Hasta La Creative!

A seasonal wrap-up of thoughts on an advertising columnist’s mind.

“Four Christmases,” a holiday comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, led the box office on a solid post-Thanksgiving weekend.

The college shopping process may take years, says Andy Beedle, CEO of agency abeedle.com. That's because the consumers are usually about 16 when they start shopping, and 18 when they — or their parents — buy.

The ad industry has always played a big part in helping new administrations communicate important messages to the American people. But the big difference with the incoming administration is that it has established its own very active internet database of 3 million people to get the word out to precisely the audience most likely to respond and take action.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Auto marketers cut spending on Hispanic media 5.2% during the first eight months of 2008, according to figures from TNS Media Intelligence, but didn't slash ad budgets as deeply as in the general market. For the full year 2007, Hispanic spending on car ads was up 2.7%.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Mr. Frizzell describes his outlook for the airline with a phrase every marketing executive seems to be using with great frequency: cautiously optimistic.

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — Regis philbin is like a lot of people: He doesn't like change. Though Mr. Philbin is playing a part in commercials for TD Bank in which he purports to be dismayed by its merger with Commerce Bank, he's emblematic of consumers in this era of financial churn. And that's why TD — and other local banks — are reaching out to them.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Black friday and Cyber Monday have become retail mainstays, but Mobile Tuesday? Recent economic woes have eliminated many marketers' ability to invest in emerging media. Still, aggressive mobile-marketing firms and major retailers are introducing programs meant to entice wary consumers this holiday season. One such program is the attempt to create yet another shopping holiday, Mobile Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — On Dec. 4, Pernod Ricard USA will launch an outdoor projection-media campaign in New York City that will later pop up in cities throughout the country. Projected text will seem to direct messages at pedestrians nearby.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The addition of Citigroup to the list of powerful institutions begging for government rescue last week only reinforced the impression that everything has changed. But it might not have changed as much as you think, according to a Gfk Roper online survey of 2,000 American adults, which was weighted to reflect the demographic characteristics of the total online population. The survey, conducted Sept. 11 through Oct. 10 — just after the government started pushing the panic button over the economy — suggests that consumers may be responding a bit more coolly than anticipated.