After we reported that Kobe Bryant had signed with Vitaminwater, we wanted to hear from the folks at Coca-Cola's Glaceau division as to why they decided to go after Bryant. It was intriguing because Coca-Cola was one of the companies that let Bryant's deal expire following his sexual assault charge about five years ago.   Read More

Back in 1957, Disneyland opened up a Jetsons-esque "Home of the Future" featuring all sorts of far-out gadgets like microwaves (!) and giant TVs (!). Some of them became realities in every American home. Others, like the floating furniture, well... Now, Disney is taking a whole new approach to the idea. I got a sneak peak at Disneyland's "Innoventions Dream Home," which opens in Tomorrowland on June 16.   Read More

As I could have predicted, Papa John's 23-cent pizza idea backfired yesterday. So many people showed up at the 86 stores throughout Ohio that mayhem reportedly ensued. Meant to be a goodwill gesture after a Washington D.C. Papa John's location printed LeBron James "Crybaby 23" shirts for the first round of the playoffs against the Wizards, someone tried to be cute with the "23" and got the decimal point wrong...   Read More

With increasing anxiety, the stock market is looking over its shoulder at the energy markets. Oil briefly topped $126 per barrel today, and as oil trades above $125, we wonder how much these high prices will spread out to affect the consumer, corporate profits, corporate spending and government spending.   Read More

Michelle Wie shot four over par Thursday at the Michelob Ultra Open. Doesn’t sound like a total breakdown... We’ll assume she’s not going to shoot about four under today to make the cut. So let’s say you are responsible for making the Michelle Wie decision at Nike, Sony and Omega. When do you say, “We’re outta here.”   Read More

L.L. Cool J put it best: “Don’t call it a comeback!” While the 80s/90s rapper is far from a retail analyst (he does have his only clothing line though), the idea best describes what I took away from same store sales results for the month of April.    Read More

A bright but brief relief to retailers will come tomorrow in same store sales figures. The International Council of Shopping Centers is predicting the strongest performance since February. But don’t get too excited--it's all relative.   Read More

The Walt Disney Company reported another stellar quarter, with earnings of 58 cents per share, blowing away Wall Street's consensus earnings estimate of 51 cents per share, while revenue came in at $8.71 billion, also beating analyst expectations, and up 10 percent over last year.    Read More

When Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault almost five years ago, the pitchman in Bryant fell off the face of the earth. Coke, which was using him for Sprite, shelved his ads and replaced him with Lebron James when his contract expired. McDonald's didn't renew him, neither did Nutella and Spalding.    Read More

I'm a movie junkie and I'm so happy the summer movie season is underway. You'll probably find me at a theater every weekend between now and the end of July--when the movie premiers finally slow down.    Read More