IRVINE, Calif. – BMW is the coolest car brand in America. Or so says Kelley Blue Book, which has just released current winners of their 2009 Brand Image Awards. And Cadillac? Boy do Americans like the interiors. The Brand Image Awards are presented to the top brands in 10 categories,MORE HERE

A quick thought. What happened to diversified car companies. The nation misses diversified products, though they are sold by foreign companies, particularly Asian companies, all at the same time. The companies were more interesting when: Ford made Fordson (and Ford) Tractors, Tri-Motors and Philco Televisions. Kingsford charcoal was an interestingMORE HERE

A roundup of the day’s branding headlines. The most fascinating? Almost half of all chief marketing officers believe their agency is a waste of time: Almost half of  all Chief Marketing Officers see ad agencies as a “time-suck.” That’s a big ouch. Or ick! In BizCommunity.com, Issa Sitiki daSilva writesMORE HERE

Montréal -Want to brand your radio network? Use an audio signature. Much like NBC’s famous G-E-C notes, the Canadian media company Astral Media has created a new set of audio signatures for all of its AM and FM stations. To create the notes, they hired the California company Musikvergnuegen, theMORE HERE

A few years ago, the Westinghouse brand was almost dead, a result of the breakup of what was one of the nation’s great industrial treasures. The company, known for its Group W radio, Westinghouse signaling equipment, Westinghouse appliances and Westinghouse nuclear program, was dismantled. Westinghouse was nationally famous, especially lateMORE HERE

A few headlines for March 9, 2009: Adweek: Cities are selling ad space on everything they can Adweek writes on the Economics of digital advertising. It’s expensive but can be more valuable, but not necessarily and Banner ads poised for comeback. Likelihood of Confusion trademark blog writes on the LegalMORE HERE

TULSA, Okla. – Elvis’ Plymouth might still be alive, and  you can buy it. The Dan Kruse-Leake Collector Car Show & Auction will kick off their first auction in San Antonio’s Alamodome with a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda thought to be purchased by and titled to Elvis Presley. It is believedMORE HERE

“A common syndrome is the case in which a purported solution is in fact the cause of the problem.” A quote from the blog Unqualified Reservations. We thought this quote applied very well to the case of Macy’s and Marshall Field’s.MORE HERE

Our reader “Cindy” mentions a few things that are on her  100 Brands to Bring Back list. We list them below. On her list is Breck shampoo. We suggest she go to Dollar Tree to find it. We love Dollar Tree, and not just because we grew up in theMORE HERE