According to Ad Age, Mondelez shifted its global Halls creative business to Wieden & Kennedy, abruptly ending its four decade-long relationship with JWT.

For reference, here’s a Halls’ TV spot from JWT’s reel:

“A pep talk in every drop,” is a good line. It may even be a great line. But we all know it takes more than a great line to sustain a client’s interest, trust and business, day-to-day, much less decade-to-decade.

Ad Age also notes that earlier this year, W&K was handed Trident’s U.S. business just 18 months after Saatchi & Saatchi had won it. W&K also has the marketer’s Stride gum brand. Halls, Trident and Stride are similar, reasons Ad Age, because they are typically sold at the front of stores and rely on impulse purchases.

One thing is for sure, W&K isn’t shy about going after packaged goods brands these days. Given how shoddy much of the work in the CPG category has been over the years, I’d say this is a positive development, creatively speaking.

The post Halls Unceremoniously Dumps JWT for Younger, Prettier Agency Partner appeared first on AdPulp.

So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised to read Adweek’s look at Cadillac’s current review. It doesn’t really instill any confidence that a coherent decision will be made.

I could quote at length all the red flags I see in this interview, but you really have to read it for for yourself. A few highlights:

Multiple traditional agencies in a holding company being asked to pitch the account together. And in the case of holding company Publicis, their agency Fallon (the incumbent and recent winner of an Effie for its Cadillac work) being asked to defend the account against other Publicis agencies. Strategy and creative from different pitches with the potential to be mixed and matched, and the client insisting that nothing presented has yet to pass muster, because it’s all “iterative.”

There’s a lot of money, pride, prestige, egos, and jobs at stake. Frankly, I feel for anyone laboring in the lower ranks of agencies involved in this pitch. It may simply come down to the all-important “chemistry check.” And if you want a chemistry check, consider this: The decision-making client interviewed by Adweek has a Twitter account with only 15 tweets — 13 of them aimed at companies whom he feels have given him poor customer service. According to his official bio, he began his career at GM 22 years ago as a “financial analyst.” Which we all know is an ideal qualification to lead a multi-million dollar advertising account review.

The post Is Cadillac Conducting The Edsel Of Agency Reviews? appeared first on AdPulp.

Looking forward, he says it is time for ordinary people to be rewarded for what they do and share on the web.

In an interview with Nieman Lab, Lanier argues:

If you have universal backlinks, you have a basis for micropayments from somebody’s information that’s useful to somebody else… Every backlink would be monetized. Monetizing actually decentralizes power rather than centralizing it. Demonetizing a network actually concentrates power around anyone who has the biggest computer analyzing it.

Monetizing decentralizes power. Perfect! Americans love freedom and money.

I also love to provide information that might be useful to somebody–like this very article–thus, I am fully behind a workable micropayments system that rewards me (and others) for being prolific and readable.

The post Transition To The Modern World, Give Markets A Chance appeared first on AdPulp.

According to Online Media Daily, Twitter is testing a new lead generation tool.

Advertisers can offer Twitter users deals and discounts in the ad unit or via an in-stream landing page. Those who wish to claim the offer simply click the button and the discount is automagically delivered to your digital doorstep.

Need a hotel deal? Sign up now and priceline will email you a 10% Off Express Deals Coupon Code! cards.twitter.com/cards/c9frv/1h

— Priceline.com (@priceline) May 21, 2013

Successful tests of the new Twitter tool were run by New Relic (@newrelic), Full Sail (@fullsail), Priceline (@priceline), and Barista Bar (@baristabar).

In the old days, a brand would have wanted to drive traffic to its home base web site. I’m pleased to see there’s little need for that now. Who wants to click around and give up their data on one more web site? By playing the game on the platform itself, you honor the user in their – and I hate to say it, but – in their “native” environment.

The Next Web reports that it’s not clear at this point whether Twitter’s new Lead Generation Cards are restricted to just Promoted Tweets, or if businesses can apply the new format to all of their tweets containing a suitable offer.

The post Brands Test New In-Stream Lead Generation Tool on Twitter appeared first on AdPulp.

According to Adweek, The New York Times’ 10-person Idea Lab is helping to reshape what it means to be a display ad.

Just as technology enables the Times to tell stories in a more visual, more interactive way, it now affords advertisers the same opportunity.

Recently, Idea Lab created an ad unit for Prudential, the insurance giant, which allows people to type in their date of birth and see the front page of the Times on the day they were born.

The ad satisfies the interactivity problem straight away and that’s a big step in the right direction. Plus, if you think of the Times’ archives as a canvas and a data mine, a developer certainly has plenty to work with.

From the agency perspective, the desire for a more complex storytelling vehicle is palpable. No one wants to make banner ads that just sit there. We’re happy to now ask what kind of value these ad units can deliver, and how can they perform more like an App?

The post Using Interactive Technology To Forward The Brand Story appeared first on AdPulp.

Now, they’re broadening their reach with the launch of Site AI, a new service that summarizes web analytics and site stats using reports written to simulate everyday language.

This could mark an interesting turning point in our use of data, charts, dashboards, and infographics and solve one of big data’s big problems: The need to put it in language anyone can understand. As the site itself says:

The problem with dashboards is they don’t directly provide insights or deliver knowledge about the data. Even worse, most visualizations require the user go through the mental exercise of interpreting the results. Site Ai does the analysis for you and presents the information in plain English.

I’ve always said that infographics are more “graphics” than “info,” simply because so many visuals are open to misinterpretation. And the big problem for most ad agencies, and other firms, is the lack of ability to turn the data into information we can use. Site AI, even though it’s auto-generated, might be able to help us make more of the data we actually collect. Which could lead to better insights, more effective user experiences, and bigger ideas.

It’s one small victory for verbal presentation against the onslaught of visual information.

The post Site AI Aims To Bring Big Interpretation To Big Data appeared first on AdPulp.

Rebecca Lieb an analyst for Altimeter Group, writing for iMediaConnection, says the term “Native Advertising” raises more questions than it does answers. Indeed.

My first question is, why – in The Age of Knowledge and Transparency – are we talking about hiding advertising so it appears to be something it is not? Doing so merely reinforces our industry’s processed cheese factor. It says, “Yes, we are a bunch of quacks trying to sell people a bill of goods.”

Lieb writes:

The fly in the ointment is that without a real definition of native advertising, it means anything you want it to mean. Or anything whoever’s trying to sell it to you wants it to mean. Confusion in the marketplace is not a good thing (though it can benefit certain constituents).

She goes on to say she is working to define Native Advertising and that she welcomes input. I have input. I believe Native is “a neologism for what we used to call advertorial.” Thus, I fail to see the need for it.

The need we have is to raise the bar on advertorial, and I contend it is easy to do and worth doing. The thing to realize when we talk about producing any form of brand-sponsored content is how money solves many problems. The fact is, brands have the money to invest in journalists, filmmakers and other storytellers — and smart brands like RedBull are already doing a great job of this.

On The BeanCast, host Bob Knorpp, asked what role ad agencies can play in all this. The answer is simple. Agencies play the role they always play, creating a framework for a client’s storytelling needs and managing the million details involved in creating and distributing not just ad campaigns, but media products.

Previously on AdPulp: Hello Advertorial, Nice To See You Again

The post No Need To Hide, Just Make Advertising And/Or Content Worth Showcasing appeared first on AdPulp.

Listen here: BeanCast 251 or directly in iTunes.

This week’s BeanCast opens up with a long-winded discussion of Native Advertising, Content Marketing and whether or not ad agencies are prepared to play a role in this important and growing segment of the business. I tried to remain calm during this segment, but I could not.

My friend Bob Hoffman — who I have beers with on a semi-regular occasion — says the only brands that ought to produce content are sports teams, bands and others with a real fan base. I understand that some companies are better suited to content marketing than others, but I reject the idea. Hoffman offers a pencil manufacturer as an example of a boring product that has no business in the content game. I point out that pencils are tools used by writers; therefore, the content possibilities are as rich as could be.

Later in the episode (about 38 minutes in), Knorpp, who is an excellent host, asks me about the garment factory fire and collapse that killed 1100 in Bangladesh. I am glad he asked. While marketing may not be the first place to turn for a good answer to this immense problem, I contend that marketing does have a role, and a significant one.

I say, “I don’t think the value shopper really cares about slave labor. I wish they did but I don’t think they do, so what is the answer from a marketing perspective? We’ve got to give them something that they care about. I think “Made in America” would be amazing, and Wal-Mart which wants to fly the freaking flag like the Republican Party would be an ideal candidate to say, ‘You know what, were going to raise prices a bit, we’re going to explain this to you and we’re going to create jobs in America.’”

You see, I am not a curmudgeon at all. I am a hopeless romantic who holds tightly to my youthful idealism. I believe in our ability to adapt and improve, as ad men and as people. I know it’s not easy to tell a client that their operations are shit, and if they want to protect brand value, they need to do the right thing right now. But what business are we in? Are in the business of keeping clients happy? Or are we in the business of creating brand value? I reckon it’s up to each one of us to decide.

The post Ad Curmudgeons Speak Up On The BeanCast This Week appeared first on AdPulp.

Or is that a faulty assumption? Do we ever really outrun the need to be popular? Think about it. Who doesn’t want to be liked? Who doesn’t want to be recognized for their gifts?

As you may know by now, Klout is a company that ranks one’s influence in social channels, and ties perks from its partners to one’s score, thereby providing the much needed game layer. For instance, I have a pretty good score right now, which means I can claim a newly introduced, and pretty awesome, perk.

Users with a Klout Score of 55 or higher, can gain access to the Admirals Club in one of 40 airports worldwide by going to www.aa.com/klout. You do not have to be an American Airlines passenger to be eligible for this Perk.

In my opinion, this American Airlines perk is a big step up in the value of Klout’s perks program, and thus in Klout itself. While I continue to think it is a poor practice to place too much emphasis on social influence, I feel like it’s easier to take the whole thing seriously when there are real world payoffs like this.

Footnote: I used to say a lot of good my social capital is doing me, since Safeway won’t take social capital at the checkout stand. Perhaps, the tide is turning and we can begin to bank (even in small ways) on the work we do in social channels. Thoughts?

The post Klout Score of 55 Or Higher? You’re An Admiral! appeared first on AdPulp.

Which explains why Land Rover has made a note of a social media milestone, namely its one millionth “Like” on Facebook.

Even if the occasion isn’t actually all that auspicious, the ad is a nice “Thank You” note to Land Rover fans.

And why not take the opportunity to say thanks for your attention, thanks for buying Land Rover and including the brand in your social updates?

The post Land Rover Gives Thanks And Praises For Its 1 Mil. Facebook Fans appeared first on AdPulp.