Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 08.11.08

Wherein I scan the Monday morning headlines so you don't have to:

From Advertising Age:

—Inside the branding of Obama.
—BK franchisees aren't the party all night type.
—Ad-skipping via DVR is just getting warmed up.
—Time Warner rediscovers the joys of content.
—Ouch! General Motors to slash agency fees by 20 percent. (Why does this strike me as penny-wise and pound foolish?)
—Everyone's wearing black smog masks!
—R/GA rethinks branding by looking through the digital lens.
—Bob Garfield and why those Vista spots resemble making "a rose out of excrement." (Not his words, but good ones anyway.)

From Adweek:

—Apparently, Nike launched some very intense spots at the beginning of the Olympics. Didn't see 'em. I was out dancing.
—Cutwater, BBDO, still in Hyatt pitch, if you're paying any attention.
—Gerry Graf has started to move the creative chairs around at Saatchi, and yes, "Speed Dressing" played a role.
—Levi's unbuttons someone named Estelle. (Here she is with Kanye West.)
—In this week's utter shocker, Carat says it's better for clients to keep spending in recession.
—How come men housekeep but no one can target a lousy cleaning product to them? Sheesh. Talk about lack of respect.
—Barbara Lippert awards the gold to GE's Olympics spots.
—WPP's John O'Keeffe on why being good at crosswords means you can be a copywriter.
—Mark Wnek wishes creative directors would leave their egos at the door.
—Agencies continue pity-party concerning Google.

From Brandweek:

—Timberland launching a site called "Podium" but don't jump to the conclusion that the company is an Olympics sponsor.
—Energy drinks look like recession victims.
—As analog ends, a business opportunity begins.
—How the death of Heath Ledger might help teens not go to the medicine cabinet for fun.
—Here's your chance to think up a new Crest flavor's slogan.
—Do you know your car's Car Fun Footprint?

From Mediapost:

—Story about Lenovo's Olympic ads. If you want to see some, click here.
—Ads for Southern Comfort.
—Anyone in the market for Monopoly sneakers?
—Bernstein Research still predicting online ad growth of 20 percent.
—A traveling, glass-enclosed IKEA living space. Yes, really.
—Marketing professor chews over Wrigley's music marketing initiative. Spits it out.
—AOL super-sizes its home page ad.
—Ben & Jerry's launches a social site asking people to "Imagine Whirled Peace." That's not a typo, just a kind of dopey play on words.
—Despite high gas prices, people are seeing just as many out-of-home ads. Can't figure that one out.
—Not a good sign that The New York Times Magazine is now featuring cover wraps for advertisers for whom subtlety is not a core skillset.

From Mediaweek:

—No upset here: record numbers of people are following the Olympics on the Web.
—Rolling Stone to move to a standard-sized format.
—Sprout TV enlists Mommy bloggers. But not this one.
—New magazines from Reader's Digest.
—Anthony Crupi on the recession and those premium cable bills.

From The New York Post:

—Mel Karmazin's plan for world domination.

From The New York Times:

—Now it's time for the media companies to get paranoid about Google.
—Don't just blame the Internet for your lousy ad sales; you can blame Detroit too.
—Congress is getting serious about online privacy.
—Get Oedipus on the line: Martha Stewart's daughter to appear on show that skewers Martha Stewart.

From The Wall Street Journal:

—Magazine newsstand sales drop by 6.3 percent in the first half of 2008. Subscription required, but the headline says it all.
—Also in "Bad News in Magazines" ad pages for those big, glossy September titles are down. Free.
—Brown only advertising to Red this year. (OK, it's a UPS/Commie joke.) Free.

OK, I am so done with this post. See ya.



More to come ...