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Letter to the editor

Talk of the day

By Times Staff Writer
Published November 28, 2007

You won't see Clooney in U.s. nespresso ads

In Europe, Nestle SA has made Nespresso its fastest-growing brand by promoting it as sexier than George Clooney, who endorses the espresso in ads. America, where the heartthrob refuses to advertise the product, will be a harder sell. The world's largest coffee maker is stepping up expansion of its Nespresso single-serve espresso system in the United States as part of a plan to double sales of the product to 2-billion Swiss francs ($1.8-billion) by 2009. Nespresso machines only function with pods of coffee made and sold by Nestle. As demonstrated by Clooney, who doesn't want his image used for any U.S. product endorsements, according to his spokesman, Stan Rosenfeld, what works on one side of the ocean may not succeed on the other. Latte-loving Americans shell out 70 percent of their coffee spending outside the home at chains, including Starbucks Corp.

NBC will tailor ads based on TiVo data

Talk about direct advertising. General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal will use TiVo Inc.'s data on DVR users' viewing habits to help its advertisers reach potential consumers. NBC Universal's 14 television networks and 10 local NBC stations will subscribe to TiVo's second-by-second commercial ratings service as part of a multiyear agreement, the companies said today in a statement. Data from TiVo, whose recorders let users fast-forward through commercials, may enable advertisers to understand which ads viewers are willing to watch and prompt them to spend on TV ads on NBC's stations. The deal may help TiVo, based in Alviso, Calif., compete with research company Nielsen Co., which also sells data on viewers' habits.

IBM eyes slice of Microsoft market

Who doesn't want a shot at Microsoft? International Business Machines Corp., the world's second-largest software maker, will sell instant-messaging software to small and medium-sized companies to woo them away from Microsoft Corp. products. The Lotus Sametime Entry messaging software will cost $20 per user and will be released in the first week of December, IBM spokesman Mike Azzi said Tuesday. The program lets users exchange short messages and see when colleagues are available. IBM is trying to attract instant-messaging customers who are put off by the cost and unnecessary features included in rival products, Azzi said.

Hard to complain about this return

Don't believe you can double your fortune in a day? It's possible. Just ask Indian property magnate Gautam Adani, who just added $4-billion to his personal fortune. Adani's Mundra Port & Special Economic Zone Ltd. more than doubled Tuesday, on its first trading day in Mumbai, boosting the value of his family's 81.3 percent stake to $7.8-billion. Real estate "has caught the fancy of investors," said Jayesh Shroff, who holds property companies DLF Ltd. and Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. among the $6-billion he helps manage at SBI Funds Management Pvt. in Mumbai. "We could see many more billion-dollar property tycoons as investors pay a premium to own real-estate stocks."

[Last modified November 28, 2007, 01:02:54]