New Electronic Radio Rating System
Gaining Favor
Radio industry leader Clear Channel Communications has agreed to
use a new electronic rating system in the top 50 U.S. markets. The
electronic audience measurement system is aimed at replacing a
decades-old system of paper diaries.
Many broadcasters, including CBS Radio (number-two in the
national market), have already reached deals to use Arbitron�s
Portable People Meter, a pager-like device that detects audio codes
embedded in radio broadcasts.
People Meter ratings, while more expensive to produce than the
old paper diary method, provide far greater detail about radio
listening and don�t have to rely on the memory of listeners.
U.S. Advertising Spending Declines
Advertising spending in the U.S. slipped 0.3% in the first
quarter of 2007 to $34.9 billion, compared with the year earlier
quarter. Ad-tracking service TNS Media Intelligence notes that last
year�s first quarter was boosted by Winter Olympic Games-related
spending.
But even factoring out the temporary increase of that event, �the
core growth rates have slowed further from last year�s lack-luster
levels,� reported TNS CEO Steven Frederiks. Hardest hit were network
TV (down 7.2% to $6.1 billion) and national newspapers (down 5.3% to
$810 million). At the same time, internet display advertising jumped
16.7% to $2.7 billion.
TNS doesn�t track spending on some major categories of digital
advertising, including search and other unconventional marketing
areas, such as public relations and event marketing.
Mayors Urge More Marketing
Spending As U.S. Tourism Drops Off
Troubled by steep declines in international tourism, mayors
nationwide are urging the federal government to spend more money on
marketing the United States and to make the entry process friendlier
and faster.
Responding to a survey by Travel Business roundtable, mayors from
the country�s top travel destinations said tourism�a driving force
of the economy�needed to be a top priority.
The number of overseas visitors to the U.S. has dropped 17%
overall since its peak in 2000 and 20% in the top 15
cities...costing more than $100 billion in lost visitor spending
through 2005, according to the Commerce Department.
Tourism boosters blame lackluster marketing efforts. This year
the Commerce Department will spend $3.9 million on marketing to
foreign tourists. In comparison, Malaysia will spend $117.9 million.
As a result, tourism boosters believe that the U.S. is likely to
cede China in the next couple of years its position as the
third-most-visited international destination. France and Spain are
the top international tourism destinations.
Several factors are to blame, they say: America�s declining image
abroad, the difficulty and time it takes to get a visa and the
perception that U.S. ports of entry are unfriendly, understaffed,
and overzealous about security.
Of the mayors polled, 73% said that entry procedures and
treatment by U.S. immigration and customs officials reinforce
negative perceptions of the country, according to the survey results
released. Officials from the State Department said they agreed with
the mayors and travel industry, and have taken extra measures to
expedite visa processing.
Currently, visitors from 27 countries, mostly in Europe as well
as Japan, Australia and New Zealand, are not required to obtain
visas to travel to the U.S. However, visitors from other countries
must obtain them.
Community Currencies Keep Profits
Local
A walk down Main Street in this New England town of Stockbridge,
may well bring to mind the pictures of Norman Rockwell who lived
nearby and chronicled small-town American life in the mid-20th
Century.
So it seems fitting that the artist�s face adorns the 50
BerkShares note, one of five denominations in a currency adopted by
towns in western Massachusetts to support locally owned businesses
over national chains.
There are about 844,000 BerkShares in circulation, worth $759,600
at the fixed exchange rate of 1 BerkShare to 90-cents, according to
program organizers. The paper scrip is available in denominations of
one, five, 10, 20 and 50.
In their 10 months of circulation, they've become a regular
feature of the local economy. Businesses that accept BerkShares
treat them interchangeably with dollars: a $1 cup of coffee sells
for 1 BerkShare, a 10 percent discount for people paying in
BerkShares.
Named for the local Berkshire Hills, BerkShares are accepted in
about 280 cafes, coffee shops, grocery stores and other businesses
in Great Barrington and neighboring towns, including Stockbridge,
the town where Rockwell lived for a quarter century.
Great Barrington attracts weekend residents and tourists from the
New York area who help to support its wealth of organic farms, yoga
studios, cafes, and businesses like Allow Yourself to Be, which
offers services ranging from massage to �chakra balancing� and
Infinite Quest, which sells �past life regression therapy.�
The BerkShares program is one of about a dozen such efforts in the
nation. Local groups in California, Kansas, Michigan, New York,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin run similar ones. One of
the oldest is Ithaca Hours, which went into circulation in 1991 in
Ithaca (NY).
U.S. law prevents states from issuing their own currency but
allows private groups to print paper scrip, though not coins,
according to Lewis Solomon, a professor of law at George Washington
University, who studies local currencies.
Universal Law-Of-Reciprocity Key To Trade Exchange Success
Every trade
exchange owner in the world should not only be aware of the
law-of-reciprocity, but using it, in the operation of their
business.
Trade
exchange owners are invited to e-mail
bmeyer@barternews.com
for more information on how you can become �the exchange of choice�
in your area. When e-mailing Bob Meyer, put �Law of Reciprocity� in
the subject line.
Hotel
General Managers
Here�s
The Easiest $100,000 You�ll Ever
Bring To The Bottomline!
Collect
cash, as usual, from the guest accounts staying at your
facility that require the use of professional AV services.
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your current vendor�s cash agreement for AV services,
here�s a much better alternative:
Work
with a proven national vendor (a sterling 25-year track
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hotel on a 100% TRADE BASIS! (Payment to be in the form of
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Your hotel�s annual AV billings must be a minimum of $200,000, and this
offer is available only in the continental United States.
For a
confidential introduction contact Bob Meyer via e-mail:
bmeyer@barternews.com.
(Please type in AV Services On Trade in the subject
line of your e-mail.)
Attention Trade Exchange Owners:
If your
member hotel(s) have a minimum of 10,000 sq. feet of meeting
space and annual billings of at least $200,000 for AV
services this is a great opportunity to earn substantial
cash service fees on the hundreds of thousands of trade
dollars your hotel member will be paying the vendor. Contact
Bob Meyer at the above e-mail. |
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The Growth and Use of Secondary Capital (New Money) Creates
Unprecedented Wealth In Today�s New Age Of Possibility
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