With worrisome signs about the economy looming over the heads of consumers like dark clouds that just won't go away, new research from Publicis Group's MediaVest shows that parents are much more focused during this back-to-school shopping season on basics like clothing and supplies with less interest in spending on bigger ticket items like computers, phones and software. And most back-to-school shoppers will be paying strict attention to the prices they pay and say they'll be on the lookout for advertised sales, discounts and rebates, the research found. Last year, when there was generally more optimism that the bad economic …

Horizon Media has hired Julie Berger as West Coast digital vice president-managing director. Berger, who will operate out of Horizon's Los Angeles office, joins from Interpublic's Initiative unit, where she was vice president-digital group account director.

Negative consumer reviews online are becoming increasingly important to would-be buyers, according to a new study, with 80% of consumers saying they have changed their mind about a purchase after reading a thumbs-down report. That's up from 67% last, according to the new 2011 Online Influence Trend Tracker from Cone Inc., a Boston-based cause-related marketing firm. "Negative information is now just as powerful as positive information," Mike Hollywood, Cone's director of new media, tells Marketing Daily. "For marketers, that means that leaving your head in the sand and just letting people make negative comments, isn't working any longer. …

CNN said Wednesday it had acquired Zite, the company behind the personalized iPad magazine and news app of the same name that competes with Flipboard. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Zite app pulls together content tailored to a user’s interests from a variety of sources including news articles, blogs, social media and videos and presents it in a magazine-like format. CNN said it would continue run Zite as an independent, standalone business and that CEO Mark Johnson would continue to run the company’s day-to-day operations in San Francisco. He will report to KC Estenson, …

Brian Monahan, executive vice president-managing partner of Interpublic's Magna Global unit, and former head of its Media Lab, has been elected to the American Advertising Federation's 2011 Advertising Hall of Achievement, which recognizes outstanding young advertising professionals. Fellow 2011 inductees include: Jonny Bauer, head of strategy, Droga5 Carolyn Everson, vice president-global marketing solutions, Facebook Eric Hadley, general manager-worldwide marketing BING and MSN Amy Powell, executive vice president-interactive marketing & film production, Paramount Pictures Iain Tait, global interactive executive creative director, Wieden + Kennedy Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO, President and Founder, Chobani, Agro Farma

Havas, the Paris-based advertising holding company reported first half revenues of just over $1.1 billion, up 5% with a 10% gain in consolidated net income to $80 million. The company reported organic revenue growth of 5.6%, which was low compared to the other holding companies for the same period. Publicis Groupe, for example, reported 7.1% organic growth for the first half. The comparable figures for Interpublic Group and Omnicom were 6.8% and 6.2% respectively. And last week, WPP reported organic growth for the period of 6.2%. For the North American region, Havas reported revenues of $364 million, up about 3% …

WPP is negotiating with Asatsu-DK Inc., Japan's third largest ad shop to buy its minority stake in a digital ad shop Digital Advertising Consortium for an estimated $43 million, the companies have confirmed. While the holding company cautioned that due diligence was still proceeding, WPP indicated it expects to "execute a legally binding definitive agreement" by the end of the week. Last week ADK confirmed selling off a smaller portion of its holdings in the digital shop for around $17 million. If WPP completes the transaction it would have an ownership interest in the firm of a little under 19%. …

While Best Buy, Sears and Target came up tops in a recent survey on successful cross-channel selling, retailers are surprisingly behind the curve in what works and what doesn't, according to a new survey. The study looked at the capabilities of some of the largest cross-channel retailers (excluding Walmart), and found that just 12%, for example, had the capability to access a customer's pending web order in store. "And two years ago, when we did this study, only a small percentage of retailers allowed customers to purchase an item online and return it instore," Mark Fodor, CEO of …

Grey Goose vodka has, for the fifth year, signed on as promotional partner for the 2011 U.S. Open Tennis Championships in Flushing, NY. The company will have a themed cocktail called the Honey Deuce for purchase in souvenir cups featuring previous US Open champions at bars on premise throughout the tournament. Grey Goose says it has also commissioned an eight-foot tall replica of the cocktail's souvenir cup filled with official US Open tennis balls (meant to evoke the drink's melon balls.) A text-based promotion lets consumers attending the US Open guess the number of tennis balls in the cup.

The Corporation for Travel Promotion has hired advertising and marketing veteran Chris Perkins Chief Marketing Officer. Perkins will oversee the development the non-profit's tourist promotion and marketing strategy. Just last week the company, with a marketing budget of $200 million, selected WPP's JWT as its agency of record, with MediaCom handling media chores. Previously Perkins was president and CEO at Blitz, the Boston-area-based agency. Earlier, he served at Arnold Boston and Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco. He's worked with brands such as Wendy's, RadioShack and McDonalds. Melissa Lea has been promoted to succeed Perkins as president at Blitz.