Business

The National Retail Federation released its 2008 economic forecast today, predicting that retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) will increase 3.5 percent from last year according to its quarterly Retail Sales Outlook reportue before picking up in the second half of the year.

Jose Cuervo has partnered with three-time World Cup participant Alberto Garcia Aspe to launch a groundbreaking campaign boasting Mexican pride. The campaign underscores the Cuervo Tradicional brand’s long-standing commitment as an official sponsor of the Mexican National Soccer Team here in the United States, and concentrates on soccer to deliver a social responsibility message to the multi-generational Mexican consumer.

Companies are reacting quickly to any changes in the economy or negative signals from the stock market. They’re canceling projects that were “full speed ahead” only a few months ago. Companies may get rid of entire departments, axing good performers along with bad. Or, departments across the company may be asked to cut staff by a certain percentage.

When I joined Ogilvy & Mather as a freshly-minted MBA way back in the disco era, a key maxim addressed to our clients was “increase spending during tough times to grow market share.” Good advice, actually. And often effective. However, it’s not very practical for most clients — particularly publicly traded ones.

Sources in the Industry have confirmed that the talks between Batanga and HispanoClick have moved ahead and that the acquisition will close in the next two weeks.

The American Association of Advertising Agencies, the American Advertising Federation and the Association of National Advertisers along with other key advertising executives, met with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to discuss how to better implement FCC rules that prohibit advertisers from adopting policies against advertising on Urban or Hispanic radio stations.

Although many retail businesses have mastered the art of multichannel direct marketing, quite a few are still apprentices when it comes to cross-channel integration. This is one of the key findings of a report by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), entitled “Channel Integration and Benchmarks in the Retail Industry.”

In its first 12-month analysis of advertising spending on media outlets that reach African American consumers, The Nielsen Company reported that spending for the period October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007 totaled $2.3 billion. The Nielsen African American ad spending analysis covers over 22,000 national, regional and local advertisers, across 130 plus media vehicles.

Recession concerns and the credit crunch cloud the U.S. economic outlook for 2008, but U.S. productivity growth will accelerate to 1.7% this year, while Japan’s rate will pick up to 1.9%, according to the latest annual productivity report from The Conference Board, the global business research organization.

CEOs’ confidence about prospects for business declined for the first time since the 2003 survey and fear of a global recession emerged as the major threat to growth in PricewaterhouseCoopers 11th Annual Global CEO Survey. Compared to last year, possible economic downturn is the only risk factor to increase in concern among CEOs. All other risks to growth – including energy supply, global climate change, and terrorism – declined as business threats. Over-regulation and availability of talent were also top CEO concerns.

Lois Mosgrove previously VP of Marketing for Megazines Group has joined multi-media company Todobebe as their new VP of Marketing.

Fiorana, Inc., an established international denim company, announced that they will be launching the first women’s “Latina Cut” premium denim collection at the WWD MAGIC Fashion and Apparel Expo in Las Vegas, February 12-15, 2008.