Advertising Age - Latest News

A Pair of Advertising Pros Win Peparami's Crowdsourcing Contest

ehall@adage.com(Emma Hall) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:13:49 -0500

LONDON (AdAge.com)-- Unilever's meat snack brand Peperami has announced the results of its crowdsourcing experiment, awarding a $15,000 prize to two professional advertising creatives with 50 years' experience between them.

JetBlue and JWT Parting Ways

rparekh@adage.com(Rupal Parekh) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:08:30 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- JetBlue Airways and its creative agency, WPP-owned JWT, are splitting up, despite a four-year run marked by the airline doubling its footprint to some 60 markets and earning a dedicated terminal at New York's JFK airport.

What Best Buy Learned About Service as Marketing and Empowering Employees

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:16:39 -0500

As the high season of holiday shopping pain (or gain) arrives, I find myself fixated -- perhaps irrationally, and certainly emotionally -- on Best Buy's Twelpforce, the viral army of 2,200 employees who answer questions and solve customer problems via the customer-care channel we know as Twitter. Self described as "a collective force of Best Buy tech pros offering tech advice in Tweet form," the program has nearly 15,000 "followers" and it's growing. Think Apple Genius Bar but without the physical counter.

Hulu's Massive Traffic Bump? Thank ABC, New TV Season

mlearmonth@adage.com(Michael Learmonth) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:06:08 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Fueled by the fall TV season and the addition of ABC shows to its library, traffic to the video site backed by NBC, ABC and Fox spiked nearly 47% in October from the prior month, the biggest single-month percentage gain of the past year.

Reckitt Benckiser Consolidates Media Buying with Havas, Publicis Shops

mbush@adage.com(Michael Bush) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:24:52 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Reckitt Benckiser has consolidated its $1.3 billion global traditional and digital media account for its 17 Powerbrands, which include products such as Lysol, Woolite and Calgon, with Havas' and Publicis' media groups, the marketer said in a statement. Both had previously worked with the packaged goods giant. Shops from Omnicom and WPP also pitched the business.

Publicis Worldwide Names Olivier Altmann Chief Creative Officer

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:35:56 -0500

ABC's Problem Child: Adam Lambert

bsteinberg@adage.com(Brian Steinberg) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:08:23 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- ABC has received a number of complaints about the performance by recent "American Idol" Adam Lambert during its broadcast of the "American Music Awards" Sunday night.

Taylor Swift, Nascar Fuel ABC to Second Place in Key Demo

jrash@cmithun.com(John Rash) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:52:06 -0500

MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- Two country crossovers, Nascar and Taylor Swift, were watched with varying levels of interest on ABC's Sunday night schedule.

Why Murdoch Can Afford to Leave Google for Bing

nives@adage.com(Nat Ives) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:36:16 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- News Corp.'s talk about listing its sites exclusively on Microsoft's Bing sounds unpromising in several ways, but all of Rupert Murdoch's recent agitation and exploration are at least pushing one fact back to the fore: Web traffic only gets publishers so far in their quest for digital ad dollars. After a certain point, actually, traffic may not even matter.

In His Nike Work, Dan Wieden Is the Prototypical CCO

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:19:01 -0500

The corporation is good at many things, but culture has never been one of them. The time has come to put this right. What better way than to open the C-suite to a senior manager who contents with culture full-time? The question: Where to find people who've served the corporation as unofficial, prototypical CCOs? It wasn't long before I stumbled upon Dan Wieden's magnificent work for Nike, highlighted in this edited book excerpt.

Who Can Explain the Billion-Dollar 'Twilight' Economy? This Guy

sdumenco@adage.com(Simon Dumenco) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:01:30 -0500

Hollywood wasn't exactly blindsided by the weekend box office take of Summit Entertainment's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" -- everybody expected it to do big business -- but the numbers are still rather astonishing. For this latest edition of Dumenco's Media People, I've turned to a keen observer of the teen entertainment market to help make sense of the "Twilight" phenomenon and the demographic that powers it: Matthew Rettenmund, founder and editor in chief of Popstar!

10 Signs It's Time to Leave Your Job

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:55:17 -0500

It's the end of the year. The job market is tight because of the depressed economy; still, it's a good time to evaluate your current situation and set your goals for 2010. But how can you tell it's time to begin a job search? By watching for the 10 tell-tale signs.

Pizza Hut Review Down to Martin and Gotham

rparekh@adage.com(Rupal Parekh) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:54:06 -0500

The creative review for Pizza Hut's $200 million account is down to a shootout between two Interpublic Group shops, Richmond, Va.-based Martin Agency and Gotham, New York, according to executives familiar with the matter.

Wal-Mart CMO Defends Private-Label Brand Expansion

hlevins@adage.com(Hoag Levins) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:03:56 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Putting a humanitarian spin on his remarks to an ANA audience, Wal-Mart CMO Stephen Quinn defended his company's massive expansion of is private-label brands. Earlier this year, the retail giant sparked a controversy in the food marketing industry when it unveiled a revamped "Great Value" brand line that includes more than 5,000 items in 100 grocery categories. Mr. Quinn said the effort was rooted in the company's desire to help customers who couldn't otherwise afford adequate food for their families.

Calculating the Tim Armstrong Premium as AOL Goes Public

mlearmonth@adage.com(Michael Learmonth) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:14:46 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Tim Armstrong has a nice analogy for how the ad business works. Think of it, he says, as marketers driving around the neighborhood in trucks laden with cash, just looking for the right lawn to dump it on.

Coca-Cola Lays Out Its Vision for the Future at 2010 Meeting

nzmuda@adage.com(Natalie Zmuda) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:00:56 -0500

ATLANTA (AdAge.com) -- Amid some 200 analysts, investors and media last week, Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent made a confession. "There was a period when our company did lose its way," he said. "We were too internally focused and not focused enough on the changes taking place with our consumers and customers. In essence, we were too busy looking at the dashboard and were not sufficiently paying attention to the world outside of our windshield."

Brands Have a Role to Play in Helping People Find the Good Stuff

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:00:28 -0500

The internet offers an endless buffet of choices. And that supply of content choices is far outstripping demand (our attention). As a result, each of us is going to have to make choices about what we consume and when. Brands can help.

Microsoft's Bing Gets 'Stickier,' Grabs More Local Dollars

mlearmonth@adage.com(Michael Learmonth) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:00:21 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Bing has a long way to go to catch Google, but six months after the site's launch, the numbers show it's heading in the right direction. The question is: Will its gains last once the ubiquitous, $100 million TV and web advertising stops?

Will Retailers or Consumers Come Out on Top on Black Friday?

jneff@adage.com(Jack Neff) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:00:21 -0500

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Black Friday 2009 has become a massive game of chicken among retailers and consumers, as the closely watched post-Thanksgiving sales data will largely decide which succeeds at outsmarting the other.

Pop-Up Retail Goes Mainstream in the U.K.

ehall@adage.com(Emma Hall) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:37:22 -0500

LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Temporary pop-up shops have become a permanent fixture in the U.K. No longer an underground phenomenon, these one-off marketing tactics designed to get instant buzz have graduated to the mainstream, with Unilever, Cadbury and Britain's biggest entertainment retailer, HMV, all setting up shop for the holiday season.

Branson Says Competing Airlines Should Start From Scratch

mbush@adage.com(Michael Bush) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AdAge.com) -- Richard Branson sat down with Ad Age to talk about the future of the airline industry, what he hopes legacy carriers can learn from Virgin America, TV as an ad medium, what marketers need to do to get through the economic downturn and, of course, commercial space travel.

Bloomberg Seeks Agency for Global Branding

nives@adage.com(Nat Ives) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:18:48 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As it gets ready to officially take ownership of BusinessWeek magazine, Bloomberg is looking for help with global branding and advertising across its portfolio of media properties.

8 Lessons From the Creativity and Technology Conference

kpatel@adage.com(Kunur Patel) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Some 300 attendees gathered at the Saatchi Gallery last week for Ad Age sibling Creativity's technology conference, Creativity and Technology, were treated to musings on bleeding-edge digital communication from Europe's top talent in advertising, technology and design. Here are a eight takeaways from the CaT technology conference if you missed it.

Oprah: Queen of Daytime Proves Content Is King

jrash@cmithun.com(John Rash) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:38:22 -0500

MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- Network TV has mostly missed out on the Oprah effect, as it didn't develop Oprah Winfrey, or any other talker who has dominated daytime in recent years. This was a great historical miss by broadcasters, who to this day are struggling in daytime with soap operas that often have their roots in radio, not the web. The nets haven't solved their daytime dilemma, but do seem to recognize content's royal status, especially as they chase royalties in prime time. Thursday night's ratings race.

Will Oprah's Move to Cable Dampen the 'Oprah Effect'?

bsteinberg@adage.com(Brian Steinberg) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:13:47 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Oprah Winfrey's decision to end her long-running syndicated program is a bet on the future of TV -- that niche cable channels, with their dual revenue streams from advertising and subscriptions, will be a more stable media base, and that technology will allow any content provider to reach its core audience in a more direct fashion. But the move may end up diminishing her power as a mover of products.

Vampires Attack Oprah and Sarah Palin! Run For Your Lives!

sdumenco@adage.com(Simon Dumenco) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:28:35 -0500

What a surreal, epic week in mass media. On Monday, Sarah Palin appeared on "Oprah," then on Thursday Oprah announced she's quitting her talk show. But for all the media buzz about Sarah Palin (and her new book) this week, she's nothing compared to the latest installment of the "Twilight" franchise, "New Moon" (which opened today).

In Latin America, DDB Goes Bernbach One Better and Installs Creative Trios

valentinavescovi@gmail.com(Valentina Vescovi) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:25:14 -0500

Bill Bernbach might have introduced the creative duo, but the Latin American arm of the DDB network has evolved that idea for the future by rolling out a new creative cell to all of its agencies.

Farfar Co-founder Nicke Bergstrom Joins Mother, New York

adiaz@creativity-online.com(Ann-Christine Diaz) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:48:04 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- And another Swede enters the building. Nicke Bergstrom, one of the co-founders and creative director of the much decorated Swedish digital agency Farfar, has found a new home at Mother, New York.

CBS Wins Night With 'Old Christine,' 'Gary Unmarried'

jrash@cmithun.com(John Rash) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:58:41 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It was a pretty good night for an average night of prime-time programming. Wednesday, after all, is a hump day for TV as well as workers. In-between Thursday's drama (ABC's "Grey's Anatomy"), reality (CBS's "Survivor") and comedy (NBC's "The Office" and "30 Rock") cornucopia, and the kick the NFL gives ratings on Sunday and Monday as well as the new blood of new dramas on CBS' Tuesday night schedule, Wednesday is usually lower rated.

How Technological Illiteracy Will Cost Creatives Their Jobs

ehall@adage.com(Emma Hall) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:33:41 -0500

Creativity and Technology debuted across the Atlantic on Thursday at London's Saatchi Gallery. The event brought together designers, creatives and technologists from agencies like Organic and Crispin Porter & Bogusky to discuss work ranging from Fiat Eco: Drive to Poke London's Baker Tweet, as well as technology's increasing importance in creative departments.