Consumers are becoming increasingly health-conscious, but their perceptions of what is considered healthy eating at restaurants are also changing. Contemporary definitions of health are strongly associated with local, natural, organic and sustainable food and drink. Additionally, consumers are taking more of a balanced and personal approach to healthy eating — seeking out better-for-you foods, while enjoying occasional indulgences. "More consumers than ever before tell us that eating healthy and paying attention to nutrition is important," says Darren Tristano , vice president of Technomic, in a news release. "However, there's a shift happening in terms of what actually defines healthy for them. We're seeing more consumers gravitate toward health-halo claims — such as local, natural and organic, as well as …"

Although energy drinks like Red Bull, Rockstar Energy and Monster Energy are the fastest-growing part of the beverage industry and represent a generational shift in what people drink, the micro-industry is experiencing a communications crisis brought on by bad publicity tied to recent reports of deaths and serious injuries that may be linked to the beverage line's high caffeine levels. The drinks are now under scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration over these perceived dangers, and no matter how that review ends, one thing is becoming clear, according to researchers and a review of scientific studies — the energy drink industry is based on a brew of ingredients that, apart from caffeine, have little, if any benefit for consumers, the NY Times reports …

TD Bank is kicking off 2013 by introducing a fresh creative marketing platform, "Bank Human, Again." Through a fully integrated multimedia campaign, the platform casts customers and employees in the spotlight and brings to life the bank's service and client convenience. "Bank Human is all about people — our customers and employees," said TD Bank chief marketing officer Vinoo Vijay. "The new marketing campaign viscerally communicates TD's attributes of unparalleled service and convenience, and our customer-first culture." Six 30-second lighthearted television spots show a customer struggling with a pen too tightly chained to the desk, a bank closing as a small business customer tries to make after-work deposits …

After a tumultuous post-meltdown period during which it has seen its reputation ravaged, insurance giant American International Group is hoping to begin the new year by putting more distance between itself and the bad publicity it has earned over the last few years. The company launched an ad campaign this week with a singular message: "Thank You America." AIG is using the campaign as a way to let taxpayers know that it really appreciates the nearly $200 billion bailout that it received from the U.S. government, and that the Treasury Department actually turned a multi-billion dollar profit on the deal, CNNMoney reports. Until recently, the U.S. government owned as much as 92% of AIG …

Media giant Tribune Co. emerged from bankruptcy this week and named its new board of directors, ending the company's four-year Chapter 11 ordeal. The company said it planned to hold its first meeting "in the next several weeks," and would define the board members' roles and designate executive officers at that time. Eddy Hartenstein, the current chief executive and a member of the new board, will remain CEO until then, the company said in a release. Peter Liguori, a former News Corp. and Discovery Communications executive who is expected to be named Tribune CEO, is among the new board members, MarketWatch reports. "Tribune will emerge from the bankruptcy process as …"

YuMe, in conjunction with Frank N. Magid Associates, recently announced the results of an extensive survey on the future of Connected TV in the marketplace. The study includes insight into rapidly-growing adoption rates, analysis of components in the broader Connected TV environment, and many details about Connected TV and Smart TV adopters and their preferences. For brands, the current survey highlights the strong consumer engagement and attractive demographics of Connected TV adopters, and positions the Connected TV ecosystem as an essential ingredient in today's effective advertising campaign mix. "Building on our significant existing insight into consumer behavior and preferences related to Connected TV and its environment, we're seeing an unprecedented rate of adoption …"

Under mounting pressure to respond to the renewed debate over gun violence, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre blasted, among other things, modern media — including video games — for the proliferation of gun violence in his recent remarks. But he failed to acknowledge one of the organization's dirty little marketing secrets. "Here's another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people," LaPierre said just before the Christmas holiday, Salon reports. But the gun industry is, in fact, closely tied to the video game industry, because both benefit from marketing tie-ins. "While studies have found no connection between video games and gun violence, the case of "Medal of Honor Warfighter" illustrates …"

Global eCommerce sales will pass the $1.25 trillion mark in 2013, according to the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG). As online retailers prepare to take advantage of this growth opportunity in the new year, a new survey of nearly 500 global retailers conducted by SLI Systems shows improving conversions (63%) and attracting more customers to their websites (61%) continue to be their biggest challenges. As such, retailers plan to address these challenges by upgrading or changing their eCommerce platforms (18%), improving their site search functionality (18%) and SEO efforts (17%) and solidifying their mobile commerce strategies (15%). In order to ensure website visitors can more easily find the information and products they are looking for, retailers plan to focus on improving …

In one of the largest lawsuits of its kind, Toyota has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to car owners who claimed they suffered economic loss because of unintended acceleration in its cars — much of it to settle filed complaints that the PR implications of negative publicity caused former Toyota owners to lose money when selling their cars just because of the company's damaged reputation. As part of the settlement, the automaker will install a brake-override system in cars where acceleration pedals got stuck in floor mats, leading them to accelerate unintentionally, as well as set up a fund of $250 million to be paid to former Toyota owners who sold their cars for a lesser value …

Online coupon site RetailMeNot.com this week released its last edition of the Shoppers Trend Report (STR) in 2012, revealing findings from a poll conducted by The Omnibus Company. The report finds that while 50% of consumers say they spend 100% of the gift cards or gift certificates they receive, more than 1 in 4 (27%) say they usually only use up to half of the value of those gift cards or gift certificates when shopping. "Consumers are leaving money on the table by not using the total value of their gift cards," said Trae Bodge, senior editor of the RetailMeNot blog. "End-of-year clearance sales after Christmas are the perfect opportunity to get some great last-minute deals …"

A recent national survey found that many Americans plan to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle in the coming years, and they are looking for simple steps to help the environment. With the rapid rise in access to recycling — particularly plastics recycling — it's now easier than ever for Americans to keep New Year's resolutions to live a greener life. "Americans want to recycle more and create less waste to reduce their impact on the earth," said Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for the American Chemistry Council, which sponsors the Plastics Make it Possible initiative. "While there are many simple steps people can take to help the environment, recycling more plastics and other materials …"

The recently released 2012 Holiday Trend Tracker from Cone Communications reveals that one out of every three Americans turns to social media to learn about holiday cause programs. Which campaigns are making a splash on social? The firm took a quick pulse of the online chatter through tweets that were related to three of this year's most well-known holiday cause efforts to find out which campaigns are "naughty" and which are "nice." "Don't leave consumers to their own devices when it comes to spreading your message on social media. Provide them with the tools to talk and they will amplify your message," said Alex Nicholson, vice president of new and social media at Cone Communications …

U.S. adults believe the customer part of "customer service" is in short supply and believe that they're treated like strangers by the companies from which they seek support, according to a new survey from SugarCRM, the market-leading customer relationship management (CRM) company that enables effective customer engagement enterprise-wide. Participants indicated that they have experienced frustration with the companies they do business with, finding that customer service reps know little about their history with the business or fail at solving their problems. "These findings should offer a wake-up call to all companies whose existence depends on happy customers. Whether customers are seeking service by traditional or social media channels, this survey shows that they are incredibly disillusioned …"

Even as retailers have expanded purchase options and welcomed digital shoppers into stores this holiday season, most Americans believe that retailers could do more to enhance the in-store shopping experience, according to a just-released national poll conducted by GfK Roper in conjunction with SapientNitro. "Many of our retail clients are redefining their in-store shopping experience to reach today's connected consumer," said Chris Davey, global head of commerce at SapientNitro. "The 2012 holiday shopping season marked a fundamental shift in which retailers not only recognized but accommodated digital shoppers in the in-store experience. From investing in GPS-enabled store maps or updating mobile shopping apps for smartphones and tablets, retailers placed big bets …"

IT departments are not making employees aware of their BYOD policies, according to a new study from Globo. In the survey, 68 percent of respondents said they use their personal devices for work, while only 29 percent said that their company actually has a BYOD policy in place. Furthermore, 42 percent of respondents don't know if their company's BYOD policy allows IT to have full access to their personal devices. "With the significant number of employees already using their personal devices for work, companies should be focused on creating a BYOD program and policies that fit the specific needs of the company. The next important step is to communicate the policy to employees …"

Verint Systems recently announced results from a new customer satisfaction survey of more than 7,000 consumers throughout the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland and Russia. The research explores consumers' attitudes on services provided by organizations in five sectors (phone, TV and broadband services, financial services, retail, utilities and public services) worldwide. Key findings paint a picture of consumers that increasingly value service, are less responsive to conventional marketing approaches and are ready to share their views on social media. "This study clearly shows that there is much more to customers' actions than merely price sensitivity, even in the current economic climate. As pricing and marketing efforts …"

According to a recent survey conducted by SheerID, online shopping is up 13% year over year among college students. In 2011, 64% of college students reported they had shopped online within the last 30 days. SheerID recently announced that in 2012, 77% of college students reported they have shopped online within the last 30 days. This growth mimics the growth of online shopping across all populations this year, as more consumers choose to shop from their computers, tablets, and smartphones instead of in stores. "All of our research and experiences show that an exclusive, targeted offers that can easily be redeemed online is the best way to capture college students' attention, gain market share, and win their loyalty …"

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently released The IAB Mobile Phone Video Diaries, research that shows that 63 percent of digital video screening on mobile phones does not happen on-the-go, but rather at home. Over a third (36%) of these home-based digital video activities happen in a room where a second screen — a TV, desktop computer or tablet — is also available for viewing purposes. These findings combine to point to significant cross-media opportunities for brand marketers, whether tying mobile digital video to live television programming or linking magazine ads to relevant mobile clips. "Digital video marketing has skyrocketed over the past year, and is primed to deliver even greater returns on a variety of screens — particularly on mobile phones …"

For the sixth consecutive year, the top quartile companies in the Rittenhouse Rankings 2011 Corporate Culture and Candor Survey outperformed the lowest quartile companies and the S&P 500 Index, posting an average increase of 9.9 percent. The stocks of bottom-ranked companies declined 5.7 percent, while the S&P rose 3.1 percent. The stocks of the five companies posting the greatest year-over-year candor gains in the 2011 survey — Home Depot, Intel, Foot Locker, Franklin Resources and Citigroup — increased an average 12.4 percent compared to a 0.5 percent drop for companies whose rankings declined the most. "The executive communications of these top-ranked companies demonstrate strong commitment to protect corporate reputations ..."

Ninety percent of publications that participated in a recent online survey now have a mobile presence, up from 51 percent in 2009. The remaining 10 percent expect to join suit within the next 12 months. So say the findings of a new survey, How Media Companies are Innovating and Investing in Cross-Platform Opportunities, conducted by the Alliance for Audited Media. "Media companies know that delivering content whenever and wherever consumers want is key," said Eric John, AAM's vice president of digital services. "They know digital content, including browser-based editions and mobile apps, is no longer the wave of the future, but table stakes to continue reaching and growing digital readership …"

Most American consumers now say they prefer to shop in a physical store for holiday purchases, according to a new survey from SDL. Online shopping preference trailed in-store experiences by less than a two-percentage point margin in this survey, but the data is noteworthy because online shopping has appeared to outpace in-store shopping more recently. According to this survey, consumers still like an in-store experience to interact physically with a product. Regardless of where they are shopping, a vast majority of holiday shoppers — more than 80 percent of this year's respondents — say they prefer to shop on personal time, further challenging reports that consumers mostly shop online during work hours …

Today's enterprise marketers are struggling to overcome misalignment between long term strategies and the tactical activities which consume budget and resources, according to a new study from Demandbase that analyzes a broad overview of current marketing practices and helps to create a roadmap for the future of online marketing for businesses "As we enter 2013, marketers must get smarter in the face of continued budgetary and resource restrictions, bridging the gap between their ongoing goals and the practices necessary to achieve those goals," said Jason Stewart, director of marketing at Demandbase. "B2B marketers are under pressure to take advantage of new strategies to stay competitive, but long term success will only be achievable …"

A large number of companies have adopted a data analytics strategy to better leverage in-house information, but management teams don't seem to have the right access to marketplace data needed to make strategic decisions, says a new survey from KPMG LLP. More than 60 percent of respondents to the survey, taken during an Oracle Corporation conference, said their organization has a defined data and analytics strategy. However, only 39 percent of respondents said that senior management had access to the rising volume of data gathered from the marketplace necessary to predict the needs of their customers. "Data generated on the Internet by customers and vendors can help offer new predictive opportunities to anticipate market changes. But it remains a huge challenge to harness this kind of data …"

Retailers that sell guns are under mounting pressure from this week's increasingly vocal outcry against assault rifles. Large stores like Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods are responding by either suspending sales or pulling ads of semiautomatic rifles, even though some smaller stores aren't budging. Dick's said it has suspended the sale of certain semiautomatic rifles from its 511 stores in 44 states, and Walmart took down a listing on its site Monday for the Bushmaster, a semiautomatic assault rifle, CNNMoney reports. But Tim's Gun and Range in Winter Haven, Fla., and other smaller stores have not stopped selling Bushmaster guns and have no plans to. "What happened … was a tragedy, but it wasn't the gun that did it …"