Ad Ideas for November: Pre-Holiday Sales

Consumer confidence and spending was up when retail buyers were planning for fall shopping. Since then, confidence has dropped and some retailers may be worried about unloading excess inventory. Talk to your advertisers and prospects to see if they are planning any jumpstart pre-holiday deals. While most retail categories are affected according to SmartMoney you definitely want to hit up advertisers in the following categories:

• Cars—Year end clearances are behind schedule for Japanese brands due to earthquake driven inventory delays
• Clothes—Mostly back-to-school focused but now is the time to clear out left over inventory
• Electronics—Pre-Black Friday deals are reported to be almost as good in clearing out older models
• Homes—Compounded by fall being a slower time in addition to the continued housing slump, sellers are cutting prices
  
• Toys—Preemptive planning to avoid holiday shortages

Ad/promotion ideas include:

• Sig ads with “beat the holiday madness” deals
• Special buying guides to the hottest prices
• “Falling into savings” promotions
• “Plan ahead and save” offers