• by John Gaffney , June 17, 2003

Wall Street And Main Street: Here's what I don't get. I see the following quote in a Reuters story about the rich advertising upfront we all just witnessed: "You look at the Wall Street economy and you look at advertising spending and it's not adding up," said David Doft, media analyst at CIBC. Well, Mr. Doft, I might suggest that the reason it doesn't add up is because you're working the wrong equation. Wall Street doesn't equal Main Street anymore. The economy of product competition, which is the economy of consumer consumption and in turn the economy of advertising, has declared independence. Even when Wall Street was taking a tumble, I didn't see the correlation to an advertising drop. The ad drop, to me, was caused by a lack of corporate confidence in the ability to introduce new products and for consumers to snap them up. Now that confidence is back, and it has everything to do with no terrorism, no war in Iraq and a desire to get back to life in this country. Wall Street has to do with corporate results and those results have been driven by companies that respond to different cycles. Take the tech sector. I think that drop has been driven by too many companies chasing too few customers. That has nothing to do, once again, with Main Street. The ad business knows Main Street. That's where all good recoveries take place.

Put A Smile On: I don't pretend to have all the answers in the fast food categories. I do firmly believe however, that McDonald's breakfast sandwiches are one of the most underrated things next to Tim Duncan's basketball skills on the planet. That's as far as I go. I do ask this question: When McDonald's introduces a new slogan "I'm Lovin' It," have they really checked out what customers want from their restaurants? Or are they simply trying to keep some sales momentum going?

At The Buzzer: Who's your speaker? We're putting together a conference called Forecast 2004, scheduled for September 24-25. Instead of my esteemed colleagues and I sitting around a table trying to think of a good keynote speaker, why don't you guys tell us whom you would like to hear from? Any and all suggestions will be taken. You just can't nominate yourself.