New U.S. Census to Reveal Major Shift: No More Joe Consumer†

Ad Age White Paper 2010 America Uncovers the Marketing Implications

Advertising Age, October 12, 2009 — The 2010 Census is expected to find that 309 million people live in the United States. But one person will be missing: the average American.

"The concept of an 'average American' is gone, probably forever," demographics expert Peter Francese writes in 2010 America, a new Ad Age white paper. "The average American has been replaced by a complex, multidimensional society that defies simplistic labeling."

Why Walmart Is Getting Serious About Marketing†

Giant Attributes Success to Segmentation, Market Research and Advertising

Advertising Age, June 8, 2009 — It's marketing's time at Walmart.

It's easy to become complacent when you are a $401 billion company whose shareholder meeting gets teen idol Miley Cyrus out of bed before 8 a.m. to perform for more than 15,000 employees as a warm-up act for American Idol Kris Allen. But Walmart executives know that if the recession abates, they will face a challenge holding onto shoppers who've been introduced, or reintroduced, to the retailer as they've traded down to save money.

How to Sell a Nanny, a Mermaid and a Lion

New York Times, April 20, 2009 — With revenues down — in some weeks sharply — compared with 2008, Disney Theatrical Productions has been heavily discounting tickets to its three Broadway shows and preparing a new marketing plan to attract families and others during this economic climate, in which the three Disney musicals risk vying with one another.

The Death of Consumer Segmentation?†

Rethinking a Traditional Marketing Tool

Advertising Age, April 13, 2009 — One of the most important paradigms governing today's marketing world is the constant drive to better segment a brand's customer and prospect base. Conventional wisdom says that the better we segment consumers, the better we can market to them. Consumer segmentation is viewed as a "best-in-class" practice across the marketing world.

But are we on the right track?

Middle Age, Before It Came Out of a Bottle

New York Times, March 8, 2009 — IS being leader of the Free World while the global economy is melting and the country is at war stressful enough to turn President Obama’s hair gray after just 44 days?

Perhaps, but there may be a much simpler, if more quotidian, explanation. Middle age.

Newsweek Plans Makeover to Fit a Smaller Audience

Newsweek is planning a redesign and some shifts in content to fashion an opinionated take on events, aimed at a much smaller, and wealthier, readership.

New York Times, February 8, 2009 — When US Airways Flight 1549 glided safely onto the Hudson River last month, Newsweek did what news organizations have done for more than a century — it sent reporters and photographers to the scene. Considerable effort yielded a modest article on Newsweek’s Web site, and nothing in the printed magazine.

Newsweek is about to begin a major change in its identity, with a new design, a much smaller and, it hopes, more affluent readership, and some shifts in content. The venerable newsweekly’s ingrained role of obligatory coverage of the week’s big events will be abandoned once and for all, executives say.

OfficeMax Overhauls to Target Women†

Research Prompts Retailer to Make Over Its Marketing Materials

Advertising Age, January 15, 2009 — Women rule the office. At least that's what OfficeMax has come to believe, leading the retailer to revamp everything from circulars to catalogs to its website.

Survey Records Shift in Blue Chip

New Epsilon CMO Survey Highlights Shift to Digital Marketing

Epsilon, September 8, 2008 — Chief Marketing Officers at many of the biggest brands in the nation are seeing a major shift in the marketing landscape. Almost two-thirds (63%) of the 175 marketing executives surveyed see an increase in their spending on interactive/digital marketing while 59% report a decrease in traditional marketing spend.

According to Mike Iaccarino, CEO of Epsilon, a leading marketing services firm, "Epsilon's first survey of the nation's Chief Marketing Officers presents a unique look at the changing dynamics of the marketing landscape. In this economic climate, marketing executives are seeking accountability and measurable results. Data driven marketing is an increasingly important component of corporate marketing campaigns as senior marketers employ... continue reading

Sprint Puts Positive Spin on Losses

New York Times, August 7, 2008 — Sprint Nextel, the troubled No. 3 wireless carrier, lost nearly a million customers in the second quarter. But the company says it lost some of them on purpose.

Meanwhile its chief rivals, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, respectively gained 1.3 million and 1.5 million new wireless customers. As customers tighten their spending during rough economic times and when nearly nine out of every 10 Americans already own a cellphone, winning customers from a competitor is the only way to grow quickly. And at that task, analysts say, Sprint is struggling.

Brands Adjust to Media Fragmentation

One way media synergy might pay off

eMarketer, June 27, 2008 — Marketers have long focused on segmenting consumers, to approach them via the media channels and destinations they use most. But in many markets, media fragmentation has made reaching a large enough audience increasingly difficult.