide and Omnicom’s DDB Worldwide.

Get the full story: chicagobusiness.com.

P&G, Oprah Winfrey Network sign media deal

From Reuters | Procter & Gamble
Co. announced that it has signed a multiyear advertising deal with OWN:
The Oprah Winfrey Network. The Wall Street Journal reported the story
first, citing sources who said it was a three-year deal valued at more
than $25 million annually.

Get the full story: reuters.com.

Online pre-sales for the Droid Incredible begin

droid-incred.jpgBy Wailin Wong | Verizon Wireless began online pre-sales this week for the Droid Incredible, a new smartphone manufactured by Taiwanese company HTC Corp. If the Droid name sounds familiar, that’s because it’s already attached to two other phones at Verizon, including the Droid by Motorola, which was launched with a splashy marketing campaign late last year.

Verizon is using “Droid” to signify certain phones that run Google’s Android operating system, said spokesman David Clevenger. The carrier licenses the name “Droid” from Lucasfilm, the production company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas.

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Volcano crimps McDonald’s global convention

From Ad Age | About 80 percent of the European participants who planned to attend McDonald’s global convention in Orlando this week have been unable to make it because of lingering ash clouds that have shutdown air travel.

“This has blown a hole in [McDonald's] marketing plans and global initiatives,” said Patrick Larsimont, London-based regional business director for DDB Europe, one of those left behind. “All three roster agencies were all due to [debut] work at the convention.”

Get the full story: adage.com

Chicago an early market for ‘Google Places’

From the San Francisco Chronicle | Chicago will be one of the first markets in which businesses can become “Google Places” in Google Inc.’s revamped directory business. The change allows companies to create online profiles and advertise within Google maps.

Get the full story: sfgate.com.

Kraft signs deal to sponsor college bowl game

From New York Sports Journalism | Kraft Foods has signed a three-year deal to create the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl as the title sponsor of the annual college football game played between teams from the Pacific-10 and the Western Athletic Conference,previously known as the Emerald Bowl. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Get the full story: nysportsjournalism.com