Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Adverganza's Tuesday morning picks, 11.25.08

Wherein I scan the Tuesday morning headlines so you don't have to.

From Advertising Age:

--Looks like we won't see any obnoxious ads with huge bows on cars this year. Silver lining to economic crisis!
--In case you hadn't heard, GM decided it wasn't worth paying Tiger Woods all that endorsement money.
--"Redemption" doesn't totally redeem Sunday night.
--At least GM is no. 1 in something: it's got the lead spot on the Parents Television Council list of worst advertisers.
--3 Minute Ad Age: Macy's Christmas windows still draw a crowd, but, c'mon, they're free.

From Adweek:

--IDC is up with social media traffic; down with its ad revenue.
--BBDO wins Starbucks, thus advertisiing new caffeine infusion device.
--Mediacom makes some senior appointments.
--Ad of the Day: xBox 360 from T.A.G. and starring Burt Reynolds. It's below.



From Brandweek:

--Adidas to launch commercial for Adidas Originals starring David Beckham, DMC, Method Man. T'ain't on YouTube yet so I can't stream it for you.

From Mediapost:

--Buy a Subaru, have the company send a charity a $250 donation. Awwww.
--83 percent of retailers doing a holiday price promotion.
--The talking tub is back for Parkay margarine.
--Times Square goes down the toilet with Charmin.
--Apple sues a wiki. Not that wiki.
--We're watching even more TV.

From Mediaweek:

--American Association of Hispanic Agencies is not pleased with Arbitron.
--Time Inc.-ers! You have one week left to take that buyout offer.
--Is anyone watching new shows from Sony's Crackle.com?
--USA Today looking for 20 volunteers to walk the plank.

From The New York Times:

--Will Sumner Redstone sell off his movie theaters?
--Fox gets rid of Saturday morning cartoons.
--Advertisers starting to give away cold, hard cash.

From The Wall Street Journal:

--First Bailey's campaign from JWT. Subscription required, but a stream of the ad is below.



That's it. The Thanksgiving news slowdown is upon us.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 11.24.08

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

From Advertising Age (couldn't find the cover online, which I know is a massive disappointment):

--A guide to deceased magazines. Personally, I think we can still go on to lead productive, happy lives without Luxury Spa Finder.
--We're still lured by in-store displays.
--Wal-Mart, unlike Motrin, woos the Mommy bloggers.
--This year, your gift card could also be a camera.
--Film at 11! Big Three automakers may cause Madison Avenue to make cuts!
--How Michael Phelps, avowed McDonald's lover, wound up pitching Subway.
--Bob Garfield is pissed at Pepsi for dumping BBDO.
--Chinese ad auction global financial crisis-proof.
--Ben Silverman, good for a lot of things, but not NBC's ratings.
--DraftFCB gets an assignment that lives up to part of its name.
--Watch out for Henry Waxman.
--Yet more dissection of l'affaire Motrin.
--3 Minute Ad Age: See that massive Walgreen's Times Square billboard.

From Adweek:

--DraftFCB, Initiative, Kinetic win MillerCoors media.
--Angela Steele leaves Publicis for The Hyperfactory.
--This Christmas, even the kids are getting scrooged.
--Q&A with new JWT creative chairman for Latin America and Continental Europe, Fernando Vega Olmos.
--Nielsen creeping onto Arbitron's turf.
--Ad of the Day: Awww. It's a down-homey commercial for Musselman's applesauce.

From Brandweek:

--V8 courtin' the old folks. Decided it would be in poor taste to make a joke about this being a dying market, even though it is.
--New spot for T-Mobile's Fave5 featuring Yao Ming. Funny. See below:



--BestBuy getting warm and fuzzy this holiday season, too.

From Mediapost:

--Zero percent financing is back in a big way. Somehow not surprising that Toyota was the only one smart enough to license "Saved by Zero."
--Now, via JC Penney, you can put your s.o. in the doghouse for giving lousy gifts. Not that warm and fuzzy, eh? The doghouse site is here, created by Razorfish.
--The third phase of Sharp's Aquos campaign. Does anyone have the patience for a three-phase campaign anymore.
--What the world needs now is another performance-based ad network.
--Actually, what the world needs now is a public education campaign from Consumer Reports about the perils of debt. And we've got one!
--The AP, Newspaper Guild, plan to cut their staffs.
--ESPN.com asks users to pay up.
--Change.org and MySpace team up to keep the electorate engaged.
--Radio ad revenue down 9 percent last quarter.
--Vijay Ravindran named Washington Post Co.'s chief digital officer.
--Here's a new way to close a magazine, courtesy of SI Latino: say it's on hiatus.

From Mediaweek:

--Will the recession kill the online display ad?
--IGN.com launches a video channel. Guess you can watch when your thumbs get tired.
--NBC's "Crusoe" moves from Fridays to Saturdays, which sounds like the blueprint for a death spiral to me.
--Long-term Wall Street is bullish about the entertainment industry. Personally, I think we will all need some escape from this.
--At least Infiniti is spending; it upped its sponsorship deal with "The Colbert Report."
--Mr. TV discusses really horrible TV shows.
--Video: Marc Berman interviews Gene Simmons. Turns out he's a cock-eyed optimist. Seriously.



--There are also interviews with this year's Mediaweek All-Stars here.

From The New York Post:

--Delta Air Lines can't commit; signs deals with both Mets and Yankees.

From The New York Times:

--Late link: totally forgot to put this in. "Multiscreen Mad Men" interview, in which R/GA's Robert Rasmussen, AKQA's Lars Bastholm and Barbarian Group's Benjamin Palmer give Katie Couric a makeover.
--This year, hold back on the candelabras on the heads.
--All about Mary Berner's Reader's Digest.
--We've already spent about $200 million on "Obamabilia."
--The Kaiser Family Foundation gets into the journalism business.
--Typepad introduces The Typepad Journalist Bailout Program. The name of the program is in upper-lowercase, so it must be real.

From The Wall Street Journal:

--"Twilight" scores more than $70 million in ticket sales. Free.
--Monster, CareerBuilder in Super Bowl ad matchup. Subscription required.
--NFL! In 3D! Yeah, but you will you have to sit in your living room wearing those dopey glasses? Free.

Woo-hoo! Done by 10:15. Have a good day.