Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

December 8 2009 | Kathy Crosett

Will Walmart’s new strategy change the nature of co-op and vendor trade promotions? It’s a topic that Jack Neff explores in a recent Advertising Age column. In a traditionally funded co-op ad, a vendor might expect to have its product or company name mentioned 2 or 3 times or the brand or company logo may appear on the screen. But the major focus of these ads has typically been all about the local retailer. This year,Walmart has given vendors more exposure and increased their creative input in co-op ads.

December 8 2009 | Kathy Crosett

Despite the common wisdom that higher ad budgets translate to more sales, 58% of B to B marketers cut their promotional budgets in 2009. Categories that fared the worst included events and print, both cut by 63% of BtoB Online’s 2010 Outlook Survey respondents. Not surprisingly, over 8 in 10 of these businesses increased online spending in 2009. What do these businesses plan to do when it comes to 2010 marketing?

December 7 2009 | Shannon Bryant

Seniors aged 65 and older (also referred to as “Matures”) have made the Internet an integral part of their everyday lives. In a recent study, 77% report that they shop online. In fact, Matures lead all other generational groups when it comes to this online activity. They regularly use email (94%), go to the Internet to look up health and medical information (71%), read news (70%), and manage their finances and banking (59%). Matures also turn to the Internet for gaming, approximately half (47%) of online Matures regularly play free online games.

December 7 2009 | Kathy Crosett

Apparel and accessory retailers who are looking for new ways to pump up sales might want to check out J. Crew’s recurring revenue strategy. LisaBoosin , writing for Racked LA, recently noted that the retailer has been using an “item-of-the-month” club program to increase loyalty and revenues for at least a couple of years. This approach has long been successful for other industries such as fruit, flowers and books.

December 7 2009 | Kathy Crosett

As marketing continues to evolve and more firms expand their reach into newer channels, managers will also be looking at ways to integrate and unify their efforts. During 2009, budget constraints forced many marketers to slash spending and cut entire programs. Industry watchers expect budgetary pressures to continue in 2010 but there may also be a fresh focus on efficient integration.

December 4 2009 | Shannon Bryant

According to The NPD Group, Inc., NPD’s annual survey of consumers’ holiday spending intentions shows one in five (19%) consumers ‘plan to buy fragrance’ as a gift this upcoming holiday season, a two point increase from 2008. Although prestige fragrance showed declines in the first nine-months of the year, the fourth quarter is typically the biggest quarter of the year for the category. A few bright spots in the prestige fragrance arena include fragrance juices* priced between $75 and $99.99 and juices priced over $100 and over, which grew 2% and 4% percent in dollars, respectively, from January to September 2009.