In order to be competitive in courting businesses to locate in the state of Michigan as opposed to other states, something critical to our state's economy. Of course, one of the major factors is how Michigan ranks versus the others with respect to how taxation impacts both residents personally as well as at the business level.

One of the biggest industry sectors in the advertising business is the auto industry and new data provides insight into just what the auto industry is up to with their advertising spend these days. Where are they spending their ad dollars? What can we learn from the data?

Want to keep from getting replaced at your job by AI? Well, to do that, remember that AI can't replace creativity, and that may be the biggest differentiator when it comes to whether or not your job's really in jeopardy. No one knows that more acutely today than chief marketing officers CMOs, who are hoping to keep their jobs rather than lose them to AI.

Morning Consult is out with their annual report on the fastest growing brands 2025. DoorDash topped the list of fastest growing brands with a 6.39 percentage point increase in purchasing consideration from Q1 to Q3 of this year. In part by growing its consumer base among Gen X, baby boomers and middle income households. The delivery service ranked number one with men and consumers from households with annual incomes between $50,000 and $100,000, and while first overall, it was the second fastest growing brand with boomers and came in six with Gen X.

Elizabeth Renter, senior Economist at Consumer Finance site, NerdWallet, has this to say about the survey's results and about how Americans are feeling these days. As consumers across the economy segments of the population are increasingly dealing with tighter financial conditions, and while that's certainly true for federal workers, for example, and people dependent on food assistance from the federal government, the reality is that it's also now likely increasingly true.

What is amazingly working for many brands these days? Getting a mascot. That's right, a mascot. Duolingo's Unhinged Owl has 16.8 million TikTok followers and turns language into a social phenomenon without spending a dollar on traditional advertising and it's not an unusual one-off outcome. Mascots are proving to have high value at little cost when it comes to establishing brand traction.

Millennials and Gen Z shoppers are leading the way in using AI to support their shopping this holiday season with 44% of millennials and 42% of Gen Z respondents saying they are likely to use chatbots and other AI tools for holiday purchase inspiration That compared to 23% of the overall population. How are they using AI? 72% said they plan to use AI for gift discovery ideas, followed by price comparison, then receiving product recommendations, meal ideas, and even clothing suggestions for holiday events.

A holy grail in business is to secure repeat business from loyal customers. And while nearly two thirds of marketers still believe that brand love motivates these repeat purchases, the reality is that more pragmatic considerations, like convenience for example, has a bigger impact on driving those repeat purchases. Marketers often idealize loyalty as a form of emotional devotion, but research shows it's driven by far more practical factors, like providing that level of convenience, product performance, and situational needs.

Consumers born between 1965 - 1980 generate the highest revenue per shopper across almost every category at just 19% of the US population. They drive 31% of all in-store and online spending. Gen Xers appreciate product and services that enhance convenience for example, 80% use self-checkout kiosks regularly, and 2/3 rely on mobile apps and social platforms to discover and purchase products. 92% of Gen Xers use social media daily.

Report from Constant Contact: The small business holiday Outlook study says this, 77% of small business owners are confident that they will meet their targets this year and certainly welcome news given all the economic challenges both consumers and retailers are facing these days. The report cites that 60% of small business owners attribute half of their annual sales to this period, and a third of retailers feel the highest revenue pressure of the year during Q4.

Shoppers are expected to spend more during Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, but based on the data, we'll be doing so in a more strategic way than last year. It's anticipated that the average person will spend around $340 on Black Friday, that's an increase of $90 year over year, and expected to spend $300 on Cyber Monday, approximately a $60 hike over the 2024 numbers. Overall, 40% of shoppers are expected to spend more this year than they did on Black Friday last year, and 32% expect to do the same on Cyber Monday.

On-Message Inc, reveals widespread consumer anxiety about how AI is affecting news content. 76% are concerned AI stealing or reproducing journalism and local news stories. 51% say they are very concerned about this. 77% support and 59% strongly support Congress passing a law that would make it illegal for AI to steal or reproduce journalism and local news stories that are published online without permission or compensation. Only 26% trust information produced by AI. While 68% say it's not trustworthy at all, and 72% believe the federal government should place guardrails on AI to protect consumers.

Half of consumers worldwide today used a smartphone in their most recent retail purchase. 48% of consumers use mobile smartphones as part of their most recent purchase journey, that whether to compare prices, check inventory, or make purchases. And given all this action that continues to mount on the mobile platform ranging across the purchase journey, your e-commerce initiatives are mobile optimized in order to be out in front of those mobile shopping consumers. Beyond that, you need to execute loyalty initiatives and promotional campaigns that are tailored to the growing demographic of those browsing and buying via mobile today.

The Main Street America Organization is a proud supporter of Small Business Saturday. And they're teaming up with American Express to help you support small businesses on your main street. As a neighborhood champion, all Main Street America members are pre-qualified to serve as neighborhood champions on a first-come first serve basis. Applications will remain open through mid-November or until spots are filled. So be sure to apply@www.americanexpress.com

What is it? As explained by Performance Marketing Insider, Agentic Commerce uses artificial intelligence and conversations to predict, plan, and learn what customers want. It turns ChatGPT into a personalized shopping assistant that no doubt is the future President and CEO of Walmart. Doug McMillan views the shift to Agentic Commerce as a move that will eventually end the use of search bars for product discovery in its marketplace.

Gallup reports trust in media has sunk to an all time low. Only 28% of Americans in a recent Gallup poll say that they now have confidence in media, and that's forcing them to choose other sources than quality journalistic media sources.The trust rating is down from 31% last year and 40%, 5 years ago. 34% say they have no trust at all in the media these days, Gallup began measuring confidence in the media in the 1970s when the numbers vary between 68 and 72% confidence in media, the decline has been significant. Now Americans get their views from biased sources, sources, they choose.

33% of men indicated increase of their online shopping activity this year, versus only 26% of women. Most of us would've guessed at the demographic driving the acceleration is women, especially because women do most of the household purchasing. However, the new insights from the Wonder Kind study make clear, at least when it comes to online shopping, not only are more men than women expanding their online shopping this year, a larger share of women actually are reducing their e-commerce spending this year.

Forbes Research polled 1,075 C-suite executives at large global companies in August and September, uncovered new challenges that are less about figuring out the basics of AI and more about using it more strategically. Just over half of executives indicated that they're using AI across the enterprise to try to figure out where it fits best. While the remainder are using it for specific initiatives, the survey found, and this may indicate that companies are figuring out what AI can do best for them and concentrating its use in those certain specific areas as opposed to that broader enterprise approach. 56% are reporting an ROI of under 5% for their AI initiatives to date.

As reported in Forbes, international travel to the US is significantly down in the first half of 2025. 1 million fewer people traveled to the US compared to the same period in 2024 a drop of about 3% year over year according to the International Trade Administration. By the end of this year, the US is on track to see 13 million fewer annual international visitors, and in 2025, the US share of global international travel will drop to around 4.2%, which is about half of where it was roughly 20 years ago. With respect to domestic US air travel, we're seeing a more positive trend as domestic travel is up 2% year over year.

A new study just released by the Motley Fool. A private financial and investing advice company indicates that Michigan is now the 10th ranked state for the highest legal gross sports betting revenues from both in-person and online gambling. The revenues total 1.9 billion here in the Great Lake State since online gambling was legalized in 2020.