Takes

DREAMING OF A GREEN CHRISTMAS: Will Consumers Play Scrooge this Holiday? Bad news as we head into the fourth quarter: In August, consumer confidence fell for the second straight month, according to The Conference Board. Americans say they're worried about where the economy is headed in the next six months, a view not helped much by stock-market turmoil, here and abroad, and terrorist attacks against U.S. embassies in East Africa. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index dipped four points from July, while the Expectations Index dropped about six points. More disturbing for holiday retailers is Conference Board reports of growing uncertainty about future spending. "Since consumers have heavily fueled economic growth over the past several years, confidence readings in September and October may throw more light on the pace of activity we can expect for the final months of the year," says Lynn Franco, associate director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. L'Affaire Lewinsky Sex Doesn't Sell Most Americans say Monica Lewinsky's next career move should not include a stint on Madison Avenue. Some 68 percent of those polled replied that "under no circumstances" should the former White House intern appear in ads, according to a new survey from Baltimore-based Eisner & Associates. Twenty-two percent said it depends on the product, while four percent had no opinion. Six percent confessed they didn't know who Monica Lewinsky is, throwing into doubt their credibility as inhabitants of this planet. Even as respondents distanced themselves from Lewinsky, they offered opinions about which marketers would go after her. Oddly, necktie haberdashers and the Gap didn't make the list. MIXED BLESSINGS: QVC as an Oasis in a Troubled World, Chic Dives, Etc. What is it about world crisis that makes people seek out the comfort of polyester and cubic zirconia? During the week of Aug. 17, as viewers were glued to the tube getting the latest on presidential confessions, Ermenegildo Zegna ties and retaliatory attacks on terrorists, they were also taking respite in electronic shopping breaks at QVC. The West Chester, Pa., cable retailer reports the week brought in the second-highest sales levels in its 12-year history. The viewers in QVC's 66 million homes topped those figures only once before in a week last Christmas. If some of the hottest moving QVC products are any indication, Americans may well be settling into a bunker mentality: The most popular items included the George Foreman Champ Grilling Machine, the "Roto Zip" Cordless Spiracut Power Saw kit and Sealy Posturepedic's Sweet Sleep two-piece pillow sets. Macauley Caulkin, a newly married 18-year-old, has presumably moved away from the childish antics that won him overnight fame as the star of Home Alone films. But his legend lives on. This month, Kid City, published by Children's Television Network, and Zillions, published by Consumer Reports, unwittingly created similar back-to-school covers, ˆ la Caulkin. Both magazines target 6-to-11 year-olds. Say you're a roadside rib shack kind of place trapped in one of Portland, Ore.'s classiest hotels. How do you get out the word about your true identity? That was the problem Borders, Perrin & Norrander chewed over with client Red Star Tavern and Roast House. In coming up with the solution, the agency developed graphic red, black and white ads with a decidedly lowbrow positioning. "We tried to think like a sweaty Arkansas farmer would. It's a place packed with testosterone," says BP&N senior copywriter John Heinsma. "They just slap the food down on the plate. You can come in, drink beer, spit and not feel bad about it." Ah, the wondrous marketing opportunities provided by aging baby boomers. Sydney, Australia-based No Frills Funerals & Cremations, a unit of U.S. funeral company Stewart's Enterprises, is trumpeting 2016 as "the beginning of a golden age for the funeral business." That's the year when the first boomers turn 70. In anticipation, the company has hit upon a sales strategy it thinks could sweep the world. Betting on the generation's cynical, counter-culture instincts, the company enlisted Saatchi & Saatchi to break with sentimental notions about death. No Frills uses TV ads that show a black screen, with white type announcing, "This is what it looks like when you're buried in a $25,000 funeral." The screen goes black again, before a second line appears saying, "This is what it looks like when you're buried in a $2,000 funeral." The tagline is equally stark: "When you're gone, you're gone." Print versions extend the comparison. Before the ads even ran, however, Saatchi & Saatchi forwarded them to The Sydney Sun-Herald where they caught the eye of an editor. Australian television quickly picked up on the unusual spots. So did TV and radio stations in England, Thailand, Greece and the United States.

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