Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Thu, Aug 13 1992 Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 05:17:49 EDT Message-ID: 08-13 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update Aug. 13, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network TROLLEYS ON TRACK FOR COMEBACK: Trolleys are making a comeback in cities nationwide. Next stop: Memphis, which opens its new fixed-rail system in December, taking riders through the Pinch historic district to musical Beale Street. Even the capital of tourist attractions, Orlando, is getting into the act. Current plans call for laying track and adding trolleys throughout the downtown area by 1995. TROLLEY GIVES TOURISM BOOST: Dallas restored its asphalt-covered trolley tracks in 1989. Since then, tourism to the Uptown neighborhood - with its trolleys, antique shops, restaurants and galleries - is up 30%, says John Landrum of the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority in Dallas. Elsewhere: New trolleys rumble along the South Platte River in Denver and the riverfront in New Orleans. TWIN PEAKS FEST THIS WEEKEND: The corpse of Laura Palmer won't stay buried. ABC's cult drama series "Twin Peaks," axed in 1990, has been made into a movie. "Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me" opens August 28th. The first Twin Peaks Fest takes place this weekend. The show, in 59 countries, has now caught fire in Japan. And Worldvision Home Video is releasing the first seven episodes in September. SHOWS REACH OUT TO KIDS: Between 1989 and 1992, the share of children aged two to five reported watching television from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. declined 18%, according to Nielsen Media Research. Experts say that's because a large share of children's viewing occurs outside the home. The Children's Television Workshop has launched a new program to serve the changing lifestyles of America's young viewers. (For more, see special Viewing package below.) MORE CREDIT CARDS BEING OFFERED: General Electric plans to jump into the competitive credit card business. One lure for customers may be discounts on GE appliances. GE says it will test market the card later this year. The electric appliance maker's approach is similar to a plan by General Motors to launch a credit card that would offer consumers car discounts on its cards. COKE TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE: Coca-Cola is looking seriously at expanding its activities in direct and database marketing. Coke is trying to combat a declining market share at the supermarket level in the $47 billion soft drink category. Industry sources said the decision is to catch up with Pepsi, which leads direct marketing with its Gotta Have It Card and mailing of one million cases of Diet Pepsi to Diet Coke users. CRUISES GOING AFTER YOUNG: Cruise advertisers pursuing a younger, less affluent traveling segment are working to broaden the market, without alienating its core audience of mature, more affluent cruisers. The fastest growing segment in cruisers is 25-to-49-year-olds. In the past six years, that segment has grown from 29% to 34%. WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN: The 10-year-old bull market is in trouble. Stock prices today are so high they reflect earnings growth that may be unachievable in low-inflation, low-growth years economists say lie ahead. On average, stock prices now are 18 times expected per-share earnings. When the bull market began, that figure was eight. BLUE-COLLAR STOCKS DOING WELL: Many investors might think really hot stocks come only from glitzy industries like biotechnology. But over the past 10 years, dirty-fingernail, heavy-industrial stocks have been among the biggest gainers. Hardly glamorous top-performing stocks include carpet maker Shaw Industries and Great Lakes Chemical as well as top earner Mark IV. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON VIEWING: CHILDREN MAKE UP LARGE AUDIENCE: The CTW has launched Sesame Street's Preschool Education Program, designed for children who are in home-based day care and in child-care centers. Children who watch television in child-care centers are not measured by Nielsen's current system, and this form of child care is the fastest-growing type of care for preschoolers, says August's American Demographics. MOST YOUNG KIDS OUTSIDE HOME: CTW and Nielsen recontacted household heads who kept diaries in Nielsen's February 1991 survey. Their survey found 55% of children aged two to five are cared for outside their own homes for at least one weekday. Fewer than one in four of these children are cared for in someone else's home; the rest are cared for in child-care centers that are not reached by Nielsen's current system. MARKETS JUMPING ON PEP: CTW began the PEP program in Dallas two years ago. It provides day-care centers with educational materials designed to reflect Sesame Street's daily programming. Day-care workers are trained with funds initially provided by Sesame Street. Within the first six months of the project, 88 television markets were actively involved with PEP. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM