Consumer & Market Trends

Comparing ad spend growth and consumption patterns in the alcoholic drinks sector provides a valuable lesson for all marketers – strong brands and careful targeting are essential for success.

If marketers can forget political correctness and see the world through women’s eyes, they will win over the most valuable market on earth, says Philippa Roberts.

Yakult’s launch may have created the pro-biotic drinks sector in the UK, but it no longer leads the market and could have to rethink its quirky brand image to win back consumers. By Martin Croft.

This week sees the release of a ranked index of the most valuable global brand properties, using ‘credit agency’ criteria which show that a well-known soft drinks giant definitely is ‘the real thing’

Children are much more comfortable with evolving technology than older generations. How they use it can teach us several lessons, says Marie Oldham.

Once again, online marketing is outperforming all other advertising sectors, overtaking national press in terms of adspend – and reaching half the spend on television. Yet while increasing numbers of brand owners are moving online with seeming confidence, they face new challenges. Brands may now be convinced of the important role the internet can play […]

Once behind the wheel, drivers are impressed with Hyundai cars, the problem is getting them in the door – hence a major campaign in presenting the marque’s quality credentials. By Robert Lester.

After Tesco set out it ethical trading plans last week, counting the carbon cost of food could become as normal as totting up the carbs – and more shoppers have the money and mind to buy ethically.

The abuse of Shilpa Shetty may have caused an outcry, but it reflects tensions in our wider socierty. It’s time we all did some navel-gazing, marketers included, says Tony Lit.

Despite a major celebrity-led ad drive last year, Gap, with its ‘basics’ selling point, is failling to grap shoppers. But plans for a UK-designed range could up the stakes for the retailer.

Media companies’ prospects for 2007 largely depend on the extent to which the drop in ad revenues is cyclical rather than structural. By David Forster.

Faced with the prospect of a substantial dent in profits following OFT investigations into the charges and penalty fees, banks and credit card providers need to rethink their approach to charging customers.

S GDA-based food labelling scheme used by some retailers and manufacturers, while helpful, lacks the directness of the traffic light system, says Gill Fine.

Marketers’ salaries rose by 12% in 2006 after several years of lacklustre growth, but life in the nation’s marketing departments is changing as middle-ranking managers exert more influence and conditions and perks mirror those across the Atlantic. By Hilary Hoolahan and David Reed.

The luxury brand suffered for its high-profile links with ‘chav culture’, but as sales pick up it faces controversy over plans to close a Welsh factory and move production to China.