Will sexy ads 
sell to women?

Can they shift Chryslers or paperclips?

10 Mar 10
Sex appeal has virtually disappeared from US car marketing. So when models wearing metallic minidresses shared a stage with a Chrysler concept car at the Detroit Auto Show in January, some onlookers declared the display passé.

Our survey shows that Chrysler may be on the wrong road with the majority decision makers. cars and paperclips have much in common 

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Is OPI losing
its balance?
Nonsense editorials and
bigbox bias blow objectivity

9 Mar 10 (1100ET Updated and complete)                     
We have been big fans of OPI since inception almost 20 years ago. It became undisputed #1 in the OP market based on its controversial and well informed insights into leadership practices and big issues.

Over recent years it may have lost its edginess and become a slave to its sponsors and the bigbox players. This has been exemplified by various editions since May 2009. The criticism that OPI has hardly recognised the resurgence of the independent dealer was never better illustrated than the latest March issue.

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How to keep loyal 
customers satisfied
Communicating real value
convincingly and consistently

9 Mar 10 (Updated)

Customer loyalty, multiple sales channels and social media are just three challenges facing the retail sector. We pick up on a recent Marketing Week article and explore how advice from marketing experts may apply in the OP marketplace.

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Do premier brands justify premium status?
Shift in values turns spotlight on pretenders

7 Mar 10

A shift in consumer attitudes means many major brands may no longer justify a premium status. This may  open the way forward for smaller players to take the lead. We discuss similar attitudes in the OP market.

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Measuring online ad effectiveness
By Lucy Jermyn
6 Mar 10
Online advertising agencies need to focus less on impressions and more on serving the needs of their clients’ audience, according to John Burbank, CEO, Nielsen Online Division. Here are 4 ways to measure success.

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Emarketing Watch
User behaviour
tracking advice for OP dealers
New emarketing study shows
personalisation preferred
By Lucy Jermyn                                                  
5 Mar 10
Small-to-midsized business (SMB’s) marketers are primarily interested in segmenting emails by user preferences and behaviours, according to a recent study by GetResponse.

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Brand battlefield

When will leading OP brands react against bigbox private label drive?

5 Mar 10 (Completed 1400UK time; 0900 ET)

We read with interest an article in the UK’s Marketing magazine headlined ‘Premier Brands declares war on own-label goods’.  We wondered whether the time was right for  leading OP manufacturers and OEM’s to fight the relentless drive by bigbox players to boost private label sales?

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HP the world’s best corporate citizen?

CR magazine highlights
impressive credentials
By Lucy Jermyn
5 Mar 10
HP may not be tops on Greenpeace's Guide to Electronics, but the computing company has scored another honor in the sustainability realm.

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Enhance the
experience
4 ways to sharpen
competitive edge

By Lucy Jermyn.
4 Mar 10
During tough economic times, maintaining quality customer experiences is crucial to the survival of your business. Getting the right message across to your current and future customers will make or break your business.

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EconomyWatch

US productivity,

retail sales boost

Costco and Target showing positive market share gains…online soaring!

By Dominic Court PP Newsdesk
4 Mar 10

Great News! February same store sales gains at leading US retailers plus  productivity of U.S. workers kept surging in the fourth quarter as companies squeezed more from workers to boost earnings.

Online sales soared too, so expect new hires from summer onwards to boost capacity ahead of the back to business/fall period

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