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Panasonic orders staff to buy �1,000 in products – Times Online

Mark Blei — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Its electronic gadgetry is gathering dust on the shelves of high street stores, nobody is buying new fridges and the mountain of unsold plasma televisions is growing by the day.

However, in desperation, Panasonic has hit on the perfect counter-attack against the consumer slump: it has ordered every member of staff to go out and buy £1,000 of Panasonic products.

Large swathes of corporate Japan are expected to follow suit, either by directly commanding or indirectly “pressuring” employees to divert part of their salaries towards the goods that their employers produce.

Toyota has already tacitly applauded a “voluntary” scheme in which 2,200 of its top brass decided to buy new Toyota cars, and the president of Fujitsu recently e-mailed 100,000 staff and gently pointed out how nice it would be if “employee ownership rates” of Fujitsu PCs and mobile phones were a little higher.

The 10,000 Japanese staff affected by Panasonic’s unorthodox strategy do not have long to consider their purchases.

Management insists that staff buy their Panasonic goods — whether they need them or not — by the end of July.

Upper-level managers, all of whom have been “encouraged” for years to fill their homes with Panasonic goods as a symbol of corporate loyalty, are being asked to spend at least 200,000 yen (£1,500).

A Panasonic spokesman said that because the “Buy Panasonic” request was made to management-level employees, the company did not expect refusal rates to be high.

Read The Rest—> Panasonic orders staff to buy 1,000 in products – Times Online

Time Warner, TWC Report Q4 Losses on Writedowns

Mark Blei — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:53:00 +0000

Momentum for premium services such as DVRs has continued to decline.

NEW YORK Time Warner and Time Warner Cable on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter losses on $24.2 billion in impairment writedowns to account for the lowered value of assets.

TW, which expects to soon spin off TWC, also projected a 2009 profit for its remaining content businesses of 66 cents per share.

Read The Rest–> Time Warner, TWC Report Q4 Losses on Writedowns

WPP’s Sorrell: 2009 ‘Very Tough’, Zuckerberg Made Mistake On Beacon

Mark Blei — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:38:00 +0000

No surprise that Martin Sorrell sees the next few months as “very tough,” but the WPP ad group CEO also reckons the financial markets will improve in the second half of the year, leading to a “real-world” recovery in 2010 (via Bloomberg).

By that time, though, the advertising world will have changed: “Old media will never be the same again or as profitable again,” he told an International Advertising Association gathering in London yesterday (via Campaign mag).

Read The Rest—>Very Tough’, Zuckerberg Made Mistake On Beacon

Digg Sheds 10% Of Workforce In Push For Profitability

Mark Blei — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Social news site Digg Thursday confirmed that it plans to lay off 10% of its 75-person workforce as part of wider efforts to make the company profitable in 2009.

The cutbacks come amid slowing audience growth at Digg and the broader pullback in online advertising that has led to staff reductions at hundreds of Internet and high-tech companies in recent months.

Among the steps toward achieving profitability outlined by Digg CEO Jay Adelson on the company blog Thursday were hiring a direct sales team, rolling out new features to expand its user community, building on its “advertising infrastructure” and ad partnership with Microsoft, and maintaining ongoing sponsorship opportunities.

Read The Rest—>Digg Sheds 10% Of Workforce In Push For Profitability

Two-Thirds of Small Businesses Go it Alone for Marketing

Mark Blei — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:22:00 +0000

Over half of small business owners say generating new customers is a challenge, yet nearly two-thirds do not use outside support for marketing assistance, according to a survey of US small businesses from the Yellow Pages Association (YPA).

The recently released “Small Business Marketing Poll,” was conducted by research firm Issues and Answers and undertaken to better understand the marketing preferences of small business owners, MarketingCharts reports.

Read The Rest—>Two-Thirds of Small Businesses Go it Alone for Marketing

Ailing Economy Could Fuel Online Growth In '09

Mark Blei — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:55:00 +0000

The continued growth of new media coupled with the ailing economy spells both opportunity and adversity for the coming year, according to IPG Emerging Media Lab’s team of digital experts.

“We look at this next year as difficult, but filled with opportunities,” said Lori Schwartz, director of the Media Lab, during a press call on Thursday. “Online advertising is expected to grow, because marketers are looking for more accountability.”

That growth, however, also creates new challenges for agencies, as new media and technology companies like Microsoft and Google seek a larger share of online advertising and consumer attention. IPG, for one, plans to work as closely as possible with these potential competitors.

“Rather than approaching it from a fear point of view, we plan to keep our hands in the pie with them,” Schwartz said.

Read The Rest—>Ailing Economy Could Fuel Online Growth In ‘09

Mobile Advertising in a Down Economy

Mark Blei — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:15:00 +0000

ADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — Advertising and marketing executives in companies of all types and sizes all over the world are reconfiguring their advertising spending in order to accommodate tighter budgets, smaller margins for error, and less room for experimentation.

All forms of advertising are likely to see a decrease in spending. But there is a bright spot in the midst of all the doom and gloom: mobile advertising.

Read The Rest—>Mobile Advertising in a Down Economy

Ad spending falls 1.7% in first nine months of '08

Mark Blei — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:44:00 +0000

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Total advertising expenditures from January to September 2008 fell 1.7% compared with the first nine months of 2007, with ad spending on pace for more declines as the fourth quarter winds to a close, according to a report issued Thursday by TNS Media Intelligence.

“Media ad spending, which began tiptoeing into negative territory in early 2007, has crossed an inflection point in the past six months as the economic downturn has become more widespread,” said Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research at TNS Media Intelligence, in a statement.

“Preliminary data from the fourth quarter indicate a further slackening of the overall advertising market,” Swallen continued. “Consumer spending levels, which drive the corporate profits that in turn fund marketing budgets, remain a serious concern and will have a strong influence on the depth and duration of the current difficulties facing advertising.”

Not surprisingly, the decline was led by a 10% drop in newspaper advertising, as compared with the first nine months of 2007. Local newspaper ad spending fell 10.2%, while national fell 8.9%. Spanish-language newspapers saw a nearly 13% decline in ad spending.

Radio advertising suffered the second-largest drop, at 8.8%. National radio spot ad spending plunged 11.1%, while local spending tumbled almost 9%. Network radio programming saw a decline of just 2.6%.

In magazines, ad spending fell 3.9%. Within the category, the biggest decline was seen among business-to-business magazines, where spending dropped nearly 7%. Local magazine ad spending fell 6.5%, and consumer magazines saw a 3.8% drop-off, triggered by decreased advertising across the apparel, direct-response and pharmaceutical segments.

Read The Rest—>Ad spending falls 1.7% in first nine months of ‘08

NBCU Reorg Could Alter Fate of Network, Insiders Believe

Mark Blei — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:41:00 +0000

NBCU is undergoing a restructuring at its studio and programming divisions. Angela Bromstad, most recently president of NBCU’s London-based international production unit, will head scripted programming for broadcast and the Universal Media Studios unit.

Former Dancing with the Stars producer Paul Telegdy will take over on unscripted and specials programming, writes Mediaweek.

Read The Rest—>NBCU Reorg Could Alter Fate of Network, Insiders Believe

BDO Seidman: 35% of Retail CMOs Cut Holiday Spending

Mark Blei — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Only 25% of retailers say their holiday ad spend is up this year; 35% say they have cut back ad spending as a result of the weak economy, while 43% say their holiday budgets are flat, according to a new study from BDO Seidman.

Of the CMOs surveyed for the study, 57% say they will spend the majority of their budgets on print advertising. 21% will spend most of their budgets on broadcast, while 19% will focus online, writes MediaPost.

Green marketing is still hot, with 43% saying they are increasing their focus on green products, up from 37% last year.

CMOs expect that Black Friday sales will grow 1.2% this holiday season. Online sales for Cyber Monday are expected to grow by 2.4%. Internet sales and gift card sales are expected to fare much better for retailers. CMOs are projecting internet sales to grow 8.0% and gift card sales to grow 5.1% this holiday season.

Read The Rest—>BDO Seidman: 35% of Retail CMOs Cut Holiday Spending