Q&As

Melitta USA is bringing a taste of Europe to Philadelphia for the next six weeks, and may tour a slate of U.S. cities in 2007.

Visa USA is lending its debit card to strengthen the bond between retailers and shoppers.

(Direct Newsline)—Experian will close most of its incentive and loyalty programs, including Web-based incentive marketing, and will lay off two-thirds of the staff in its MetaReward subsidiary or about 50 people, according to a report in ClickZ.

VESDIA CORP.: and school-fundraiser Schoolpop have bought…THE PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL: has debuted its new…

Numbers abound in customer service centers. Without breaking too much of a sweat, marketers are able to track the number of calls received during an hour or a shift; whether representatives are able to resolve queries without needing to consult with a manager; and if calls are handled within a certain period of time. But are these metrics necessarily the most beneficial ones?

Confused about how to attribute credit for sales and brand-building success? You’re not alone. It’s a hot topic given the level of media spending in digital formats and continued media fragmentation. But there’s a way to do it called media mix modeling. And it should be at the head of every marketer’s priority list.

Measurability has made search engine marketing. In large part, its success as an online medium was built on two factors: One, everybody searches the Internet, and more and more they’re doing it before making a purchase. But what does that mean to brand advertisers?

Marketers wondering whether their Web site search engine optimization costs are paying off have a tool at their disposal to evaluate its ROI.

Sales of promotional products jumped 5.1% from $16.9 billion in 2004 to $17.8 billion in 2005, the third consecutive year of increases and a new record, according to The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI).

Over the past few years there have been some “A list” brands that have begun to effectively engage the consumer at the retail level. But only a few. Apple is clearly an innovator in this field, and the first brand that comes to mind when I think of a great retail experience.