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On July 1, 2016, the US Department of Education's "Rule 164" went into effect. This rule stipulated that: colleges "may include the costs of books and supplies as part of tuition and fees;" the books or supplies must be "below competitive market rates..." And a student may opt out of the program. This procedure became known as Inclusive Access (IA). The legality of IA was challenged in a series of 9 Federal Court cases; the plaintiffs argued that the defendants, college bookstores and college textbook publishers, violated the US antitrust laws. The lawsuits were consolidated into "In Re Inclusive Access Course Materials Antitrust Litig.; 20 MDL No. 2946, DCL; United States District Court Southern District of New York. On June 14, 2021, District Judge Denise Cote ruled in favor of the defendants, making IA legal in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores how digital media activism can only be adequately understood within a cultural studies methodology. By using the Brooklyn-based media organization Not An Alternative as a case study, the essay investigates how media production serves as a central activity in not only representing local and global activist struggles, but also in mobilizing and organizing activists. Video production serves not as an endpoint unto itself but as a means to further build coalitions and galvanize collective action. Additionally, the group's organizational practices and tactics manifest themselves in the video's form and content. The type of video produced, in other words, manifests the vision that the material practices of Not An Alternative make possible. Finally, the essay will investigate some of the contradictory tendencies emerging from media-driven, direct action mobilizations that precariously appropriate marketing strategies against neoliberal tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The offer of free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) can be a cost-effective marketing strategy to induce smokers to call a telephone quitline for quitting assistance. However, the most cost-effective supply of free NRT to provide to smokers who call a quitline remains unknown. This study tests the hypothesis that smokers who call a telephone quitline and are given more free nicotine patches would report higher quit rates upon follow-up 12 months later. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was used to assess nicotine patch usage patterns and quit rates among five groups of smokers who called the New York State Smokers' Quitline (NYSSQL) between April 2003 and May 2006 and were mailed 2-, 4-, 6- or 8-week supplies of free nicotine patches. The study population included 2,442 adult (aged 18 years or older) current daily smokers of 10 or more cigarettes per day, who were willing to make a quit attempt, and reported no contraindications for using the nicotine patch. Outcome variables assessed included the percentage of smokers who reported that they had not smoked for at least 7-days at the time of a 12 months telephone follow-up survey, sustained quitting, delayed quitting and nicotine patch use. Results: Quit rates measured at 12 months were higher for smokers in the groups who received either 2, 6, or 8 weeks of free patches. The lowest quit rate was observed among the group of Medicaid/uninsured smokers who were eligible to receive up to six weeks of free patches. The quit rate for the 4-week supply group did not differ significantly from the 6-week or 8-week groups. These patterns remained similar in an intent-to-treat analysis of 12-month quit rates and in an analysis of sustained quitting. Conclusion: No clear cut dose response relationship was observed between the number of free nicotine patches sent to smokers and smoking outcomes. Baseline diferences in the characteristics of the groups compared could account for the null findings, and a more definitive randomized trial is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to better understand and effectively respond to visitor needs, the organizers of major events need better information about their markets. This study explores a segmentation of visitors who attended a major boat show. The results provide a more robust profile of their characteristics and behaviors for marketing purposes. Factor and clustering analyses were employed to identify and profile market segments based on their motivations for attending the show. A principal component analysis revealed three motivational factors, and three distinct visitor segments were identified using a K-mean clustering method. These segments were “boat purchase seekers,” “multi-purpose seekers,” and “show-event browsers.” Segmenting the boat show attendees based on their motivations can assist organizers in developing and implementing effective promotional and marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory study investigates the marketing strategies implemented by bars and lounges in Canada and the United States to meet the needs of their customers. A census of 75 bars ill three contiguous regions of Quebec, Ontario, and Northern New York was visited. Systematic observations using a detailed grid of variables were compiled for each establishment. More similarities than differences were found, indicating that similar marketing strategies are used by bars in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketing ideas and techniques can be found from observing and surveying patrons in your library. The marketing techniques discussed in this article were utilized over a seven-year period at the F. Franklin Moon Library, a small specialized academic library. These affordable, effective, and realistic marketing techniques include a variety of adaptable ideas including surveys, pencils, screen savers, signage, college newspaper columns, and e-mail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Lucy Scribner Library at Skidmore College, we have produced 11 different postcards to promote services and collections. We have discovered the advantages as well as the limitations of using postcards as marketing/instructional/informational tools. There have also been some practical lessons to be learned along the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article comments on an old trend but new version of advertising called "alternative" or "guerilla" marketing, and emphasizes the need to restrict such practices so that they can't proliferate the public access media. Guerilla marketing aims at giving expensive items to trendsetting college students, potentially hot showbiz players, and young nightclub-goers with the understanding that each will use and talk up the products. Other examples include extensive product placements in movies and on programs of individual television networks. To protect the customers from frequent bombardment of commercials, devices like TiVo were introduced, which allow users to record many hours of television programming while skipping commercials. Executives of individual network channels fear that the use of such devices has ill implications for their bulk of profits, drawn from advertising revenues. The more advertisers fear that their messages will not reach the intended audience of television viewers, the more they are likely to seek other outlets for these messages. One of these possible dangerous alternative outlets is public access television, which receives little protection from corporate advertisers under the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 ("CCPA"). This Note urges municipalities, cable franchisees, and courts to adopt the same protections afforded to the public by the Oyster Bay, New York cable franchise agreement.

Information about the TransPromo Summit that was held in August 2007 in New York is presented. Outsourcing providers and consultants share tips on marketing approach, while presentations recommend for companies, operations and personnel to work the objectives and address the concerns to make the transpromo project effective. Furthermore, Rene Muller, chief executive officer (CEO) of GMC Software Technology company, discusses his firm's best practices.