Archive for the 'Updates' Category

Barbie meets Betty, Ken meets Don

Mattel is bringing out Barbie-like characters based on the Mad Men crew — yes, there’s a Joni, too.

The Perils of Multicultural Marketing

tacobelldogAmericus Reed, a Wharton School prof who was interviewed in Shoptimism, has fresh insights into how marketers can either catch fish in the ethnic bucket or repel customers  by making wrong assumptions,  or by merely patronizing. Remember Taco Bell’s Chihuahua?  Conclusion: ethnic identity comes in subtle shades.

Stop the Presses

The Times reports on a new study that confirms what we already know: a lot of supermarket purchases are unplanned, and that we don’t remember where the money went.

Big Bytes

dataThe Economist has a nifty cover package on the profusion of electronic data, including two pieces that help illuminate how the Sell Side uses huge reservoirs of info to track customer history and behavior and sharpen its online marketing.

Answer to yesterday’s news quiz

The three chains with the most stores in Manhattan: Starbucks, Subway, and Duane Reade (soon to swallowed by Walgreen’s, maybe).

Pop news quiz!

Quick, name the three chains with the most Manhattan stores. (Answer, tomorrow.)

How Can Toyota Get Out Of This Mess?

img_1272_toyotaNobody has a clue, least of all esteemed professors at the Harvard Business School, who utter all the right platitudes, signifying little or nothing. It would seem that Tiger Woods has a far better shot at brand reclamation (mea culpa press conference upcoming on Friday).

Hershey’s Air Kisses

Have you noticed that candy is getting smaller and smaller?

Soup and the Human Brain

An interesting “neuromarketing” piece in today’s Wall Street Journal details packaging changes Campbell’s is making to try to heat up sales — the category is currently tepid, at best.

OK, One More Thing About The iPad

I vowed I wouldn’t read or run any further comments on Jobs’ roll-rout but this piece by Brent Schlender struck me as especially well-reasoned.