Marketers and retailers are of course hoping for record sales this holiday season, and some experts say they have every reason to be optimistic. But the bottom line is that such predictions are a tricky business, and exactly how much consumers will spend is anybody's guess. The Gallup Organization predicted that consumers plan to spend $763 on gifts, up from $730 in the estimate reported a year ago. Meanwhile, the Conference Board's estimate was less rosy. It said U.S. households will spend an average of $466 on gifts this season, down marginally from last year's $476. Overall, the National Retail …

A whole host of new marketing technology is expected to dramatically affect the way marketers connect with consumers in the near future. The list of products includes mesmerizing 3-D billboards and a tabletop with an embedded computer screen that can respond to touches or gestures made by multiple users, among many others. One new gizmo being embraced by marketers including Procter & Gamble, SEGA, Starbucks, Time Warner, and Walt Disney is the Audio Spotlight, made by Holosonic Research Labs. The audio system uses ultrasound to create a narrow beam of sound that can be steered anywhere and heard only by …

Mainstream marketers continue to seek unconventional methods to reach harried consumers already bombarded with commercial messages. Their newest tactic? Advertising on blogs. The latest to join the "new media" club, if you will, are the Budget Rent a Car unit of the Cendant Corporation and toymaker Hasbro. Each is about to launch a new ad campaign using blogs. "I can't outspend Hertz, but I can outsmart them," said Scott Deaver, executive vice president for marketing at the Cendant Car Rental Group. He said a big advantage of blogs is that they "actively engage the consumer" compared with "passive TV spots" …

Most marketers get their ideas from either their own people or from the ad agencies they hire to create and execute marketing strategies. But in an unusual twist, Johnson & Johnson has turned to the media companies that will be carrying their ads for inspiration. The company asked for suggestions for its "Having a baby changes everything" campaign from Time Warner, Viacom, and NBC Universal, and Time Warner's initial concepts were used in three commercials. The atypical move illustrates J&J's ongoing interest in going beyond its traditional ad agencies to complete unique deals with media providers. "We're trying to piece …

Korean automaker Kia has a marketing problem in the U.S. The company has found that most car buyers have outdated impressions of Kia and view the car as decidedly unhip. They also think it is unreliable, especially when compared to its sister brand, Hyundai. To rectify that problem, Kia has hired turnaround artist Ian Beavis as its vice president of marketing and asked him to educate consumers about the strides Kia has made in quality, performance and styling. "We want people to aspire to own a Kia, not settle for one," said Beavis, who joined the company in May after …

Marketers of technology and entertainment products are hoping for a big holiday season, as are the retailers that carry their goods. In a Q&A interview, Best Buy CMO Michael Linton talks about the company's expectation for the season and its marketing and advertising plans. He says Best Buy is "cautiously optimistic" about how well the company will do this season but adds that research has indicated digital equipment in all its forms remain high on most consumers' Christmas shopping lists. "When we look at our customers in the marketplace, almost everybody that is going to enter into the digital marketplace …

Americans are apparently not consuming as much ketchup as they used to, and that has executives at H.J. Heinz Co. a little worried. Heinz Ketchup is the company's flagship product and holds a 60 percent market share, according to Information Resources Inc. But in the four weeks ended Oct. 31, U.S. ketchup sales fell 5.6 percent from a year earlier. As a result, Heinz is planning a new marketing effort designed to spark sales. "The new program will be designed to encourage consumers to trade up to larger sizes of Heinz Ketchup and expand usage across different host foods," William …

Changing the face--literally--of a popular brand is a tricky business that should not be taken lightly. Just ask the folks at San Francisco-based brand imaging agency Tesser, the company charged with giving Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders a facelift. In an attempt to revamp the company's image, Tesser's staff sketched and designed no fewer than 250 new variations of the colonel. "Some were very abstract," said Tre Musco, the agency's chief creative officer and CEO. "Some were modern. Some were kind of retro. We wanted to keep the brand's heritage, but we wanted to update it for a modern audience." …

Marketers looking for the latest hot category need look no further than energy drinks. Beverage Digest says these quick pick-me-upper beverages represent the fastest-growing sector of the $93 billion domestic beverage industry, with sales that have grown a red-hot 61 percent this year in the U.S. The drinks have evolved into a $3 billion business since their introduction eight years ago and are expected to accelerate profit growth for the beverage industry more than any other drink category in the next few years. "The energy drink category came out of nowhere," said John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest. "It's been …

Here's a marketing promotion with lasting value. Dunkin' Donuts says it will give two winners of an essay contest coffee for life. That's right--a lifetime's worth of free java. It's called the Great Lengths contest, and customers are asked to submit an essay of 250 words or less about the great lengths they have gone to in order to get a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. The contest is open to consumers 18 and older in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Vermont. It ends Nov. 28.