DETROIT – Not that I really like Pontiacs these days. They’ve not been interesting for a long time. But now, there are serious discussions that GM will announce that Pontiac will be shut down as a brand. Frankly, it doesn’t make sense. If Pontiac sales stink, then so do Buick.MORE HERE

CHASKA, Minnesota – Great brands bring personality to commodities to products like soap. Perhaps the best example of such a brand is Mr. Bubble. If the packaging and marketing were not there, the product would not be interesting at all. But since the packaging and old advertising was so good,MORE HERE

How does a brand like Charles of the Ritz, at one time far larger and more prestigious Estee Lauder, just plain disappear? This makeup and skincare brand was merged into Revlon, and while some of its perfumes still survive, the Charles of the Ritz brand does not. Customers on BrandlandUSAMORE HERE

DETROIT – No brand is safe now and General Motors (NYSE: GM)  is indeed in a mess. All the brands are damaged. It should not be this way. All of them lost sight of what their mission was in GM. You cannot have multiple platforms which cost you money andMORE HERE

This fashion house was named for Norman Norell, the famous American fashion designer and movie designer most famous for dressing Gloria Swanson. Norman Norell died in 1972 and his brand lives on in a perfume, Norell, but the fashion brand does not. A 1997 revival was tried, but it neverMORE HERE

PALM BEACH GARDENS – Lilly Pulitzer opened up a new boutique in The Gardens mall in Palm Beach Gardens. The website The Selvedge Yard snapped a photo of Lilly herself in a post entitled Pink-a-palooza. The store opened April 17, 2009; it is the second company owned store in PalmMORE HERE

CHICAGO – The Word of Mouth Marketing Association has launched the Brands Council in order to provide brand companies and nonprofit organizations with intimate, real-time education, networking and guidance for effective and ethical use of word of mouth and social media marketing. The purpose of the Brands Council, according toMORE HERE

BELLEAIR, Fla. – G. Michael Harris, Titanic explorer, adventurer and one of the original founders of RMS Titanic, Inc., announced in a press release that his company, WLM, Inc. had made two offers totaling a combined $40 million to Premier Exhibitions as well as Sellers Capital, LLC, whose holdings includeMORE HERE

SAN RAMON, Calif. -Yes, we can still trust the man who wears the star. Chevron, owner of Texaco, is not letting its Texaco brand lapse, as so many other energy companies have done in mergers. (At right, a vintage Texaco pump from Glen Allen, Virginia, where it is owned byMORE HERE