Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

April 5 2010 | Kathy Crosett

Many marketers believe that using a specific celebrity to sell their products or services may increase sales. Other companies are tempted to use outrageous ads to capture attention. Do these methods work or are they likely to backfire? Adweek Media and Harris Poll surveyed consumers on this topic and their findings indicate that consumer education and income make a difference when it comes to emotional reactions to advertising.

April 5 2010 | Kathy Crosett

Consumers have long used multiple channels to research and purchase products. In many ways, the Internet has improved consumers’ ability to find what they are looking for but they continue to turn to traditional resources such as catalogs. And while catalogs still matter, they are becoming more of a research than purchase tool these days.

April 2 2010 | Shannon Bryant

Since the start of the recession, consumers have changed their shopping habits, including where they are shopping and why. According to The NPD Group, Inc., in 2009, the small appliance industry gained 1.4% in sales over 2008, and although the housewares industry is still seeing declines year over year, there are segments that are rebounding. Several niche products – such as specialty kitchen appliances – demonstrated solid performance, doing better than expected in a tougher economic environment, as a result of the continued behavioral shift towards staying home and entertaining with family and friends. “These evolving consumer behaviors offer opportunity for the manufacturers and retailers who understand the current consumer mindset and the new consumer segments playing larger roles in the same home industries,” said Peter Goldman, president of NPD’s home division.

April 2 2010 | Kathy Crosett

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Paving Contractors.

April 2 2010 | Kathy Crosett

Medium and large-sized businesses have long allocated a significant part of their B2B marketing budgets to exhibitions. But the exhibition industry witnessed business declines in 2009 along with most other sectors of marketing-related activity. The Center for Exhibition Industry Research reports that the number of exhibitors, the number of attendees and the overall revenue at exhibitions have been in steep decline since 2007. In 2009, the industry saw a 12.5% drop.

April 2 2010 | Kathy Crosett

The results of the 2010 U.S. Census will not be tallied for some time but demographers believe the numbers will show that Hispanic consumers comprise 50 million strong or nearly 17% of the total population. With numbers like that, marketers might be expected to specifically target these spenders who hold the purse strings to over $1 trillion in spending power.