Agency

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.

Dieste, Harmel & Partners developed five of the top 10 ads ranked as most effective in engaging Spanish-language TV audiences, according to the first Hispanic ad evaluation research developed by IAG Research.

How much media can any one person consume? According to BIGresearch’s latest Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 11), in which 15,727 people participated, the only way for people to keep up with the deluge of media options is to multitask with other media. The level of simultaneous media usage in SIMM 11 increased over SIMM 10 for all major forms of media.

Latinvox announced the evolution of its brand into “the vox collective.” The full service agency, known for providing clients including Macy’s, Verizon Wireless and the Office of National Drug Control Policy with Hispanic marketing and advertising support, will now offer brands an additional focus on emerging marketing priorities including cause-related, interactive and lifestyle, and multicultural marketing.

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

Los Angeles based Santiago Solutions Group headed by Carlos Santiago has joined forces with Puerto Rico based Populicom headed Guillermo Paz.