The Big Fat Marketing Blog

With more young couples dining out with friends instead of entertaining at home, it’s not a surprise that place setting icons like Lenox and Waterford Wedgewood have recently filed for Chapter 11, or that Oneida today announced it would close its outlet stores.

But even with the cocooning trend back, and more consumers potentially throwing dinner parties, I just don’t see fine china as a priority purchase for most people in the near future. more

With more young couples dining out with friends instead of entertaining at home, it’s not a surprise that place setting icons like Lenox and Waterford Wedgewood have recently filed for Chapter 11, or that Oneida today announced it would close its outlet stores.

But even with the cocooning trend back, and more consumers potentially throwing dinner parties, I just don’t see fine china as a priority purchase for most people in the near future. more

Maybe finding just the right marketing campaign can overcome any sales resistance. There are certainly those who believe that the right combination of words, images and offers can sell anything to almost anyone.

But Hyundai Motor America isn’t of that school of thought. The U.S. division of the South Korean auto maker thinks that when economic times get so uncertain that people are worried about keeping a roof over their heads or food on the table, they need more to motivate them to buy a car than an “employee sale price” and the usual TV shots of the Pacific Coast Highway in the rain.

Facing up to the reality of hard times for its buyers over the past weekend, the company introduced the “Hyundai Buyer Assurance Program,” which basically says that if you lose your job or otherwise undergo “an involuntary loss of income” within a year of buying one of their cars, you can bring it back penalty-free as long as the depreciation is less than $7,500. more

This ad cracked me up. Is that a good thing? I know it did not convince me to buy the beer, but it was entertaining. And that, in today’s age of measurable marketing is a very bad thing. You?

This ad cracked me up. Is that a good thing? I know it did not convince me to buy the beer, but it was entertaining. And that, in today’s age of measurable marketing is a very bad thing. You?

Frank Abagnale Jr. may not be the most recognizable name in the world, but I’m sure millions of people enjoyed the excellent 2002 film, “Catch Me If You Can,” which was based on his autobiography. And many people might be wondering what became of Abagnale after his early days as a globe-trotting con man. more