Waking Up the Consumer

Last week we talked about how Nike constantly attempts to “wake up the consumer” with it’s advertising.  Here’s one of their latest ads:

So, what do you think of this ad?  Did it get your attention?  Does it make you feel like purchasing Nike products?

Japan Business Mood Turns Positive…

A while ago, I mentioned the concept of consumer confidence.  Consumer confidence  is the degree of optimism that consumers feel about the overall state of the economy and their personal financial situation.  Here’s an article that shows consumer confidence in action.

Walmart Cuts Prices as Sales Slump

This week we talked about Walmart and interpreted some financial data.  The following article provides some recent information on Walmart’s performance and will also give you a chance to study more numerical data.

Google vs. China

Continuing with the theme of change, Google has followed through with a major change in its global strategy.  Here’s one of the more interesting news articles on the topic.  Sorry, it’s another long one!

Walking Wounded

Cartoon by Steve Breen, The San Diego Union-Tribune

For the past two weeks, we have been talking about change.  The recent economic downturn has forced many companies and individuals to make great changes .  Here is an example of how the U.S. and global workforce is changing:

Toyota May Keep Discounts After Strong March Sales

Last week, we discussed Toyota’s incentive package and its possible results.  Well, as discussed in the following Reuters article, the results are in!

Nissan Flies With ‘Heroes’

A few weeks ago, we discussed the concept of product placement, using Nissan and the hit American TV show Heroes as an example.  Remember, product placement is defined as the practice of placing brand-name items as props in movies, television shows, music videos, or other media  as a form of advertising.  Here is some more details regarding Nissan’s deal, courtesy of Variety.com: