Memo Pad: Looking Good, Susan Boyle... BusinessWeek's New Era...

LOOKING GOOD: Susan Boyle likes the results of her makeover courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar so much, she’s using the dolled up images as cover art for her latest album, “I Dreamed a Dream.” Harper’s Bazaar updated her look for the September issue, dressing her in looks by Donna Karan, Michael Kors and Tadashi Shoji. Photographer Hugh Stewart shot Boyle in late July at Cliveden, the hotel in the English countryside. Boyle chose a close-up photo of herself wearing a black Donna Karan New York sweater with gold Kate Spade New York earrings for her album cover. The disc drops Nov. 24.
— Stephanie D. Smith

BW’S NEW ERA: Meetings will begin today between the top management of BusinessWeek and Bloomberg to determine what’s ahead for the editorial and advertising sides of the business title. In terms of ad revenue, BusinessWeek has several more cross-platform opportunities to consider with Bloomberg TV and online, for example, than were available at McGraw-Hill Cos. “We plan to make it more of a global business weekly,” said Norman Pearlstine, chief content officer of Bloomberg and the new chairman of BusinessWeek. He said it’s too soon to say whether BusinessWeek’s rate base of 900,000 will increase and whether the price per issue will change, although it will remain a weekly even as its title changes to Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Pearlstine added that Bloomberg and BusinessWeek have bureaus in the same cities, so each one will now be combined. “Between now and Dec. 1, we have a ton of work to do,” Pearlstine admitted. The deal is expected to close around that date. While the purchase price wasn’t disclosed, it reportedly was $2 to $3 million in cash, plus the assumption by Bloomberg of certain liabilities. — Amy Wicks

HOUSE PROUD: Jennifer Rubell’s historically correct Italianate brownstone with red plastic couch and Bauhaus chair was the perfect setting for the launch of Ingrid Abramovitch’s book about renovating a townhouse, “Restoring a House in the City,” on Thursday.

More than just a coffee-table book, the 21 houses profiled include those of Robert Duffy of Marc Jacobs International and Julianne Moore, and serve up all the juicy details New Yorkers obsess over, including how long each renovation took, the year the house was purchased and the neighborhood in which it’s located. (For how much they paid, you’ll have to check Trulia.com yourself.) The Duffy profile contains a kind of backhanded mea culpa, in which he explains the retail transformation of Bleecker Street was unintentional. He had the idea of opening a Marc Jacobs store around the corner from where he lived “because he thought it would be fun to walk to work,” according to the book. — Cate T. Corcoran

SPEED RACERS: Izod marked its first season as the official apparel sponsor of the IndyCar Series earlier this month with a series of events in Miami, which hosted the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 10. Izod hosted two in-store events at Macy’s doors in The Falls and Dadeland, with appearances by top drivers including Danica Patrick, Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Shoppers received autographs, rides in street-legal racers and could view vintage Indy cars valued at $20 million. Also part of the week-long festivities was a concert by Pharrell and N.E.R.D. for more than 1,500 guests at the W Hotel in South Beach, preceded by an Izod fashion show and a beach volleyball competition between IndyCar drivers and Miami lifeguards, whom Izod also sponsors. (The drivers beat the lifeguards two games to one.)

Izod’s five-year, multimillion-dollar marketing partnership with IndyCar started in March, and encompassed 17 races this season; 20 in-store events; television commercials; print ads; cinema spots, and outdoor. It is the brand’s single largest marketing effort.

“This is the fastest-growing motor sport, and this initiative has really allowed us to transform our position within Macy’s,” said Mike Kelly, executive vice president of marketing at Phillips-Van Heusen, which owns Izod. “We may increase our investment in this program next year.” Izod rings up $1 billion in annual retail sales, according to the company. — David Lipke