Advertising Age - News

Shoppers Show Up for Back to School

nzmuda@adage.com(Natalie Zmuda) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:01:01 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Steep discounts lured shoppers in August, contributing to a surprisingly strong performance from the nation's retailers.

Feds: No Link Between Pampers and Diaper Rash

jack.neff@yahoo.com(Jack Neff) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:18:01 -0400

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and its Canadian equivalent Health Canada have found no link between Pampers Dry Max diapers and diaper rash or other skin conditions, the agencies announced today, despite a social-media uproar on Facebook and elsewhere this spring linking the products to rashes and "chemical burns."

FTC Subpoenas 48 Food Companies Regarding Marketing to Kids

adageeditor@adage.com(Rich Thomaselli) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:29:32 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Federal Trade Commission is once again handing out subpoenas to companies that market food to children and teens. Three years after initially delivering what is technically known as "orders to file special report" to 44 marketers, the FTC last week began sending subpoenas to 48 companies in order to prepare a follow-up to its 120-page report issued in 2008.

Now Playing at Blockbuster: Catch 22

nzmuda@adage.com(Natalie Zmuda) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:32:02 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Blockbuster finally has a point of differentiation to advertise and strong creative to engage consumers, but it may not have the money to invest in marketing to pitch it.

Clearwire's New 'Rover' Aims to Sign Up Youngsters

rparekh@adage.com(Rupal Parekh) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:17:02 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Growing broadband provider Clearwire is launching a pay-as-you-go 4G internet service, dubbed Rover, backed by an off-the-wall marketing push it hopes will help sign up younger subscribers who don't want lengthy contracts.

BMW North America Marketing Chief Jack Pitney Dies at 47

jrooney@adage.com(Jennifer Rooney) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:01:02 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Jack Pitney, VP-marketing for BMW of North America, died Aug. 26. He was 47.

Glut of Recalls Threaten to Desensitize Consumers

rparekh@adage.com(Rupal Parekh) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:01 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Call it the year of the recall. The massive recall of 550 million eggs is the biggest of its kind to hit the nation -- yet it's just one of dozens of major recalls consumers have seen in 2010. In the span of last week alone, companies such as Tyson, Garmin and Johnson & Johnson pulled all manner of consumer products, including GPS devices, contact-lens solution, hip replacements, flat-screen-TV wall mounts, popsicles, deli meat, baby bottle warmers and yet more Toyota cars.

Why Tiny Tresemme Is Rising to Top of Hair-Care Heap

jneff@adage.com(Jack Neff) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Alberto-Culver's Tresemme brand, which accounts for about a third of the company's sales, is posing a palpable threat to rivals many times its size. Tresemme just keeps gaining share -- to the point where it is now mounting a credible threat to become the No. 2 overall brand in a crowded $6 billion U.S. mass hair-care market this year.

Automotive News Sits Down With Ford's Jim Farley

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- As head of Ford's global marketing, sales and service, Jim Farley is in charge of continuing the marketing momentum. He has been part of the team that has led the Ford brand's resurgence, helping create buzz through a variety of uncommon marketing activities. He spoke with Automotive News about the company's marketing challenges and plans for the future.

P&G Shifts Management Incentives to Focus on Share

jneff@adage.com(Jack Neff) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Procter & Gamble Co. is making a subtle but potentially important change in how it compensates top managers, one that will reward them for increasing market share even if industry sales slow and the company resorts to price cuts. The move has some speculating that P&G is girding for a period of slower growth, lower prices and bruising promotional battles over the next three years.

Isaiah Mustafa and Social Media Prove No Match for Free Goods

jneff@adage.com(Jack Neff) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:21:06 -0400

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Muscular as Isaiah Mustafa and his viral videos may be, they seem no match for the power of free goods.

Sears Holdings Taps Razorfish Alum as Marketing Head

nzmuda@adage.com(Natalie Zmuda) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:40:02 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Sears Holdings is bringing in a digital expert as its new senior VP-president of marketing. David Friedman, who was most recently president-Americas at Razorfish, will be responsible for the company's marketing business unit.

FDA Unveils Draft Guidelines for Mandatory Calorie Counts on Menus

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:06:10 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Restaurant companies and vending-machine companies were given a little extra time this week to circle the wagons and figure out the next step in complying with government-mandated rules requiring the posting of calorie counts and other nutritional information.

Save-a-Lot Stretches Media Budget by Delivering Free Groceries

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:06:40 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In a test-run case in Opelousas, La., a small town an hour west of Baton Rouge, the chain supermarket Save-a-Lot delivered a bag of free food and other staples, unannounced, to about 1,000 homes within a one to one-and-a-half mile area surrounding the store.

Silverado Ads Will Embrace Chevy-Ford Pickup Feud

dbarkholz@crain.com(David Barkholz) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:31:30 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet is preparing an ad campaign for October that captures the banter that happens when a Silverado pickup owner gets in the same room with the owner of a competing brand, Automotive News reports today.

As Egg Fears Mount, Farmers Launch Reassurance Campaign

rparekh@adage.com(Rupal Parekh) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:57:02 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As the number of recalled eggs escalates to nearly half a billion, the egg-farmers trade organization is launching a campaign to tell consumers their eggs are not only still incredible -- they're also safely edible.

With Oatmeal Sexy Again, Quaker Wants in on Action

nzmuda@adage.com(Natalie Zmuda) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:47:01 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Oatmeal has been a big win for Starbucks and Jamba Juice, McDonald's is planning a national rollout for early next year, and now Quaker is hoping a revamped lineup and new campaign will boost its business by double digits.

Groupon Preps for More National Marketers After $11 Million Gap Promo

nzmuda@adage.com(Natalie Zmuda) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:01:02 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Since last week's national Gap promotion, Groupon's phones have been ringing off the hook, said Rob Solomon, president-COO of Groupon. He expects the company's next national retail promotion will happen "pretty soon," with more to come during the fourth quarter.

Nissan to Move Beyond Price-Driven Advertising

rparekh@adage.com(Rupal Parekh) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:55:01 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Nissan's new marketing boss, Jon Brancheau, has only been in his job for three months, but he has been a car marketer for a lifetime. He grew up around the business, his father having worked at General Motors in a Cadillac assembly plant during the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Brancheau spoke with Ad Age about the state of the economy, boosting marketing spend and the controversy that has begun swirling around Leaf spokesman Lance Armstrong.

'Halo' Reaches Out With Biggest Campaign Yet

kpatel@adage.com(Kunur Patel) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Three-hundred-million dollars in first-week sales, two Cannes Grand Prix and "advertising" that took the form of a traveling museum exhibit. That's what Microsoft's Xbox got for its last marketing blowout for the "Halo" video-game franchise. With the latest installment out in September, how in the extraterrestrial world is it going to beat that? For starters, there's a robot.

What to Do When Bedbugs Bite Brand Reputations

tpardee@adage.com(Thomas Pardee) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As notoriously difficult as bedbugs are to remove from your bed or closet, the resilient critters may be even trickier to shake from your company's reputation.

FTC Green Guidelines May Leave Marketers Red-Faced

jneff@adage.com(Jack Neff) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Attention marketers: Within the next few weeks, you may be recasting your entire green-marketing strategy. Right now on the desks of Federal Trade Commissioners is the new set of so-called Green Guides -- they are the first environmental-marketing guidelines in 12 years and could radically reshape how far marketers can go in painting their products, packaging or even corporate images green.

Pepsi Max Drops the Diet, Aims to Rekindle Cola War

nzmuda@adage.com(Natalie Zmuda) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Pepsi Max is pursuing a positioning it hopes will finally replicate its success overseas: Comparing itself to the other guy, Coke.

Boom in Multigenerational Households Has Wide Implications for Ad Industry

bbulik@adage.com(Beth Snyder Bulik) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Today 49 million Americans -- more than one in six people in the U.S. -- live in households with three or more generations. The percentage is even higher for age groups 25-to-34 and 65 and older, where one in five, or 20%, live in these extended families. As such, the trend could have big implications for marketers virtually across the board in categories from housing to autos, insurance to package goods, necessitating a rethinking of everything from product sizes to how to reach these households and what members within them to market to.

How Social Media Is Helping Public-Relations Sector Not Just Survive, but Thrive

mbush@adage.com(Michael Bush) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Like every other marketing sector, the PR industry took a beating in 2009. But unlike the last major downturn in the PR business, which was brought on by the dot-com bust and 9/11, the industry is experiencing a much quicker rebound this time around -- and a good part of the credit might to social media.

GM Hires Hyundai's Chris Perry to Head Chevy Marketing

jstein@crain.com(Jason Stein) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:01:48 -0400

DETROIT (AutoNews.com) -- General Motors Co. will name Chris Perry its new Chevrolet marketing boss, replacing Jim Campbell. Mr. Perry, Hyundai Motor America's VP-marketing, will be the third Chevrolet marketing leader in 13 months and will be reunited with Joel Ewanick, GM's top U.S. marketing executive, who held the same post at Hyundai.

Smirnoff Paints the Town

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:52:02 -0400

Smirnoff tried to make the expression "paint the town" a reality: Club kids in white boiler suits and goggles dance while paint cannons fire a variety of luminous paints into the crowd.

Bloomberg Hunts New Advertisers for Its Other Magazine

nives@adage.com(Nat Ives) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:57:02 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Bloomberg has delivered a lot of new attention to Businessweek, which it bought last fall and redesigned this spring, but now it wants to attract new looks for the other magazine it owns: Bloomberg Markets, a title sent monthly to the financial elite who use Bloomberg terminals. Cue the Robert Priest redesign.

Walmart Rolls Back Rollbacks, Reduces Ad Spending

jneff@adage.com(Jack Neff) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:46:01 -0400

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Walmart will bring back thousands of items previously cut through Project Impact rather than the hundreds previously indicated, scrap the deep "Rollbacks" it tried in April and May and reduce ad spending to historical levels after a substantial hike earlier in the year as new U.S. President William Simon wastes no time reversing much of what his predecessor did.

Is Piperlime a Mean Girl?

nzmuda@adage.com(Natalie Zmuda) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:46:02 -0400

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Piperlime has raised the ire of some of its Facebook fans with a series of cheeky -- detractors have called them snotty -- wall posts last week.