Android tablets aren't selling well so far and the head of graphics chipmaker Nvidia says the problem is more than just pricing. "It's a point-of-sales problem. It's an expertise-at-retail problem. It's a marketing problem to consumers." And, adds Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia's CEO, "It is a price-point problem." Motorola said in late April that Xoom shipments hit 250,000, but that's way lower than the million iPad 2 tablets Apple sold in its first weekend on the market.

Application fees to schools like Harvard and Princeton can reach $90 a shot. That, and maintaining an aura of selectivity, may have something to do with why students get deluged with loving pitches from schools that have no intention to accept them. Jon Reider, director of college counseling at San Francisco University High School, and a former admissions officer at Stanford, tells students to view emails and mailings with a gimlet eye, especially when they come from Harvard. He calls their mailings "not honorable," saying Harvard knows most students it pitches don't stand a chance of getting in.

How best to do social media if you are a fashion retailer? Marketing minds weigh in with five suggestions: focus on engagement, not sales; develop a product-centric content strategy; allow for two-way dialogue; build your fan base; and let your Facebook strategy evolve over time.

Luxury cars in booming China mean a huge business opportunity for automakers selling there. General Motors' Cadillac brand is one of them. Unfortunately, people in the nation don't think Cadillac when they think luxury, according to one IHS Automotive analyst in China, Namrita Chow. Chow says the Chinese identify luxury with German brands Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW and think of Cadillac as a step down. Cadillac saw a 139% sales gain in the country last year, but that amounted to 17,000 vehicles. That is fewer than the sales of each of the top nine luxury cars sold in China, lead …

The retailer Nordstrom is introducing mobile checkout devices to stores nationwide this summer. The company's president, Blake Nordstrom, told shareholders at the annual meeting in Seattle that the company is testing iPod Touch devices in the city. Sales associates will use the Internet iPods to search merchandise and do credit-card sales in the stores. Ultimately, the company will roll out 5,000 of the devices to stores.

Marketers, advertisers and media buyers are looking at over-55 consumers after decades of focusing on 20-somethings and younger. Kellogg, Skechers, and 5-Hour Energy drink are a few of the brands looking to reach Boomers. Network executives plans to introduce shows created not just for Gen Y, but for older viewers, as well. Ad dollars will follow. Older people, after all, have more money now as the recession has made for high unemployment rates for younger Americans.

A theme at a conference organized by the Chartered Institute of Marketing's Food, Drink and Agriculture group is that marketers like Coca-Cola, Mars and Unilever are boosting spend on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other channels to target consumers on smartphones. The companies are spending less on traditional media to boost digital efforts. Rather than TV ads, they are using viral marketing. Speaking at the conference, Emma Wilson, integrated marketing communications director for Coca-Cola in northwestern Europe said, "We need to fundamentally change our thinking, and think about multi-screen formats."

Blogger Matt Heinz says tech startups face unique challenges when it comes to initial marketing. He writes that companies just starting out should avoid seven traps: hiring a PR firm too early; overthinking the brand ("I've seen countless startups obsess about their brand at the expense of the business," he writes); starting with a marketing budget (he says startups should begin with the idea that there is no money for marketing); taking strategy and tactical cues from competitors; letting interns drive the social media plan; allowing adversarial relationships with sales and business development; impressing board members and investors instead of …

Jeanette Morgan has been executive director of the Oregon Wine Board for six months, but is facing challenges that might seem more in line with the Silicon Valley tech-sector she left behind. The former vice president of global government affairs at National Semiconductor Corp. oversees marketing for the state's wines at a time when the weak economy is hurting sales of pinot noir, which is Oregon's main grape. One solution she has pursued is to create lower-price blends at $10 a bottle. Also, five of the wine board's nine members have left since she was hired last fall.

The Greater Mystic Visitors Bureau and the Eastern Regional Tourism District, which touts the Mystic Seaport, casinos and the Waterford Hotel Group, are focusing on online media in a new campaign. The effort will target Long Island, Hudson Valley, N.Y., New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston and Manhattan. The bureau will be looking for support from the state as a public partner, per bureau Chairman Steve Coan, president and chief executive officer of the Sea Research Foundation, the parent company of the Mystic Aquarium.