Classic pencils are often overlooked. We all remember brands like Venus and Eberhard Faber, and can sense that feeling of a well-sharpened pencil. But many of the brands and individual pencil models have been forgotten; we forgot how the pencils looked. Not only that, but we tend to buy theMORE HERE

PAWTUCKET, R.I. – As part of a massive promotion to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the iconic Easy-Bake oven, Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is searching for the next Easy-Bake Baker of the Year. The EASY-BAKE 2009 “Baker of the Year” contest invites kids to enter with their baking “sous chef” parents,MORE HERE

The petitions to bring back Oldsmobile are growing. It has been one of the top searches on BrandlandUSA. We wanted to bring to our readers’ attention a few of the sites that are beginning to catch on to the value of Oldsmobile to General Motors. They are listed below. InMORE HERE

Times are tight. Companies like Kellogg’s and Wal-Mart are doing well. These are companies that everyone, including the wealthy, flock to when every nickel is precious. Which got us thinking. What are the best brands in America that connote thrift, modesty and that all-American, Victory Garden spirit? Brands we associateMORE HERE

Great American brand names, when they return, not only elicit a burst of happy nostalgia, they can also make consumers buy things. Such is the case of the reintroduction of original formula Schlitz beer. Schlitz, with its unforgettable “Go for the Gusto” campaign, was one of the great national beerMORE HERE

There is an effort to bring back BNs, those British cookies with faces. The Bring Back BN site on Bebo says: “Remember those lovely curvey squared biscuits with the faces on called BN? Do you miss them? If so then this is your opportunity to help get them back inMORE HERE

Different brands get their mystique from where they are distributed. Shasta, the drinks brand, was born as a regional water company on the West Coast. The brand started as Mount Shasta Mineral Springs Company; according to the Shasta Museum it was founded in Dec. 6, 1889. The company also operatedMORE HERE

The news that the restaurant chains Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale have closed stores and filed for Chapter 7 means that two of the best-known groovin’ 1970s restaurant chains are now, well bankrupt, and many have lost their jobs. But there is a future for these brands. There is valuableMORE HERE

The game show What’s My Line might return to television, with David Hasselhoff as a regular. Hasselhoff, currently an America’s Got Talent judge, has been talking to producers FremantleMedia, the company that owns the rights to Goodson-Todman game shows. “They got a take on this. It is so friggin’ cool,”MORE HERE