Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Thu, Apr 9 1992 Date: Thu, 9 Apr 92 05:44:24 EDT Message-ID: 04-09 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update April 9, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network YOU GOTTA HAVE A GIMMICK: Companies today are discovering it takes cash - or at least a giveaway gimmick - to warm consumers' hearts. Burger King and Disney are offering 100 million prizes to fast-food customers, including $100,000 and trips to Disney World. Pepsi-Co's Frito-Lay unit is giving away 8 million prizes from free-chips coupons to $50 in snack packs. M&M:Mars offers 5-cent candy-bar-wrapper refunds. (For more, see special Giveaway package below.) IBM TO TRY PORTABLE PEN MODEL: IBM will announce next week it is entering the portable pen-based computer market, Reuters says. IBM would join a growing list of companies making portable computers that let users control the computer's functions by writing on the screen with a special pen rather than through a keyboard. The IBM model will be aimed at mobile workers such as insurance-claims adjusters. TEACHER SALARIES UP: Average salary for a public school teacher this year is $34,413, up 4.4% from last year, the National Education Association reported Wednesday. It's up 78% from the $19,274 average of 10 years ago, but NEA President Keith Geiger say it would take a 25% hike "if teachers were paid the equivalent of other professions. Pay is tops in Connecticut, Alaska and New York; lowest, the Dakotas. SOCIAL WORKERS TRY PREVENTION: Faced with intractable social ills and declining budgets, social workers are nudging their programs away from treatment and toward prevention. Problems such as child abuse and infant mortality are better fought with prevention, social workers in those fields say. And institutionalized foster care can cost from $10,000 to $50,000 a year. Programs to keep the family intact: $2,500 to $5,000. THE NEW ETHNIC FOODS: A more exotic group of ethnic cuisine is making its way into the mainstream of ethnic fare where Italian, Mexican and Chinese reside, according to the April American Demographics. Between 5% and 8% of Americans in 1991 had tried such cuisine as Caribbean, Eastern European, Korean, Russian, Thai, Scandinavian and African. That's a substantial increase over 1986. SKI SOUTH KOREA: Ski vacations are becoming increasingly popular in Seoul, South Korea, as in other areas where people have more leisure time, according to the newsletter of Japan Airlines. To meet increasing demand from domestic and overseas market, a resort is being built at Mount Paekpongsan, 90 minutes from downtown Seoul. It will open in the fall and will include pools and tennis courts. LAUREN LOOKS TO WILDE: According to Ralph Lauren's new fall collection, fashion will be just dandy. Lauren trotted out Oscar Wilde-inspired looks with long swallowtail jackets and high-waisted slender trousers to rousing applause Wednesday. With modified menswear and classic tailoring the talk of this week's shows, Lauren is in his element. His womenswear included sexy pinstripe sweater dresses. PINSTRIPES ARE EVERYWHERE: Ralph Lauren offered a new twist on leggings at his fall show Wednesday, with black or pinstriped cashmere leggings that covered up shoes like old-fashioned spats. He also showed black leather double-breasted jackets with velvet collars. His penchant for pinstripes pervaded his evening wear, with sheer jet-black gowns, vests, slacks and long skirts all with silver chalk stripes. LIPSTICKS DO MORE THAN ONE JOB: Lipsticks these days do more than add color to lips, reports the April Vogue. Aveda's basil-and-peppermint formula freshens breath; Cover Girl's Remarkable Lipcolor comes drenched with hydrating extracts. Ralph Lauren offers a lipstick that delivers skin care in sheer tints. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON GIVEAWAY: GIVEAWAYS WORK: Faced with a glut of competing products and higher marketing costs, companies see giveaways "as a cheap way to push a product," says David Weiss of market-research specialist Packed Facts. And they work. Frito-Lay giveaways have boosted sales 25% in some regions. A three-month sweepstakes for free cruises, sponsored by Cruise Line International Association, drew 130,000 entries. SOME PROMOTIONS A BIT STRANGE: As increasing numbers of marketers turn to promotions, some offers are, well, offbeat. Consider: Home-shopping cable-television channel QVC Network gave viewers a chance to win a $10,000 shopping spree on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif. As an added bonus, the winners got to hobnob with comedienne Joan Rivers. PROMOS COULD HAVE BAD EFFECT: Says Dennis Gonier of marketing consultant M:A:R:C Group, "Companies are slugging it out in the commodity zone trying to add value to products without altering the products themselves. But too many have jumped too far over the deep end." And as consumers come to expect promotions, that could hurt long-term gains, says David Aaker, author of "Managing Brand Equity." (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Beth Mann. (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