During a recent briefing for investment analysts and the business press, Robert Coen projected that total national ad spending will rise 5.2% to $153.06 billion in 2003, with network cable expected to advance 10% to $13.28 billion. The current issue of Universal McCann's Insider's Report highlights Mr. Coen's presentation at the conference. The report is prefaced by saying that in 2004 the U.S. economy should exhibit solid sustainable economic growth. A return to strong market competition across all products and services and for most types of marketing communications efforts is most likely.

InternetRetailer reports on a study by WebTrends/Net IQ Corp. and Drilling Down that a surprising 52% of marketers recently surveyed don't currently measure customer retention. Only 28% look at repeat visit and purchase rates, only 16% segment customers based on the retention-specific metrics of frequency and latency, and only 3% do detailed cross-channel marketing analysis, according to the survey of more than 500 respondents.

According to data recently released from "Children, Families and the Internet," a survey by Grunwald Associates, more than 2 million American children ages 6 -17 have their own personal websites. This figure represents fully 10 percent of the 23 million kids who have Internet access from home today -- a threefold increase since 2000.

According to recently released research from global marketing research firm Ipsos-Insight, American downloaders are embracing fee-based digital music acquisition and owning portable audio devices in growing numbers.

According to the StressPulse survey by ComPsych Corporation Employees in the category of "high stress" have increased by 15 percent. The survey revealed more than 29 percent of employees come to work five or more days a year when they are too stressed or distracted to be effective - a 10 percent increase over six months ago. In addition, the survey showed a 13 percent increase in 'lack of job security' as the main source of stress.

To keep up-to-date on ever-changing American demographics and lifestyles, here are some useful government web sites to review:

Boston's NPR News source, WBUR.ORG, broke into the Arbitron Internet Broadcast Ratings ranked as the number 15 Internet Broadcaster and Sales Network.

In a recent study, Ipsos-Insight notes that while most consumers plan to buy smaller-ticket consumer electronics like digital still cameras and DVD players, the increase in the number of those who say they will buy bigger-ticket consumer electronics is notable. In addition, findings from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), cited this past week in eMarketer's article, "Caring for Consumer Electronics Customers," confirm those of Ipsos.

The growing online community of visitors to personals sites consists of Internet savvy adults, using the Web in every way imaginable.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey, released in summary by NewStrategist, Americans spend 67 percent as much eating out as they do buying groceries.