via Social Networking Study: Facebook Use Continues to Rise; Brand Participation and Engagement Heavily Welcomed by Social Networkers – Performics Search Engine Marketing Blog.

Based on more than 1,500 consumer interviews and surveys, Digital Morning, the first research brief in ExactTarget’s Subscribers, Fans & Followers research series, found that consumers’ early morning online preferences reflect key differences in their motivations for interacting with companies across email and social media.

“Consumers who check email first tend to be more task-oriented, subscribe to more emails and interact with brands across email and social media to obtain deals, promotions or new product information,” said Morgan Stewart, principal, ExactTarget’s research and education group. “This stands in stark contrast to people who initially check Facebook, who tend to draw firmer, more segregated boundaries and become fans of brands for entertainment purposes or to show support for a company or product.”

Key findings of the research include:

• 93 percent of U.S. consumers subscribe to email marketing messages.

• 42 percent of U.S. online consumers use Facebook at least once a day and, of these, 69 percent are a fan of one or more companies.

• 54 percent of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 are fans of brands on Facebook.

• While consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 are the most active demographic on Facebook and Twitter, they are also among the most active on email.

• Nearly half (43 percent) of all online consumers are either fans or followers of at least one brand on Twitter or Facebook.

• 68 percent of daily Twitter users follow at least one brand, yet only 7 percent of U.S. consumers participate on Twitter with that frequency.

via Email Marketing Software, Services & Solutions from ExactTarget.

High-end retailers Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus are reporting stronger sales. At the Ed Morse car lot in Brandon, Cadillac sales in April nearly tripled from a year ago, while its sister dealership in Tampa is having a run on the high-end SRX SUVs.

And Jackie Colson-Miller, a South Tampa real estate agent dealing in luxury properties, has trouble finding enough houses in the $1.2 million and up range to satisfy deep-pocketed, out-of-town buyers.

The luxury buyer is coming back.

Perhaps wiser, decidedly pickier and more practical. But back in the game, nonetheless.

And with the combination of plenty of disposable income and plenty of bargains, the wealthy are best positioned to lead any nascent recovery of consumer spending. Last week, retailers reported tepid sales for May, up less than 3 percent, with luxury spending one of the few bright spots.

Luxury sales, in fact, grew more than three times faster last month than overall retail sales, according to a report from MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse.

In their annual survey of affluence and wealth in the United States, American Express Publishing and Harrison Group predicted the first comeback year in three years in retail spending. That infusion, it predicts, will be confined to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans. “The remaining 90 percent of the population will spend either the same — or less — than they have been spending since the Great Recession began in 2007,” the survey found.

via Wiser, cautious luxury retail buyers are back in the game – St. Petersburg Times.

For Toyota Motor Sales, the answer — right now, anyway — is to stop advertising, first at Southeastern TV stations and now at some Northeastern TV stations.

A couple of months ago the Toyota dealers association in the Southeast thought that it wasn't getting a fair break from ABC News, which continues to cast a hard eye on the car company and the sudden-acceleration problems of some of its cars. So the group withheld ad dollars from those local ABC stations.

Now, the Greater New York Toyota Dealer Association is getting into the act, pulling back some $5 million dollars from TV stations in its markets, including WABC-TV in New York.

The underlying message is that car dealer associations obviously don't believe in the separation of church and state — advertising sales and journalism. Another message: They don't want to reward any part of a media company's activities.

via MediaPost Publications Toyota, BP: Two Different Takes On Advertising While Under Media Scrutiny 06/04/2010.

Media executives say Fox could have set pricing for its upfront inventory higher than the average 8% or 9% price hikes it has received. In the weeks before the upfront market started, most senior network executives had been talking about hefty double-digit price increases over a year ago for the CPMs.

“Fox moved quickly, but it could have set pricing higher,” says one veteran media agency executive. “If you are ABC or CBS, you'd be angry,” and other networks as well. Says another executive: “Everyone is pissed at Fox.”

As the market leader, Fox has the ability to set the price bar. Now, many other networks, in theory, need to be priced under where Fox has settled. Media sources say ABC and CBS are now hoping to get at least the 8.0% to 8.5% price hike, just under Fox. Struggling NBC hopes to land a half a point to a point just under ABC and CBS.

But Fox may have the last laugh — especially if the TV ad market continues to be strong.

(this is actually pretty funny… what’s that old saying “pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered…”  – bc)

via MediaPost Publications Rival Nets Angry At Fox For Upfront Pricing 06/04/2010.

Why should we care? Unlike at the state fair, there is no prize for guessing right. Still, if we can track the number of these REO (“real estate owned”) homes, we can get some sense of how banks and others are doing in their efforts to dispose of the properties and how much longer they will be weighing on the housing market.

The good news is that two of the leading contenders in this guesstimating game–Tom Lawler, an independent housing economist and gentleman farmer in Leesburg, Va., and Robert Tayon, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York–have been comparing their methods recently and learning from each other. Both are in the same ballpark and both say the REO count is on the rise.

Mr. Lawler estimates there were 574,000 one- to four-family REO homes at the end of the first quarter, up from 518,000 at the end of 2009 but well below a peak of 668,000 in the third quarter of 2008. More modest (honest?) than most economists, Mr. Lawler describes his estimates as “crude” and “a work in progress.” He figures his tally is too low–he can’t find good data on all of the thousands of REO owners– but still “indicative” of the trend.

via More Bank-Owned Homes Likely to Hit the Market – Developments – WSJ.

US Bank, acting on behalf of investors that own the resort’s securitized mortgage, on Tuesday won the auction with a bid of $122 million, according to Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., based in Addison, Texas. The mortgage holders had the advantage of being able to bid up to the remaining balance of the mortgage without needing to put in additional money.

The auction marks the second time that the 357-room Four Seasons Dallas has changed hands in the past three months. In April, Capri Capital, which held the $39 million mezzanine loan on the resort, displaced previous owner BentleyForbes LLC by foreclosing on the resort’s equity. Next, the resort’s mortgage holders, whose claim is senior to Capri’s, wrested control from Capri by winning the auction on Tuesday.

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, based in Toronto, will continue to manage the Dallas resort.

via Mortgage Holders Seize Four Seasons Dallas – Developments – WSJ.

via MediaPost Publications Summer Fridays — Bad Day At Beach Better Than Good Day In Town? 06/03/2010.

via Why Is Product Placement Okay On TV Without Disclosure? | Techdirt.

Many Four Seasons hotels have stopped displaying huge vases of fresh flowers. Others are closing their high-end restaurants on slow days. And some have begun outsourcing laundry.

The moves may seem small—and many guests won’t even notice them—but they are seismic for a brand like Four Seasons, which built its reputation on impeccable service and pioneered labor-intensive perquisites like in-hotel spas and free shoe shines.

In the past, the company, which holds long-term contracts with the hotels it manages, shrugged off downturns as passing cycles that didn’t warrant altering its expensive but successful formula. This time, though, Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons’ founder and chief executive, agreed to some concessions that wouldn’t hurt service.

via Four Seasons Agrees to Cost Cuts – WSJ.com.