Viewpoint

When I started out in this business in the 1980s, you still saw manual typewriters in editorial offices and newsrooms.

Looking at the table of contents for this month's Shopper Marketing had me reminiscing about the early days of the Path to Purchase Institute.

Regional chains like Publix get plenty of national brand attention

It's the most wonderful time of the year -- that's right, football season. But even a diehard like me will admit that football's annual cavalcade of cliches -- aka "coach-speak" -- is already wince-inducing by Labor Day.

Whenever I open Google mail and try to re-remember where they hide their function keys, I think the same thing: If they'd just let me be a beta tester, I could straighten out this mess for them.

So now 76% of purchase decisions are made in the store. To be honest, I don't really care.

James Dyson kicked up a tempest in a teapot last month while speaking at a conference hosted by

Although retailing is the ultimate people business, it's been my experience that chain executives become uptight and tight-lipped whenever a tape recorder turns on.

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Shakespeare wrote that line more than 400 years ago, and copy editors have been exploiting it ever since whenever there's a need to discuss the relationship between a name and the thing it signifies.

Work in an office environment long enough, and sooner or later you'll encounter a "brand enthusiast hoarder." You'll know them by their workspaces. Venture a step or two inside and you're plunged into a trinket & trash menagerie (apologies to Tennessee Williams).

The December holidays are supposed to be a time of “good cheer” and all that, but last month was anything but for a few marketers who suffered some brutal blowback from their constituencies.