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Each week, Report on Business editors choose five stories that shouldn't be missed. Here are the 'must reads' for the week of Nov. 9, 2009 :



Meet the Mad Men of Prince Edward County

Advertising has long been a young person's game, never more so than in these days of rapid change, but last year three men who worked together at Toronto's Harrod & Mirlin/FCB in the 1980s and early 1990s when it was the hottest shop in town, decided they weren't done yet. They reunited to form Ignyte, a boutique agency with an unusual proposition: To focus on businesses they considered to be underperforming assets. Investing their own sweat equity, along with their fourth partner, Karla Congson, a strategist now on maternity leave, they would take an ownership position rather than a straight fee. Read the story





As brands fall, car dealers scramble to fill void

As trade-ins go, Dale Wurfel made a doozy when he swapped his seven-year-old Pontiac Buick GMC dealership for a new Chrysler store. Now he's trying to get his customers to join him. So Mr. Wurfel's Strathroy, Ont., dealership phoned 5,000 customers and appealed to GM drivers with direct mail ads to let them know that Chrysler is in business in the Southwestern Ontario municipality. The 47-year-old dealer, who grew up a GM disciple, is on the front lines of what is shaping up to be a fierce auto marketing and sales battle arising from the sweeping overhaul and drastic downsizing of the company that was once the world's largest auto maker. As it restructures, GM is shedding four of its eight divisions, leaving millions of North Americans without their brand as an option when it comes time to replace the Pontiacs and Saturns in their driveways. Read the story





Fuller family's restaurants heading east

In the heart of downtown Vancouver, there is a nine-block battleground of Caesar salads and ciabatta sandwiches. It is, quite possibly, the most competitive restaurant market in Canada. Stan Fuller runs two Earls restaurants in this "Burrard Corridor," so named for the area's major thoroughfare. Both are successful, riding on the Earls formula of upscale-casual dining. But in this culinary combat zone, he faces intense rivalry from some familiar sources, his own brothers. The blanketing of the Burrard Corridor reflects the Fullers' domination of the West's top locations - from downtown Fort McMurray, to Calgary's Bankers Hall to Winnipeg's Polo Park shopping centre. But with recession setting in, the easy money is gone. What's more, the fighting Fullers are pushing east, making their first foray into downtown Toronto, where Earls will occupy a location in the financial district by next summer and Joeys is going into the Eaton Centre. Read the story



Canadian Tire puts shopper Bob to rest

Canadian Tire has put Bob, its protypical customer, to rest and is developing a more diverse picture of its top spenders, one that includes urban women, younger consumers and new Canadians, who collectively account for just 20 per cent of its customer base but 75 per cent of its sales. Canadian Tire's bid to refine the profile of its most important customers underscores the challenges faced by domestic retailers as they deal with the country's changing demographics. Some, recognizing that one-size-fits-all no longer matches today's Canadian mosaic, are trying to break out of narrow demographic silos that limit their marketing and merchandising efforts. Read the story



How to invest like Buffett

Warren Buffett's investing prowess has spawned countless imitators hoping to strike it rich by following the Oracle of Omaha's techniques. But few are as disciplined as Pavel Begun. How does Mr. Buffett do it? With Berkshire's recent purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe putting the legendary investor in the spotlight again, Report on Business asked Mr. Begun to distill the billionaire's investing strategy into a few easily digestible - albeit highly simplified - steps. We've also consulted articles and books, and used Mr. Buffett's own words where appropriate. A thorough analysis of Mr. Buffett's strategy is beyond the scope of this article, but investors can learn a lot by studying the basics. Read the story

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