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 Wed, Jul 29 1992 Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 04:32:50 EDT Message-ID: 07-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update July 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MORE MARKETERS TRY SAMPLING: Sampling has become more sophisticated than just hanging miniboxes of detergent on doorknobs. Marketers are putting trial-size packages of new and established products in consumers hands through targeted giveaway programs with retailers at unexpected places like airplanes and theaters as well as at special events, through direct mailings, and through daily newspapers. (For more, see special Sampling package below.) WHISKERS DRAMA CONTINUES: New episodes of Fox's teen drama "Beverly Hills, 90210" reveal Jason Priestley has snipped his sideburns but Luke Perry, who shed them for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," his new movie out Friday, has grown them back. Pasquale Gallo, manager of Astor Place Hair Designers, a hip hair snippery in New York's Greenwich Village says "TV is a big influence, but the sideburn look is bigger." VIEWERS FOLLOW LUKE: As Luke Perry goes, so goes the nation, says Sassy magazine creative director Mary Clarke. "He's the dominant force in the trend (to have sideburns). If he's keeping his, they'll be with us another season." Even grown-ups are sporting sideburns: Baltimore Oriole Brady Anderson and Bruce Springsteen, to name just two. WORKOUT VIDEOS ON THE WAY: The sweat-with-a-celebrity segment of the home video industry will get a boost this fall. Cindy Crawford, Marla Maples and Marilu Henner are all releasing workout videos. Even Cher, whose first workout tape has sold more than one million copies, is putting out a second due in November; and all-time workout queen Jane Fonda's latest hits stores in September. CHEFS BANDING TOGETHER: Chefs around the USA are backing a restaurant boycott of genetically engineered food. Spago's Wolfgang Puck and the Russian Tea Room's Paul Ingenito are leading the pack. They'll place a logo on menus indicating they don't serve such foods. The action follows the government's decision in May to let some biotechnology companies sell engineered foods without pre-marketing safety tests. RETURN OF THE JUNK BOND: Junk bonds are back after a lapse early last year when none were issued. Nearly $12 billion of high-yield corporate junk bonds were issued last quarter, setting a record over the $11 billion of junk bonds issued in the third quarter of 1987. TV SHOWS CATERING TO YOUTH: Madison Avenue prognosticator Young & Rubicam notes network schedules are more concentrated than ever on youth, with 14 new shows targeted to them. Networks are also engaging more black performers than ever before, Young & Rubicam says. THERE'S MORE TO NIBBLE ON: New munchies have come on the scene to compete with regular old chips: Two classic taste treats are combined in one bite with Liberty Richter's Bolletje Peanut Butter Pretzels, thin salted sticks. Also out: Garden of Eatin,' Inc.'s Black Bean Chili Chips, made from organically-grown corn and beans; and Dana Alexander's Terra Chips, made from thin, deep-fried slices of root vegetables. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SAMPLING: SAMPLING IS HOT: Product sampling has become one of the hottest consumer sales promotion tactics as marketers seek ways to move away from mass couponing and question the efficiencies of mass-market advertising. Donnelley Marketing shows in 1991, 64% of the companies surveyed were using sampling for new products, up from 58% in 1989. EVEN OLD PRODUCTS SAMPLE: The share using sampling for established products jumped to 43% last year, compared with 33% in 1989. Donnelley attributes the increase to marketers' desire to maintain brand awareness and equity in the face of price competition from generics and retailers' private-label brands. MARKETERS GO AFTER STUDENTS: Sampling isn't confined only to package-goods marketers. During spring break in Daytona Beach, Fla., General Motors Corp. encouraged college students to test-drive Geos. IBM Corp. let them see what its PS:2 personal computers could do, and MCI Communications Corp. let them call home, or anywhere else, for free. (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