Paul Bradley Carr and Sarah Lacy, a married pair who opened the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs in 2022, will open a second store in their other home city, San Francisco. To be dubbed the Best Bookstore in Union Square, the new shop will be part of an urban revitalization project, Vacant to Vibrant, launched by the nonprofit SF New Deal (SFND) and the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD). V2V is a component of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Heart of the City initiative, which so far has attracted more than $50 million in private sector investments. To encourage independent startups, SFND and OEWD award grants, offer technical support with permitting and red tape, and provide generous leasing arrangements worked out with property owners and managers. “To continue accelerating downtown’s comeback, we are prioritizing safe and clean streets, supporting small businesses, drawing new universities to San Francisco, and activating our public spaces with new parks and entertainment zones,” Mayor Lurie said

The good news is that U.S. ad executives project their second-half ad spending will be up an average of 7% vs. what they originally planned, according to a survey released this morning by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The bad news is that the same sample of ad execs reported their full-year ad spending will be down 31% from what was projected in a similar survey conducted by the bureau in the fall of 2021.

For years, direct mail has been surrounded by myths. Some came from outdated marketing assumptions. Others came from marketers who tried direct mail once, executed it poorly, and decided the entire channel didn’t work. Meanwhile, the brands quietly getting exceptional results from direct mail never stopped using it. In fact, many are investing more heavily into it because physical marketing has become more valuable in a world overloaded with digital noise. The reality is, direct mail has evolved. The strategies are smarter. The targeting is better. The tracking capabilities are stronger. And when done correctly, direct mail remains one of the most effective ways to capture attention and drive response. Click on the read more link to discover the "myths"