• Ad Age, AP, Monday, January 5, 2009 11 AM

Welcome to 2009! Now, let's turn to all the grim news (tinged with glimmers of optimism) that piled up as we were rejuvenating over the weekend.

First, the AP reported that manufacturing activity -- from cigarettes to aluminum smelting -- hit its lowest level in 28 years in December and that more top brands likely would disappear in 2009, just like Mervyns, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Aloha Airlines and Skybus did this year.

But even before being informed that fewer goods would be in the pipeline than Wall Street seers were expecting, Ad Age informs us that economic projections were weighing heavily on marketing executives.

More than half of the marketers surveyed by the Marketing Executives Networking Group say their budgets will be cut in the coming year, and another 44% say they'll cut or freeze hiring. "The overall trend result is a back-to-basics strategy by marketers," Beth Snyder Bulik writes. The "most important" marketing concepts will be the customer satisfaction (79%), customer retention (76%), marketing ROI (65%) and brand loyalty (61%).

On the positive side, nearly three-fourths think spending on research and development will stay the same or increase. Spending on market research is also expected to stay the same or increase, according to two-thirds of respondents .

Read the whole story at Ad Age, AP »