*The Gift of Giving: While tight budgets mean that fewer Americans will be engaging in charitable activities this year, most holiday shoppers are more inclined to choose a
brand that supports a charitable cause when buying gifts, according to the 2007 Cone Holiday Trend Tracker.
The survey, which tracks cause-related purchasing attitudes and behavior, suggests that companies need to let consumers know how their purchases are impacting social
issues:
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49% of survey respondents say they proactively look for gifts associated with a cause;
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57% would be willing to pay more for a gift that was tied to a cause;
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74% wish companies would give them more opportunities to get involved with the social issues the companies support;
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More than 7 in 10 are not familiar with what companies are doing to support social issues;
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When price and quality are about equal, 77% of Americans say they would choose the brand linked with a cause over one that isn't;
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39% purchased a holiday gift supporting a cause last year; and,
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42% have purchased or plan to purchase a gift supporting a cause this year.
Source: 2007 Cone Holiday Trend Tracker
*Made in China: The recent wave of Chinese-made product recalls, including those of toxic pet food and faulty or lead-contaminated toys, may spell trouble for consumer packaged
goods companies worldwide.
According to an extensive investigation into blog responses to product defects conducted by Umbria (a blog analyst of consumer insights), negative sentiment toward Chinese
products has created a spillover of mistrust of other foreign products, as well as American-manufactured goods.
Here are some other key insights from the study:
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Blog conversations about where products are manufactured jumped from 241 to 865 a week after the Mattel toy recall;
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Males blog more about product origins than females (63% to 37%), and tend to form quality judgments based on origin;
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Awareness that even domestically made products contain foreign components contributes to distrust;
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Consumer packaged goods that related to ingestion (toy parts, for example) caused greater concern than other types of products;
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Consumers hold the government most accountable for the quality of imported goods, with manufacturers coming second; and,
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Toys, food and beverage, and apparel were the top industries referenced.
Source: Umbria Product Recalls Report
*CEO Turnover at Home
Versus Abroad: CEO Departures, a study recently released by Weber Shandwick, revealed a shift in CEO departures among the 500 largest revenue-producing global companies.
As the global economy continues to evolve, especially with the increase in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, these results emphasize the importance of communications
professionals' role in succession planning.
Among the results:
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European CEO departures increased 41% in the first three quarters of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006;
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CEO turnover in North America continued to decline from 2006 to 2007, from 8.7% to 6.7%;
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28% of CEOs who left office in the first three quarters of 2007 did so involuntarily;
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European CEOs were more likely to be pressured to leave their jobs than their regional counterparts;
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2007 had a greater proportion of insider CEO successions than seen in 2006 (70% versus 64%, respectively); and,
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Asia Pacific CEO turnover appears to be relatively stable at 16.4%, having increased only slightly from the same time last year.
Source: Weber Shandwick CEO Departures PRN