Marketing Currents is a weekly current events news service that highlights unique and relevant business and marketing campaigns throughout the school year. The questions provided for student discussion will help to create a bridge between industry strategies/trends and the topics you are covering in class.
Playtime has been moving online for years now. In January 2020, the CDC reported the following screen time statistics: US children between 8-10 spend an average of 6 hours per day in front of a screen US children between 11-14 spend an average of 9 hours per day in front Read more…
There are always mixed sentiments when Halloween stuff starts hitting the shelves. Some can’t wait for spooky times, while others think summer is way too early for pumpkin-shaped Reese’s. Click here to read the story at morningbrew.com. Discussion Questions: What is seasonal marketing? What types of brands might benefit most Read more…
Looking to make Taco Bell synonymous with tacos across the globe, the fast food giant today kicked off two new major marketing initiatives. The first aims to grow global awareness by taking ownership of the taco emoji that lives on all of our phones. The second taps into Discord’s highly Read more…
There is perhaps no greater mystery to the middle-aged marketing executive than the mind of the American teen. With its youthful perspectives, wildly unpredictable interests, and malleable brains, the 13-to-18-year-old demographic is often elusive to older, more legacy brands trying to uphold their popularity as the pulse of cool flows Read more…
Over the past couple of months, Allison, a wife and mother of a toddler and teenager in Chicago, says she’s been spending about $50 more each week on groceries to feed her family — and that’s at a discount supermarket chain, Aldi’s. Click here to read the story at nypost.com. Read more…
Dollar Tree, the last of the big dollar-store chains selling items for $1 or less, on Tuesday said it was officially “breaking the buck” by adding $1.25 and $1.50 price points in some stores. Click here to read the story at insider.com. Discussion Questions: What is pricing? Why is pricing Read more…
Move over, Apple and Samsung; there’s a new smartphone maker in town. And surprisingly, it isn’t another tech firm, but the much-beloved fast-food chain Wendy’s. Click here to read the story at designtaxi.com. Discussion Questions: What is digital marketing? Why do you think apps are important to a brand’s overall Read more…
“Alexa, ask Astro to come in here.” I’m sitting on a couch in a simulated living room at Amazon’s Lab126 product R&D lab in Sunnyvale, California. Amazon VP of products Charlie Tritschler, who has been describing the company’s new home robot to me, is summoning the bot from another room, Read more…
Ford, following in the footsteps of Ferrari, is increasing its non-automotive merchandise in an effort to create a wider ranging brand. The company just hired Alexandra Ford English, daughter of Ford executive chair Bill Ford and great-great granddaughter of Henry Ford, to the newly-created position of global brand merchandising director. Read more…
One person’s trash can feed someone else in need … and likely wasn’t even trash in the first place. An estimated 1.4 billion tons of food is wasted each year, with 40 million tons coming from the U.S., more than any other country in the world, per Dole Sunshine. Click Read more…