What's in Store: Dave's Take on the Retail Pet Pound
CM Plus chatted recently with Dave Ratner, the "chief instigating officer" of Dave's Soda and Pet City, an Agawam, MA-based chain of pet supply stores (that, yes, also sells soda). ...
Meow Mix: This Cat Companion Just Isn't Feeling the Love
There are brands of food that we regularly buy, simply because (a) the cats like them, or (b) the vet suggested them. But despite all the times I've mailed or e-mailed in my contact information in the hopes of getting offers, coupons or whatever, nothing much ever came of it. Likewise for the brand of premium kitty litter we've used for over a decade....
The Katzenjammer Vids: Bad Marketer, Bad Marketer
As it happens, the howling and mewing elicited by two commercials were from man and animal in equal amounts. The first spot, in the "shoulda known better" category, comes from PetSmart....
Wonderful Web Works: Animal Nonprofits Do Good Deeds On- and Offline
For many folks, tis the season to give to charitable causes. This month, we look at the Web sites of several well known animal nonprofits, to see what they're doing online....
Litters, We Get Litters: A Few Final Scratchings
Sixty-three percent of U.S. households — 69.1 million homes — own a pet, and 45% own more than one, according to a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association....
Fruit for Thought
Before we even spoke with Cathy Fultineer, executive vice president, sales and marketing for Harry & David, we knew the answer to our first question. She had to reschedule the interview twice, because the holidays are definitely the busiest time of year for the Medford, OR-based food and gift marketer. ...
Cups of Cheer
Sure, as usual, this year Starbucks changed its coffee cup color to red to signal the start of the holiday season. But it went beyond cups this year with ItsRedAgain.com and the accompanying Cheer Pass campaign, an effort to spread holiday good will to customers and encourage them to pass it on. Brad Stevens, vice president U.S. marketing (favorite holiday drink: peppermint mocha) talked with CM Plus recently via e-mail about the Cheer Pass initiative. ...
A Trip to Santa's Village
Sure, you know what Santa Claus does in December. But did you ever wonder where he goes in the off-season? You can always find him at Santa's Village, a Jefferson, NH Christmas-themed amusement park. ...
Dance: 10; Looks: 3
The innovative minds at Canada Post, the Canadian mail system, had a good idea: Take a dozen popular catalogers and feature their wares in a single mailer, which would be sent to homes across the Great White North in time for the holidays....
Walking in a Web Wonderland
Tis’ the season to hook your marketing wagon to the holiday star, so this month we decided to check out the online tie-ins – or lack thereof – for several mainstream holiday campaigns....
Stocking Stuffers
Verbal abuse by shoppers has led to an increase in the need for acute-stress counseling, according to ComPsych, a provider of employee assistance programs....
The Candyfreak Speaks
So you think you like candy? Have you eaten a piece every day of your life? Author Steve Almond has, and lived to write about it. ...
Those Mounds are Mine, Kid
My three-and-a-half-year-old son Jacob is quite excited about Halloween, partially because he gets to dress up as a robot (Cyborg from "Teen Titans") but mostly because of the CANDY....
Craptacular Marketing from Mars Inc.
A funny thing happened on the way to the confectionary: Sweets manufacturer Mars Inc. launched an ad campaign and forgot to sell the candy....
Click or Treat
If Kit Kats and Hershey Bar's aren't posh enough for your ghosts and goblins, you might want to try going a little more upscale for spooky sweets. ...
Oh Sugar, Sugar
Candy and gum ranked third among food categories in sales in 2005, according to the National Confectioners Association. ...
Beckett Steps Up to the Plate
Very often, people outgrow the things that seemed crucially important when they were kids: building models, collecting baseball cards, riding horses. Putting aside the question of whether that's a good thing, the same can be said of companies: sVery often, people outgrow the things that seemed crucially important when they were kids: building models, collecting baseball cards, riding horses. Putting aside the question of whether that's a good thing, the same can be said of companies: sometimes the platforms and features that served them well at start-up just don't satisfy their needs as they mature: sometimes the platforms and features that served them well at start-up just don't satisfy their needs as they mature....
Take Me Out to the Mail Game
A few winters ago—in the wake of the New England Patriots Super Bowl win and the Red Sox World Series victory—a friend outside the marketing world asked me if the local teams' good fortunes had any impact on direct marketing response rates in the region....
Peyton’s Place
Here’s a bit of unsurprising news for Sunday afternoon television enthusiasts: Indiana Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is the National Football League’s “Most Marketable Player,” according to a survey of sports marketing and media executives....
Basic Black and Team Spirit
The rivalry between New England and New York sports fans is well documented. If only because of where I was born (Rhode Island) and currently reside (Massachusetts), I'm part of Red Sox Nation. ...
Victory Lap
For this winter's Super Bowl XLI, Doritos is skipping the celebrity commercial route and inviting consumers to create their own ads celebrating their love of the tortilla chips. ...
Making School Cool
For many teens and pre-teens, school supplies are a way to express themselves. And back-to-school can be a time to show the world that their personal style has evolved over the summer....
Book Report
To a kid who likes to read, one of the most exciting days of the month at school is when the Scholastic Book Club fliers are distributed. CM Plus recently chatted with Judy Newman, president of Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic At Home about how the Internet is helping the book club model evolve, why the company welcomes competition and the ongoing allure of the club format....
How Many Crayons Does One Woman Need?
It's been a very long time since September meant back-to-school for me personally. And my children are still too young for Labor Day to mean the end of playtime....
A Long Way from Rydell High
When it comes to pitching "return to school" merchandise, marketers have overlooked an elementary lesson: Know Your Market....
