Feb 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Patricia Odell

The consumer is in control.

We've all heard that saying hundreds of times by now, but no place is that more obvious than Spring Break.

Marketers have been chasing students for years. And Breakers keep moving, expanding their roster of destinations, making it all the more challenging for brands to catch up with this coveted demographic.

As the season heats up this month, many marketers have added dollars and destinations to the mix. Some are sticking to the tried and true. Still others want nothing to do with the often bawdy, drunken behavior that can be associated with Spring Break and its hordes of young people escaping from the rigors of academia. Amy Johannes has all the details.

Also in this issue, the enormous popularity of consumer auto shows makes the venues great locations to capture consumers' attention and engage them in brands.

Promotion is playing a key role in the Big Four auto shows, one of which is about to get underway in Chicago. Amy Johannes traveled to Detroit last month to the North American International Auto Show to witness the event first-hand. The intense competition among the automakers — including Toyota, which recently replaced Chrysler in the No. 3 spot, behind General Motors and Ford — ratchets up the importance of using promotion tactics like sweepstakes to capture consumers' attention and personal information for future marketing. The automakers plan to follow up with e-mail, direct mail and other communications to keep that relationship moving forward, hopefully toward a sale.

And speaking of direct mail, this month we take a look at the many roles direct mail plays in promotion. It's a workhorse, delivering everything from game pieces to coupons to invitations to thank yous and more. Brands like Dannon and Nickelodeon have found success using the mailstream.

And let's not forget, February is for lovers.

Millions of dollars are spent on this holiday. We take a look at a couple of traditional Valentine's Day brands, 1800Flowers.com and Godiva, to see how promotion helps them stay top of mind as consumers shop for loved ones. We also investigate a more modern approach to love. Virgin Mobile is running a campaign where players can take their relationship to the “next level” or get dumped.

Finally, Betsy Spethmann reports on Wal-Mart's efforts to reduce materials in packaging and how that affects promotion.

Patricia Odell is the managing editor of PROMO.

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