marketing

Markets end in negative territory--again

Duck and cover. Wall Street ended in negative territory Friday, with the markets falling across the board for the fourth consecutive day. Although by the close, the drops were modest.

Investors held out hope at the beginning of the day, as stocks climbed higher in early morning trading. By mid-morning, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 were all headed south. By the close however, the major indexes had fallen less than 1 percent. The Dow ended the day at 12,099.30, a drop of 59.91 points, while the Nasdaq closed at 2,340.02, down 6.… Read more

'Cloverfield' arrives--and it's a scream

The monster has landed and you should be very afraid. The new low-budget monster movie Cloverfield arrives in movie theaters Friday after months of secrecy and carefully leaked information and trailers. Its viral marketing caused an online sensation in the tradition of The Blair Witch Project and Snakes on a Plane. Prior to its release, fans looking for information about the movie were sent on a chase around the Web to phony sites containing clues to other sites. Director Matt Reeves calls it "a monster movie for the YouTube generation."

Cloverfield reviews are coming in and are generally … Read more

Retail pushes by Dell, Acer breathe life into U.S. PC market

Despite some anticipation of weakening U.S. consumer confidence, PC shipment growth here nearly doubled between the third and fourth quarters of 2007, to reach 8.8 percent, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker report released Wednesday.

Dell actually expanded its market share in the fourth quarter, after a string of disappointing quarters while it reshuffled its ranks and its product lineup. Dell used momentum derived from its new retail push to drive its shipments up by more than 15 percent in the quarter--growth far ahead of the rest of the U.S. The Texas PC maker finished … Read more

'OneLessDesk,' for the ultimate Mac-head

Apple doesn't need any accessories to validate its station as a cultural mainstay. But if it did, what better indication could there be than a desk designed specifically for the Macintosh?

Heckler Design says its "OneLessDesk" has multiple uses but still saves space as the lower "deck" can be stowed under the top when not in use, according to BornRich. Can it be used for non-Apple computers as well? Of course, but that wouldn't take advantage of the ready-made branding that comes with any product claiming to be made for the Mac. And when … Read more

IBM wins big in emerging markets

For all the doom and gloom in technology spending in the United States and Western Europe, IBM's results suggest that there's a world of opportunity in emerging markets. IBM reported stellar earnings - three days ahead of schedule - but it's where the growth is coming from that is most interesting. Writes the Wall Street Journal:

IBM Chief Executive Officer Samuel J. Palmisano, said in a prepared statement that the improvement was "led by strong operational performance in Asia, Europe and emerging countries." IBM said it will report revenue for the quarter of $28.9 billion, up 10% from the year earlier level and about $1 billion above analysts' estimates. About six points of the gain came from currency translation, reflecting the decline in value of the dollar against the Euro and other currencies.… Read more

Study: $90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10

In a study that could make marketing managers and salespeople rub their hands with glee, scientists have used brain-scanning technology to shed new light on the old adage, "You get what you pay for."

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology and Stanford's business school have directly seen that the sensation of pleasantness that people experience when tasting wine is linked directly to its price. And that's true even when, unbeknownst to the test subjects, it's exactly the same Cabernet Sauvignon with a dramatically different price tag.

Specifically, the researchers found that with the higher … Read more

Sharapova now Sony Ericsson's ambassador

She's turning 21 in April this year, so it's apparently time for a change.

Ending her three-year run with Canon, Maria Sharapova today pledged her allegiance to Sony Ericsson. Besides undertaking a series of new consumer-brand campaigns off the court, the international tennis star will also be working with the Japanese-Swedish company's designers on "a range of products and accessories," according to the press release.

And guess what phone she's using now? The Sony Ericsson W350i. What did you expect?

(Source: Crave Asia)

CES: Brand-o-rama

If you're a brand devotee to a certain electronics brand then CES and other trade shows are for you, stop your career now and get a vendoring job. Usually, most retailers usually group products by type, not brand. Thus breaking the brand's presence up in stores thus forcing companies to package their products even more boldy. Reverse that and you have CES, so here you can really buy into the 'lifestyle' of the brand (or are subjected to it before you move on to the next booth). So you have newly emerging companies like Sorny along side Sony … Read more

Microsoft's Stay-At-Home Server campaign deserves a time-out

Q: How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: That's not funny.

OK, getting that out of the way, let me tell you about the greatest marketing campaign since "The Wow Starts Now."

You see, Microsoft, known for its riotous sense of humor, thought it would try its hand of parody, creating a Colbert-like investigative report about whether servers belong in the office or in the home to promote the Windows Home Server. There's a whole series of larger than life posters here at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The problem is, the attempted parody ultimately reinforces all the stereotypes about moms, domesticity, and the so-called "Mommy Wars" that writers and activists are working really hard to erase.… Read more

RenGen: a generation of cultural consumers?

Isn't it interesting how trends are made? "One of the things I like about trends is that they seem so easy -- Blue is the color of 2008! GenY likes health food!" observes Stacey Gillar. Coupling the disparate ("Chic Trash"), pushing an already extreme concept to the extreme ("Radical Transparency"), or simply announcing the advent of something "new" ("Nouvelle Vague," "Nouveau Niche," etc.) are some of the flourishing categories. Or you simply repackage an old concept.

"RenGen," short for Renaissance Generation and the title of … Read more