It's a tale of two strategies for package-goods marketers: Several food companies hiked U.S. spending last quarter as bigger spenders in the household and personal-care space, such as Procter & Gamble Co. and Unilever, appear to have cut back substantially.

But next year, it looks like the storyline will flip. A combination of moderating commodity prices, a stronger dollar and a U.S. market that suddenly looks pretty good in comparison with the rest of the world will help household and personal-care companies in 2009, and quite possibly result in restored spending. But for food companies such as Kraft Foods and Kellogg, buoyed much more than household and personal care by price hikes in the past year, 2009 could bring strong deflationary pressures that could also pressure ad spending.

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