»
The two-day public hearings on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising convened by the FDA began yesterday, and three things became clear, writes AdAge. First, supporters of DTC understand that change is needed, and are willing to bend a bit. Opponents want complete reform and seem bolstered by the fact that the public and political climate seems to favor them - at the moment.
And, the FDA knows something must give in the $4 billion industry, but isn’t sure whether it can do anything. For now, the FDA panel stressed that its goal of the hearings was simply to gather information in order to answer pertinent questions surrounding DTC, including what action the FDA should take if companies violate guidelines.
All sectors of the media business will suffer from the weakened economy in 2008 and 2009, with a slump in local advertising particularly hurting newspapers and local TV, according to a new projection from Goldman Sachs.
Broadcast nets will experience…
The New York Times is shuttering its International Herald Tribune site; NYTimes.com will soon host the international news normally reserved for its sister website.
The move is not about cost savings, but rather about growth, NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller…
Unilever’s Vaseline set forth on an unusual research project in a small town in Alaska. Setting up a storefront, the company began giving away free bottles of lotion and asking recipients to name the person who had recommended they come…
Meet the Press, the show hosted by Tim Russert for 17 years before his death last June, is beginning to slip in ratings.
Last month, CBS’s Face the Nation pulled ahead of Meet the Press for the first time in two…
Bloggers collectively create nearly one million blog posts each day, and half of bloggers believe blogs will be a primary source of news and entertainment in the next five years, according to Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, MarketingCharts writes.…
Wal-Mart and Costco reported same-store gains in September, with sales rising 2.4% and 9% respectively. Sales at Target stores open at least a year fell 3%, writes Retailer Daily.
Below, fiscal results from the discount retail giants:
Sales of food and…
