The economic crunch will drive tighter spending across the board. As consumers continue to make tough choices, they will spend less on products that don’t deliver a rational benefit. Expect continued decreases in the purchasing of premium products, organics and more-expensive sustainable goods. Increases will be found in the online, mobile and in-home entertainment sectors.

The global financial crisis is impacting every market around the world, but that doesn’t mean consumers everywhere are reacting the same way. While huge numbers of people feel the impact of rising fuel prices and plan cutbacks in new clothes, utilities and entertaining, it’s the consumers in the world’s developing markets who feel the most optimistic.

Poor people need low prices. Rich people love low prices. Either way, these are happy days for the promotion industry, as manufacturers and retailers update time-proven promotional techniques and unleash a new arsenal of Internet and wireless-based delivery systems.

Even in a sluggish economy with slow population growth, there are expansion opportunities in overlooked markets. Seven key indicators for growth give retailers a quick assessment of a market’s potential even in tough economic times…

Despite a wobbly economy, consumers continue their quest for flattering and effective health and beauty offerings, which now account for one in five new product launches…

From now until 2050, nearly all population growth worldwide will take place in less-developed countries. Overall, growth in the more-developed world has nearly halted and is expected to stay at very low levels for decades to come. Opportunities for growth, however, will be substantial for marketers able to reconfigure their product lines to meet the needs of struggling young families with many children.

Not since the Kennedy-Nixon debates has media played such an important role in a presidential election. The Internet, the new kid on the political media block, is proving highly influential in everything from fundraising to myth busting. To track the interplay of candidate web buzz, political advertising, pundit programming, entertainment parodies, convention and debate coverage requires an integrated, multi-media view.

Color the 2008 holiday shopping season red for investment losses, white for shredded financial documents and blue for American consumers dealing with the double whammy of failed financial markets and crumbling employment numbers. An equal opportunity offender, the market downturn has impacted all economic strata , including the one-third of high net worth individuals dialing down holiday spending.

Television celebrity chefs have helped to usher in a new wave of home-grown culinary connoisseurs. From best-selling books and top-rated shows, to palate-pleasing provisions, home-style gourmet chefs represent a highly desirable demographic that can help boost ailing retail sales at a time of economic uncertainty. Gourmet cooks not only shop more frequently than the average household, but they also spend more dough at club, grocery, drug and dollar stores.

EA Sports’ video game Madden NFL Football is the number one selling sports video game of all time, with more than 70 million copies sold since its release in 1988. Video gamers and sports fans alike eagerly anticipate the game’s arrival every year in what has become something of an annual holiday. Meanwhile, the game has successfully crossed over into television programming, has moved across screens to online and mobile, and has become embedded into U.S. sports culture.