Young & Rubicam, looking to snag more revenue in one of the few ad sectors still growing despite the recession, is forming an alliance with Mars Advertising, a specialist in pitching products to consumers while they're busy shopping.

Audience fragmentation and the waning power of TV ads have forced many companies to peddle their products inside stores, where potential buyers are closer to a purchase. Their tools can include jazzy video displays, colorful promotions in the aisles or in-store video screens that serve up ads.

In Trial at Supermarket, Cellphones Will Be the Medium for Discount Offers

Seeking to marry a ubiquitous device with a time-tested marketing technique in a sour economy, Unilever plans to begin a trial run Sunday of a new technology that lets consumers redeem digital coupons by having a supermarket cashier scan their cellphones.

The test, being conducted at a ShopRite store in Hillsborough, N.J., will include discount offers for some of the Anglo-Dutch packaged-goods company's most popular brands, including Breyers ice cream, Dove soap, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton tea. Samplesaint, a Chicago mobile-technology firm, developed the system.

Last Labor Day, there were three times the normal amount of FSI coupons in our local paper. With the decline of the newspaper industry, you would think that FSI's wouldn't be so prevalent. And yet, we see more demand than ever from consumers to use these types of promotional programs.

Marketers obviously like couponing. In Supermarket News' 2005 Survey of Manufacturer Promotional Practices, more than two-thirds of the participants said they feel couponing is an effective promotional tool. Fast forward to 2010 and yes, things have changed but they are still a vital consumer and trade marketing tool. Read on.