ticker

Once upon a time, retailers measured success by the number of people walking by in the mall, how many entered the store, the percentage they spent, and basket size. Now, a world of zeroes and ones has changed their perspective entirely. Social media is expected to be the star during the coming holiday season, with retailers pushing Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter content to get in front of consumers and affect either online or in-store purchases. Smaller Christmas budgets are expected, so the fight is on to garner as large a share as possible of a shrinking pie.

Of course, nobody would come out and say, "Social media is nonsense, and I'm not getting anything for my investment." So, when the likes of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), JCPenney (NYSE: JCP), and Target (NYSE: TGT) say that social media is connecting them with their customers and leading to more effective campaigns and product launches, do take it with a grain of salt. What can't be ignored, however, is that they're committing more resources to social media marketing, even though it's still far too soon to tell if it will be effective.

The New York Times has a nice write-up on the small, local banks that are taking advantage of their bailout virginity to lure in customers who might prefer to do business with a bank that isn't on welfare.

USAA Federal Savings Bank (Full Disclosure: I have my mortgage and credit card with USAA and it is easily the best financial institution in the world) has begun touting its lack of bailout money in a $25 million ad campaign with the tag line "Banks don't need bailouts, people do." Worthington National Bank put up a sign that says "Just say no to bailout banks."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the advertising market could be ready for an upswing. Michael Morris, an analyst at UBS, is making a connection between improved sales at retail stores and a robust environment for commercials and the like. His reasoning is sound: if retail businesses are doing better, then they might want want to take advantage of new cash levels to invest in marketing initiatives aimed at bringing in traffic.

Indeed, the advertising industry has been in the dumps. Any good news is welcome. Media entities such as Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), CBS (NYSE: CBS), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, are counting on increased opportunities to sell their respective inventories at better prices.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), as we all know, is looking to get the biggest bang out of its software products. After the challenges encountered with Vista, and the slowdown in PC sales, Microsoft needs to look at its portfolio and see where unique marketing initiatives will impact sales in a positive manner.

As an example, Ina Fried over at CNET.com discussed a version of Office that will be available on new computers in 2010. It's being dubbed a "Starter" edition, and it apparently will use an advertising model to generate money. Users will also be able to get fuller versions by purchasing upgrade cards.

The new Neiman Marcus Christmas Book looks a bit different this year. Yes, it's still geared toward the typical Neiman clientele, but it reflects the fact that the usual customers may not be doing as well -- or spending as much -- this year as they did last year. The retailer is facing the fact that it will have to sell lower-priced items this Christmas, because that's what the public will have to buy (even the wealthy corner of the public).

Close to half the gifts listed in the 83rd edition of the Neiman Christmas catalog cost less than $250, and some of them are actually practical (though a bit pricey for most people). In the past, the number of gifts at this price-point would be in the 30% to 40% range.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has conquered the internet advertising world. With a 64% market share on internet search -- and all the unobtrusive text ads that accompany those searches -- it's hard to see Google giving up its crown any time soon. Even Bing won't change that for quite a while, if that.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has been the leader in DVD sales in the U.S. for years now. It's estimated that 40% of all U.S. DVD sales originate within the doors of the world's largest retailer. But, could those days be coming to an end?

With Blu-ray DVD players coming with built-in internet video streaming, cable and satellite having video-on-demand choices of all recent movies, and more people buying content from Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes every day, what is the future of the physical DVD?

One of the best ways for your business to get exposure and credibility is through public relations. Yet, hiring a PR firm can be expensive, easily running $5,000 to $10,000 per month.

Despite this, it's possible to do PR on your own. Keep in mind that a key to success is having an active and passionate founder or CEO who makes media relations a priority. This has been the case with many great leaders, such as Howard Schultz at Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) and Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM).

So, let's take a look at some of the steps you can take to improve your PR.

Shares of Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) soared to a new 52-week high Monday following news that the Chinese media giant's deal to purchase assets of Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ: FMCN) likely had fallen through. Rumors had swirled for weeks suggesting that the deal might not be completed.

Sina was set to acquire a portion of Focus Media's business that places advertising in malls, airports, office buildings and other places for $1.66 billion. The agreement is set to expire Wednesday, Sept. 30, without approval from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The government reportedly did not respond to repeated requests for approval. Both companies said Monday in a joint statement that they would not extend a deadline for closing the transaction.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) will be spending $100 million to market its new ... nothing. The internet pioneer who wants out of the tech biz and solely into the media biz (sounds like the Terry Semel days) will spend that sum over the next 15 months to gain new customers to its plethora of web properties and keep them there as long as possible (and charger advertisers appropriately).

What is new about this? From initial review, nothing. Yahoo! has always wanted to gain customers to its extensive internet collection and keep them there. What's so compelling a change that it's worth $100 million? So far, nothing this writer can determine. Just using Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Bing search services across all its properties is surely not a compelling reason.

The past couple of months there has been a lot of news over the government's recent "cash for clunkers" program, which was wildly more successful than anyone could have imagined, but left dealer lots short on inventory. General Motors dealers are still dealing with low inventory and have requested more cars to meet recent demand.

According to the Detroit News, General Motors dealers have requested that the company ship as much as four times as many cars as the company had planned to build in October.

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) is planning to cut 5,500 jobs over the next few years and reorganize into five business units. The company is looking to reduce costs and accelerate how long it takes new drugs to get to market, especially as its top performers see their patents expire. This translates to a workforce reduction of close to 14% – to 35,000. This measure doesn't include new positions in emerging markets with high potential and Japan.

The company hopes to cut as much as possible through attrition and retirements – and it would not indicate how many other positions would have to be cut.

Eli Lilly's goal is to slash its annual cost by $1 billion during this restructuring. The new business units will be: cancer, diabetes, established markets, emerging markets and Elanco, which is its animal health business. This is a change from the existing functional model, which separates U.S. and global marketing for each drug in the company's portfolio. Through the new structure, Lilly says, drug development and marketing will be tied more closely.

Is it possible to run a business by giving away your stuff? It sounds counterintuitive. But hey, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) gives away much of its offerings, right? I'm actually using Google Docs to write this column, for example.

True, Google is perhaps an exception (it certainly helps to have a huge user base and brand name). But it is worth exploring the concept. In fact, there is an excellent book on the topic -- Free: The Future of a Radical Price-- which came out recently.

Disney (NYSE: DIS), a media business that competes with Time Warner (NYSSE: TWX) and Viacom (NYSE: VIA), is currently holding a four-day fan convention in California called the D23 Expo. According to Julia Boorstin over at CNBC.com, you might consider it a Comic-Con-like event strictly for the Mouse. As far as I can tell, this initiative is a smart marketing move. Disney is able to promote a lot of its content in a very targeted fashion.

Of particular interest is one piece of content that was highlighted in an article at the Los Angeles Times website. Disney is making a significant bet on an upcoming cartoon called The Princess and the Frog. It won't be a flashy 3-D production. Instead, it's animated in a 2-D environment.

Warning! Take a nausea pill before reading this! How do bankers intend to get $500 billion dollars?

Was it a mistake to bail out Wall Street? Did you ever try and stop a cat from scratching on your sofa? The cat will wait you out and when you are not looking, it will start all over again. Wall Street is like that cat. They waited out the bailout last year and now are at it again with a new scheme called "life settlements."

What are "life settlements?" They are life insurance policies from elderly people who sell them for cash. For example, a $1million dollar policy could be sold for $400,000, which is more than the cash surrender value.

Bankers are already gearing up for this new scheme.