The Association of National Advertisers held it’s annual conference November 5-8, 2009 at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix, Arizona. The ANA Annual Conference – The Masters of Marketing is targeted to senior marketers and chief marketing officers. According the ANA website: The conference offers an opportunity to learn from and engage with the leaders of the industry, the masters, as they build brands, leverage the expanding array of media, make marketing more accountable, and improve the quality of their marketing organizations. The theme of the 2009 conference is “Growth – Defying the Recession.”

According to a New York Times article on the conference, “Concern over the perilous state of the economy ran throughout the discussions during the conference.”

Private Brand seems to be a key topic at virtually every retail and marketing related conference this year and this conference was no exception. The Times further reported that:

“There are families not eating at the end of the month,” said Stephen Quinn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Walmart, and “literally lining up at midnight” at Wal-Mart stores waiting to buy food when paychecks or government checks land in their accounts.

Among the steps WalMart is taking to address the changes in shopping habits, Mr. Quinn listed an overhaul of the retailer’s private-label brand, Great Value, which is promoted in commercials describing how families can fix dinners with Great Value products “for less than $2 a serving.”