Bloggers Be Warned:

FTC May Monitor What You Say

Thinking about letting a big-name blogger test-drive your new hybrid in the hope he’ll post a glowing review about it, or maybe sending some beverage products to an influencer, hoping she’ll spread the word?

You might have to think twice, if the Federal Trade Commission follows through with its proposed plan to start regulating viral marketing and blogs.

As part of its review of its advertising guidelines, the FTC is proposing that word-of-mouth marketers and bloggers, as well as people on social-media sites such as Facebook, be held liable for any false statements they make about a product they’re promoting, along with the product’s marketer. This could present a significant issue for marketers, including the likes of Microsoft, Ford and Pepsi, who spend billions on word-of-mouth and social media. PQ Media projects that marketers will spend $3.7 billion on word-of-mouth marketing in 2011.

Chasing Consumers

…  Into Planes, Hotels and Cruise Ships A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

In their quest for new captive audiences, out-of-home marketers are leaving no tray table unturned on planes, resorts or cruise ships. These venues, once largely ad free, are becoming the specialty of a growing number of marketing communications agencies like Brand Connections. Recently bought by private equity firm Veronis, Suhler Stevenson, the $40 million-a-year company is now expanding even further into the space.

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Public Might Cut Cord on Landlines, Cable TV

As Consumers Take Hard Look at What Subscription Service to Drop, Their Choices Could Reshape Marketing Landscape

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — Agencies, media, telecoms and other marketers are pondering the implications of an impending shakeout where, after years of piling on one subscription fee after another, consumers take a harder look at what they really need.

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Marketing the Big Apple: New York City & Co. A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — New York, the city that never sleeps, is also a tireless marketer of its own image. Two years ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg combined Gotham’s marketing, tourism and partnership efforts into a single new entity called New York City & Co. Staffed by former advertising agency professionals, it has since harnessed some of the Big Apple’s greatest assets to tell the city’s story to the country and the world.

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Publishers Warned of Future Consumer Revolt Against Paper

A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — On top of all its other current woes, the U.S. magazine business needs to be worried about a consumer backlash against paper-based publishing products. That was the message delivered to last week’s American Magazine Conference by Canadian Forest Products Association President Avrim Lazar. He predicted that environmentally-minded Americans will increasingly focus on the connection between the paper-making industry and the problem of global climate change.

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Consumers: In Local Banks We Trust Overall Confidence in Industry Plummets to 21%, Lowest in Decades

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — Who has faith in big banks? Not many consumers these days, and that’s driving people into the arms of their local institutions.

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Consumers Curtail Consumption

Exclusive: Surveys Show Americans Texting Less, Brown-Bagging More

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The financial meltdown that’s shaken the American economy to its core has already affected consumer spending, and in the coming months will make consumers more tightfisted when it comes to eating in restaurants, traveling and shelling out for big-ticket items.

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Tampa Bay Rays Get a P&G-Style Makeover Arsenal of Marketing Concepts Includes ‘Brand Pillars’ and Consumer Touchpoints

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Under the guidance of a former Procter & Gamble brand manager, the Tampa Bay Rays have gone through the sort of transformation typical of deodorant sticks and shaving razors.

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Consumers Become Kindle Ambassadors

Amazon Enlists Volunteer Army of Enthusiasts to Demonstrate Device

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — On an Amazon message board, hundreds of threads have cropped up with show-and-tell requests and offers for the Amazon Kindle reader. Kindle enthusiasts are volunteering to demonstrate the device to prospective owners as part of Amazon’s See a Kindle in Your City marketing program. Think of it as real-world social networking. Or taking online consumer product reviews — a concept Amazon championed early — to the in-person level.

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Never Count Out Those With Gray Hair Being Out of Touch Has Nothing to Do With Age

Small Agency Diary

There’s been some banter in the industry pubs lately about an uncommonly large number of older professionals being put out to pasture because they just don’t get it anymore. While this is true in certain cases, I suspect that when examined critically, this blanket assertion is someone’s attempt to sell papers.

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Mattress Makers Get in Bed With Leo Burnett, Starcom

 

 

Trade Group Urges Consumers to Replace Mattress More Often in Bid to Spur Sales

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Now here’s a novel brief: A trade group has hired advertising and media agencies to make the point that its products are less durable than consumers think. The International Sleep Products Association, which represents mattress makers, has tapped Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett and Starcom as its creative and media agencies of record in a bid to get consumers to buy new mattresses more often.

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Sauza Says Adios to Publicis New Agency Sought for Beam Brand As Tequila Category Prospers

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Sauza tequila is splitting with its longtime agency, Publicis Worldwide. The No. 3 U.S. tequila brand, marketed by Beam Global Wine & Spirits, is conducting a search for a new agency, a spokeswoman said.

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High-End Beauty Brands Holding Up Well

Consumers Still Willing to Splurge a Bit on Cosmetics, Fragrances

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — A ray of light has emerged from the economic gloom in the least expected of places: Prestige and other high-end beauty and personal-care brands have been outperforming their mass peers of late, confounding assumptions that consumers trading down would hit high rollers the hardest.

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Agency Execs Mired in Malaise Survey Reveals Most Believe 2008 Is a Lean Year; Emerging Markets Offer Hope

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The ad business, with the exception of emerging markets in Asia and Latin America, has hit upon rough times, based on a recent poll of top agency executives. Of the more than 80 agency CEOs from around the world who participated in the survey, 60% said economic conditions in their markets had worsened, compared with a year ago. North American agency CEOs had a slightly dimmer outlook, with 65% saying their regional economy has taken a turn for the worse since last year.

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‘Junk Mail’ to the Rescue in New Orleans

Valassis Database a Boon to Repopulation Efforts

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — To people who have no use for junk mail, what’s happening in New Orleans may come as a surprise. Direct mail could help rebuild a city still struggling to recover as the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches. The Crescent City has found a novel use for the massive database used by Valassis Communications’ RedPlum direct-mail operation.

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Target to Put More Focus on Value Retailer Fears Cheap-Chic Not Cheap Enough for Consumers in Down Economy

NEW YORK (Adage.com) — For years Target’s cheap-chic reputation has made it a darling of the fashion world and a favorite among shoppers of all stripes. But now, in the face of a tough economy, its well-cultivated image is turning away consumers who believe its trendy assortments and hip marketing mean steeper prices.

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Miller Lite Brings Back Classic Tagline

Revival of ‘Great Taste, Less Filling’ Echoes Sibling Coors Light’s Single-Message Push

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — In a move it hopes will restore growth and distinguish it from its new, faster-growing stable mate, Miller Lite is returning to the “great taste, less filling” tagline that launched the brand during the 1970s.

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How to Avoid Eco-Fatigue Not Only Marketers: Media Also Needs to Do Its Part to Keep Consumers From Burning out

CMO Strategy

People are getting sick. A wave of green fatigue, eco-exhaustion and environmental anxiety is spreading among consumers. Overwhelmed by choices, disgusted by corporate hype and living with the fear their efforts will never be enough, people are tuning out, say the experts. So, what should media and marketers do now?

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