January 1, 2000
Articles
Boxing Days
Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, MI, returns to in-pack premiums for the first time since 1995 with Sesame Street Mini-Beans, a line of 24 plush dolls that...
Wrapped Attention
Sometimes it still pays to think inside the box.New technology and twists on old tactics are driving promotional packaging. There are two varieties: Promos...
Clark Zones In: New c-store format plays up brands.
Clark Retail Enterprises, Glen Ellyn, IL, opens its newest convenience store format, Oh! Zone, this month in Normal, IL, with plans to add six stores...
ARCH ENEMY NO MORE
McDonald's Corp., Oak Brook, IL, acquired bankrupt food chain Boston Chicken Inc., Golden CO, for $173.5 million in cash and liability assumption. The...
Campus Web-Watching
Yes, students are starting to shop more online. But of greater interest to marketers is what their Internet exploits reveal about the consumer of the...
SPECTRA SPOTLIGHT: Sunscreen Slatherers
Spring Break is a big deal for Florida and MTV, but sunscreen marketers thrive instead on the constant reminders of nervous parents: "Don't go out without...
Why Branding Stinks
Branding bugs me. The term has become ubiquitous in business, where the brand is everything. The simple dictum is: You don't sell a product, you sell...
Maybe, Baby
The most fertile soil of Internet marketing lies in that vast land between "yes" and "no." That's the word from one of the early practitioners of permission...
The Mall, the Merrier
Pepsi-Cola Co. and Visa USA are shopping around.The two sponsor General Growth Properties' Cash Back for Schools program in 58 malls. Shoppers turn in...
Livin' the Retail Loca
Upside inside out. This past year in retailing was the crazy life. Major mergers, market shifts, banner changes, zooming numbers, swinging volumes - and...
Rules of Engagement
Client-side promotion people often voice similar complaints about promotion agencies. Brand managers will say that agencies don't do homework on the products...
Fashion Police
Consumers had a chance to turn personal bad taste into a fashion windfall in a promo designed to push digital pictures. Rochester, NY-based Eastman Kodak...
CONSOLIDATION
Aspen Marketing Group, Los Angeles, has purchased its first ethnic-marketing asset, Hispanic marketer Luna Bacardi Group of Santa Monica CA.The privately...
Ha-Lo Debuts Direct Unit
Ha-Lo Industries, Inc. is "e-transforming."The company last month announced an "aggressive new strategic platform to extend promo products marketing and...
Making Like a Family: CoActive knocks out walls between divisions.
The company formerly known as Inmark Enterprises, CoActive Marketing Group, thinks it has something to teach those giant marketing conglomerates.After...
Another Carlson Leaves the Nest: Geoff Gage opens his own agency.
Gage Marketing Group has produced a spin off the old block. Geoffrey Gage, son of chairman E.C. "Skip" Gage and grandson of Carlson Companies founder...
Radio Active
Radio networks are leading a throng of media companies elbowing their way into the promotion business. Are they providing clients with a new menu, or...
Crazy Quilt: Media conglomerates' marketing units mix assets and ideas.
American Suzuki wanted to use more than TV's "spots and dots" this year in introducing its new line of SUVs.The Brea, CA-based auto maker is giving dealership...
One Man's Junk...
..is another man's "pop-culture archive." In Alex Shear's world, branded products offer both a link to marketing's past and a bridge to its future.You...
The Secret Handshake
As the "Global Village" grows, consumers cluster around common interests. Getting a few coupons in the bargain doesn't hurt.Rosie O'Donnell can draw crowds...
Clubbed to Death
Consumers like to belong, but they're sick of frequent-shopper cards. There are better ways to retain loyal customers, says PreVision Marketing principal...
Loyalty Cards: Meanwhile, back in aisle five...
Don't throw your frequent-shopper card away just yet. Grocers are refining broad loyalty programs with clubs tailored to consumer segments. Ann Raider...
In Praise of Clutter
When was the last time anyone in promotion discussed strategy and didn't express a desire to "break through the clutter?"I can't hear the phrase without...
Monster Marketing: Pokemon is white-hot now. But will it be evergreen?
Thankfully, not every toy fad turns kids into knife-wielding, classmate-beating, larceny-committing fiends. Pokemon does, as anyone who has read a newspaper...
As Seen On TV
Simon Property Group and Turner Broadcasting System will launch an ambitious entertainment network in Simon's 175-plus malls as early as fourth-quarter...
Will Argentines See PromoRed?
No Limits launches an Internet bulletin board for Latin America.Buenos Aires-based promotion agency No Limits is hoping to show consumers that, when it...
Saved From the Shredder
A few tidbits of truth from the 1999 scrap heap - before we jump-start the shredder and begin a new millennium.FURLESS FREEBIES. McDonald's redefined...
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY TOOLS: JANUARY 2000
Gotta wear shadesJust when you thought there couldn't be one more place to hang P-O-P, somebody opens a window. Insert-A-Blinds are window blinds that...
COOL IT
Leave it to the Canadians to give ice a new twist. Toronto-based Octagon Industries is rolling out FrigoPub disposable refrigerators in the U.S. and Canada....
C'mon, Touch Me, Babe
I've long been a doomsayer on the topic of technology. And I'll admit that the reason is that I'm an anti-techie who'll never be able to keep up with...
Coupon Squeeze in California
Marketers can no longer give Californians the "gift" of coupons. A law passed Oct. 10 prohibits marketers from offering a coupon as a gift or prize if...
Sweeps Still Under Scrutiny
The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) will keep up the pressure on unscrupulous direct-mailers once federal legislation begins this year."We've...
Cause Celebre
Cone, Inc., the Boston, MA, cause-marketing expert, has been purchased by global ad giant Omnicom Group for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock. Cone...
PAT ON THE BACK
St. Louis-based Adamson broadened its horizons by acquiring Patrick Promotion, a local shop that had been part of the Brighton advertising agency. The...
MDC STRIKES TWICE
Toronto-based MDC Corp. acquired a 70-percent stake in marketing communications shop Fletcher Martin Associates, Atlanta, for $2.3 million in cash and...
LIGHTHOUSE GROWS
Lighthouse Global Network added to its design clout through the purchase of AAD (Associates in Architecture and Design), a Scottsdale, AZ, interior design...
