Most people like Thanksgiving to have passed before setting up Christmas decorations and jumping into winter holiday mode. For marketers, however, it’s now become standard to embrace the winter holiday mentality long before …
Odd Spending
Mad Monster Retro Rush Coming to Cereal Aisle This Halloween Season
What, you’ve never heard of Frute Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy? To a certain population that grew up in the 1970s and ’80s, the return of these cult-favorite monster-themed cereals—in vintage form, no less—is bringing on a high on par with eating two bowls of sugar cereal while Saturday morning cartoons blare on the TV.
Upscale Armageddon: Sales of Swanky Underground Doomsday Homes Continue
“Buy now! Before it’s too late!” Many salespeople use some variation of this pitch to get buyers to bite. But this sales spiel takes on heightened new meaning when the item being hawked is a home built for riding out the apocalypse.
Loyalty To Your Bank Could Cost You Money
In the annual American Banker/Reputation Institute Survey of Bank Reputations, surveyors asked respondents about feelings of trust, admiration and other positive perceptions. Banks and financial services were rock-bottom on a …
Why It Took Five Years—and Much Internet Mockery—for CVS to Shorten Its Receipts
After being relentlessly bashed on social media for reams of ridiculously long receipts, CVS has vowed to make its receipts less ridiculously long. What took them so, um, long?
In Extra Competitive Back-to-School Season, Retailers Roll Out Big (and Quirky) Deals
The 2013 back-to-school shopping period hasn’t represented boom times for retailers — so stores have felt forced to be extra creative in their attempts to attract shoppers
The A-Rod Effect: Ticket Prices, TV Ratings Rise With Return of Baseball’s Most Hated Player
Baseball fans may detest Alex Rodriguez. But they sure do seem to want to see him play.
Turns Out You Only Think You’re Spending Less Money
American consumers claim that they’re not spending as much money this year on restaurants, bar tabs, home purchases, and other key categories. The actual consumer spending data tells a different story.
Waffles & Pretzels: The Hot, Quirky Features on Fast Food Menus Everywhere
In the quest for new and surprising menu items, fast food chains like Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Popeye’s have jumped on two comfort foods—waffles and pretzels—and they’re being served in ways you’d never imagine.
Want to Give Your Family the VIP Theme Park Experience? Cough Up Around $2,000 Per Day
Travelers are used to the idea that airline passengers who pony up big bucks get special treatment in first class. As theme park VIP tours spread, more travelers are enjoying behind-the-scenes tours and line-cutting privileges—which wouldn’t be so bad except these perks turn the rest of us into (bitter, jealous) second-class citizens.
Birth of Britain’s New Little Prince Prompts Celebratory Spending
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a whole slew of wacky and tacky souvenirs — that is, at least when it comes to the birth of Great Britain’s newest little prince.
Craziest Factoids About the Still Red-Hot Sneaker Craze
On Saturday, July 13, legions of sneakerheads will descend on Pier 36 in Manhattan for the arrival of Sneaker Con, a kicks convention where admission costs $15 and the average pair of sneakers sells for about $250 — some running as much as 17.5 times their original price.