A single piece of economic data shouldn't be taken too seriously, of course. But the surprise announcement that the US economy shed a mere 11,000 jobs in November -- after endless months in which the rate was in the several hundred thousands -- may give consumer confidence just the boost it needs to improve upon the shaky but promising start of the holiday shopping season.

This year, retailers are counting on what NPD Group analyst Marshal Cohen calls "frugal fatigue": consumers are tired of saving money. That 2008's dismal holiday season occurred (of course) twelve months ago shows how long consumers have been holding back, saving money to either stretch budgets or in fears of layoffs.Continue reading...

Cyber Monday is being pronounced a success, with shopping up 13.7% and Amazon reportedly edging Wal-Mart.

The folks at the US Federal Trade Commission had their heads screwed on straight for once, by deciding to wait until the day after Cyber Monday to launch new rules requiring bloggers and celebrities to disclose when they promote a product online for pay, or in exchange for free stuff. (I know: as if anyone there even made the connection.) Well, we kind of joked about who might get caught up in these rules -- and questioned whether celebrities who tweet for pay will test the trust of their audience -- but, we suddenly notice (just in time!), we are included.

The FTC has been under fire from bloggers for issuing strict rules without sufficient guidelines or consumer education, considering that fines can range up to $11,000. It has promised to target advertisers, not bloggers, or maybe just big fish, or maybe not heavily fine the little fish -- which has raised concerns of selective prosecution. In a "heated but civil" interview between blogger Edward Champion and the FTC's Richard Cleland, it's noted that partner marketing links such as Amazon Associates are included in the disclosure requirements.

Well, as brandchannel readers have likely noticed, we use Amazon Associates. This is a well-known program that pays participants for referring business to Amazon, via links which are easily seen (because the URL string includes "brandchannelcom") and which will bring a fairly small amount of revenue to the site if you follow that link and make a purchase. We've included them for many years when we link to media (books that are reviewed, or films in our brandcameo section), and have been using them on this blog when referring to certain products Amazon sells. (Those references being there because they belong in the story, not so as to send business to Amazon.)Continue reading...

Business Insider's John Carney reports the following brands sighing with relief that Tiger Woods' injuries seem less serious than initially reported.

• Accenture
• AT&T
• EA Sports
• Gatorade
• Gillette
• Golf Digest
• Net Jets
• Nike
• Tag Hauer
• Tatwee: The Tiger Woods Dubai
• TLC Laser Eye Center
• Upper Deck
• PGA Tour

It's got to sting when you go slumming, only to have the slum-dwellers tell you that you don't measure up.

To review: under pressure from Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's, and with its brand value in decline, Starbucks introduced Via instant coffee with an in-store taste-test promotion intended to prove that the new instant can't be told apart from the store brew. Not the best way to maintain a brand that was built upon premium-quality coffee and the idea that Starbucks stores are America's "third place" (after home and work), we thought.

Starbucks demolished Nescafé in the '90s. Why would they now want to copy them?

Nescafé had the exact same idea, it seems. En route to brandchannel HQ this morning, we saw Nescafé workers (happy to pose with their banner) setting up a sampling station for a taste test of their own. Their graphic contrasts an unbranded, but clearly Starbucks-looking paper cup of instant (over a package that uses the Via colors) with a ceramic mug featuring the updated Nescafé logo above a Taster's Choice package. The copy reads: "A lot of hype. OR a lot of flavor."Continue reading...

The Google phone -- HTC's Passion/Dragon, a Droid without the keyboard -- is coming. [TechCrunch]

MySpace bolsters its entertainment positioning with music charts. [CNET]

Interactive mobile video ads, courtesy of new Google acquisition AdMob. [Mobile Behavior]

BusinessWeek plans layoffs of about 100 under new owners Bloomberg. [paidContent]

Oxford Dictionary's "word of the year" (a.k.a. PR stunt): "unfriend." [CNET]

Coca-Cola's Minute Maid package redesign less of a trainwreck than Tropicana's. [Animal]

King of Shaves to introduce women's line in UK and US. [BrandRepublic]

Web campaign solicits pledges to purchase Pabst Brewing Co. [Buy A Beer Company]

Unlike candy and beer, cigarettes suffer during recession. [BusinessWeek]

The chance for two-way interaction with celebrities has been a strong driver of Twitter's growth, as passionate users like Ashton Kutcher and Oprah Winfrey have taken to the service with gusto. But will their followers' patience wane when those stars use Twitter to send out paid product endorsements and brand messages?

We're about to find out. As we reported last week, Kutcher's new Nikon deal calls for him to send sponsored tweets to his nearly 4 million followers. Now, TheWrap reports, the Ad.ly network is signing up a raft of B-list celebs, like Kim Kardashian, Dr. Drew, Nicole Richie and The Hills' Audrina Patridge with endorsement deals.Continue reading...

Nokia envisions mobile networks by 2015. [Mobile Behavior]

Starbucks' Via rollout too aggro for some customers and baristas. [BusinessWeek]

For holidays, e-commerce sites roll out coupons, free shipping. [Econsultancy]

Wal-Mart plans to avoid repeat of last year's deadly Black Friday. [Business Insider]

Nine-figure deals for Playdom and Playfish show soaring valuations for social gamers. [CNET]

Sarah Palin faces press to promote new $5 million book, Going Rogue. [NY Times]

Obama 2008: "the most comprehensive corporate identity program" of the century. [Design Observer]

Macy's ad in Philadelphia Inquirer congratulates Phillies a little prematurely. [AdAges]

Apple wants you to pay $30 a month to watch TV through iTunes. [All Things D]

Gucci family unhappy about Ridley Scott's planned Gucci biopic. [Variety]

Facebook wins suit against social spammer. [Econsultancy]

Twitter Lists excite, annoy the faithful. [Charitini]

Hugh Jackman won't host next year's Oscars. [Variety]

Customer retention: Wal-Mart sells coffins. [BBC]

Businesses in southwestern US give abandoned Circle Ks a new life. [Design Observer]

The print magazine may be gone, but Gourmet's brand lives on. [NY Times via Econsultancy]

Facebook updates its privacy policy with rules governing deleted accounts. [CNET]

Advertising awards for gay-friendly brands. [AdAges]

After boosting Fox News's ratings, White House strikes a "truce" deal. [Daily Finance]

Online shoe retailer Zappos' personalized recommendations miss the mark. [The Awl]

On 80th anniversary of 1929 crash, US recession ends. [Guardian]

Volvo deal advances as Ford indicates preference for Geely's bid. [FT]

Google shakes up GPS industry by offering free service. [NY Times]

Google signs MySpace deal to include music in search. [Brand Republic]

Slowing Wii sales cause falling profits for Nintendo. [WSJ]

Regulation fears scotch National Express merger with Stagecoach. [Times of London]

(More headlines: GM, Motorola Droid, YSL.)Continue reading...

Last week, Facebook did something it had been urged not to: listen to its customers.

At the end of last week, Facebook partially rolled back a redesign to its home page newsfeed that had been introduced late last winter. Before March 2009, the Facebook home page presented highlights from a user's friends who were of greatest interest, deduced based on their history browsing Facebook. This was changed into a news feed made up mainly of status updates in real time, which gave the site a Twitter-like feel.

While many users took to the revised interface, complaints were loud and furious. Julia Angwin (author of Stealing MySpace, a book about how Facebook dethroned its rival), and even Facebook employees noted the newsfeed was now unmanageable, dominated by their most annoyingly vocal friends (who often stream their Twitter updates into their Facebook status).

With Facebook under pressure to show revenue and profit, brands were given a comfortable seat at that table, adding to many users' feeling the site had become too spam-heavy.

But Facebook had been admonished to ignore the negative feedback, notably by prominent industry blogger Robert Scoble, who titled a March 21 entry "Why Facebook has never listened and why it definitely won’t start now."Continue reading...

Save Your Logo campaign enlists Lacoste's help for crocodile protection. [idsgn]

Environmental consumer efforts aim to change behavior; threaten Charmin. [Daily Beast]

Chief NY Times editor appears to confirm imminence of Apple's Tablet. [Valleywag]

Consumers unwilling to trade down from Tide, Kraft, Coke. [Marketing Charts]

Ex-Star/US Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller's Hollywood Life "looks like what would happen if In Touch and Life & Style got wasted on cosmos and then barfed all over the internet." [Gawker]

Liberals and conservatives agree: the Obama Administration's recent campaign to delegitimize Fox News Channel as a news source is a huge boost to the Fox News Channel brand.

Fox's success shows the rewards for cable news networks of building engagement among a dedicated base of diehards, following the vaunted "80-20 rule" that says that 80% of a channel's ratings come from 20% of its audience. Keeping the core audience tuned in for repetitive programming that confirms their beliefs turns out to be the recipe for success. That it has transformed US politics is a mere side-effect. (The 80-20 rule probably caused Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1998, when FNC rode the Lewinsky scandal to ratings glory.)

The latest controversy began in early October, when White House media advisor Anita Dunn rounded the talk shows to argue that Fox -- which has been attacking Obama all year -- "often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party."Continue reading...