| Ad budgets cut amid fears of downturn
Advertising budgets took bigger cuts in the final quarter of 2007 than at any time in two years, according to the latest Bellwether report, the quarterly measure of the health of the marketing industry. The report, found that marketing budgets, including everything from TV commercials to direct marketing, were revised down in the fourth quarter. Traditional media advertising, notably TV and press budgets, were hit "particularly hard" as companies tightened their belts amid concerns of an economic downturn. While internet budgets - a perennial star performer in the survey - were again increased by more companies than any other category, the rise was the weakest in four years. In the final three months of last year only 15% of companies reported an increase in total marketing budgets, while 19% reported a decrease.Almost 20% of companies reported a fall in main media spend – such as TV, press, radio and cinema – while around 14% reported a rise.
Just how mobile can Internet go?
It's an area we're watching very closely," said Scott Lingren, director of product group marketing at Dell Inc. On Tuesday, at another tech conference in San Francisco, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs is expected to give updates about the next iPhone that could transform the device into an even more full-featured mobile Internet device. If they live up to their promise, mobile Internet devices will let you do some of what you can do with a laptop: browse the Web, send e-mails, work on office documents and edit photos. They'll let you do what you can do with an iPod or other media player, only with a bigger screen. And they'll let you take pictures and make phone calls, as you can with a camera phone today. The question is, do most consumers need or even really want such a device when we already have so many other ways to do the same things? At this point, probably not, said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at tech consulting firm Jupiter Research Inc.
Big Spenders: Top 50 Advertisers in Hispanic TV and Print Media 2005
Top advertisers in the Hispanic market spent $2.2 billion between July 2004 and June 2005, according research firm TNS. The measurement of actual expenditures, not estimates, and inclusion of new media outlets makes the 2005 Hispanic Business Top 50 Advertisers directory more accurate than ever.In fact, better metrics have changed the game for corporate marketers. "We have become more strategic and targeted," explains Joe Paz, group manager for Hispanic marketing at Verizon, number 12 on the directory." We can look at customer data at the DMA level. So if we're talking to Los Angeles, we know it skews more Mexican, and we can target that." Notably, Lexicon, an education products marketer, captured first place with intensified TV spending.The consumer goods sector accounts for 14 companies among the top 50, followed by automotive (10), media (eight), retail (five), telecommunications, and fast food (both four).
Plight of the Huddled Masses: A Hard Time for Thanksgiving
Gertrude Winter, a char lady in her sixties who works at a government office, will have a turkey after all this Thanksgiving. At one stage yesterday, it seemed a close run thing. As she sat in the hallway of the Bread for the City charity a rumour swept the place that they were out of turkeys. Agitated, another woman said: "The lady says there are no turkeys left, what are we going to do?" In fact the turkeys were already on their way from another warehouse and what might have degenerated into a mini-riot, reverted instead to the good-natured banter of strangers. Thrown together by poverty and the pinched generosity of the United States, they waited to be interviewed to see if they were eligible for a free turkey and a bag of groceries. Mobile soup kitchens are keeping the homeless on the streets fed, but it is the working poor and those with young and old dependants who patiently line up at Bread for the City.
Chrysler Canada Chooses Digital Signage Technology by Wireless Ronin
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wireless Ronin Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNIN) , a Minneapolis-based digital signage technology & software provider, announced today that Chrysler Canada is testing its interactive digital signage program using RoninCast(R) software. The RoninCast digital signage system is integrated into the existing Chrysler Canada Vehicle Information Center (VIC) interactive kiosk program in showrooms and service departments. The RoninCast solution provides up-to-date information and benefits of Chrysler vehicles to consumers and provides sales support utilizing 50 inch touch screen monitors. The initial test involves ten dealers across Canada. Contingent upon a successful test, Chrysler Canada plans to roll-out the program nationally in 2008. "We are excited that Chrysler is utilizing our RoninCast software to manage their interactive digital signage program," said Jeffrey Mack, president and CEO of Wireless Ronin Technologies.
Huckabee tours manufacturing plants
I especially like his comments about the U.S. economy and the housing market." And at an early morning rally in Augusta, west of Battle Creek, Huckabee said Michigan doesn't have to say farewell to thousands of manufacturing jobs forever. "Some candidates are saying Michigan has lost jobs and they'll never see them again," the 52-year-old former Arkansas governor said to a crowd of about 80 at Brooke Lodge. "I say let's change policies so we do see them again." Toward that end, Huckabee advocated the Fair Tax, a plan to scrap the federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. The new tax would reward productivity and coax businesses to return to this country, he said. As he has pointed out at other stops in Michigan, he rose from humble beginnings and favors a populist economic policy that buoys the poor.
World trade, poverty and the environment in the age of global ...
We have all sorts of reports on the advantages of remittances, and I think that the advantages they offer to developing countries are one of the key issues. But this is less a criticism than another question that needs to be addressed. The second comment, which is perhaps more critical, is that insufficient attention is paid to the major obstacles that exist within countries and within regions (1). I agree that the major problem is with the industrialised countries, but beyond that it is clear that there are major impediments to enterprise creation, creative liberalisation. There are problems with insufficient investment in human capital formation. The entrepreneurs in most developing countries are screwed by their own, rather than by international institutions. This is one of the reasons that I was rather upset by the campaign in Dakar (2).
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