Toy, luxury retailers eye Christmas ’09 with caution

(Daily Advertiser) Still suffering whiplash from the worst holiday selling season in at least four decades, major toy sellers and upscale merchants – who must order Christmas stock earlier than most retailers – are exercising extreme caution as they plan for the rest of the year. (read more)

Media Doesn’t Need To Show All Its Advertising Cards To Consumers

(Media Post) How can you tell how TV programs are doing advertising-wise by just watching?  The presence of big TV advertisers can give you a broad, general hint.  See an AT&T commercial in an episode of Fox’ “House”?  Everything must be doing fine, considering the show’s high ratings. Maybe there’s a Toyota commercial in NBC’s [...]

How to Make Your Message Stick

(Entrepreneur) Do you ever find yourself humming an old advertising jingle you remember from childhood? It’s a common occurrence for all of us. Some things just stick in our minds, seemingly forever. But what makes one marketing message stick while hundreds or even thousands of others are barely noticed or immediately forgotten? (read more)

How Walmart Owns the Concept of Value Online

(AdAge.com) — There aren’t too many places where Walmart isn’t dominant. The digital realm is one of the relative few, but not for long, as it ramps up a host of programs to vault the chain — which has already distanced itself from value retailers in the offline world — further ahead in the online [...]

Are you sick of advertising salesmen?

Are you in advertising or marketing?  Bill Hicks has a message for you.  (We need a little laugh once in a while. )    (see the video)

Are You Truly A Customer-Centric Retailer?

What does it mean to be a customer-centric retailer?  How do you translate customer insights into marketing and merchandising plans that you can profitably execute?  How do you ensure that you’re building long-term customer loyalty? (view the NRF seminar from the 98th annual Convention and Expo)

Not as many Peeps and Jelly Beans this Easter :(

The Easter bunny will be handing out fewer jelly beans, chocolates and other gifts this year, as even he is cutting back.  According to NRF’s 2009 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, Americans will spend an average of $116.59 on Easter candy, gifts, food and decorations, down from an average of $135.03 [...]

Relief Won’t Come Until Fourth Quarter

As battered as many retailers have been by the sharp downturn in consumer spending, a new report from TNS Retail Forward and PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts there will be little improvement for the first three quarters of the year. With the exception of chains selling food and other household must-haves, it predicts flat-to-negative results for most stores, [...]

Do they see your ad but forget your brand?

New research using brain-scanning technology suggests that large-scale sponsorship campaigns aren’t as effective as many assume.  (see the video)

Out Of Sight… Out Of Business?

At a time when financial institutions are pulling back on their advertising, a new study from Nielsen IAG shows that consumer confidence in the long-term health of these companies is dramatically influenced by advertising and marketing efforts. (read more)