Viewpoint

Fallout from the Gino DeLuca scandal

What happens when a retailer accepts a brand's account-specific campaign -- complete with the requisite funding -- then doesn't bother to execute? Sales don't increase as planned, for sure. Otherwise, little else happens.

There are two kinds of trends in the retail marketing world: those discussed at conferences and those implemented in stores.

I love Andy Rooney. Like a grumpy old aunt grumbling through Thanksgiving dinner, he's both annoying and oddly entertaining. The other night, Andy burned up five valuable minutes of CBS's network feed with the observation that there are a lot of diet books on bookstore shelves these days.

Research available on our web site this month includes a statistic you might find surprising: roughly 35% of brand purchase decisions, and 25% of category decisions, are made inside the supermarket, according to shopper surveys.

When Procter & Gamble boasted that 450,000 displays and countless other marketing materials were prepped to make Prilosec the biggest launch in the company's history, we scoffed.

Conducting a retail promotion and not coordinating in-store execution is like planning a wedding and not showing up: If you're not going to be there, why bother making the arrangements? The Aug. 26 home video launch for

Supermarkets have truly embraced instant-print store-sign-age systems

The term "integrated marketing" has become so trivial that it's almost meaningless. These days, all you need do is add the tagline from your TV spots to packaging and P-O-P and, presto, you've got yourself an "integrated" campaign.Integration is supposed to go a lot deeper than that.

If you visit a 7-Eleven this month, you'll probably find a display for Nabisco Go-Paks on the wall next to the milk cooler.

Welcome to the In-Store Marketing Institute, a new, content-driven association for marketers who consider the store environment to be the most important venue for reaching consumers.