Class Guide » MKTG 3740: Advertising and Promotion

Overview

Product and Company Analysis

Brands and Their Companies
T 223 .V4 A253 (Reference Desk Collection)
This is a guide to over 230,000 consumer brand names, with the yellow pages in volume 2 consisting of a list of about 43,000 companies that manufacture or import the brands.

Business and Company Resource Center The Business and Company Resource Center provides information for domestic and international companies and associations, including information on corporate hierarchical structures, company financial information and earning estimates, investment reports, corporate chronologies and company histories, Industry rankings, market share data and more.

Companies and Their Brands T 223 .V4 A25 (Reference Desk Collection)
Provides accesses too more than 282,000 consumer brands and about 51,000 manufacturers and distributors. Brands are presented first in an alphabetic sequence. Company listings follow in a separate section. When available, fax and toll-free numbers have been included.

Company Web Sites
Many companies now place varying amounts of organizational, financial, or product information on the World Wide Web. To locate a company's WWW site, search by company name using your favorite search engine, or search by company name on Google.

Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands (Vol.1 consumables, Vol.2 Personal Products, Vol.3 Durable Goods.)
HF 5415.3 .E527 1994 (Reference)
Profiles approximately 600 "of the most popular brands in America." Essays include brief history of product or brand and information concerning sales, market share and major competitors. Includes listings of "Sources for additional information" at the end of every issue.

Hoover's Online
This business directory lists public, private, international and emerging company profiles with links to company Web sites, as well as other business related links. Only parts of this directory are available to us as nonsubscribers. The full text of Hoovers is found in the databasae LexisNexis Academic.

Hoover's Handbook of American Business HG 4057 .A28617 (Reference Desk Collection)
Company profiles contain a concise statement of the nature of the business, its history and the products and services it delivers; also a list of major projects, sales, names of officers, number of employees, ranking in the Fortune, Business Week, and Forbes annual ranked lists, names of competitors, and a Hoover's rating.

Hoover's Handbook of Emerging Companies
HG 4057 .A28618 (Reference Desk Collection)
The companies must be based in the U.S., have revenues between $30 million and $1 billion, and have sales growth of at least 20% per year annually or sales and net income growth of at least 15% each annually during the past five years. Company profiles provide an overview, list of key people who run the company, where it is headquartered, company products and services, key competitors, and a brief financial profile. Details

Hoover's Handbook of World Business

HG 4142 .Z5 H66x (Reference Desk Collection)
This book contains company profiles; lists of the larget, fastest growing, and most valuable companies of global importance; and indexes by industry, headquarters, and executives names.

Hoovers is found full text in LexisNexis Academic.

International Directory of Company Histories Online This multi-volume directory is available as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library and consists of over 8,500 historical profiles of the world's largest and most influential companies. To limit your search to this directory, link to the Gale Virtual Reference Library and type "International Directory of Company Histories" as a publication title (pu) in one of the search boxes.

International Directory of Company Histories:
HD 2721 .I58x (Reference)
This directory consists of two-to-five page historical profiles of over 1,200 of the world's largest and most influential companies. It is arranged by industry. At the end of most profiles are a list of subsidiary companies, and one or more sources for further reading. An index arranged by company and person is in each volume. 85- volumes.

LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations
HG 4057 .A219 (Reference Desk Collection)
Details private and public corporate relationships, and includes a brand name index. Includes listings for foreign parents of U.S. based foreign affiliates and subsidiaries.

Major Marketing Campaigns Annual
HF 5837 .M34x 1999 (Reference)
This volume provides excellent coverage of recent advertising campaigns, describing the target markets, background, strategy, etc. for each campaign.

MarketLine Business Information Centre This database compiles business information using primary and secondary research to create 10,000 company, 2,000 industry, and 50 country profiles. MarketLine includes daily updates of relevant news, comments and analysis, company history, and a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) within company profiles.

Mergent Online Contains data on U.S. and international privately owned companies and US publically owned and international companies. Publicly owned company reports include the history, business, properties, officers and directors, income, long-term debt, capital stock, latest news stories and more. Includes annual reports for U.S. and international public companies in PDF format. Financial data can be retrieved in text or spreadsheet format and searchable EDGAR SEC filings dating back to 1993. Updated daily.

Small Business Resource Center Covers all major areas of starting and operating a business, including accounting, finance, human resources, management, marketing, tax and more.

Market Analysis

Business NewsBank Provides hard to find local, regional and national business news articles containing in-depth company, industry, product and executive news, both private and public companies from more than 500 business journals, newspapers and wires. Coverage is from 1993 to date. Updated daily.

Business Rankings Annual HG 4050 .B88 (Reference Desk Collection)
A bibliographic guide to more than 8,000 ranked lists of companies and other subjects that appear in over 1,000 periodicals, newspapers, financial services, statistical annuals, and other sources. It is arranged by specific subject, and the data about each usually includes the criteria for the ranking, the names of the top 5 or 10 in the ranking, the source (including date and page). At the end is an index by subject and ranked company, and a separate bibliography of the sources (such as Fortune).

General Business File ASAP An index of business publications that includes trade publications, newspapers, journals, broker research reports, and company profiles, some articles with full text and images. Coverage 1980 - present.

Market Share Reporter
HF 5410 .M35 (Reference Desk Collection)
An annual compilation of reported market share data from business periodical literature. Includes data on companies, products and services and also provides information on brand competitors. For European or international based companies and products, refer to the appropriate companion publications: World Market Share Reporter. HF 5410 .W67 (Reference)

Competitive Analysis

Advertising Ratios and Budgets
HF 5801 .A3465x (Reference)
Lists advertising budgeting practices of major corporations. Budgets are not available for specific brands, look up numbers by company name.

Dateline Provides full text information on local and regional business news including information on corporations, privately held companies, local start-ups, executive profiles, marketing, finance, and industry news. Contains business information not typically found in national news sources with news and analysis, information on local markets, major business tabloids, magazines, daily newspapers, wire services, and area business publications. Coverage: 1985 to date

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys HG 4910 .S75x (Reference Desk Collection)
A detailed analyses of 22 industry categories and the major companies in each category. Contains a basic analysis, a comprehensive source of information, updated by a current analysis. Includes tables, graphs and statistics. Company and industry indexes.

Standard Directory of Advertisers HF 5805 .S7 (Reference Desk Collection)
Volume 1 is a directory of more than 25,000 U.S. companies that advertise nationally, and it is arranged by 50 product classifications. For each company the entry usually gives year founded, phone and fax, officers, products, approximate sales and number of employees, the SIC number, advertising agency, advertising appropriations, media used. Volume 2 contains an index of over 62,000 trade names, a list of companies by SIC, and a name index of individual company officers.

Standard Rate and Data Service Provides domestic and international advertising rate information and direct marketing data for business and consumer publications, as well as newspaper, radio, and TV.

TableBase
An international database that specializes in tabular data dealing with companies, products, industries, and demographics. Tables are from a range of sources including statistical annuals, brokerage reports, trade and business association publications, primary research, international organizations and government reports. The tables cover market share, market size, capacity, rankings, forecasts, shipments, output, consumption, users, exports, imports, capacity, etc. To get to TableBase, check the proper box or click on the TableBase button at the top of the screen. Tablebase is limited to two simultaneous users.

Trade and Industry Contains business periodicals and newsletters with a trade or industry focus providing users with industry news, product and competitive information, marketing trends, and more. Includes in-depth coverage of companies, products, executives, trends, and other topics for more than 1,200 publications, most in full-text. Coverage: 1971 to date.

Consumer Analysis

ABI/INFORM Global An index of over 1,800 publications with abstracts, and full text from over 700 of these titles, selected from newspapers, trade publications, and journals on business including, for example, administration, economics, computers, finance, human resources, management, and marketing. Full-text of Wall Street Journal articles available from 1984. Otherwise coverage is from 1971 to the present with some older material available. Updated daily.

Lifestyle Market Analyst
HF 5415.33 .U6 L54 (Reference Desk Collection)
Contains market analysis at local, regional, and national levels. Includes demographic, geographic and lifestyle information.

Mediamark Reporter (MRI+) This database provides summary tables of key audience and product usage data from their national probability sample of 25,000+ adults (18 years an older). MRI offers comprehensive demographic, lifestyle, product usage, and media data collected from a single sample (2005 survey). In addition, MRI+ is a library of key magazine planning data resources providing an information link between the planner and publisher.
To use this database you must create an account from an on-campus location by using your email address and creating a password. Validate your account through the e-mail they send you. After you login select Mediamark Reporter at the bottom of the page.
On the MAC you must use Internet Explorer (IE). In Waldo Library it is on the five scholar workstations in Central Reference. On the task bar, bottom of the screen, right side, the icon is the 2nd from the left. When you mouse over the icon you will see MRI+. Questions? Ask at the Reference Desk for help.

Simmons Study of Media and Markets/Choices III CD-ROM, Waldo Library, First Floor, Reference Area)
Simmons is an electronic resource to 2003 consumer demographics by product type and product name. It is an annual survey of over 19,000 adults ages 18 and over. The study is comprehensive measuring ownership, purchase of and use of hundreds of specific products and services, media exposure (TV program viewing, radio listening, magazine and newspaper reading) and the demographic characteristics of the individual and his/her household. The CD-ROM allows the user to create customized reports.

Environmental Analysis

LexisNexis Academic Indexes thousands of domestic and foreign newspapers, as well as journals, and other publications in News, Business company reports and articles, Legal Research, Medical and Reference. The legal research category includes law reviews, law news, federal and state laws and cases. Mostly full text. Coverage dates vary.

Conclusion

CONGRATS! You are now an expert on the company and brand you have chosen to research. Now you are ready for the thinking portion of the assignment. Take the information you have gathered and sort out the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats for your product. You won't find the answer in a reference book! GOOD LUCK!

8/2008 dmr/jla

Ask A Librarian

Donna M. Ring, E-mail: donna.ring@wmich.edu
Phone: 269-387-5153
Last updated: August 2008