Analysis

FROM BEING AN active sponsor French insurer AXA has largely dropped off the radar. All that could change as the company emerges from a branding exercise that has involved 55,000 employees

IF TALKING DOWN a rival is a sign of grudging respect, then Steve Jobs’ description of Samsung as a “copycat company” may show Apple is taking the Korean firm seriously. Sams

GERMANY IS EXPERIENCING “roaring” economic growth according to the departing Bundesbank president Axel Weber. The economy expanded 3.6% in 2010 and GDP is on track to grow an additional 2.5%

UK-BASED GAMING operator, Betfair has confirmed that it will follow the lead it competitors and locate in Gibraltar thus avoiding the 15% tax on gross betting profits

BARCLAYS' ANNOUNCEMENT that it will pay its senior team over £100m in pay, shares and bonuses looks set to reignite another spate of banker bashing.

KEITH HARRISON, global product supply officer for consumer goods giant Proctor and Gamble has coined a new acronym in his quest to expand operations

COCA-COLA spent almost $3bn on advertising in 2010 an increase of 4.5% over 2009 despite concerns over the state of the global economy

COCA-COLA spent almost $3bn on advertising in 2010 an increase of 4.5% over 2009 despite concerns over the state of the global economy

KASPER RORSTED heads up one of Europe’s largest brand portfolios. As CEO of Henkel he is responsible for consumer brands such as Pritt adhesive sticks, RightGuard deodorants and Schwarzkopf hair products.

QUINTESSENTIAL ITALIAN car brand Fiat is giving its local customers an identity crisis

HAVING PROVIDED much of the growth of branded products in recent years, Asia is waking up to own-label groceries

LG HAS PUT the pinch on shipments of Sony’s PlayStation 3 consoles after it won a temporary injunction against the Japanese company over a patent claim.

IN RELEASING STELLAR results for 2010 adidas pointed to the impact of the World Cup which propelled sales to a whopping €12bn.

CARLOS SLIM is rumoured to be the world’s richest man and by any reckoning he is in a class of one in Mexico.

ON THE FACE of it the new head of supermarket group Tesco is cut from the same cloth as his predecessor but Philip Clarke is his own man

MENTION WIRE and Plastic Products and you are likely to be met with blank stares. However, this was the vehicle that launched arguably the most influential individual in world marketing, Sir Martin Sorrell

SUPERMARKET GROUP Tesco is heading into court against Derwent Holdings (whose property interests span the retail and leisure sectors) over the redevelopment of Old Trafford

BRITISH GAS, energy utility supplier to 15.7 million British homes must love the Christmas-day swimmers