Doors Floors and More

Cited: Forbes

Continued from “Some Brands Never Die Part 1“

Parkhurst actually believes that, without any more setbacks, Toyota just might bounce back over the next couple of years as the backlash is already beginning to die down. Toyota sales as even jumped 17% in the 1st half of the year with the cloud of the safety recalls hanging over its head.

Company troubles don’t always doom strong brands. Consider Marlboro. Cigarette brands have been on the ropes for years as government restrictions have made it increasingly difficult for tobacco companies to market their products. The settlement signed in 1998 between the four largest tobacco companies and 46 state Attorneys General severely limited tobacco marketing and called for the companies to shell out $206 billion over 25 years to the states to pay for health-care costs.

No tobacco brand has thrived like Marlboro since the settlement. The brand ranks No. 8 on our list, worth $29.1 billion. Marlboro’s market share in the U.S. was 33.8% at the time of the settlement; today it’s 42.8%, which is greater than the next 12 cigarette brands combined. Marlboro’s message has been taken out of mainstream media. The brand, owned by and , is now marketed directly to consumers and in places where they gather, with help from a database of the names of 25 million smokers.

Off-Topic Breach: The perfect place for a full range of personalized custom gifts, unique invitations and personalized stationery is just a click away. You’ll find everything from custom plates and bowls to personalized clipboards, water bottles and lunchboxes including custom tempered glass cutting boards. In short, you’ll love these personalized gifts because they are the sweetest! Now, you can get your office mate those personalized sticky note cubes they been eyeing!

Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, has been called everything from evil to a vampire squid, but when it comes to investment banks, Goldman Sachs the brand still reigns supreme. It has been the lead bank in global mergers and acquisitions for eight of the past 10 years. Even with an SEC suit hanging over its head (the company has since settled, agreeing to pay $550 million), Goldman was once again the top M&A bank in the first half of 2010. It had an advisory role on $224 billion worth of deals, which represents 20% of global deal activity, according to Dealogic. The brand is worth $9.4 billion, and comes in at No. 45 on our list.

The United Way is the only nonprofit that makes our list, coming in at No. 26 with a brand value of $14.3 billion. The United Way was founded in 1887 and is made up of 1,800 local United Way chapters in 45 countries and territories. The economic downturn affected the charity as it did most other nonprofits, and donations fell 9% between 2006 and 2008. Yet with $4 billion in annual donations, the United Way is twice the size of the next biggest charity, the Salvation Army.

United Way of America CEO Brian Gallagher has transformed the century-old charity since he took over in 2002. At that time 50% of local United Ways defined fundraising as their primary objective, with the rest focused on community impact. Today 90% of United Ways are focused on community impact. In 2008 Gallagher announced a new plan to refocus the organization on three core issues: education, income and health, with specific metrics for measuring success in each area.

According to James Gregory, CEO of CoreBrand a global brand consulting firm, US companies are going to put more value in their brand names because they will affect the balance sheets more. Brands play a more prominent role on balance sheets outside the US than they do within the US or they may be lumped as part of a goodwill package when companies are bought and sold. Gregory says that the increasing calls for a standardized global accounting system may present an opportunity for the role brands have on the balance sheet to be seen.

————————————————————————

My Take: I agree, some brand names will never die. Take a look at Singer, that brand has been around for 70 years. The brands that do die are the ones that were taken down by personal injury lawyers. When a personal injury Attorney Denver CO or a Texas personal injury attorney gets a case against one of these brand names, they go all out. It also depends on the type of case that they’re working on.

If it is a brand name like Toyota, then a Texas car accident law firm would be handling the case. As recent events have shown, Toyota is probably in negotiations with a lot of injury attorneys. When a TX personal injury attorney gets a hold of a case, they are like bulldog! It’s even more so when a Texas tractor trailer accident attorney handles an accident involving a semi truck and another smaller vehicle. Many times when a vehicle’s manufacturer is at fault, people will also get a TX wrongful death lawyer to handle the case.

There are injury attorneys all over the country and they used to be called ambulance chasers. Only the ones that are lacking in a good reputation are called that anymore. There are Los Angeles injury attorneys, Chicago injury attorneys, Florida injury attorneys and the list goes on. And that is why these brand name companies have a tendency to quake in their boots when a lawyer contact them about one of their products.

————————————————————————-

Other Resources

Criminal Acts

If you have been recently arrested, you may be embarrassed, stressed as well as scared of possibly going to jail and not knowing how family or work obligations will be met. Whether you have been charged with a misdemeanor or felony, having competent LA criminal attorneys for your legal representation is important. Get peace of mind knowing that a lawyer is on your side and will work hard to keep you out of jail. Many times when a person is arrested their family does not understand and this may cause you to need one of the divorce lawyers Denver CO.

Cited: Wall Street Journal

Black Friday has been considered an important indicator of retail sales during the holiday season for many years. However, this year the following Monday or cyber Monday may provide important information on how the stock market will perform the remainder of the year.

On Friday, November 27, stock market trading volume will be particularly weak and it will be difficult to get a clear reading on how much spending consumers are actually doing. But by Monday, preliminary reports of retailers’ sales on Black Friday and throughout the weekend will have been released, and they are likely to become a big driver of Monday’s stock-market action. Using history as a guide, Monday’s trading is likely to indicate what the stock market will do the rest of the year.

This year, holiday retail sales have become an even bigger focus for investors than in the past. With the consumer-discretionary sector of the S&P 500 having climbed 34% so far this year despite a 10.2% unemployment rate, investors are looking for the consumer’s behavior this holiday season to either justify the rally so far and indicate more gains may come, or show that it’s time to get out.

“Black Friday is critical,” said Michael Alpert, a portfolio manager with Seligman Investments. “Black Friday is really where we’ll get a sense of how strong the consumer feels and if the 90% of consumers still employed are still going to go out and spend.”

According to Schaeffer’s Investment Research, looking at the past 40 years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed from the close of the Monday after Thanksgiving through the end of the year 75% of the time that the Dow was positive on that Monday after Thanksgiving.

For those who are giving the party this holiday season . . . At one online retailer you can order personalized anniversary invitations quickly and easily and they provide friendly service and advice, if you need it. You can reach them by phone or email at just about any hour. Baby shower invitations, birthday party invitations and bridal shower invitations are their specialty.

The average return over that period was 2.5%. Whenever the Dow fell on that Monday, it still rose from then through the end of the year 61% of the time, but 61% isn’t nearly as strong as 75%, and the average returns during those periods were a weaker 1.78%.

The connection is even stronger in recent years, when more accurate data became available sooner after Thanksgiving. In the last 10 years, when the Monday after Thanksgiving was positive, stocks rose through the end of the year 100% of the time.

The National Retail Federation released survey results Wednesday that showed up to 134 million people are expected to shop this Friday, Saturday or Sunday, higher than the 128 million people who said they planned to last year. In addition, Andrew Beck, portfolio manager at Aston/River Road Asset Management, said he wouldn’t be surprised if the sales results from this weekend beat investors’ expectations, which would be good for stocks through the end of the year.

Still, Mr. Beck said, “that’s only because expectations are so low and comparisons to last year are easy.” He added that regardless of how the retailers do this holiday season, valuations are no longer that attractive, which prompted his firm to recently sell its holdings in Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. and Abercrombie Fitch Co.

Nevertheless, many participants are waiting for this weekend’s retail sales to decide how to position their portfolios for 2010.

“Given the appreciation that we’ve seen among a lot of these consumer-oriented stocks, investors are paying more attention,” Mr. Beck said. “You’re more sensitive to what’s going to happen in the holiday season to make a decision of ‘Do I want to hold this position into the new year, or not?’”

——————————————————-

My Take: Well, it seems logical that the following Monday would be a better indicator of not only stock prices but retail sales. Many people do not want to fight the crowds on Black Friday. There are a lot of people who will stand in line for hours just to get a good price on a pair of low rise jeans for Christmas present. I, myself, would rather we go online and get a better pair of skinny jeans and take advantage of the convenience of doing it for my own home.

However, many people feel that Black Friday is the best day offer sales and lower prices. They can find the makeup and natural skincare products if they want at lower prices. Or maybe they’re looking for sales on Hugo Naturals shampoo. If they would only realize that they could probably get the same items online at a sale price, they would not have to wait in line for so many hours.

Some online retailers can provide some beautiful custom gifts at sale prices. In fact, I know one online retailer that sells personalized custom gifts at good prices. I believe that online retailers are going to take advantage of Black Friday just as well as in-store merchandisers. So I do think that Monday will reveal a lot after the weekend.

——————————————————

Related Resources