Back To College Spending Stats

College students and their parents plan to spend $36.6 billion for the return to campus, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s a 3.6% increase over last year's spending, and more than double the NRF's projected $17.6 billion spending for the K-12 back-to-school season. This year's combined spending for back-to-college and K-12 back-to-school will rank second only to holiday spending.

The NRF expects spending on electronics (including flat screen TVs, Xboxes, iPods and notebook computers) to jump 27.5% to $10.46 billion, and spending on dorm furnishings to rise 5.4% to nearly $4 billion. Incoming freshmen will spend the most, averaging $1,112, mostly on electronics and dorm furnishings, and seniors will spend about half that, averaging $558.

Here's a link to some great charts/graphs showing 'who's spending what'.

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• A virtual shopping list of clients/prospects and categories to approach.
• Opportunity for second-hand stores?
• Close-out sales?
• Perhaps some discounting through Mix Marketplace.
• Malls/Shopping Centers.

Agencies See Surge in Online Revenue

Excerpts from: Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - August 25, 2006
by Heidi Dietrich, Staff Writer

Online advertising, just a tiny sliver of the ad business only a few years ago, is growing so fast that many local ad agencies now rely on it for at least half of their revenue.

The trend is seen around the country. Ad industry research firm TNS Media Intelligence reported this week that overall ad spending declined 0.3 percent in May as compared with a year earlier -- the first decline in four years -- but online spending rose 18.9 percent, to $793 million.

Advertising firms say clients now expect a multi-faceted campaign with online as one of the key components. Jim Copacino, president of Seattle-based Copacino+Fujikado, said ad firms and clients alike want to reach a consumer in as many ways as possible, meaning the combination of online and traditional media is inevitable.

Dave Remer, CEO and creative director of Seattle-based Remer Inc., said no ad firm could survive without Web expertise these days. "You just can't have an agency stop short of the Web," Remer said.

Online advertising has become particularly desirable to clients, ad execs say, because interactive metrics allow companies to know how consumers are responding to ads. Click-throughs and page views are immediate feedback for how a campaign is working.

"Online is hot because it has a lot better metrics than any other medium," said Tom Horton, CEO of Horton Lantz & Low.

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• Overall ad spending is down, but Online Ad buys are UP.
  
• Take Don along to help educate your agency clients -- THEIR Clients are asking for web/interactive, but many agencies aren't knowledgable enough to suggest effective strategies.
  
• If measurement is key, suggest clients use FanWord or MixWord.
  
• Copacino's quote in the article is dead-on -- it's the inevitable COMBINATION of mediums (Traditional and Online) that will make the difference.

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Boomers are a Booming Business Online

WashingtonPost.com (free registration required for access to the source article) reports that the Boomer generation is taking to the web in increasing numbers, and supplies info on how they are using features and service found online --

Half of all Americans over 60 years old use the Internet, while more than 80 percent of baby boomers are online. Nearly 21 million boomers and 7 million Americans born before 1946 have been online for more than decade.

Most older Americans use the Internet for e-mailing, but some users make travel arrangements, check news, and find health information online. Thirty percent of web-savvy boomers shop online a few times a month, the same percentage as younger generations. "Our goal for this study was to find different behaviors than conventional beliefs," said Mike Irwin, president at Focalyst, a market search company focused on older consumers. "The degree to which these Americans use the Internet is much greater than what most people would think."

Irwin expects to see older Americans to increasingly use the Internet for financial transactions and management as they become more confident in Internet security. Online social networks that have lured younger users may also become more popular with younger boomers.

Focalyst's findings are part of a larger survey studying the behaviors of older generations.

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• Excellent source material for calling on verticals mentioned in the article.
• Rebuttle statements for claims that the web is strictly for the young.
• Companies that train Boomers to use their online tools ahead of the competition will win.
• Create member-interactive social hubs on the web targeted to Boomers.

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EBay & Family Circle Small Space Design Contest

EBay and Family Circle magazine have joined forces on a contest that looks for a resourceful consumer who can redesign a small space using only items purchased on eBay.

Entrants must submit, in 250 words or less, their ideas about how to creatively redesign a small space using items purchased on eBay.com. A before picture must be included and the space to be redesigned can not exceed 150 square feet.

The eBay & Family Circle's Designing Small Spaces Contest can be entered at FamilyCircle.com/smallspace or at eBay.com/smallspace.

Click here for the full article

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• In what ways might we apply this to existing clients?
  
• Can we pair a prospect with an existing client?
  
• What if we took this concept outside of the home
  -- Garage makeover? Garden? Cubicle?

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Jeep to Muddy Up Consumers at State Fair

Consumers desperately searching through a three-foot-deep pool of slushy, slippery mud to find sticks may drive home a new Jeep. It's the brand's latest stunt to engage consumers and get them digging for a chance to win the grand prize.

On Sept. 29, the start of the State Fair of Texas, up to 120 randomly selected consumers who register at JeepStickInTheMudChallenge.com will participate in the Jeep Stick in the Mud Challenge to win the brand's first four-door Jeep Wrangler.
As reported in PromoXtra By Andrew Scott

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• Columbus has very active/passionate Classic Car content
• Concept for presence at Ohio State Fair? Tailgate?
• Doesn't have to be 'muddy' -- what about Hummers? Lambos? VW?
• Keep economy cars running around a track to see who gets the best gas mileage?
• Could you do it with motorcycles? Bicycles? Running shoes?

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Secrets of the Male Shopper

Great article in this past week's BWOnline on the topic of targeted males in your marketing. Advertising to men falls into more than the two cliched columns of the Metrosexual (fashion and 'product' obsessed) and the Retrosexual (sports and beer obsessed) -- they only account for about 5% of the male population on either side of the spectrum.

Here's how you reach the rest.

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• Appeal to their inner-geek
  Think Dyson vacuums and Bugaboo's new stroller
  
• Allow for Advertiser-Activism
  Today's males want to interact with their brands -- Just look at all the parody ads on YouTube
  
• Not just Quick-Buyers -- They are Browsers
  Men under 35 shop more like their sisters than their grandfathers
  
• Provide Content Camouflage
  Men's Health, Stuff, and Maxim -- all male mags, BUT -- two in every five pages pitch products. They are masks for men to shop without opening themselves to ridicule from their beer-buddies
  
• Make 'em Comfortable
  Most men might feel a bit out of place at salons and unisex spas -- but add alcohol and ESPN while they wait in queue for their pedicures and manicures, call it a "Grooming Lounge", and you just might have a $4-million dollar business like Washington DC's Michael Gilman and Pirooz Sarshar

KFC Cooks Up Moms Panel

Quoted from the article in BrandWeek:

"...KFC announced the formation of a panel made up of moms who will help guide the brand. The “KFC Moms Matter! Advisory Board” is designed to get the Yum! Brands-owned chain in touch with family needs.

Members will give their two cents regarding everything from new product ideas to trendspotting. The first order of business is creating an online community for moms that will go live next year. Offline, the Moms Matter group will meet twice a year, hold quarterly conference calls and host monthly dinner meetings in their hometowns.

The move mirrors McDonald’s “Global Mom’s Panel” which was announced in early May. The burger chain chats with moms from six countries about issues regarding the brand.

KFC received a blow in June when the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a suit against the chain. CSPI said, in a statement, the use of partially hydrogenated oil “puts customers at risk of a Kentucky Fried Coronary.” The suit aims to compel KFC to eliminate or disclose the use of “artery-clogging frying oil.”

Consumers didn’t seem to mind the health warnings and the chain had a strong year last year. U.S. sales were up 5.8% to $5.2 billion last year, per Technomic, Chicago."

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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:

• Use MIX 97.1 listeners to form a LOCAL panel of Moms
• Client and Moms could meet in RadiOhio conference room
• Send web survey to station eMail list
• Create a mobile text-message survey to poll opt-ins on client questions

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