When companies merge, they are always equals, but one brand always gets dumped. That’s exactly what has happened with Amoco, which finally got dumped by BP. In the U.S. gasoline market, Amoco stood for something different, a FAST approach to fuel. Amoco, with its torch and red white and blue,MORE HERE
Our BrandlandUSA reader “JM” tells us that Colonial Bread is on deathwatch, and it may be in danger of disappearing due to its ownership by Sara Lee (NYSE: SLC). Writes our dear reader: Colonial, one of the South’s well known bread names, is now owned by Sara Lee. Since Ms.MORE HERE
ATLANTA – The Coke bottle will go. After 12 years, more than 1,000 home run celebrations and countless family ballpark memories, the 42-foot-tall Coca-Cola Contour bottle standing high above left field will be retired from Coca-Cola Sky Field at Turner Field on July 2. A new one will replace it,MORE HERE
FRESNO, Calif.- After 105 years in business, renowned department store chain Gottschalks Inc. (Pink Sheets: GOTT.PK) began liquidation today. The going out of business sale will include all 58 Gottschalks locations in California (38), Washington (7), Alaska (5), Oregon (5), Nevada (1) and Idaho (2). Founded in 1904, Gottschalks becameMORE HERE
We read a great post on General Motors, and their brand and intellectual property portfolio. The Truth about Cars website interviewed Paul Earle of Chicago-based River West Brands, a company that revives defunct brand names to get his take. Earle’s answer is not killing off brands, but trying to manageMORE HERE
DUBLIN – The Irish-based owners of Wedgwood, Waterford, Royal Doulton and Rosenthal have put the company into receivership, the British word for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It’s a real tragedy, as both companies have long histories. The 1986 merger of the two into Waterford Wedgwood PLC, with ticker WTFU, was aMORE HERE
LONDON – Woolworths Group PLC, one of the last remaining pieces of America’s F.W. Woolworth Company, might have a saviour for its brand. While the company, which is in bankruptcy administration, would be shut down, there are apparently groups interested in the company’s intellectual property, including the brand. In addition,MORE HERE
DENVER– On a flight back from Denver last week, I sat next to a man on the airplane who talked to his wife in a sad tone on his cellphone. It was the middle of a snowstorm, and we were way late leaving. While I wasn’t eavesdropping, promise, I heardMORE HERE
LONDON – Decades of missteps and a brutal retail recession have hurt the British retailer Woolworth’s, which was one of the few surviving legacies of the giant F.W. Woolworth Co., a company that closed in the U.S. in the late 1990s. In mid-November, the stock price was less than £2.MORE HERE
TOLEDO – A White Tower in the way of the expansion of a downtown YWCA will be moved rather than destroyed, according to The Toledo Blade. We wrote about the imperiled hamburger shop earlier this year, and the YWCA’s offer to sell it for $1 to anyone who would removeMORE HERE