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The article, part of a special advertising section, discusses marketing aimed at college students. Relationship marketing is evaluated as the most effective means of marketing to college students. The marketing agency AllDorm is discussed as an example of successful marketing practices related to college students.

The article, part of a special advertising section, focuses on the direct marketing services company Valassis Communications Inc. The company's RedPlum brand of integrated marketing services is examined. RedPlum offers clients a mix of direct marketing services including direct mail, newspaper circulars, and Internet marketing.

The author offers opinions on marketing management. The use of so-called "crowdsourcing," using communication with a corporation's employees and consumers to create marketing and advertising, is seen as a valuable tool for marketers. Examples are presented of crowdsourcing which the author considers successful, including the contest run by the snack food Doritos in which consumers create Super Bowl television advertisements.

The author offers opinions on marketing management. The recession is seen as requiring marketing executives to more fully understand the nature of brand choice by consumers and the entire shopping experience. The importance of in-store advertising and product positioning by enhancing the retail shopping experience is stressed.

The author offers opinions on relationship marketing. Online social networks and smartphone software applications created by corporations to provide services to Internet users are seen as examples of successful relationship marketing. The author believes that the changes in communication created by the Internet make relationship marketing the best form of branding.

The author discusses how marketers are increasingly using integrated marketing campaigns that use promotion as their core competency. The author asserts that with promotion taking on an ever greater role in marketing campaigns, and with the lines between the traditional marketing elements being blurred, marketers should begin referring to marketing communications itself as integrated marketing. The author also explains what elements create a successful integrate marketing campaign.