SHOPTIMISM by Lee Eisenberg, Author of THE NUMBER

Barbie meets Betty, Ken meets Don

Lee Eisenberg — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:39:56 +0000

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

The Perils of Multicultural Marketing

Lee Eisenberg — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:41:28 +0000

Americus 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

Lee Eisenberg — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:46:14 +0000

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

Lee Eisenberg — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:22:42 +0000

The 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.

Getting Rippled

Lee Eisenberg — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:28:29 +0000

Thanks to loyal reader Yale Hollander for calling my attention to the sweet and bouncy Ripple commercial below. Contrary to the mood expressed in this spot, Ripple belonged to a category of beverage known as “street wine”, also referred to as “slum wine,” “ghetto wine,” or just plain “hooch.” Other examples included Thunderbird and Night Train Express. Unknown to me was the fact that the marketers of Ripple, made by E & J Gallo, had ever schemed to position the wine as remotely acceptable to, say, a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner, as shown here. Ripple’s alcohol content was considerably higher than that of respectable wine — notwithstanding the fact that the label read “light wine” and the commercial winks that the brew packs “twice the pleasure.” Needless to say, efforts to position Ripple as a suburban-friendly vintage proved unavailing.

Answer to yesterday’s news quiz

Lee Eisenberg — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:17:42 +0000

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