Posted by truecreek on July 30, 2009 under More Dam News | 
Cash for Clunkers racks up 22,782 trade-ins and $95.9 million so far
by Chris Shunk on Jul 30th 2009 at 4:29PM
When the government’s Cash for Clunkers program returned 4,026 orders on its first full day of availability, some were surprised by the speed with which the sales booster took off. After only five days, the program seems to have picked up steam rather than lost it: 22,782 trade-ins have funneled through dealer lots in the 3-4 days since Monday when the program began. So far, dealers have requested $95.9 million in reimbursement money from the government, or about 10% of the funds that were supposed to keep the program running into November. The cars.gov website currently shows $75 million left for CAT3 trucks and $779 million out of $1 billion for everything else.
So far, the average rebate value is reportedly $4,209, which means most customers are eligible for the $4,500 voucher that requires a new vehicle purchase with a 10+ mpg improvement verses the model being traded in. Tuesday was the busiest day so far, with $51 million worth of reimbursements filed by dealers, and there were $27 million filed on Wednesday.
The National Automotive Dealers Association says the program will likely run out of money well before the November deadline. If C4C continues at its current pace, the program could end as early as September. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, some 23,000 dealers have submitted registrations and 19,328 have been approved.
Posted by truecreek on July 29, 2009 under More Dam News |
You just have to love Scandinavian design.
From Popsop:
Heineken company an the Dutch design studio Tjep have opened in the centre of Amsterdam the first branded Heineken store.
It is divided into 4 sections: the fashion store with the branded designer clothes, state-of-the-art beer shop with a “Fridge” exposition, small recording studio for young talanted musicians, and a travel section where Heineken fans can give the tickets for branded sponsored events.
The general idea of the interior design is to express coolness and freshness which light Heineken beer brings to drinkers.
Posted by truecreek on under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
The Great Depression, by far the biggest economic downturn of the 21st century, taught an entire generation of Americans a horrible, yet valuable lesson. After Black Tuesday, when the stock market totally collapsed, life for many of these people would never be the same.
Jobs were gone overnight. Banks failed. Entire industries were devastated. Commodity prices plunged, taking with them so many family farms. Tent cities sprung up all around our nation. Life had never been harder.
As a nation, the shock to our collective system was so severe that our grandfathers and grandmothers became cynics. No one trusted the banking system. People started hoarding cash, hiding it anywhere they could. We became a nation of savers, simply because we didn’t want to expose our families to a repeat of the disaster.
And they never forgot.
The same shift in our financial psychology is happening again. After seeing their collective portfolios dive 40 to 50%, people are now on the sidelines, watching the market, willing to accept next to nothing in return simply because they are afraid to lose even more.
Savings rates have increased by ten fold, according to some statistics. Six fold at the very least. Consumer’s behavior has changed and in my opinion, for good.
My clients are seeing this firsthand. We are too. Financial conservation is back in vogue. The average homeowner is doing everything they can to clean up their household balance sheets. This popular frugality has permeated virtually all segments of our population, from the poor to the very wealthy.
And we are learning a lesson we will never forget. Just like they did back in the 1930s.
For those who think that we will bounce right back to the ways we did things before this hard recession started, think again. We are witnessing a sea change in the way the consumer deals with the economic realities at hand.
I find it very hard to believe that those lessons will be quickly forgotten.
Posted by truecreek on July 21, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
As advertisers, we are all aware that it is becoming increasingly difficult to cut through the clutter of the multitude of messages we are receiving daily from those companies that want to share their wares with us.
So many in fact that it has become extremely difficult for an advertiser’s message to stand out from the pack. Add in the prospect of the increasing use of DVR’s and other time shifting technologies and you have a real advertising challenge on your hands.
There is however, one advertising tactic that is gaining greater acceptance. That tactic is cinema advertising.
In “The Arbitron Cinema Advertising Study”, the evidence is very clear: consumers are showing increasing acceptance of movie theater advertising. Younger viewers and those who frequent movies now see the on-screen commercials “as part of the entertainment experience.”
What a wonderful treat. We finally have “a willing and attentive audience.”
According to the study, more than 45% of the respondents had gone to the movies at least once, with 60% of those watching the commercials prior to the start of the movie. It was also determined that the perception of the method of advertising is positive, with over 63% stating that they “did not mind the advertisements they put on before the movie begins” with the younger audience being even more receptive.
So, give cinema advertising a try. Better yet, just give us a call and we’ll get things moving.
