Where Do Those Facts Come From? False Advertising Issues & Cheerios

The Food and Drug Administration raised questions about three out of four studies General Mills used to support health claims for the nation's top-selling breakfast cereal, Cheerios. (One box of cereal out of every eight sold is Cheerios!) cereal This has caused concerns of false or misleading advertising.

False or misleading information in advertising is known as deceptive or false advertising. Since advertising attempts to persuade consumers into buying products, many governments around the world have set regulations to control false or deceptive advertising. Truth in labeling is essentially the same concept, that consumers have the right to know what they are buying and that all necessary information should be on the label.

This summer General Mills argued that it should be allowed to say that a diet of Cheerios cuts levels of low-density lipoprotein (sometimes referred to as "bad") cholesterol by specific amounts. October 9th, the FDA sent a letter to the company addressing two other claims. They said that the statements, which appeared on boxes reading "4% in 6 weeks" and "10% in one month," were either too short or incomplete. Under the labeling laws, Cheerios may make the claim that it may make the claim it can lower the risk of coronary heart disease when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. The law allows food manufacturers to make a second claim that specifically mentions a certain food, for Cheerios it's oats or "whole-grain food," as long as it's made as part of the more general claim about soluble fiber.

The FDA sent a warning letter to General Mills in May that talked about serious violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, drawing attention to the Cheerios claim that it can "lower your cholesterol 4 percent in six weeks." They said that the placement of the statement on Cheerios boxes were problematic, since the claim appeared in large print on the front of the box. A smaller, second statement appeared near the edge of the box reading cholesterol reduction also required a diet low in cholesterol. As proof, Cheerios responded by submitting four peer-reviewed studies they conducted in the past 11 years.

Barbara Schneeman, Director of the Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements in the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in her October 9th letter to General Mills that just one of the studies, Johnston (1998), stood up to her office's review. The study supports the claim that 3 grams per day of soluble fiber (meaning three servings or 3 cups of Cheerios per day) would cut bad cholesterol by 4 percent in six weeks, Schneeman wrote. Yet, health claims must take into account not just one study, but every relevant study, according to FDA rules, and the three other studies that General Mills submitted don't seem to clearly support the claim, Schneeman wrote, referring to Karmally (2005), Reynolds (2000) and Maki (2009). Two of the studies don't report the average cholesterol reduction for people in the study who ate Cheerios vs. people who didn't eat Cheerios. The third study lasted four weeks, not the six weeks suggested in the Cheerios claim.

The FDA said that they did not hold enough strength to support the claim and that to make such a bold statement they must take into account not just one study, but every relevant study. The FDA's letter also said that both the "4 percent in 6 weeks" claim and the "10 percent in one month" claim are based on three servings (3 cups) of Cheerios daily. The letter went on to suggest that the phrases might need to be reworked to make it clear that they don't refer to a single serving. Cheerios is still standing behind belief and is battling with the FDA, but has removed the statements from their products.

This is an example of a disclaimer violation and further, a manipulation of standards violation. Often companies use disclaimers to try and absolve themselves of their legal responsibility for their own actions. Along with unreasonable conditions usually there is a fine print in hopes that consumers will commit themselves without reading it. When a company manipulates a standard, they make something have a different meaning than what it is widely understood as.

I don't think this type of advertising is right. So often in reports and advertisements we see facts that we just accept right away. We don't question really where they've come from or the resource. I think it's good that we have organizations such as the FDA, FTC and other government organizations watching out for unreliable statements and that there are punishments. I don't think that General Mills handled this situation very well at all. They do not to seem to see their statement as wrong in anyway and don't appear to be concerned with telling the public the truth. Lastly, I don't think this issue will hurt the Cheerios or General Mills brand very much, if at all, but I am glad they took these generalized samples off their products.

Black Friday Nightmare Makes Change

Tomorrow marks one of the largest shopping days in the year. Stores will offer great sales on products and customers will line up early (some even today) to get their hands on them. I was disappointed in the human race when I heard the news last Black Friday that a Wal-Mart employee died from being trampled by shoppers after opening the doors.

The 34-year-old male employee was pronounced dead an hour after shoppers came through the doors of the shopping center in Valley Stream, Long Island, about 5 a.m. and knocked him down, police said. Wal-Mart called the incident rare and said they didn't know of any other employee deaths related to Black Friday. A Wal-Mart representative Dan Fogleman called the incident a "tragic situation, ... The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," Fogleman said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time. Police said about 2,000 people had gathered outside the doors before the Wal-Mart opened at the suburban location about 20 miles east of Manhattan. A crowd pushed the man to the ground at 5:03 a.m., three minutes after the store opened, leaving a metal portion of the door crumpled like an accordion. Wal-Mart worked closely with the police, but those who trampled the man to death could not be identified in order to prosecute them.

Wal-Mart is making big procedure changes for this year's Black Friday sale after what happened. This year the company is keeping its stores open 24 hours on Thanksgiving Day. That will make it unnecessary for shoppers to converge outside for pre-dawn openings. Other changes include handing out maps so shoppers can quickly find hot sale items, and keeping those items far apart so big crowds don't form. Other retailers are making similar changes. Prosecutors considered criminal charges after the guard's death. Instead they let Wal-Mart Stores pay a nearly $2 million settlement after it agreed to the sweeping.

I think this is a terrible situation and I blame the public much more than Wal-Mart. Overall, I think Wal-Mart did a good job handling this crisis. I do not know what more they could have done except give the man's family more money, but that doesn't really fix anything.

I will be out there shopping tomorrow, I don't mean to frighten you off! Hopefully nothing like this ever happens again, it makes us as people sound terrible. I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving (and Happy Black Friday) too!

On Santa's Wish List: H1N1 Vaccine

Why not eliminate the potential PR crisis and give Santa the H1N1 vaccine? Santa America, a group representing Santa impersonators, is asking the federal government to put Santa on the priority list for getting a swine flu vaccination, similar to healthcare workers or infant caregivers. Also, the group is asking parents not to bring sick children to the mall.

Right now unless the people playing Santa or his helpers at local malls and events have a preexisting medical condition that qualify them to get the shot, they are not eligible to receive one. Officials said more groups may be allowed to get the vaccine in the future, but right now vaccine supplies remain limited to certain high-risk groups.

Just think what a public relations nightmare it would be if one of the most popular Santa’s in the Twin Cities, such as the one at Macy’s, Bachman’s or the Mall of America, caught H1N1 and gave it to a child (or many!) Yikes! I’m surprised the actual employers of the Santa's are not supporting the idea more. No matter what I think that those who are going to be Santa this holiday should be put on the H1N1 vaccine priority list. Their job makes them them very acceptable to catching something, especially H1N1 since little people often are carriers. If a Santa caught the disease it would be very dangerous to themselves and to their other little visitors.

Are You Addicted to Social Media?

Social media is growing rapidly, with Twitter at the forefront growing over 1,000 percent since February. New sites are continuing to constantly rise and fall in an attempt to innovate the social media market place. Communicating has never been easier, and social networking sites help people touch base. It starts out innocently enough with people reconnecting with friends from the past. Then you start connecting with friends from work and then maybe even their friends and then sometimes even celebrities or organizations.

This new rise in social media's popularity has caused the workplace to respond harshly. Most businesses have set limits on the access to social media websites. Statistics show that over 70 percent of employers have banned such sites. This has lead to the popularity of mobile social media. Although teens are the ones who paved the way for mobile social media, it is the adults who have the most use for it. As long as there is good cell phone coverage, and the boss isn’t standing right there, a working man can get his Facebook fix at any moment in time.

You must be careful though not to become a social media addict; doctors are saying social media has started to act like a drug. Harry Haroutunian, a doctor at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, works with people who have chemical dependencies, and he says that as technology and especially social networking expands, he's seeing more and more people with significant in-balance in their lives, spending more time isolated.

A recently released report out of UCLA states the top five signs that could mean you're addicted to social networks.
-you lose sleep over social networks (you're logged in overnight causing you to be extremely tired the next day)
-you spend more than an hour a day on networks-you become obsessed with old lovers or exes you reconnect with
-you ignore work in favor of networks
-the thought of logging off causes stress and anxiety

Dr. Harry says, "Do I have a tolerance to (social networks), like someone can build a tolerance to drugs that's more and more exposure is required to get the satisfaction or the 'high' from using the technology and are there withdrawal symptoms if I try to stop suddenly."

I'm a big fan of social media, but I wouldn't say I'm addicted to it. I do not feel stressed when I can't reach it for awhile and I don't have the Internet attached to my phone so I don't have to worry about using it while away from my computer. However, I do see how social media can consume a lot of one's time. There are so many social media tools to use and you must update yours often and keep up with friend's changes to know what is going on. I can take a lot of time! Just make sure you're not giving up other aspects of your life and watch how much time you spend on it. Lastly, remember people do not need to know everything you're doing or what you think at all times!!!

How to Conduct a Successful Focus Group

I'm a big fan of focus groups! I think they are a great mechanism to gain qualitative information about public opinion. They are used a lot in organizations and businesses when people are going through a big change. This way people affected can voice their feelings freely and the organization can really learn what is important to those involved and how to make things better for them.
As I mentioned early last month, starting this fall my church followed through with a merger with another South Minneapolis United Methodist Church. Since, I've been serving on my church's 'naming committee' to develop a fair process to select a new name. I voiced that before we narrow down the names to those the congregation will actually vote on, we should conduct at least two focus groups where people can see all the names and voice their opinions and feelings about them.
We picked two days and times to hold focus groups and invited everyone to come. They were a huge success and the participants really felt like they were part of the process. At each of them we showed the top 18 names we felt fit the criteria we wanted our name to have. We then went through the list, saying each name one at a time and started an open discussion around that particular name. The focus groups showed our committee things we had not noticed before and really taught us which names were well liked by the congregation.

Tips to conduct a successful focus group:
1) Find a small, quiet room that will not lead to distractions. Make sure everyone can see the others who are part of the focus group. Also, make sure you supply name tags.
2) Add an incentive for coming to your focus group, for example free pizza or a giveaway.
3) Think of your target audience and invite only that group of people who can answer the questions you have.
4) Only allow 10-15 people to participate in your focus group.
5) Assign one or two facilitators and one or two note takers.
5) Bring a tape recorder, set up a camera recorder, or both in the room. This will allow you to have all of the focus group recorded in someway. However, make sure you let everyone who is attending know these recording devices are in the room.
6) Use language that is easy to understand.
7) Encourage those who are not speaking up to talk by asking them questions directly.
8) Make sure your attendees stay on the focus group topic. If they sway, bring them back on track.
9) As the facilitator or part of the team leading the event, keep your opinions out of the focus group. You do not want to influence anyone who is attending.
10) People's time is precious, watch your time. I recommend that a focus group last no longer than one hour and make sure you publicize this. This means you must watch the time you spend on each question.
11) Make sure you thank everyone for coming to your focus group and tell them why you're researching this topic.

Proper focus group question outline:
1) Have each person say their name, ask them an easy question that will allow them to tell everyone else something about themselves.
2) Ask a question that is a little harder, but leads to the topic you really want to discuss.
3) Start asking the questions you really want answers for, the hard questions, make sure to ask follow up questions after.
4) Ask a question that is a little easier, but still on topic.
5) Ask a closing question that leaves them with something to think about.

The process we're using to find a new church name:

• We created a list of criteria that we want our name to have.
• We allowed members and guests of the church to submit names in a box outside the sanctuary until November 1st; we collected over 90 name suggestions!
• We narrowed the list of 90 down to 18 using our list of criteria.
• We organized two focus groups at different times and sent an invite through e-mail, the monthly mailed newsletter and announced it in the bulletin two weeks prior. Everyone was welcomed to come and knew they would see the 18 names. At the end of each focus group we gave each participant two stickers, a pink and yellow, and asked them to place a pink sticker on their first choice and yellow on their second.
• This weekend we narrowed the 18 names down to five based on the votes from participants at the focus groups and how they fit our criteria.
• Now, this coming Sunday, November 22nd, those at the Sunday morning service will be asked to vote for their favorite name out of five at the beginning of the service. We will then count the votes, take the top two names and ask them to vote again for the name that they like and that first us best.

More Changes in the Newspaper Industry: Star Tribune Cuts 100 More Jobs & Announces Changes for 2010

The largest Twin Cities, MN newspaper, the Star Tribune, announced this week that starting soon, they will layoff 100 more employees to recalibrate out of bankruptcy. Nine percent of the total reduction will be done by the end of the year, but 30 of the cuts will come from the Star Tribune's newsroom and those may take a little longer. This is just another example of the changes happening in the journalism industry.

I wrote early last month about the new website the University of St. Thomas created for all of their news outlets (http://www.tommiemedia.com/). It seems the Star Tribune is going to take the same approach strategy in hopes of growth. Editor Nancy Barnes told newsroom staff that she believes the newspaper will succeed in "reinventing" its business and that it won't diminish news coverage. "Newspapers have been struggling financially, but not for readers,'' Barnes said.

The Star Tribune's operating committee disclosed that the newspaper is redesigning its website in 2010 and will expand the amount and types of information available to readers as it works on a new outreach strategy. "The cracking of our historical economic model and the current Great Recession have forced us to move quickly to make meaningful and difficult adjustments over the next few months," the committee said in a memo to employees Monday. "We have tremendous reach. We actually have more readers than we did a decade ago, only some of them are reading us online or on mobile rather than in print" Barnes said.

It's been a rough decade for the Star Tribune, but I am curious to see what changes will be made to their website and if it will help increase readership and finances. I'm not sure if this is the solution to their problem and I understand that they're not sure either, that this is just a temporary change that will be made until they know what is the right path to take. However, I know the Internet news source at the University of St. Thomas is doing very well and is extremely popular among its audience.

As a broadcast journalism major in college, reader of the newspaper and a fan of traditional journalism I may not completely like the changes being made, but really hope the paper can pull out of their troubles. I'm very sorry for the Star Tribune employees who will lose their jobs in the coming months, especially the reporters, good luck.

Why Pop Up Shops?

As the weather gets colder and with the holiday season gearing up, I've been spending a lot more time in shopping malls. Since, I've noticed a change in the number of pop-up shops filling the empty store space than in past years. I called the Mall of America and learned that this year they have about 20 temporary stores plus 80 to 100 kiosks and carts, a lot more than before.

This got me to thinking, what are the benefits for a product or business if they are only going to be around for a little while? With my background, I've always thought and learned that you want to build a brand and build relationships with your customer. That it's not good enough to just make a quick profit on a short sale.

Pop-up shops, or temporary stores, is a trend gaining popularity. Businesses and renters are finding the process beneficial. Stores do not have to make a long term commitment since sales have not been great and renters are able to leave the lights on in their vacant spaces and attract new customers.

Before our recession, landlords had the upper hand, demanding lease terms of 10, 20 or 30 years. But, now malls have put more emphasis on attracting retailers who want to sign leases for a few months to a year.I did some research and found that the retail vacancy rate in the Twin Cities is 7.1 percent, according to Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, and the near future doesn't look better. In the past year, national chains such as Circuit City, Linens 'N' Things and KB Toys have gone bankrupt. Many others, including Zales jewelry, Talbots, Starbucks and Regis-owned hair salons, have shuttered hundreds of stores.

• Businesses do not have to sign a 5- or 10-year lease. It makes them a little less nervous.
• Temporary stores are less expensive for retailers because they usually just need some paint and minor adjustments instead of expensive build-outs needed at a more permanent location.
• Rent is often more affordable, too, with fewer fees and a simpler cost structure.
• Usually, they are less costly than television ads, which can run in the millions of dollars to produce and broadcast, and the stores generate similar buzz and publicity for new brands.
• With temporary shops, stores are able to create a sense of urgency in their customers.

So, how are companies changing their strategy to make a quick impact on shoppers and still build a relationship with them?

• Target and other retailers have used pop-ups to create buzz and "limited-time-only" urgency for shoppers who relish the treasure hunt. Target likes popping up in New York City, especially during Fashion Week, where it gets in and out quickly without having to pay Manhattan rental rates.
• The retailer opened 80 Toys 'R' Us Holiday Express stores in major malls around the country in October, including Southdale Center in Edina and the Mall of America. It also added smaller Express stores within 260 Babies 'R' Us stores. The company is banking that their investment in temporary stores will help its market share, end KB Toy chains and to push its close competitors, Sears and Target, into the background. Wal-Mart is the country's largest toy seller.
• Twin Cities based Becker Furniture World hopes to find an upside in the downturn too. The company has opened two liquidation centers in empty Steve & Barry locations. A Becker Furniture Liquidation Superstore opened in Burnsville Center in July and on Wednesday in Blaine's Northtown Mall. The company is buying up one-of-a-kind furniture because manufacturers and retailers are struggling through the recession. Real estate is also plentiful.
• Nike opened a pop-up store in New York for just four days for the sole purpose of selling 250 pairs of the Zoom LeBron IV NYC basketball shoes, named after the popular NBA All-Star LeBron James.
• Gap kicked off a '60s style tour, where it used a school bus as a traveling pop-up store that made appearances in Los Angeles and New York and stopped at beaches on both coasts. Instead of seats, the bus sported shelves filled with t-shirts, flip-flops, and beach hats that people bought and paid for at a cash register near the driver's seat.
• Wal-Mart adopted the concept in the Spring, when it showed its new fashion line Metro 7 in a Fashion Cabana in Miami's South Beach district, open for only two days.
  Electronics company JVC opened its pop-up store, it offered karaoke and let people film themselves using its newly launched video camera and make their own DVDs, which folks could then carry home as gifts.
• Sneaker maker Fila let people draw their own designs on a computer, which they printed on a T-shirt that shoppers could take home with them for free.

I guess retailers have clearly discovered that pop-up stores can bring brands to life and let people sample products in a great format, without much cost.

Importance of Branding vs. Generational Changes

How important is it to create a company or product brand and then stick with it? I'd say very important, because all of the big brands have done a great of doing this. In most cases, just by seeing a popular brand's logo, colors or trademark statement will make you think of their them or their product. But, what happens when your company or product has been around so long that your brand doesn't market well with your target audience, and you must make changes in order to gain their interest. I'd argue that is equally as important.

I read an interesting article in The New York Times Business section today about the Walt Disney Company's new product. For decades, the Walt Disney Company has kept the $5 billion dollar image of Mickey Mouse frozen under glass, fearful that even the smallest changes could tarnish the brand. However, the Walt Disney Company is concerned that Mickey has become more of a corporate symbol than a beloved character for recent generations of young people. Now, Disney is taking the risky step of re-imagining him for the future.

The first step in Mickey's transition will appear next year when a new video game, Epic Mickey, in which the formerly squeaky clean character can be cantankerous and cunning, as well as heroic, as he traverses a forbidding wasteland. At the same time, in a parallel but separate effort, Disney has quietly embarked on an even larger project, to rethink the character’s personality from the way Mickey walks and talks, to the way he appears on the Disney Channel and how children interact with him on the Web, even what his house looks like at Disney World.

This week, the project got even more excitement to start after the announcement that, after 20 years of negotiations, the company has finally received the blessing of the Chinese government to open a theme park in Shanghai. This will potentially unlock a new giant market for all things Mickey.The Disney executives are moving carefully, and trying to keep a low profile, as they discuss how much they dare tweak one of the most durable characters in pop culture history to induce new generations of texting, tech-savvy kids to embrace him. Disney executives will keenly watch how Epic Mickey is received, to inform the broader overhaul.

While Mickey remains a superstar in many homes, particularly overseas, his popularity has not grown, but stayed stationary. This has resulted because of the new generation of Americans, those who grew up with Nickelodeon and Pixar. They know him, but may not love him. Domestic sales in particular have declined: of his $5 billion in merchandise sales in 2009, less than 20 percent will come from the United States.

I have no doubt that Disney will do a good job rebuilding the Mickey brand. The Walt Disney Company is has a long history of meeting their customer's wants exceptionally.

After some research, here are what I believe are the best branding tips for any company or product:

• Defining your brand. Defining your brand is like a journey of business self-discovery. It can be difficult, time-consuming and uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, that you answer the questions: What is your company's mission? What are the benefits and features of your products or services? What do your customers and prospects already think of your company? What qualities do you want them to associate with your company?
• Stand for something. People latch on to something they can understand and appreciate.
• Integrate your brand. Branding extends to every aspect of your business--how you answer your phones, what you or your salespeople wear on sales calls, your e-mail signature, everything.
• Do what you say you’re going to do. I know it may sound like common sense, but one of the primary drivers of brand loyalty is a consistent experience.
• Realize that you’re not in control of your brand. That’s right, you only set the direction for your brand. Your actual brand image is determined by your audience.
• Branding is as much about your people as anything else. Never forget that the best interactions come from one-on-one conversations between executives, employees, suppliers, and customers. Employees that want to help and do the best job possible go a long way.

Where is there hope for creative careers in the corporate world during a recession?

It's not a surprise that creative departments and agencies suffer when businesses and organizations are not doing well enough to keep the basic parts running. When companies are stretching all of their money across the board just to get by and stay open, they're not going to pay for the frills and lace that makes them fancy and unique. Even if it is 'for the best of the company,' it kills me to read the poetic statement released after each layoff that they paid some poor communications employee who is still left to write.

I was inspired to write about creative employee layoffs when I heard the announcement of Target Corps decision to layoff eight percent of its corporate marketing department this past Thursday. Since I am looking for a public relations career in the Twin Cities, I was upset to learn the news. Even though the retailer reported declining profits eight quarters in a row, spokeswoman Lena Michaud said the layoffs were unrelated to the economy or Target's financial performance. Instead, the layoffs are part of a "reorganization to make sure marketing is aligned to the needs of the business," Michaud said. The laid-off workers will get full pay and benefits through Dec. 14, severance based on years of service and the option to continue their health insurance for 12 months at their current employee rate, Michaud said.

Two years ago, before this current recession the PR, ad and marketing industries thought they were working their way back up to the booming business days of the 1980s. However, this Summer the Star Tribune wrote about the funk the creative industries are falling into. "The recession changed all that. Some agencies saw layoffs. Some saw revenues decline. Some struggled for new business. Some treaded water. Very few have thrived. 'Flat is the new up,' became the mantra for bottom-line financial growth, but even flat is an ambitious goal when corporate clients are slashing marketing and advertising dollars." (David Phelps, June 22, 2009)
Another hard hit to the creative industry in the Twin Cities came this Summer when Carmichael Lynch laid off a number of its employees. "Like everyone else we had to pare a few people," said Doug Spong, President of Carmichael Lynch, the third-largest agency in Minneapolis. "There isn't anyone else in town who hasn't." Held primarily by the new business from Subaru and stable business from longtime clients like Harley-Davidson, Carmichael Lynch saw revenues increase by 5 percent last year to $63 million. "Agencies are a reflection of their clients, and we've been very fortunate to have a brand like Subaru that is at a price point that consumers can afford and is a brand that appeals to the consumer," Spong said.

"About one-third of our clients are cutting back because business is tough. One-third are maintaining or increasing their budget and one-third is just kind of flat," said Carmichael Lynch CEO Steve Wehrenberg. Wehrenberg said the agency's food and packaged goods clients are doing fine as penny-pinched Americans stay at home to eat their meals while its hard-hit financial sector clients like the Hartford are doing less. On the other hand, Campbell Mithun learned just this summer that H&R Block, a client of nine years, is taking its $120 million book of business to another agency. "It's definitely not a growth year for us unless a miracle happens," Wehrenberg said.

Martin Williams had two rounds of layoffs, totaling 30 people after the agency lost a telecom client and was an unsuccessful bidder for financial services giant J.P. Morgan. Annual revenue of $62 million was down 1.6 percent in 2008, according to Adweek Media. "We saw this coming and made adjustments," said CEO Tom Moudry. "We've tried to control costs, travel, office functions, summer parties, subscriptions. If there's a silver lining, it's that we've taken a look internally and restructured to be faster."

On the upside, the Olson agency actually grew in the heart of the economic downturn. The company went from 156 employees in 2007 to 186 employees in 2008. John Olson, founder, boasts of 11 consecutive years of double-digit growth, including an increase from $25.1 million in 2007 to $35 million last year. In the past year, Olson has landed clients such as Memorex, Carlson Country Inns & Suites, Lee Jeans, Chinet and United Health Group's Ovations division. "We're not chasing everything," Olson President Kevin DiLorenzo. "Sometimes you have to say no."

Colle+McVoy saw its 2008 revenues reach an eight-year high at $26.3 million. Interactive billings increased by 300 percent and now account for 30 percent of the agency's revenue. "We're extremely fortunate. We have no clients in the (battered) automotive, financial or health care sectors," said Colle Chief Executive Christine Fruechte. The rise in social networking means more work from its interactive clients, which include ESPN, Yahoo, Aveda and the Manhattan Toy Co.

Online seems to be proving the way creative industries can still grow in these tough times. "The people who are doing well have a specialty in new media for a direct one on one contact with the customer like social media and interactive media," said St. Thomas's Purdy. "It's an intriguing toy to a lot of clients." The Associated Press agrees. Just this month they wrote that "signs of an online revival are emerging even while advertising in print and broadcasts remain in a slump that has triggered mass layoffs, pay cuts and other upheaval."

"You can draw a straight line from the time when people hear an ad on the radio or television to when they search for that company on the Internet," said David Karnstedt, chief executive of Efficient Frontier, which helps manage ad campaigns on search engines. These trends will give Internet advertising 19 percent, or nearly $87 billion, of the worldwide ad market in 2013, up from just 4 percent, or about $18 billion, in 2004, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wilkofsky Gruen Associates. That would make the Internet the third-largest marketing medium. Television is expected to remain on top, with $168 billion, or 36 percent of the global ad market in 2013, up from 35 percent in 2004. Newspapers would still be No. 2, but their $92 billion in advertising revenue is projected to account for 20 percent of the global ad market, down from 28 percent in 2004. (Star Tribune, Michael Liedtke, October 20, 2009)