recent Harris Poll survey finds that there is a sense of national pride when advertising emphasizes a product is "Made in America," and it seems to have results. 61% of Americans say they are more likely to purchase something when the ad touts it is "Made in America" and only 3% say they are less likely to buy it. 35% of U.S. adults say they are neither more nor less likely to purchase a product when an ad emphasizes it is "Made in America."

According to figures recently released by The Nielsen Company, global ad spending continues a steady climb to recovery in the first half of 2010. Advertising in the world's largest market is also seeing signs of growth, with advertisers spending an estimated $54 billion during the first half of 2010, a 3.8% increase in U.S. ad spending year-over-year.

According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, reported by Rich Morin, Sr. Editor, the Great Recession brought a mix of hardships for 55% of Americans, usually in combination: a spell of unemployment, missed mortgage or rent payments, shrinking paychecks and shattered household budgets. For the other 45% of the country, the recession was largely free of such difficulties. The recession officially began in December 2007 and was recently determined to have ended in June 2009.

According to Empathica Consumer Insights research of more than 15,000 Americans and Canadians focused on banking, consumers' preferred channels, and bank loyalty factors, 41.4% of consumers indicated their preferred banking channel was the Internet, followed by Branch at 32.6%, ATM at 23.3%, and Mobile and Telephone a distant fourth and fifth at 1.5% and 1.3% respectively. Yet, when a problem arose, consumer preference drastically shifted.

According to Mintel research, a cup of coffee is a daily occurrence for 66% of Americans, but sales have been relatively unchanged in recent years. Demand for coffee is strong among those aged 45+, and over-55-year-olds are the fastest growing segment of coffee drinkers. In order to sustain long-term growth, says the report, marketers need to court their younger customers. The study found that while 40% of 18-24-year-olds believe coffee improves their concentration, only 27% drink coffee on a daily basis.

According to Nielsen's new Connected Devices Playbook survey of more than 5,000 consumers who own a tablet computer, eReader, netbook, media player or smartphone, 39% of iPad magazine readers say the ads they see are "new and interesting" (compared to 19% of all connected device owners), while 46% say they like ads with interactive features (compared to 27% of all connected device owners) and 49% say they are more likely to engage with an ad that includes video (compared to 39% of all connected device owners).

A survey by Internet Retailer, conducted in August with readers of its IRNewsLink e-newsletter, in conjunction with survey firm Vovici Corp., of 149 chain retailers, web-only merchants, catalog companies and consumer brand manufacturers, finds that today only 8.8% of retail organizations operate a mobile commerce site, but 75.9% of retailers expect to launch a mobile commerce site. Of those, 31.9% expect to be selling through mobile phones in under six months and another 52.6% in less than one year.

A new paper from E-Tech shows that the U.S. Hispanic growth is no longer fueled by the traditional immigration flow from the past, but by new births. The US is now the 2nd largest Hispanic population in the world, according to an analysis and report by Multicultural Marketing Resources, showing the projected totals by 2050 to be over 131 million. According to this number, Hispanics will then constitute 30% of the nation's population.

According to new E-Reader Household data from Scarborough Research, the nine million adults within the four million households that own or plan to buy an e-reader device, 78% of adults in E-Reader Households read a newspaper in print or online during the past week, versus 71% of all adults. They are 11% more likely than the average adult to do so.

According to NRF's 2010 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, Americans will spend $5.8 billion on the holiday, with average households spending $66.28 on costumes, candy and decorations, up from last year's $56.31 and comparable to 2008.