Adverganza's Friday morning picks, 11.21.08

Wherein I scan the Friday morning headlines so you can prepare for the weekend.

From Advertising Age:

--Michael Phelps pitches Subway, but Jared, he's not.
--Vhat to do about "Valkyrie."
--No, really, this economy is an opportunity.
--The relationship between Linda Kaplan Thaler and her assistant is much longer than many marriages. I don't wanna know but it's via Forbes.com.
--The growth curve in interactive advertising stops being so much of a curve.
--Management changes at Anheuser-Busch, now, depressingly, a unit of InBev.
--3 Minute Ad Age: Will the alternatively-powered Chevy Volt give new power to GM?

From Adweek:

--Hey, news media junkie, here's your fix: breakingnews.com.
--Wanna pitch Wedgwood?
--Good god no! Crispin sponsors Mr. Internet. See below:



--Check out this guy's faux-hawk. Then ponder that he's moving from R/GA to BBH.
--Ad of the Day: Commercial for Gold's Gyms from McKinney. I could care less since my exercise comes strictly through Pelham Rec.

From Brandweek:

--Kmart the latest store to get cozy again with the layaway.
--The NFL wants you to vote on its Super Bowl ad.
--Buy a video game at 7-Eleven.

From Mediapost:

--Motrin's pain already going away.
--Film at 11! The Organic Trade Association promoting cause of organic food.
--Which book retailer saw its sales drop 4.4 percent in the third quarter?
--Everyone's lovin' the Blackberry Storm.
--400,000 people download the MySpace Blackberry app, a new record.
--T-Mobile gives a thumbs-up to Yahoo mobile search.
--Renegade gets out from under Dentsu.
--In a shocking development, the head of the Versus network doesn't think the NHL would be better off being with ESPN, the much bigger, more powerful network.


From Mediaweek:

--Up with interactive advertising, according to Q3 numbers released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
--NBC News tests your iCue on Facebook.
--Go to the gas pump, see if you're ready for digital TV.
--Two Wall Street analysts downgrade Arbitron stock.
--The AP could lose 10 percent of its staff next year.
--McClatchy numbers suck.

From The New York Post:

--Memo from a disgruntled ex-Time Inc. employee.

From The New York Times:

--The Times cuts its dividend.
--Whatever happened to the Beijing ad bounce?

From The Wall Street Journal:

--Disney duels pirates, but not the ones off the coast of Africa. Free.
--Life & Style, In Touch lower audience promise to advertisers. Subscription required.

Au revoir until next week.

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 ...

Adverganza's Wednesday morning picks, 11.19.08

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

From Advertising Age:

--Do U want ur turkey 2 txt U?
--No one gives a sh*t about "Australia".
--Private equity guy Shaun Holliday joins MPG as CEO; Charlie Rutman will become senior adviser to agency in January.
--Jose Cabaco, chief creative officer of Euro RSCG N.A. for an entire seven months, leaves.
--3 Minute Ad Age: If you're into public body scanning and thermal underwear, on the other hand it's from the Uniqlock people so maybe we should all check it out.

From Adweek:

--OfficeMax tells "Elf Yourself" shops Toy New York and EVB to go f*ck themselves for Christmas this year. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Hire JibJab to do this year's version.
--Crispin breaks its campaign for Microsoft's Zune. You can see the spot below. It ain't bad, but it ain't no iPod killer, either.



--New media. Good or bad for TV? Discuss.
--Ad of the Day: Disembodied lips sing A-ha's "Take On Me."

From Brandweek:

--New Sony "Green Glove" service installs new TV, recycles old one.
--Speaking of which, Q&A with Jonathan Dodd, exec vp/director of strategy of G2 on green.
--More green. Q&A with Danny Seo, who spearheads J.C. Penney's "light green" program.

From Mediapost:

--We're talking about Kraft, Folgers and Olay.
--UPS is hiring! Via mobile phone.
--Southern Comfort brings you "A Colbert Christmas."
--A full Thanksgiving dinner, with wine, for only $35. It must include Boone's Farm, or buying a bunch of grapes and stomping on them in the tub.
--Nuggnuts.com, an online community, opens to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the McNugget. I'm going there right now!
--Optimists, pessimists converge on the topic of online ad spending.
--But in this study, the optimists win.

From Mediaweek:

--Westwood One will no longer be traded on the NYSE.
--Cooking Light publisher Chris Allen leaves the building.
--Which Spanish language media company had a $3.5 billion loss in the third quarter?
--As expected, ESPN gets the Bowl Championships.
--Life, now on its umpteenth life, launches Life Photo Search with Google.
--Marc Berman's Programming Insider: Looks like CBS will win the week, in part thanks to Barack.

From The New York Post:

--Keith Kelly, grim reaper: 250 to get shown the door at Time Inc. today, magazine group also closes up Cottage Living.

From The New York Times:

--So what becomes of Yahoo now?
--Dr Pepper hires first, um, sports endorser, guy who plays Halo 3. I hear he's got super-strong thumb muscles, on both hands.
--Oops. The AARP has to launch investigation of how its own health plans are marketed.
--Will "Project Runway" ever see a catwalk again?

From The Wall Street Journal:

--Even more speculation on what's to become of Yahoo. Subscription required.
--Google, Procter & Gamble employees temporarily swap jobs. Subscription required, but get a copy of it if you don't have one.
--Publicis buy Tribal. (It's a digital agency, but it's not Tribal DDB). Subscription required.
--Another talking stain ads from Tide. The video is below.



Ok gang. See ya later.

Adverganza's Tuesday morning picks, 11.18.08

Wherein I scan as many of the Tuesday morning headlines as I can before having to fulfill other commitments.

From Advertising Age:

--Pepsi, well, cans BBDO giving the business to sister shops TBWA/Chiat/Day and Arnell. Andrew Robertson may be crying in his cola, but not John Wren.
--Procter & Gamble's Ted McConnell says about advertising in social media: ""What in heaven's name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?"
--Surprisingly detailed analysis of the Motrin baby-wearing ad controversy, given that Ad Age did this in less than a day.
--Anheuser-Busch's vp/global media and sports marketing, Tony Ponturo, retires.
--3 Minute Ad Age: Nestle Waters CEO is pissed off at the demonization of bottled water.

From Adweek:

--Adweek's take on the shift of Pepsi out of BBDO.
--Didya hear that Jerry Yang is no longer CEO at Yahoo?
--George Hayes, IPG settle age discrimination lawsuit.
--Since I gave rather short shrift to the Adweek 30th issue yesterday, here are a few more links.
--Who is influential now.
--Barbara Lippert's three greatest campaigns of the last 30 years. You'll have to click here to find out.
--How technology has changed brand story-telling.
--Mark Dolliver on the "cultural Botox" that has left pop culture about where it was 30 years ago.

From Brandweek:

--Perception of private-label brands catching up to so-called "name" brands since, like, uh, they're cheaper, and cheap is in!
--Order Domino's Pizza via TiVo. Heaven.

From Mediapost:

--Black Friday, Cyber Monday, will be no big deal say CMOs. We knew that already, didn't we?
--Lowe's, Target, also feel the pain.
--Pentax tries to lure new camera enthusiasts.
--DeBeers says it will double U.S. ad spending. God knows why.
--New Levi's women's jean, called Ultimate Lift. Sounds like a bra.
--Online ad market sucking to a greater extent than we thought says Citi analyst. Maybe they're just all feeling a little bit glass empty over there these days.
--Things really smell over at AOL.
--Enfatico hires former imc (squared) exec David Shulman as chief digital officer.

From Mediaweek:

--Forbes cans 43 people in integrating its print and online sales and marketing staffs.
--Fox opts out of bidding on the Bowl Championship games. It's all yours ESPN!
--Zenith Optimedia radio guru Matt Feinberg leaves as part of new layoff round.
--Obama interview gives "60 Minutes" its highest ratings in years. Maybe he can save the economy just by showing up on TV.
--Yahoo Telemundo site shuts down.

From The New York Post:

--More, more, more Jerry Yang.
--Keith Kelly, bearer of bad news: in addition to Forbes, layoffs at TV Guide, and Play, the Times' sports magazine goes the way of the stegosaurus.
--Maybe DeBeers isn't nuts: high-end jewelers opening up on Madison Avenue.

From The New York Times:

--The definitive story about the BBDO/Pepsi split, featuring picture of Britney Spears on a surfboard.
--Nielsen starts to listen to radio.
--Oh, right, Jerry Yang is out as CEO at Yahoo.

From The Wall Street Journal:

--Another Pepsi/BBDO story. This time featuring picture of Cindy Crawford. Subscription required, but you know the story.
--More on that pesky Motrin ad. Subscription required.
--Did you hear about Jerry Yang? Free.

Gotta run! I'm late for exercise class!

Anatomy of Motrin's PR disaster

OK, let's get today's Motrin controversy out of the way. (Well, I guess it started this weekend, but I wasn't wearing my baby, who now weighs just under 45 pounds; we were cleaning the house.) Although there are about 400 links one could choose from to outline the controversy, I'll do it for you here in three simple visuals. One, the ad about "baby-wearing" that got a lot of mothers tied up in their Baby Bjorns:



The offending ad, probably not conceived (forgive the pun) by a mother, was from Taxi NYC. Now, here's one of the many YouTube responses about the ad, a nine-minute montage, mainly consisting of tweets expressing outrage about the ad, to the strains of, inexplicably, "Ol' Danny Boy." (Watch about 45 seconds, and I assure you, you'll get the point.)



Finally, the letter that was posted sometime today on the Motrin Web site:











I'll admit I don't really know what to make of all this since this silly little ad isn't the kind of thing that gets me all excited, even as the mother of the two greatest children in the world. Someone poisoning the Tylenol? Now that's a problem. Was the Motrin ad snarky? Hell, yeah. But the angry response to it seems out of line with what it represented. Had it not rained all weekend--at least on the east coast--would the outcry have been more muted because more of us Moms would have been at the playground instead of hanging out on Twitter? Maybe what Motrin is learning here, and what other marketers will as well, is just what can happen when you put production and distribution tools in the hands of everybody. When everybody gets mad, they don't know when to stop.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 11.17.08

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

From Advertising Age:

--How, precisely, the collapse of Detroit would suck for agencies and media companies.
--Old Spice vs. Axe, if grooming products aimed at male teenagers is your gig.
--BBH branches out into vegetarian meals and personal alarms.
--You should still care about Yahoo.
--All about addressable advertising. Pipe dream or a way to use pipes to fulfill a dream? Whoa, calm down, Adverganza.
--Reckitt Benckiser rocks.
--The Association of Magazine Editors tries to honor the advertising/edit divide, while one unidentified editor says, "I could give a fuck about ASME." Ouch.
--Retailers get ready for a lousy little Christmas.
--Even if you're not yet out of the magazine business, maybe it's time to get out of the magazine business.
--Awww. We still no how to give.
--We're eating more cereal. Don't think that's a good thing.
--Film at 11! We're going to drink less bubbly this holiday season!
--Bob Garfield gives Honeyshed one pitiful star.

From Adweek:

--Adweek's 30th anniversary package. Who's been influential, best ads of the last 30 years, and so forth.
--Video to celebrate Adweek's 30th, featuring interviews with WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, TBWA Chiat/Day's Lee Clow, Cliff Freeman, more.
--What you don't know about your target's media consumption habits.
--Six finalists in Levi's creative review, if you care.
--Donovan Data Systems and Interpublic renew their deal.
--Buzzmaker Crispin gets the assignment for Microsoft's Zune, which could be, well, intriguing, as the Zune has just about no buzz.
--BMW of North America dealers to Grey West.
--Gap's Christmas campaign .... Dixie Chicks plus Sandra Bernhard ... other weird celebrity juxtapositions ... see below or ... click here ... via Laird & Partners.



From Brandweek:

--It's a bird, it's a plane, it's superfruit.
--New Tic Tac packaging. Thrilling.
--Mercedes gets ready to start a new online community.
--Target gets bloggers to go mobile for Christina Aguilera CD launch.

From Mediapost:

--SunTrust's "Live Solid. Bank Solid" tag is a sign of the times.
--Consumerism is dead. Long live causism.
--Speaking of which, a new online magazine for "people who want to live well and do good deeds."
--Interview with About.com chief Cella Irvine.
--Thanks for playing, ForbesAutos.com.
--AT&T a backer of a new privacy thinktank: the Future of Privacy Forum.
--Citadel, Emmis and Clear Channel sign up for radio audience measurement in real-time.
--Despite their combative ad campaigns, telcos, cable companies and satellite companies are starting to actually selling ads together.
--Call for a six-month moratorium on new billboards in L.A.
--



From Mediaweek:

--Scatter for sports in Q4 kind of lacking in that demand thing.
--Which two publishing companies laid off staff late last week?
--The online video shakeout is upon us.
--Cable advertising is still happenin' as NCC does $1 billion in sales.
--The TVB wants live-plus-three.
--Former Rolling Stone publisher Ray Chelstowski to run new luxury magazine. In this economy, good luck.

From The New York Post:

--Yeah, TV development budgets are down too.

From The New York Times:

--If you read my blog, you know this already: Michelle Obama wears J. Crew.
--The National Review discovers that online discourse can get nasty.
--Say "Au Revoir" to "TRL."
--Epoch Films sprouts Dandelion to tell stories about brands. You mean, like, "Once upon a time there was a brand ... "?
--Despite ad cutbacks, there will be no shortage of people walking around wearing logos.

From The Wall Street Journal:

--Will the economic downturn finally kill off the yellow pages? Subscription required.
--James Bond flick takes in over $70 million this weekend. Free.
--Pirates are ripping off Blu-Ray. Subscription required.
--Home Depot launches Spanish version of its Web site. Subscription required.
--Reed Elsevier CEO Gerard van de Aast to leave company. Subscription required.

That's it for today.