Market Trends

20 Greats Stats about Women in Business

J.K. Rowling, Oprah Winfrey, Sheila Johnson, Meg Whitman, and Martha Stewart may seem different on the surface, but all of these leading ladies have persevered through the competitive, male-dominated business world. Leveraging their individual talents, these women have made considerable … Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Market Trends by Amy Kenigsberg | Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 | Leave a comment

Web Site Evaluation

Web site evaluation entails a review of user experience and key communication points. To build your website for the long run, continually assess, update, tweak, and upgrade your content. At Sparxoo Agency, our team has developed a standard process for … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Digital Marketing, Featured, Market Trends, Strategy & Trends by Amy Kenigsberg | Monday, August 22nd, 2011 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Web Site Marketing

Web site marketing extends your web presence to attract prospective customers to your web site. The average American spent 32 hours per month on the Internet in 2010. Targeted web site marketing can be an effective method to generate leads … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Marketing, Featured, Market Trends, Strategy & Trends by Amy Kenigsberg | Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

When Type Gets Personal—A Brand Identity Becomes Our Identity

As American’s we tend to embrace a “move forward” attitude. But both of these examples enticed me as a designer and brand strategist to look at the world of design that surrounds us to try to determine if I appreciated a brand identity for its design merits, typographic style, aesthetic application and the ability to telegraph what it stood for, or, for the history of interaction and personal memories I brought to that design.
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Posted in Digital Marketing, Featured, Market Trends by Peter Levine | Friday, October 1st, 2010 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

How Southwest Made its Underdog Brand-Attitude Profitable

Southwest is a business in the front, party in the back brand. Before all else, Southwest is a bare-bones player that cares first about delivering the lowest fares. The party in the back is about having fun while doing it… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Monday, September 27th, 2010 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

2010 Best Global Brands – The Stock Market & Risk

Interbrand released its 2010 Best Global Brands report this week (brand report highlights). This is the 12th year that the report has been published, and we’ve often wondered if there are deeper insights that can be garnered from this report. We’ve analyzed the past 12 years of data with a specific eye to the following questions:

1. Do changes in brand value predict changes in stock value, or merely reflect information that is already priced in?
2. Do the brands with the strongest momentum hold up in recessions?
3. Can the report provide insight into the broader market? Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Market Trends by David Capece | Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to Inject Humor into Brand Advertising Campaigns

In the documentary, Art & Copy, creative advertising executives talk about how vilified and dirty advertising is perceived by the average consumer. Some even re-word their job description to appear unconnected to the… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Monday, September 20th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Interbrand’s 2010 Best Global Brands – Apple Largest Riser

This year’s rankings showed significant change with Apple and Google leaping, and Dell, Toyota, Nokia, and Citi plummeting. Interbrand’s report highlights that consumer behavior is more difficult to predict than ever. Interbrand’s best global brands report says, “the current economic climate is a risky landscape for today’s brands … one that is fraught with contradictions and vocal customers scrutinizing your ever move. The same customer might opt to buy an iPad instead of a laptop, purchase private label toothpaste, and then match a Zara skirt with Christian Louboutin shoes.” Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Market Trends by David Capece | Friday, September 17th, 2010 | 1 Comment

How to Refresh Bank Brands

In the wake of Main St vs. Wall St, large bank executive bonuses, and bailouts, consumers are wary of financial service companies. Lack of confidence in the banking sector contributed to June 2010′s Consumer Confidence report’s 9.8 point dip. To… Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Steps to Refresh Your Brand

What do Coca-Cola, The Beatles, Madonna and Abercrombie & Fitch have in common? The iconic cultural brands have an incredible ability to stay relevant amid shifting consumer attitudes. Coca Cola is one of the oldest examples of an adaptive brand. … Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Monday, August 9th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Transparency In The Community

I recently stumbled upon a series of brutally honest fables that includes classics such as Sexy Woman Mooches off of Horny Short Men, Duck with Low Self Esteem is Tormented, and Little Spoiled Brat Robs Innocent Animals. To some these re-titled fairy tales are what the titles for classic stories really should be. They do just what any good title should do. They tell you what the story is about. While these might seem a bit outrageous, the truth is that these are spot-on trend with the move towards a more human, real, transparent discourse that is ongoing. Consumers are wary of the hype and would rather know the truth. Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by David Capece | Friday, August 6th, 2010 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Food & Beverage Trends

Food Channel recently released their top 10 food trends ranging from Food With Benefits to Experimentation Nation. Likewise, Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. released their 13 Restaurant and Hotel Food Trends for 2010 . Beyond the trends towards healthy sustainable eating, the 2 trends from these reports that continue to increase in the era of consumer saving and the vigilante consumer are: Upscaling the Downscale and Keeping It Real. Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by David Capece | Thursday, August 5th, 2010 | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Healthy Eating Trend

A healthy lifestyle seems like an unattainable dream to many. US obesity stats are ominous as the US has the most obese nation by a large margin. The latest stats show 30.6% obesity rate in the US, which is 25% higher than the #2 most obese nation, Mexico. The UK is the 3rd most obese nation. For those of you who love Italian cooking, note that it’s possible to eat Italian food all the time and avoid obesity as the nation of Italy has just 8.5% obesity rate, meaning that the US is nearly 4 times as obese as Italy. In the wake of our national obesity crisis and with our aging population, it’s likely that the trend towards healthy lifestyle will continue to rise. Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by David Capece | Thursday, August 5th, 2010 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Green Living Consumer Trend

Green living is taking hold. “Recently while I was brushing my teeth, my 6-year-old son scolded me for running the water too long. He severely reprimanded me, and at the end of his censure asked me, with real outrage: don’t you love the earth?” says Stephen Asma of the Chronicle in his Green Guilt commentary. For those who are embracing green living, check out these new green options: green dating, green travel, green driving, green rooms, and green jewelry.

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Posted in Market Trends by David Capece | Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Consumer Trends in Customization

Founded 13 years ago, Build-A-Bear Workshop was an early entrant into mass customization. With more than 400 stores world-wide, it has successfully scaled to become the largest chain dedicated to the create-your-own trend. Much of today’s innovation is centered around empowering customers to customize products and enjoy truly unique customization experiences. The customization trend ranges from products that spice it up with customized features, to products that are customized from the inside-out.

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Posted in Market Trends by David Capece | Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Innovation in Social Cause Business Models

NBA legend Magic Johnson recently spoke at Wharton’s first Social Impact Forum saying, “Legacies are not built on how much money is made, because after all there are a plethora of millionaires in the world. Instead, they are built on how many people can be touched with the amount of money made. Individuals are able to set themselves apart by helping communities get on their feet.” Today, it has become fashionable to do good and many entrepreneurs are building businesses with generosity at their core focusing on urban renewal, children’s initiatives, and even the basics such as food and water. Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends, Social Impact by David Capece | Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 | Tagged , | 1 Comment

2010 Trends in Innovation

Earlier this year, Bloomberg BusinessWeek published its list of 50 most innovative companies (in partnership with Boston Consulting Group) and for the first time, the majority of companies were headquartered outside the US. 88% of executives in China said they were raising their innovation budgets this year, followed by 82% in South America and 73% in India. The rate fell to 48% in the U.S., ahead of only Japan, where just 34% of executives said their companies planned to increase innovation spending. All of which suggests the U.S. may not be dominating the innovation list again soon. Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends, Startups & Innovation by David Capece | Monday, August 2nd, 2010 | Tagged | 1 Comment

Luxury’s Love Affair with High-Tech

Robot housemaids, electric cars, personal commuter airplanes and all the insanely impossible kitchen gadgetry imaginable. For nearly a century, the World’s Fair has illustrated American’s strong association between luxury and technology. Tech enhances our ability to connect with the world … Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Monday, July 26th, 2010 | Leave a comment

Amazon Mobile Sales Eclipse $1 Billion

Amazon customers spent more than $1 billion via mobile devices in the past 12 months, including sales by Kindle and other mobile devices. The deeper story here is how Amazon was able to engage and monetize users to amass $1 billion in sales and how you, in… Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Friday, July 23rd, 2010 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Golden Wall of China

China’s nouveau riche are experiencing a Rumspringa of their own, but careful to not swing too far. The Chinese market is trying to find its prestigious identity among established luxury brands in Europe and America. In fact, many affluent Chinese reject… Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Friday, July 23rd, 2010 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment