• New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post , Friday, October 24, 2008 10:47 AM

Good, hard, actionable marketing news has been hard to come by all week. The business pages have been dominated by (poor) earning results, (dire) forecasts, (glum) predictions and (rueful) confessionals, such as Alan Greenspan's Thursday that he was "wrong on regulation ."

That doesn't mean you haven't been busy out there, of course. This morning's advertising columns in the Times and Journal take a similar tack -- which they (surprisingly) seldom do -- by rounding up a bunch of campaigns that appeal to the consumer's inner penny pincher.

"An Old Buzzword Is Back: Bargains," blares the headline on Stuart Elliott's column. "Marketers seeking to draw the attention of budget-conscious shoppers read like a Who's Who of Madison Avenue," he writes. "Among them are Bayer, ConAgra, Home Depot, Kraft Foods, McDonald's, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Toyota Motor, Wal-Mart and Yum Brands." Included in the piece are de rigeur warnings about being sure to maintain long-term brand equity while you're slashing prices.

"Marketers Rethink Promotions To Accent Value," proclaims the Journal . Andrew LaVallee's story features enticements from Holiday Inn, TiVo and Frontier Communications, a phone company based in Stamford, Conn. And, yes, be fore-cautioned that "experts warn that discounts and other price-based promotions can 'train' consumers to avoid paying for a product or service when it isn't on sale."

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