The firm predicts that sales between November and January could reach $1.62 trillion, with e-commerce sales projected to grow up to 9%. Holiday sales in the U.S. are expected to increase between 2.9% and 3.4% this coming season, according to a Deloitte forecast. Deloitte projects holiday sales from November through January will total between $1.61 trillion and $1.62 trillion, up from $1.57 trillion last season, as recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau.  E-commerce holiday sales growth will continue at a clip of between 7% and 9%, similar to the previous year. Total e-commerce sales are projected to reach between $305 billion and $310.7 billion, up from $285 billion in the 2024 season.

This year’s edition highlights the challenging environment that motor carriers dealt with in 2024, but in the end the industry still delivered more than 72% of all domestic freight tonnage in the U.S. Among the key findings in this year’s report: Trucks moved 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024, down from the 11.41 billion tons hauled the previous year.  In 2024, the industry saw revenues at $906 billion, down from $1.004 trillion in 2023.  Trucking employed 8.4 million people in industry-related jobs, including 3.58 million professional drivers in 2024.  The industry remains one made up of small businesses, with 91.5% of carriers operating 10 or fewer trucks and 99.3% operating fewer than 100 power units.  Trucks moved 67% of surface trade between the U.S. and Canada, and 85% of goods across the Mexican border in 2024.

Why are marketing campaigns so effective? What is the secret behind the good ones that people remember and talk about (REI’s “Opt Outside”)? Quite simply, a BIG IDEA. The best marketing and advertising over the decades have always been driven by a singular great idea (“Got Milk?”). A core idea that ties everything together. An idea that resonates with the audience and makes them think about your product or service in a different way. Remove that big idea and all you’re doing is selling products, just like the other brands. Blah. But when you build your marketing efforts around a campaign, and use that “big idea” consistently across all touch points, it’s more likely to get noticed, more likely to be remembered, and more likely to engage people on a human level. In other words, campaigns work. It’s no secret that I’m a huge Beatles fan, so once again, I will use them as a way of illustrating my point. When Paul McCartney was thinking about a different way to go about recording a new album in 1966, he came up with a big idea that would drive the entire creative process. What if the four lads took on a different persona, actually changing the name of the band? What if they reinvented their identity just this one time? much more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/campaign-building-blocks-the-big-idea/