• iPhones, Samsung And Walmart Dominate Loyalty Ranking
    A new ranking of the brands that inspire the highest level of customer loyalty puts Apple's iPhone—even with its well-publicized tech glitches—in the No. 1 spot, followed by Samsung's handsets, and Walmart. And by category, cosmetics and retailers inspired the most loyalty, according to the 10th annual top-50 Brand Keys Loyalty Leaders, an annual survey by Brand Keys. "Brand loyalty is driven by emotion, but a little less so as the economy gets better," Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys founder and president, tells Marketing Daily. "People are wanting to engage with brands, but in a meaningful way—sometimes marketers mistake entertainment …
  • Princesses And Pumpkins Top Costume List
    Expect your friends to show up as witches, vampires and pirates, your kids as princesses and Spiderman, and your dog to don a pumpkin or devil suit, according to the National Retail Federation's ranking of hot Halloween costumes. The survey, conducted by BIGResearch and based on responses from some 8,000 adults, estimates that about 4.3 million little girls will go the princess route this year—the sixth consecutive year as No. 1. New to the kids' list this year are Buzz Lightyear (about 648,000 kids) and Harry Potter characters (459,000.) For adults, nurses—which dropped off the list last year—are back with …
  • Lincoln Uses Mad Man To Launch New Ad Push
    Goodbye Major Tom, hello John Slattery. Ford's Lincoln division has a new ad campaign starring the Mad Men actor that introduces a new tag-line, "Smarter Than Luxury. " The campaign debuts on Saturday with a raft of TV spots that feature the 2011 Lincoln MKX and MKZ Hybrid. The ads star actor Slattery. The spots, breaking during the Ryder Cup golf tournament on NBC, Slattery is shown walking around, driving and interacting with the car, all while his voice-over plays. "We chose John for his authentic, real-world appeal," said Connie Fontaine, Lincoln communications manager, in a company release. "He …
  • Autotrader Focuses on Women In "Purse Powers The Pedal" Sweeps
    Autotrader.com is launching a social-media sweepstakes program offering a trip to Los Angeles through the "Purse Powers the Pedal" Sweepstakes. The program, which runs from Sept. 30 to Oct. 20, targets women who, per Autotrader, are the sole buyers of more than 50% of all cars sold in the U.S. The program is meant to address womens' skittishness about the dealership experience, as the firm says 75% of women "Don't feel certain or sure of themselves when visiting car dealerships." The sweeps are meant to raise awareness of Autrader's "Roadmap to Car Shopping Success," a shopping guide eveloped …
  • Kohl's, JCPenney, Borders Set To Expand
    More retailers are getting back to building. Kohl's says it is opening 21 new stores in 15 states, as well as a new customer service center in San Antonio. And JCPenney says it is beginning a five-year drive to expand in underserved markets, starting with three new stores. It also says it has begun a major renovation program, including 76 stores this year. And by 2014, the Company plans to complete major renovations at a total of more than 375 stores. And Borders says it will open 25 seasonal Borders Express stores, which will open Oct. 25, with Halloween themed …
  • Report: Pitaro Exiting Yahoo
    Yahoo's revolving door is spinning again, with Jimmy Pitaro, the Web porta;sl VP of media, set to leave the company soon, according to a report in the WSJ's BoomTown blog today. Yahoo veteran Pitaro oversees key properties including News and Finance and has played a key role in expanding the company's video offerings. Yahoo, which is holding an Advertising Week event in New York Wednesday featuring Pitaro, declined to comment on the BoomTown report.
  • It's Official: AOL Acquires TechCrunch
    Hometown Huntington Beach, Calif., boy TechCrunch Founder Michael Arrington is now a rich man. AOL bought TechCrunch. PaidContent reports TechCrunch will remain in San Francisco as a wholly owned AOL business unit. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, who flew out to San Francisco at the last minute, signed the contract with Arrington and CEO Heather Harde on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt—upstaging SF Mayor Gavin Newsom, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and others.
  • Most Consumers Say HFCS OK In Moderation
    New Mintel survey data show that 64% of U.S. adult consumers currently viewing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as "OK in moderation." Still, the results are not by all means positive for the sweetener, revealing a high degree of public confusion and ambivalence. Such confusion was cited by the Corn Refiners Association in its petition to the Food and Drug Administration to change the name of HFCS to "corn sugar," filed in mid September. According to Mintel, nearly half (46%) of consumers say that they don't know enough about the sweetener to say whether it is good or …
  • Twitter's Costolo Says Brands Will Spend Millions on Twitter
    Twitter COO Dick Costolo said at the MIXX IAB conference that he sees TV spend moving to social apps. and that the company will "very soon" see advertisers spending millions on the social platform Costolo says Twitter gets 370k new users per day. "We grew 30% in Mexico in one week," he says, adding that engagement on Twitter is "orders of magnitude" above that on other media. the company is touting Promoted Tweets at the IAB this week, and costolo says the product, which moves advertisers position on search lists to the top can bring 5% engagement rates for …
  • Mobile Local Ads To Hit $2B By 2014
    U.S. mobile local advertising revenues will increase from $213 million in 2009 to $2.02 billion in 2014, a compound annual growth rate of 57%, according to a new forecast from to local media research firm BIA/Kelsey. The company predicts location-targeted ads will command premiums over non-local advertising, as a result of  higher immediacy, consumer buying intent and conversion levels. "As we've seen in the online space over the past decade, tools will be introduced to democratize and localize the mobile ad buying process," said Michael Boland, program director of BIA/Kelsey's mobile local media practice. "Google has already begun to …
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