• automotive Ford Puts Pedal To Metal To Drive Buzz For Fusion by Karl Greenberg

    The program is intended to be a fairly aggressive gambit to get vehicles out to non-owners and their comments on the car into the blogosphere. "Like Fiesta Movement, it's another example of how confident Ford is in marketing now," says Jeff Eggen, Ford car experiential marketing manager. "We want real customers behind the wheel to experience [the cars] and tell the story." ...Read the whole story

  • social media New-Media Users Expect Brands To Engage by Sarah Mahoney

    A just-released study from Cone Inc. reports that among new-media users, a staggering 78% of them interact with companies or brands via new media sites and tools, up from 59% the year before. And these users are conversing with brands more often: Some 37% say they do so at least once a week, up from one in four when Cone did the study last year. ...Read the whole story

  • beverages Milk's 'White Gold' Stars In Faux Rock Opera by Karl Greenberg

    "What we are hoping is that by engaging teenagers and moms online and on TV we can get them to have such a high-quality interaction with milk and White Gold that when they walk into a retail outlet, in the back of their minds will be White Gold's guitar riffs and how wonderful milk is," says the executive director of the California Milk Processor Board. ...Read the whole story

  • retail Luxury Shoppers Are Addicted To The Deal by Sarah Mahoney

    "In this new economy, luxury goods will go back to where they were in the 1960s and 1970s, where they appealed to the very top end of the population," says Patricia Pao, CEO and founder of the Pao Principle. "Luxury-goods companies are going to have to adjust to that idea that they're precious, and very special [and] not for the masses." ...Read the whole story

  • retail Lancome Launches IPhone App And Blog by Tanya Irwin

    The impetus for the iPhone app is Declaring Indigo, the new Autumn/Winter 09 makeup collection by Artistic Director Aaron de Mey. It gives users an innovative and different way to try out the "avant-gardiste," according to the company. ...Read the whole story

  • research Attraction To 'Do Good' Brands Is Escalating by Aaron Baar

    "Social purpose is the new social status," says Edelman's Mitch Markson. "[Marketers] have to figure out how to build a bridge between [CSR] and the brand." The study finds 61% have purchased a brand that supports a good cause even when it wasn't the cheapest option, and 67% said they would switch brands if another brand of similar quality supported a cause they were interested in. ...Read the whole story

point-of-view Starbucks' Via Strikes A Chord With Marketers by Kate Newlin

Here's my take: 1. There's a PowerPoint someplace in Starbucks' headquarters that outlines what percentage of the U.S. population relies on instant coffee. ...More

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