The predictions that you dare to predict really do come true

It would be a shame to waste all this nice weather so let's put the top down and set the Wayback Machine for last November 18. Remember? That's when Brand Autopsy told Radio Shack: "It’s what you do during the 46-weeks leading up to the Holidays that makes a business relevant. If you are expecting a multi-million/multi-dimensional Holiday advertising blitz to make a brand relevant, then you should expect to fail." Sure enough, Radio Shack's 2005 fell short.

Theirs wasn't the only one. If you register -- which is not recommended while inside a Wayback Machine -- BIGresearch has the December numbers: "retailers spending on TV commercials to drive shoppers into their stores met with indifference. When asked if their favorite commercial motivated them to shop that retailer...only 26.5% said yes." What holiday shoppers really wanted was a print piece with coupons.

Then there's this: "When asked which retailer has the best holiday TV Commercial...Target was the top commercial mentioned at 5.6%." Which maybe indicates doubly bad news for all those imitators.