The good news: Magazine ad pages are actually up in the fourth quarter for the first time in a dog’s age. The bad news:Metropolitan Home won’t be around to enjoy it. Hachette Filipacchi Media just announced that it’s shutting down the shelter title following publication of its December issue, choosing to focus its limited resources on Elle Decor, its last remaining home-design magazine.  (more…)

To close out a week of coffee blogs, it’s interesting to consider the approach Starbucks is taking to combat the onslaught of Mickey Ds advertising. As Starbucks grew into one of the world’s best-known brands, it rarely advertised on television. It didn’t have to. But now, the honeymoon is over. It isn’t just that a “tall decaf cappuccino” sounds as common as coffee; millions of customers won’t shell out for one, and the chain has had to go downscale with combo meals and loyalty cards. Starbucks, with familiar products and major competitors, is now a mainstream brand with a mainstream brand’s problems. So shouldn’t it employ the mainstream marketer’s trustiest weapon, the big TV ad campaign, to lure customers back? Unfashionable as it sounds, TV is still the most efficient way to sell an everyday product to millions of people.  But Starbucks has its’ own plans and TV is not a part of it but a large newspaper (?!!!) campaign is.  (more…)

Whoever said mass marketing is dead never worked at McDonald’s. The master of the McBlitz is about to outdo itself with its long-awaited national campaign for its new coffee line, touted as the biggest launch in its history — no small feat for a company that regularly drenches consumers in marketing. ”I assure you that we’re going to be surrounding the consumer with very relevant messaging,” said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer, McDonald’s USA. McDonald’s understands that it faces a quality-perception hurdle with first-time buyers, so it’s focused on “making the product the hero” in TV spots with what Ms. Peleo-Lazar calls “chocolate-cake shots.” McCafe’s African-American and Hispanic campaigns reflect preferences based on consumer insights. African-Americans are more interested in sweeter beverages, while Hispanics tend to be coffee and espresso experts, so they need assurance on quality. In recent years, McDonald’s has been on a roll. Let’s see if they can steamroll the competition in a category where brand loyalty and quality are strong.  (more...)

The PepsiCo Americas Beverages division of PepsiCo is bowing to public demand and scrapping the changes made to a flagship product, Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. Redesigned packaging that was introduced in early January is being discontinued, executives plan to announce on Monday, and the previous version will be brought back in the next month. (more…)

Hulu is a new website that is giving Youtube some serious competition.  It offers commercial-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, Fox and many other networks and studios. The big lesson from Hulu’s success is that supporting streamed video with advertising, rather than charging for downloads, turns out to work very well. Hulu’s ads are few and short, with a subtle countdown timer that makes them even more bearable. In some cases viewers can even choose which ad to watch, so it is more likely to be relevant to their interests. And people tend to remember the advertisements they see on Hulu much better than they recall television ads so advertisers are pleased. Plus, any company that uses Alec Baldwin as an evil alien bent on taking over the world can’t possibly go wrong.  (more…)

As more companies target the growing U.S. Hispanic population, Hispanic marketers are trying to extend their sales to the rest of America. Take Goya Foods, the $1 billion U.S. Hispanic-owned food company. Founded in 1936 by Spanish immigrant, now it’s taking advantage of Latin food’s popularity to win new customers. Besides TV and print ads, Goya does what the company calls “integrations” — about 20 on English-language TV and 80 on Spanish-language TV last year — placing products in popular shows that drive traffic to its’ website. Goya’s sales grew about 10% in 2008, and the company is looking for new added-value products, such as low-sodium and organically grown beans, to boost that even further. Each year Goya launches hundreds of new products knowing that some will fail.  (more..)

Not exactly what you would expect. Both the Cardinals and Steelers put on quite the game.  Actually, it’s the advertising that has taken a thrashing. Most reviews the morning after describe the typically creative spots as anything but. Although the country’s circumstances are far different than in previous years, many of the more than 50 spots shown on Sunday would not have seemed out of place in any Super Bowl of the last decade or two. All the elements that are supposed to make for successful big-game commercials were displayed, over and over again, as if bonuses were being awarded on Madison Avenue for the least creative briefs.  (more…) 

The right combination of need and product can succeed even in tough times. Hitting the airwaves this fall with cheesy direct advertising and now with a waiting list, the quirky little blanket with sleeves has become the raiment of the zeitgeist, with more than 4 million units sold in just over three months and more than 200 parody videos on YouTube. Fox News honed in on a woman wearing a Snuggie as she braved the cold attending Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, five days after Ellen DeGeneres donned one on her daytime talk show. Ads tout the Snuggie as a way to cut heating bills and let folks curl up on the sofa with their hands free. With a growing number of consumers hunkering down and looking to save money, two Snuggies and two book lights for $19.95 is starting to look like a pretty good deal. (more…)

Coca-Cola is preparing to unveil a new global ad campaign with the tagline “Open Happiness.” The new slogan is set to figure prominently in advertising and could replace “The Coke Side of Life,” which was launched in 2006. That tagline has been the overriding theme for all of Coke’s efforts, including the award-winning “Happiness Factory. “ The direction seems to dovetail with that of rival Pepsi, which is running an optimism push. But the Atlanta soft-drink giant has long focused on a theme of happiness, with taglines such as “Have a Coke and a Smile” in the 1970s. But now, with consumers increasingly fearful about the economy, and dismal news in practically every industry, the timing appears right for a fresh, new campaign focused on happiness.  (more…)