| The Sears Wish Book Catalog Inspires its Holiday Marketing Campaign
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Millions of Americans remember the Sears Wish Book catalog with excitement -- and the hours they spent poring over each page, circling the gifts they wanted both to give and to receive during the holidays. Now, this year's return of the historic catalog has inspired Sears' new holiday marketing campaign, which launched November 4. Led by the tagline "Don't just give a gift, grant a wish," the integrated marketing campaign features an expanded, more diversified, multicultural media mix, including national television and radio spots, magazine insertions for jewelry and tools, and increased online media, plus new sears.com functionality, Wishing Hours sales promotions and sweepstakes, direct mail, circular, public relations and, of course, catalogs.
Here from beginning to the end
Don Kausler, editor of the Anderson Independent-Mail, handed me his cell phone. It was Jim Willis, editor of the Birmingham Post-Herald. "Well, Clarke," Jim said, "tomorrow is the last edition of The Birmingham Post-Herald. I wanted to be the one to tell you." Jim thanked me for my contribution to the paper these past five years, and I thanked him for giving me one last shot at journalism. He took me on in 2000, when I was 75 years old. Today, I'm 79 and still working, at least until I finish this piece. I had a byline on page one of the first edition of the Post-Herald in 1950. And today, I have a byline in the last edition of my newspaper. That has a nice ring to it, a real sense of closure, of completion, of rounding things out. I remember coming to the old Post in 1948, a green kid just out of journalism school at the University of North Carolina.
Battered Solar Stocks to Ride the Market Higher
The bad news last week may actually have been good news for the rate cut outlook. Adding to the bad financial news was the bad political news. There is continued political unrest in Pakistan after Bhutto's death. There is a major offensive against Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is not bad news per se; but it may have an adverse impact on U.S. troop withdrawals. Most simply the Iraqi situation represents uncertainty. Something the markets react badly to. There is more trouble with the Taliban in Afghanistan. There is the Palestine/Egypt/Israel situation, which looks like it may explode at any moment. With all of the above bad news, it is no wonder the U.S. equities markets sold off on Friday. Still the U.S. equities markets should recover this week. The earnings news was generally good last week. Microsoft (MSFT) was clearly the standout, but many companies did well.
FRENCH/WEST/VAUGHAN EXPANDS HEALTH CARE PRACTICE WITH ACCOUNT WIN
RALEIGH, N.C. (January 29, 2008) French/West/Vaughan (FWV), one of the nations largest independent public relations, public affairs and brand communications agencies, has been selected by Healthy Living Academies to provide PR counsel and execute a comprehensive media relations campaign to raise visibility for the organization. Healthy Living Academies (www.healthylivingacademies.com), based in Cerritos, Calif., was founded in 2004 and is the leading organization of weight loss programs for children, teenagers and young adults. Healthy Living Academies scientifically-based Sierras Solution has the best documented weight loss outcomes of any non-surgical weight loss program, for any age group. FWV will provide media relations support nationally with a focus on local markets where Healthy Living Academies campuses are located.
Explaining the Accreditation Debate
As a federal panel negotiating possible new regulations on higher education accreditation ended its (seemingly endless) three-day meeting at a suburban Washington hotel Wednesday, it appeared to have accomplished little. The negotiators reached agreement on just 2 of the 12 issues on their agenda. And the nearly 20 hours of discussion and debate was often mind-numbingly heavy on the minutiae of accreditation, so "in the weeds" that it was not uncommon to see the hardy lobbyists and other interested parties in the cheap seats nod off now and then, when they weren’t distractedly tap-tap-tapping on their Blackberrys. .
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