Despite a multitude of efforts, research, and time, marketers are still falling short in their attempt to target one of the most coveted and hard-to-reach consumer groups: Generation X. The group remains so elusive that even defining it becomes problematic. The U.S. Census Bureau says Gen Xers were born between 1964 and 1984, while others use cutoff dates of 1961 to 1981. Still others use the much narrower definition of birth years between 1965 and 1979. Regardless of when they were born, there are somewhere around 80 million of them out there, which makes them highly sought after by marketers. …

Everyone knows men and women are different in more ways than one, and that’s especially true when it comes to buying wine.  Marketers should be aware that not only do women account for almost 64 percent of all wine consumers, but they also take a completely different approach when selecting a bottle.  Whereas men often choose a wine that they believe will impress someone by its vintage, women are more likely to think about personal recommendations and who will be sharing the wine with her. In this excerpt from her book Marketing to Women, author Marti Barletta says women will …

McDonald's is coming clean. The fast food marketer will start listing nutrition information on its packaging, beginning this week at its 26 restaurants in Torino, Italy, where the Winter Olympics are being held. For example, consumers will now know from looking at the wrapper that a Quarter Pounder with Cheese has 730 calories, 1,330 mg of sodium, 160 mg of cholesterol and 40g of fat. The move is designed to help consumers make more informed choices about their diets, said Mike Roberts, McDonald's president and COO. "We listen closely to our customers and understand how important transparency is to them." …

Wendy's International is setting its marketing sights n a younger crowd. In a new, $25 million advertising push, the fast food marketer says it will target 18- to 28-year-old consumers who abandoned the chain after it raised its prices. The effort's theme is "Do What Tastes Right," and TV spots feature singing and dancing Wendy's employees encouraging consumers to personalize their burger orders. "For us, one size doesn't fit all," Wendy's spokesman Bob Bertini said. "We said we need to increase our relationship with the (18- to 28-year-old) group. We've taken steps to do that." Wendy's has also returned its …

General Motors is cutting its 2006 national marketing budget by more than $200 million, according to a report in Automotive News. Quoting unnamed sources, the trade magazine said the giant automaker's national advertising budget would total about $1.3 billion this year, in which the company is planning several crucial product launches and renewed attempts to promote GM's new price strategy. The report said the cuts will affect older vehicles and brands like Buick and Pontiac as GM focuses its advertising efforts more on product launches that include SUVs and pickups. The moves come on the heels of a disastrous 2005, …

Brand extensions can be deceiving for marketers. On the one hand, they appear to be the quick and simple way to ease the constant pressure for growth. After all, they are built on established brand equity and the infrastructure for production and distribution are already, for the most part, in place. But everyone knows that looks can be deceiving, and in this comprehensive look at the perils of brand extension Clayton M. Christensen, Scott Cook, and Taddy Hall examine common mistakes marketers make when launching brand extensions. They point out that not only are most extensions failures in their own …

A former director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection has been named to oversee a review of voluntary guidelines for children's advertising that will impact scores of marketers of children's products. Joan Z. "Jodie" Bernstein will head the review, to be carried out by the Children's Advertising Review Unit, the industry's self-regulatory arm. Bernstein was selected to head the review because "she's well respected as a champion for consumers," said James R. Guthrie, president of the National Advertising Review Council, which oversees CARU. The 30-year-old guidelines came under fire two months ago when a national science panel …

Retailer J.C. Penney is embarking on one of the most extensive (and expensive) marketing campaigns in the company's 103-year-history.  The lynchpin of the effort is a 15,000-square-foot temporary store in New York's Times Square that will highlight the store's new apparel and home-furnishing brands.  A new advertising campaign is also planned that will make its debut on the Academy Awards telecast in early March. The TV spots will be available for Web replay on America Online and Yahoo, where users will be able to click and buy the merchandise shown in the ads. In addition, a print campaign will follow …

Blogs are turning traditional marketing models inside out, confounding advertisers who can't figure out of they're evil incarnate or a communications godsend. On the one hand, they can expose a company's vulnerabilities to public examination and ridicule. But they can also provide free, word-of-mouth advertising as well as valuable customer feedback that helps marketers establish real relationships with their customers. "This is the way of the future," says William Hewitt, CMO of Novell, a software developer. "It's not just the blog itself, but the whole notion of enhanced collaboration with your customers." Blogs are forcing marketers to give up their …

Brand building isn't what is used to be. These days, CEOs expect brand building to be more than just getting consumers to be aware of--and then purchase--a product. Today's CEOs expect brands to build the business, to generate higher revenues and profits. The only way to achieve those lofty goals, according to Association of National Advertisers President-CEO Bob Liodice, is to reinvent brands as a way to keep them relevant to the ever-changing needs and desires of consumers. And brand reinvention begins with innovation. As an example, Liodice cites the success of the Apple iPod. The digital music player "has …