Media | Advertising

Festive Friday: Green Christmas, peppermint Pringles and more ideas

By Melissa Preddy on Nov 30, 2012

Less than a month to go before Christmas (or, as it may end up being dubbed this year, Unwrapping Tuesday, given the burgeoning marketing trend of day-of-the-week gimmicks) and the sleigh still is bulging with interesting seasonal business angles. Retail sales over the Black Friday- Cyber Monday stretch formerly known as Thanksgiving weekend are being spun as disappointing, [...]

Festive Friday: Are merchants diluting the Black Friday magic?

We’re only one week out from Black Friday, the marketing gimmick that’s become an entrenched post-Thanksgiving retail tradition in the last 15 or 20 years, when consumers are wooed to mania by one-day promotions. This year it threatens to be eclipsed by Black Thursday, formerly known as Thanksgiving Day, but which aggressive merchants have [...]

Business stories in the battle against drunk driving

At this festive time of year, one of the downers is the prevalence of drunk or impaired driving, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says causes one death every 48 minutes in the United States. And the National Highway Transportation Safety last year told the Wall Street Journal that Thanskgiving weekend had topped [...]

Festive Friday: Last-minute Halloween business angles

You still have a few more days to get that Halloween biz feature in and what could be a more beguiling premise than a puppy dressed as a hot dog, Elvis or an alien? As The Washington Post slide show reveals, owners these days are going to great length to make sure Rover is rocking [...]

Image experts, consumer scams, merchandise and other election angles

We still have three weeks to go before Nov. 6, and plenty of opportunity for election-related business stories. Here are some angles to jump on: Image coaching. As political candidates nationwide struggle with overcoming faux pas, with appearing to relate to diverse demographic groups and with reinventing themselves to chase poll numbers, it occurred to me [...]

Marketing to technology, Breast Cancer Awareness Month stories

It’s October, and the month’s signature color is bursting out all over. No, not the yellows and reds or autumn leaves, or even Halloween’s orange and black motif. Rather, pink is the dominant color these days in tribute to National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and its signature pink ribbon. It would be difficult for a financial [...]

Increased demand boosts rental construction and rates

Rental housing is getting the sort of buzz these days that single-family houses were before the recession, with the market being analyzed and capitalized upon in myriad ways. As consumers, either voluntarily or under financial duress, have fled the standalone home market, multiple dwellings have become hot commodities. In many regions, that’s sending rental rates through the roof [...]

Focusing on entrepreneurs for Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month begins Sept. 15 and runs through Oct. 15, giving business journalists ample time to focus business features on consumers, business owners, workers and investors in the local Hispanic communities. According to this (PDF) U.S. Census Bureau briefing paper from May 2011, about 50 million of the 308 million Americans counted in the [...]

Are daily deals sites going down for the count?

Another bad day for Groupon shares, which closed Tuesday at $4.54, a fraction of their 52-week high of $31.14. The latest drop is attributed to a downgrade by Barclays LLC, and as Bloomberg reports, the company’s shares have lost 77 percent of their value since last fall’s ballyhooed IPO. The latest dip has renewed discussion [...]