• BMW Talks Alter Egos To Affluents For 6 Series
    BMW is launching a short film series, "Alter Egos" to promote its new 6 Series car to the White Party set. The sequential films star Donna Karan, Ed Norton, Kevin Bacon, Glenn O'Brien, Tory Burch and David Yurman, and are about the dichotomy between their public lives and their private passions. I haven't seen them, but I'm guessing the Kevin Bacon film will be about music. Anyway, the films roll out on the Plum Television and Online Network, which is a local market broadcaster exclusively in affluent areas like the Hamptons, the islands of Cape Cod and the usual Rocky …
  • Google Speeds Web Site Page Load Times
    Sounds a bit futuristic, but marketers know the speed in which Web site pages load can influence quality scores and, in turn, impact the price of keywords in paid search campaigns. Google Thursday rolled out Page Speed Service, an online program that automatically speeds up the load time of Web pages. Gaining the speed requires companies to sign up for the service and point their site’s DNS entry to Google, according to Google Engineer Ram Ramani. He explains the Page Speed Service grabs content from servers, rewrites pages by applying Web performance best practices, and serves them to searchers …
  • Nintendo Slashes 3DS Price
    Nintendo will drastically cut the price of its 3DS handheld gaming system, cutting $80 off the retail cost, the company announced Thursday. Effective August 12, the system, originally available for $249.99, will be priced at $169.99.  “For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, in a statement. “We are giving shoppers every incentive to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games.” Since the system launched in the U.S. on …
  • Nielsen: Majority Stream Netflix To TV, But Hulu To PC
    Streaming media platforms are changing the way people watch TV, and the platforms people use to do it. According to a new study from Nielsen, the majority of Netflix users stream to a TV screen, but half access Netflix via a game console (Nintendo's Wii, Sony's PS3, or Microsoft's Xbox Live). By contrast, the mast majority (89%) of Hulu users stream TV content directly on a computer. One-fifth of Hulu users and 14% of Netflix users also report that they stream by connecting their computer to the TV," Nielsen says, adding, "Other over-the-top, Internet-enabled devices, such as Roku …
  • Starcom Taps Psycho Baby's Hoffman As 'Experience' Chief
    Starcom USA just named Jonathan Hoffman to the new post of Chief Experience Officer, which the agency stated makes him responsible for, "idea generation and experience platform development within the media and emerging technology landscape." Hoffman, who has been consulting Starcom for six months, is the founder and a partner in Psychobabyonline.com, a Web site that merchandises "cool baby clothes" online. Previously, he was president-chief creative officer of Interpublic's Campbell Mithun unit. Before that he was executive creative director at Starcom sister agency Leo Burnett. Operating out of the agency’s global headquarters based in Chicago, Hoffman reports …
  • Back-to-School Outlook: Parents Wary of Pricing
    When parents start their back-to-school shopping next month, look for little clouds of inflation fears hovering over the lunchboxes and loose-leaf paper. A new study from Deloitte finds that while 86% of the adults in its recent survey recently plan to spend at least as much or more this year, they are ultra-aware of rising prices, both at the pump and at the grocery store. In fact, inflation was listed as the top concern, with 72% mentioning higher food prices, and 70% citing higher energy prices. Concerns about the job market came in a distant No. 2, named …
  • Twitter Appoints VP Marketing And Brand Strategist
    Twitter announced Monday naming marketing veteran Pam Kramer as the company's first vice president of consumer marketing. Kramer comes to Twitter with time served at MarketTools, Lending Club, and GreenRoad. She has nine years experience at E*TRADE, serving as the company's chief product officer and then chief marketing officer, where she led a 150-person marketing team. Joel Lunenfeld also joins Twitter as director of global brand strategy. With experience at agencies, he brings 12 years in the digital ad space, serving most recently as the CEO of Moxie Interactive.
  • Maybelline, Target Give Great Lash A Facelift
    Maybelline and Target are partnering to introduce three specially designed versions of the classic Great Lash Mascara, and will promote the limited-edition products via Facebook and upcoming fashion events this fall. Starting with the basic pink-and-green packaging that has been used since the No. 1 brand launched 40 years ago, Maybelline invited designers Max Azria, Tracy Reese and Vivienne Tam to each give the little tube their own spin. (Reese's, for example, is bold and floral; Tam's includes the Chinese symbol for "lash.") Maybelline, the official cosmetic sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, says the designs "represent the spirit …
  • Study: Consumers Outsmarting Higher Food Prices
    There's not much consumers can do to avoid the distinctly higher prices they're faced with at supermarkets, but a new study from Deloitte shows they're not paying more without a fight. "I was surprised to see that consumers are treating grocery shopping as a sport now," Pat Conroy, Deloitte's vice chairman and U.S. consumer products practice leader, tells Marketing Daily in an email. "They are no longer feeling like victims and instead have a mindset that "I can beat you at your own game when it comes to shopping in spite of you raising prices and decreasing package size." …
  • Verizon Reports Profit On Wireless Gains
    Verizon Communications on Friday said it added 2.2 million wireless customers including 1.3 million contract subscribers during the second quarter, aided by the iPhone and growing smartphone adoption. That helped the telecom company report a profit of $1.6 billion, or 57 cents a share, up from a loss of $1.2 billion, or 42 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue increased 2.8% to $27.5 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of 55 cents on revenue of $27.4 billion. In its wireless business, smartphones in the second quarter were 36% of Verizon’s retail contract customer phone base, up from 32% …
« Previous EntriesNext Entries »