Adverganza's Thursday morning picks, 11.20.08

Wherein I finally get around to scanning the Thursday morning headlines because I went to bed early last night for once.

From Advertising Age:

--Ballmer says he doesn't want Microsoft to marry Google, but he would be willing to fool around with it, in search.
--Logic alert: NIH says "Banning Fast Foods Ads Will Make Kids Less Fat."
--Ad Age's AdMarket 50 stock index hits is as low as it's been since 2000 launch. Intuitively, we knew that, didn't we?
--3 Minute Ad Age: Cable TV industry: there's a lesson in Scion.

From Adweek:

--HP's Technology Solutions Group pitch down to Havas, Omnicom and WPP. In other words, Publicis and Interpublic are out.
--Alphabet soup: OMD wins CBS's media planning and buying.
--Out with Jeff McClelland as CEO of Cliff Freeman; in with Clayton Ruebensaal III.
--Ad of the Day: Welch's Grape Juice gets all academic about polyphenols and stuff. Was above my head except that I guess it's good for you, though I prefer my grapes in wine flavor.

From Brandweek:

--Everything you wanted to know about YouTube Live from its CMO Chris Di Cesare.
--Del Monte fruit strips down in its new campaign. I guess sex sells, even if you're a pineapple.
--Jeffrey Hayzlett named CMO of Eastman Kodak.
--Ziibii, a new social media app for the iPhone.

From Mediapost:

--Despite continued popularity of Barbie, looks like a Nintendo and Disney Christmas to me.
--Speaking of which, Nintendo's Wii Fit the most memorable product of the year.
--Big sale at CVS! And I need to go there this afternoon. Woo-hoo!
--Walgreen's, recent killer of the beloved Thruway Diner in New Rochelle, not to mention the Clam Shell in Littleton, New Hampshire, takes over Times Square with gazillion stories high billboard. Are you happy now? (Outrage partly manufactured.)
--Once again I'm not inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame.
--Your favorite brands, now featured in Facebook's public search listings.
--Make your computer spurt blood.
--Meredith makes minority investment in social site Real Girls Network.
--MRM Worldwide jumps on the offshore production bandwagon.
--Next Yahoo CEO should be into the mobile thing.
--eHarmony opens to gays and lesbians.
--No March boondoggle to Las Vegas for Nielsen clients.
--Nielsen Monitor-Plus says auto ad spending dropped 10 percent in the first half of 2008, and that's before things really went in the shitter.
--Thanks for playing, PC Magazine.

From Mediaweek:

--The Daytime Emmys on cable?
--Another one of those sponsorship deals that's too complicated for me to suss out. Something to do with The Killers, Fuse and the Guitar Hero World Tour.
--Monthly uniques up, time spent on sites down, for newspaper Web sites.
--Arbitron says shift of Clear Channel and Cumulus to Nielsen's new radio research product will cost $10 million in revenue in first year.

From The New York Post:

--Thought they'd done this before, but anyway, Lifetime sues NBC about that "Project Runway" show.

From The New York Times:

--More on that humongoid Walgreen's billboard in Times Square. Guess they'll be a Walgreen's store at the bottom, which, at least, passes the logic test.
--Lengthy discourse on the demise of the print version of PC Magazine.
--The "Twilight" phenomenon. Why do we love vampires so much?

From The Wall Street Journal:

--At least advertising in China is supposed to be up. Subscription required.

Woo. I work faster when I've had a decent amount of sleep. I know that's shocking. Have a good day, which may be possible only by not repeatedly checking the Dow.

More to come ...