It's popular, among the upstart coffee companies and the media which covers them, to portray anything that happens in the coffee world as an affront to Starbucks. And certainly, little is done in the industry without an ever-present consciousness of every move of the coffee giant. For the country's second-largest chain, Caribou Coffee (CBOU), sadly, its first TV advertisement is a volley lobbed directly at the Seattle-based leader; but misses entirely.

AdAge says of the television commercial launched Thursday, it's "an approach that pokes fun at its biggest rival, Starbucks (SBUX)." But for customers, that's hard to see. The ad shows two marionettes on a bench at the mall, drinking tiny coffee cups with circles on them (so subtly like Starbucks cups, you'd only know if you paused the commercial to stare), chatting about how "super-important" they're pretending to look. They're snobby and insufferable until an enormous cup of Caribou Coffee, topped with whipped cream and chocolate bits, sits down next to them

American International Group Inc. (AIG) posted its second straight profit Friday morning of $455 million, or 68 cents a share, as investment losses narrowed and catastrophe costs declined. But revenue fell at life and property-casualty operations. Shares fell over 10 percent ahead of the bell.

Starbucks (SBUX), late Thursday, reported higher earnings, saying adjusted profit of 24 cents per share, beating the 21-cents-per share estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters mostly due to cost cutting measures. The coffee chain lifted its fiscal 2010 adjusted earnings guidance due to improving traffic in its stores. Shares jumped about 4 percent in premarket trade.

More people are visiting Starbucks Corp. coffee shops this year than last, and they're spending more money when they do, an executive said Thursday.

But it was the company's hefty cost-cutting that boosted its profit in its fiscal fourth quarter. It had fewer stores than a year earlier, and its revenue fell slightly.

IllyCaffè SpA may not have a company-owned store near you, but it's a good bet you know the company's coffee. Illy's espresso machines and coffee beans are available to purchase online at the company's website, on Amazon.com, and a wide variety of retail outlets. Its art-inspired cups are a favorite of Italiaphiles (a good friend whose husband is Milanese was my introduction to the designer series of tiny espresso cups and saucers). And, after three years of success in Italy, the company has expanded its Artisti del Gusto (Artist of Taste) certification to the U.S., with 28 shops around the country serving Illy coffee, and about 100 more planned by 2012.

In Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, Illy is said to be using this strategy to compete with Starbucks (SBUX) through the "backdoor." It's a bit of a reach -- after all, 128 coffee shops is about 1.1 percent as far-reaching as Starbucks, and far less of a threat to market share than Dunkin' Donuts or McDonald's (MCD), both of which have challenged Starbucks with their low-priced, high-volume and ubiquitous coffee.

McDonald's Corp. (MCD) chief executive Jim Skinner today vowed to keep prices at the world's largest restaurant chain as low as they are currently, cementing a big advantage the company has over its rivals.

"Our pricing power is not what it was," said Skinner today on the company's earnings conference call. "Right now we are holding the line on pricing."

McDonald's, which last raised prices in October 2008, has weathered the economic downturn better than most U.S. companies, and the third quarter was no exception.

Some of the companies making headlines today:

Alcoa (AA) unofficially kicked off earnings season late Wednesday, being the first of the Dow industrials to report results. It said it earned $77 million, or 8 cents per share in the quarter. Though it was 70% lower that last year's earnings, it was better than expectations. Alcoa also forecast 11 percent growth in global aluminum demand in the second half of 2009, largely on the back of robust growth in China. AA shares jumped 6% in pre-market trading.

PepsiCo (PEP) said Thursday that its fiscal third-quarter profit rose 9 percent to $1.72 billion, or $1.09 per share, in part on cost-control efforts, even as revenue dropped 1 percent to $11.08 billion on weak beverage sales. Analysts expected profit of $1.03 per share.

Sacre bleu! It's news that could turn the Mona Lisa's smile to a frown: McDonald's (MCD) says it will open an outlet in the food court in the basement of the Louvre. To understand how Paris, a city that personifies cultural snobbery and culinary elitism, could let Mickey D's flip burgers beneath one of its most hallowed institutions, it helps to know how France, somehow, became McDonald's second-biggest market.

Slate credits the Royale Deluxe -- best known for its cameo role as "Royale with cheese" in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction -- with writer Mike Steinberger arguing that that sandwich is all about the mustard. Steinberger, a wine writer and author of a book about the decline of French food, suggests that McDonald's "conquered France," savvily, by giving the people what they desired: French food. Sort of. It's really McDonald's food -- hamburgers and french fries -- marketed as food sourced in France. But worst of all, he sniffs, is that the French are doing the marketing: "It's an inside job."

I took my little boys to Starbucks (SBUX) this morning to witness the hype about its new instant coffee, Via, and we had plenty to see.

A near-life size silhouette of a woman holding a packet of the company's new instant coffee greeted me on the door. A large, three-dimensional display took up most of the space opposite the counter where new products are usually placed, packed to the gills with Via packs, three for $2.95 or 12 for $9.95. The display featured more silhouettes, a man and a woman, both showing off their hipness and their Via (and yes, the figures are very evocative of iPod ads). The woman was holding Starbucks' new Via to go mug; it has plastic compartments for six packets of the instant coffee around the perimeter of the coffee cup, and a screw-off bottom. There was another display of three-pack Via envelopes to the right of the register, and still another display above the Starbucks cards in front of the register. A cardboard sign listed all the places where I could drink Via -- the "usage occasions," says Starbucks Director of Digital Media, Alex Wheeler -- picnic lunch, at the game, in the backyard, on a train, redeye flight, on the mountain, business trip, at the library (really? the library?).

Some of the companies making headlines today:

Starbucks (SBUX) is rolling out its new instant coffee, Via, throughout North America after offering it for eight months in Seattle and Chicago only. Starbucks will also have its first-ever television ads.

Walgreen Co. (WAG) said Tuesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit declined to $436 million, or 44 cents a share as quarterly sales rose 8 percent to $15.7 billion. Adjusted earnings beat Wall Street expectations of 39 cents a share on sales of $15.7 billion. Same-store sale rose 2.4 percent. Shares jumped 10 percent ahead of the bell.

Some of the companies making headlines today:

Research In Motion (RIMM) reported disappointing earnings late Thursday. While revenue jumped 37 percent to $3.53 billion, profit slipped to $475.6 million, or 83 cents a share, from $495.5 million, or 86 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were $1.03 per share. Analysts had expected a profit of $1 per share on sales of $3.63 billion. RIM also gave a disappointing outlook for this quarter's sales of $3.6 billion to $3.85 billion. Analysts had expected an revenue forecast of $3.91 billion. RIMM shares tumbled about 14 percent in pre-market trade.

Unilever (UL) put in a $1.88 billion offer for the global body care unit of Sara Lee (SLE), which includes the Sanex and Duschdas brands. The consumer products giantsaid the businesses it will acquire had sales of euro750 million and operating earnings of euro128 million in the 12 months ending in June. SLE shares jumped over 5 percent ahead of the bell.

In February, Starbucks (SBUX) invited AOL to taste a secret new product. In my capacity as a coffee and Starbucks expert, I got a few samples of the product, Via, and uploaded photographs to Flickr before giving my verdict.

I'd almost forgotten that Via's national launch was coming up -- next Tuesday -- until I received an email from Starbucks's Via "moderator," thanking me for posting such a great photo, and offering me both free instant-coffee packets and instant fame in the product's launch. All it would take, online community manager Anali Orr told me, was my permission (pdf link) to give Starbucks "a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive fully-paid up and royalty free license" "without restrictions of any kind and without any payment or other consideration of any kind" -- other than, of course, three months' worth of free coffee packets.

Advertisers and marketers will converge on New York City next week for the annual confab known as Advertising Week. It's not only a time for industry folk to get together and hobnob, but some companies see the event as a platform for unveiling their next move.

Yahoo (YHOO) plans to launch a marketing campaign during Advertising Week that's aimed at reminding marketers it still draws more than 500 million unique visitors each month, according to Forbes.com. While a Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment on the company's plans, Yahoo has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon with CEO Carol Bartz and other executives. The announcement will follow a keynote address by Yahoo Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX conference, which runs concurrent to Advertising Week and focuses on Web advertising.

Some of the companies making headlines today:

eBay (EBAY) may finally announce on Tuesday the anticipated deal to sell its Skype Internet calling division to a group of private investors, according to the New York Times. The paper, which cited two sources, said a price was not disclosed, but in the past eBay CEO Donahoe said he wants around $2 billion for Skype, which is expected to make more than $600 million in revenue this year. EBAY shares climbed on the news.

Bank of America (BAC) is looking to pay back some of the $45 billion in federal bailout aid it has received in an effort to get out from underneath the government's thumb as it awaits pay czar Feinberg's approval of its 2009 executive pay packages, according to the Wall Street Journal.