Marketer of the Year: Hyundai†

The Carmaker Won Handily in Our Reader Poll, Besting Walmart, McDonald's, Lego and Amazon

Advertising Age, November 9, 2009 — Consider the state of affairs when viewers tuned into the Super Bowl in February: Banks had failed, a stimulus package still hadn't been announced, and unemployment was surging toward 8%, up from 4.8% the year before. Escapism was the order of the day, and most advertisers played right along, with brands like Coke and Pepsi offering saccharine happy-happy joy-joy visions that jarred with the bleak reality.

8 Guaranteed Ways To Kill Your Brand

MediaPost Publications, October 27, 2009 — Throughout the recession, many marketers have relied on so-called "recession-survival" lessons to drive their strategies. Unfortunately, these aren't always lessons as much as they are myths. We thought we would help dispel some of them and share a few tips to spur positive momentum

A Few Good Things to Come Out of the Recession†

Five Accelerating Trends That Will Reshape Marketing

Advertising Age, August 26, 2009 — I'm sure I'm not the first one to tell you: We're in a recession.

The doom has advertisers hanging signs along the lines of "Will Work For Food" on their agency walls, and marketers continue to face facts and figures like these, from Forrester's 2009 Global CMO Recession Survey: 71% of marketing budgets have been reduced this year, and more than half reported reductions greater than 20%.

Now here comes the curveball: I think this might be the best thing that has happened to our industry in decades.

Tide Turns 'Basic' for P&G in Slump†

Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2009 — Procter & Gamble Co., under assault by penny-pinching consumers, has quietly rolled out a version of Tide detergent that the company freely admits isn't "new and improved."

The product, Tide Basic, is currently for sale in about 100 stores throughout the South. It lacks some of the cleaning capabilities of the iconic brand — and costs about 20% less. Its very existence is one of the most telling signs to date of how the sour U.S. economy is forcing mass marketers to shift course.

Organic Foods Get on Private-Label Wagon†

As More Shoppers Pinch Pennies, Grocery Chains See 'Natural' Expansion of Store Brands

Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2009 — Organic farmers and grocery retailers are embracing the idea of lower-cost, private-label products to retain newly budget-conscious consumers.

Supervalu Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. food retailer by sales, expanded its Wild Harvest organic brand to 312 items, from 150 last spring. Safeway Inc., the third-largest U.S. food retailer , last fall began selling its organic food brands to other retailers.

Private-label organics have "broken some price barriers for shoppers, and everyone is price sensitive these days," said Mike Gilliland, chief executive of Newflower Market Inc., a natural-grocery chain based in Boulder, Colo., with 25 stores.

Study: C-Level Execs Readying For Economic Recovery

MediaPost Publications, July 23, 2009 — Anticipating a robust economic rebound, C-level executives at large companies have already begun investing in technology, new products and services, and marketing initiatives, according to a new report from Forbes Insights — the custom research practice of Forbes Media — and Gartner Research.

"Executives are optimistic and preparing for growth," concludes the study of some 650 executives surveyed late April and early May.

Help yourself†

The recession spurs self-service

Economist, July 2, 2009 — AMERICANS worried that cheap labour in faraway countries threatens jobs at home should redirect their gaze to the mirror. Yes, companies are outsourcing jobs—to their customers. They are steering ever greater numbers to ATMs instead of tellers, websites instead of telephone hotlines and automated checkouts instead of manned registers. The recession is making them even keener.

Self-service is on the rise in industries from retailing and entertainment to travel and telecommunications.

Unilever, Walmart, P&G Buck the Short-Term Trend†

As Recession Forces Cuts, Leaders Build for Future With Marketing, R&D

Advertising Age, June 29, 2009 — It's been said over and over: There's no time like recession, when competitors are retreating, to ramp up innovation and marketing to grab share.

So far, the competitors have done their part. U.S. trademark applications through mid-June were down 17% from a year ago; patent application growth stalled last year after more than a decade of high single-digit annual growth; and ad spending plunged 14% last quarter, according to TNS Media Research.

The intrepid share-grabbers have been harder to find. Now, however, as the dust settles from the fourth-quarter financial collapse, a growing number of them appear to be sticking their heads out of the bunkers to lay the groundwork for long-term growth in a short-term-obsessed world.

Package-Goods Brands Lose Loyalists in Recession†

Study: More Than a Third of Formerly Faithful Consumers Abandoned Crest, Hunt's, PineSol, Tylenol

Advertising Age, June 22, 2009 — Brand loyalty appears to have taken a beating in the recession, at least in package goods. A study from Catalina Marketing and the CMO Council finds that for the average brand, more than half of consumers — 52% — who were highly loyal to certain package-goods brands in 2007 became markedly less so last year.

Brands left to ponder price of loyalty†

Financial Times, June 21, 2009 — Big brands’ best customers have been defecting in droves since the beginning of the US recession, according to a study. By this year, more than half of a typical US brand’s most loyal shoppers in 2007 had switched to rival products.