Continuing Confidence Last week we posted the University of Michigan Consumer Confidence measurements, and shortly after, the Conference Board released data that supports consumer confidence in spite of the fact that more Americans today, than a month ago, believe that the terrorist attacks of September 11th are pushing the United States into a recession recession. A special survey was conducted on both September 18th and 19th, as well as October 18th and 19th. Over the last month, the number of Americans who say they are not going to postpone plans to buy cars, homes or other large-ticket items has …

Habits Are Hard to Break In addition to other positive news in recent studies, a telephone poll conducted by Frost & Sullivan has revealed that U.S. consumers do not anticipate any significant changes in their discretionary spending patterns over the next six months. Results of the poll indicate that consumer (discretionary) spending priorities have been, and will continue to be, travel and entertainment. "These responses support what I believe is a logical premise, which is that people's lifestyle and family antecedence are deeply held and not easily swayed," says Laurel Donoho, Director of the Consumer Group at Frost & …

Consumer Expectations Rebound The Washington Post, quoting the preliminary results of a University of Michigan survey, found that consumer sentiment rebounded in the first part of (October) from a fall after last month's terrorist attacks. "While the early October reading is only slightly above the average level recorded last month, it represents a welcome halt to the free fall in confidence," said Richard Curtin, director of the university's surveys. The University of Michigan's preliminary reading of its sentiment index for this month was 83.4, up from the final September level of 81.8, and almost back to the pre-attacks figure …

Newspapers Making a Move Lucia Moses, of Editor and Publisher, has done an excellent job of summarizing an informal survey of newspapers across the country, and recognizing formal studies by leading research companies, to conclude that if the spikes dailies experienced in the days after the terror attacks, could if sustained, put the industry on a growth track for the first time in 40 years. Of 40 dailies surveyed by Editor & Publisher in a 10 day period, 34 reported that their circulation had grown, with many reporting increases in the 0.5% to 1.5% range. She says that there …

Worldwide Online Holiday Sales Despite difficult economic conditions and the events of September 11, worldwide online holiday shopping sales are projected to reach $25.3 billion this year, a 39% increase over last year, according to a recently released study conducted between September 26th and October 7th, by Gartner, Inc. "The increase in online holiday shopping sales will be driven by increases in online users, buyers, and most importantly, the experience level of online buyers, which our research indicates is the single most important predictor of online spending," said Mike Cruz, senior analyst for GartnerG2. GartnerG2 research presently shows …

Soft Magazine Ad Rates A recent article by Stuart Elliott in the New York Times notes that the economic slowdown that has diminished (advertising) demand among marketers, and being made worse by the effects of the terrorist attacks, has executives at media companies scrambling to determine what to charge for ad pages and commercial time in the fourth quarter and the start of 2002. Mediaweek reported last week that the big broadcast television networks are trying to avoid steep cuts in commercial prices, as well. The result, says Joe Mandese, editor of Media Buyer's Daily, " is proving to …

Direct Marketing in Action According to DMA studies, and the work of independent survey firms released recently at the annual Direct Marketing Association fall conference in Chicago, 45% of respondent revenue was generated through direct marketing during the first nine months of 2001, as opposed to just under 36% last year. Richard Levey reported that last year, about 1/3 of the respondents' marketing budgets went to direct marketing, compared with nearly 43% during the first three quarters of 2001. And, last year, only 18% reported spending at least 80% of the budget on DM, versus 30% this year, with …

ANA Doesn’t Expect Ad Growth on Net According to a survey from the Association of National Advertisers, major companies are unlikely to increase their Web marketing spending this year. The industry association said its fifth annual Internet advertising study found that more advertisers turned to the Web for branding goals, with more than half of the respondents saying they used online advertising for developing or improving brand loyalty -- 10 percent more than the previous year. "As the use of Web sites, extranets and intranets matures, we see increased emphasis on them as brand building and communications tools," …

TechTrends For Planners According to an article by Paul Desmond of Network World, there are several significant communication developments that will impact long range marketing planning in the ensuing years. He considers some of these to be the bandwidth boom; wireless; outsourcing; and computer power. Demand for dedicated bandwidth will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 32% from 1998 through next year, according to consultancy Vertical Systems Group. The bandwidth boom shows no sign of abating. Companies have announced the building of an all-IP transatlantic cable that would boost capacity by more than one-third vs. current …

Holiday Online Shoppers Looking For Promotions A random national telephone omnibus survey sponsored by Advertising.com, and conducted by International Communications Research, concludes that though consumer confidence has, 75% of shoppers recently surveyed expect to spend at least the same amount of money for the 2001 holiday season as they did last year- with 15% of them saying they plan to spend even more. All of the surveys were conducted between September 28 and October 2, about two weeks following terrorist attacks on the nation. As the holiday season approaches, more than 25% of consumers will be shopping online. Approximately …