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Advertising Age - Small Agency Diary
Why Animals Speak in Super Bowl Ads
A focus group is an extremely artificial environment in which to see an ad, where the viewers are attentively awaiting presentation of the commercials that they will judge. Sound familiar?...
Dear Local News, Don't Blame Jay Leno
Even as anchormen became anchorwomen and news teams became more racially diverse, a sameness of product emerged on the late local news. Each TV station followed the next. Man-and-woman anchor teams. Incessant coverage of house fires and crime scenes. Helicopters. Oh, and the weather. Hyperbolic coverage of weather, each with...
Beer and Barbecue: A Few Tips for Newbies Attending SXSW
More and more, I'm hearing about agencies who are approaching the conference with aggressive business-development goals. And each year, there's a growing army of marketing folk in attendance, so there's likely a Texas-size gaggle of potential clients to share barbecue with....
Shifting Your Ad Agency to a Project World
I won't comment on why much of an agency's compensation has shifted from monthly fees to project-based ones. That is a whole posting unto itself. What I prefer to discuss now is how to prepare your agency to thrive in a largely project-based world....
Become a (Corporate) Culture King
As AgileCat enters its 10th year, I can look back with few regrets. But if I had to pick one, it's that I didn't put enough effort into making the culture extraordinary. Since the beginning of 2010, my focus has been wholly on our culture, and I can feel the...
In Pursuit of Ad Agency Utopia
Utopia does not exist. But while this type of rhetoric may sound ethereal, we do believe that talking about these values -- at the inception of a relationship -- can have a significant impact on agency-client relationships. Think of it as having the hard conversations with your clients, before they...
Advertising Age - Latest News
ExtenZe Hires Johnson as Pitchman
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- It takes a big man to admit he uses a male-enhancement supplement, and apparently former Dallas Cowboys head coach and current "Fox NFL Sunday" host Jimmy Johnson is just the guy. Mr. Johnson has just signed on as pitchman for late-night direct-response TV advertising staple ExtenZe...
People's Choice: Clydesdales Return to Super Bowl
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Knock us over with a feather: The Budweiser Clydesdales will be in the Super Bowl after all....
Walmart Food-Bag Consolidation Wipes Glad, Hefty From Shelves
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- In the latest of a growing wave of brand consolidations, Walmart has sent Glad and Hefty bags packing from its food-storage shelves....
Monster Buys HotJobs for $225 Million
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Monster finally got its HotJobs. Yahoo outbid Monster for the jobs site back in 2002, but now Yahoo has sold it to Monster for $225 million in cash, creating a new No. 1 jobs site in the U.S., according to web traffic....
MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- Defying pop-culture gravity, the last "Lost" season started off with more viewers than last year, which is a relative rarity, especially for such a densely woven drama that even some hard-core fans have a hard time following....
Consumer Consideration, Interest in Toyota Falls Sharply Amid Recall
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A new survey shows that Toyota's unprecedented recall is costing it dearly in terms of consumer consideration....
Advertising Age - Complete Feed
Commercial TV (Literally and Figuratively) Rules Ratings
MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- DVRs. Mute buttons. PBS. There are a lot of ways viewers seek to avoid commercials. Except, that is, when the commercials are good. Every year people pay the price of a movie ticket to see spots from "The British Television Advertising Awards." And just last night more...
How Much Is That Celebrity in the Front Row?
So you thought the fashion world was this authentic place where real live celebrities just showed up on the side of runways because they wanted to? HA!...
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- AOL has added another ex-Google exec to its leadership ranks. The latest to jump to AOL is content chief David Eun, who led all of Google and YouTube's licensing and partnerships with TV networks, publishers and studios and played a key role in navigating Google's sometimes...
Bartle Bogle Implements New Management Model in New York
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Greg Andersen has been named CEO of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York, taking the reins from Emma Cookson. Ms. Cookson is moving into the role of chairman and will focus on the shop's $270 million account: General Motors' Cadillac....
Why Animals Speak in Super Bowl Ads
A focus group is an extremely artificial environment in which to see an ad, where the viewers are attentively awaiting presentation of the commercials that they will judge. Sound familiar?...
When a Reviewer Loves the Promo More Than the Show
With all due respect to "Deal or No Deal" and Larry King, "Extra" is the single most weightless program on television today. By comparison, it makes lite-entertainment doppelganger "Access Hollywood" look like "Frontline Presents: Solzhenitsyn Unbound."...
Advertising Age - Madison+Vine
Top 10 Best-Selling Video Games
LOS ANGELES -- Nintendo's "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" was the top video game in December....
It's No Coincidence Everyone in This Spanish Soap Drives a Ford
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In a world of dual screens, Telemundo and Ford are trying to redefine branded programming....
Forget Big Budgets, Names: What E! Can Teach Broadcast
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- As NBC retrenches from its latest attempt to reinvent broadcast TV, perhaps it should look to its soon-to-be corporate sibling E!....
Why Chelsea Handler Switched From Grey Goose to Belvedere
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- In a recession, consumers of all sorts are abandoning their brand loyalty and trading up or trading down for value-based alternatives to their most beloved products -- even Chelsea Handler. Ad Age caught up with Ms. Handler on the cusp of her upcoming tour to talk...
Top Online Song and Video Downloads
NEW YORK -- Ke$ha's "TiK ToK" led the iTunes top downloaded songs last week. See full chart for top iTunes, AOL music video and peer-to-peer music downloads....
Top 10 Best-Selling Video Games
Activision Blizzard's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" was the top video game in November....
Advertising Age - GenNext
It's rough out there. Even if you're lucky enough to have a job, the likelihood of getting a raise or a promotion is pretty slim these days. Everyone is overworked, which means nobody is getting as much attention or gratitude as they deserve. Without incentives, it's easy to lose inspiration....
Don't Mind the Haters, Students; This Career's Still a Worthy Pursuit
Advertising is a great way to communicate to a mass audience and inform them of new products and services. The following are a few reasons why you should consider advertising as a major, and not just because the cool kids are doing it....
What Makes for a Successful Freelance Relationship?
Freelance relationships can be a steppingstone to professional industry experience, connections and great working relationships. Here's a rundown of the key components of a successful freelance relationship....
Often, when we are excited about a potential opportunity, we don't want to seem like a bother; after all, there is a thin line between staying top of mind and becoming borderline annoying. At any given time people have a billion things on their mind, and they may mean well...
Make Agency Culture Work for You
Although creative is king in advertising, culture has an important place, too. So when you're out there job hunting, it's good to consider more than just the work....
I had a friend once tell me that now is the time to do the unthinkable, to leave the known and venture out to the unknown. Now is the time to take risks. It's not always about landing the biggest internship or job, but it's about obtaining the experience and...
Advertising Age - Hispanic Marketing
Clorox and Univision Create a Prime-Time Special
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Clorox has partnered with Univision to create a prime-time special as well as topic-specific content segments that will run for the rest of the year during the Spanish-language network's morning programs and in its other properties. It's the latest example of a big marketer tilting...
The Best of Latin American Marketing in 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Adlatina, one of ad age's international partners, searches Latin America and Spain for the best marketers, ad agencies and industry executives, and publishes an annual ranking. Here are Adlatina's top 10 marketers for 2009....
Agency Hits: African-American Favorites
Among Multicultural Agency of the Year entries, campaigns by Verizon Wireless and American Airlines targeting African-American consumers stood out....
Hot Pockets, Dr Pepper Win Over Bicultural Youth
Here are a few campaigns from this year's Multicultural Agency of the Year entries that resonated with young bicultural Hispanics, an elusive but growing target for marketers....
Marketers Join Forces to Better Target Hispanics
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A new peer-to-peer business network is bringing together Hispanic marketers to share everything from dealing with the need for better data to hot topics such as the acculturation of Latino consumers....
Kraft Singles, Univision Play Hispanic April Fool's Day Joke
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Kraft Singles is pulling an April Fool's Day joke in December, armed with the insight that the product's dairy-based recipe gives it a boost with Hispanic consumers....
Advertising Age - Teressa Iezzi
P&G's Production Move Makes Industry a Worse Place
So P&G is now going to choose with which production companies its agencies can work in the U.S. Sounds great. What happens now?...
Lack of Film Standout at Cannes Shows That Creativity Is Evolving
The fact is, for now, Cannes still matters; awards still matter. Simply, awards are a marketing tool, for individuals and for companies. Especially now that clients are taking more of an interest in what goes on at Cannes, winning a Lion is business....
Dell's Della Debacle an Example of Wrong Way to Target Women
Della is worth revisiting for what it represents as a marketing (and social) phenomenon and as an example of what not to do as a brand when you feel you need to speak exclusively to women....
With Virtue, Media Brand Vice Helps Marketers Tap Its Genius
Vice, chronicler of youth culture, purveyor of the profane, is one of the more unlikely yet most convincing cases of a media brand (a real media brand, and that's an important distinction) turned brand partner....
The Effects of 'Benjamin Button' Will Be Coming to Ads Near You
Here's what didn't suck about the Oscars: seeing the wizards from Digital Domain accept the visual-effects award for "Benjamin Button." DD's work here provides a glimpse of what's next in feature and commercials image making....
Gone Daddy Gone: Heinous Ads May Cost Go Daddy Customers
After Go Daddy's execrable ad efforts around this year's Super Bowl, I found that I just couldn't stomach contributing anything to this organization any longer. I'm transferring my domains and my insignificant little piece of business elsewhere....
Advertising Age - GoodWorks
Fighting the Country's No. 1 Disability
Joining a new initiative to reduce the impact of osteoarthritis, the Arthritis Foundation and the Ad Council are launching a national campaign today that tells Americans that "moving is the best medicine." The campaign is being released in conjunction with a new initiative by the Centers for Disease Control and...
The One Club held its first Creative Boot Camp last month to help City University of New York students to develop their advertising skills -- from the initial concept to the final pitch....
Indianapolis Agency Earns Obama Praise
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In a new campaign, "Time to Be a Parent," Toy New York is partnering with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America to encourage parents to play an active role in helping to keep their kids drug-free by being more than just a friend to children....
Pro bono efforts for worthy causes make us feel great, but do they also reveal a need that we have to feel better about what we do? Given today's advertising work force of socially aware young talents, agencies that want to be successful must start helping all clients find...
Optimus Rolls Out 'One Shot' Winner
The winner of the 2009 Optimus "One Shot" contest rolls out today on Comcast. The debut of the TV spot, created to increase awareness of ShelterBox, a nonprofit organization that provides emergency aid for survivors of natural disasters, coincides with the group's efforts to help earthquake victims in Haiti....
Advertising Age - Global News
In Spain, Pepsi Becomes 'Pesi'
BUENOS AIRES (AdAge.com) -- Pepsi-Cola's intriguing insight from Latin America that many Spanish speakers can pronounce the brand's name more easily and phonetically without that pesky second "P," has arrived in Spain. In a new commercial-within-a-commercial, hunky Spanish soccer star Fernando Torres gets fed up when the director keeps correcting...
Why It's OK to Wash Potatoes in a Washing Machine
HONG KONG (AdAgeChina.com) -- Philip Carmichael is orchestrating Haier's efforts to build a global brand in Asia, a key region for the Chinese appliance giant. During a trip to Hong Kong last month to address the Foreign Correspondents' Club, he met with Ad Age China Editor Normandy Madden to talk...
U.K. Election Ad of Conservative Leader Is Glossier Than He Is
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- A heavily airbrushed poster created for the Conservative Party's election campaign has backfired spectacularly and exposed the party's leader and candidate for prime minister, David Cameron, to public ridicule, playing straight into the hands of the rival Labour Party....
Think You Know China? Eight Things Foreigners Get Wrong
As a public service, here's a thoroughly idiosyncratic, non-comprehensive list of the eight most common misunderstandings about China, says Jigsaw's P.T. Black....
It's Not a Recovery Yet, Says Martin Sorrell
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It's not a recovery yet, particularly for media companies, according to Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the largest agency holding company in the world. "They're down 10% or 5%, and they're declaring victory," Mr. Sorrell said from Davos, Switzerland....
Alberto-Culver to Begin Review for Global Creative, Media Duties
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Alberto-Culver Co. is launching its first global creative and media review in a decade, but one key player won't be involved: Wieden & Kennedy, New York, which joined the company's roster with much fanfare a little over a year ago, has parted ways with the Melrose,...
Advertising Age - Songs For Soap
Stephen Colbert: Black Eyed Peas Missed Many 'Advertunities' in Latest Video
In last night's episode of "The Colbert Report," Stephen examined this year's summer jamz, and in the process took issue with the video for the Black Eyed Peas' latest hit, "I Gotta Feeling." He lamented: "Peas, please! You guys are the masters of the mass-market sell-out. You missed so many...
Taco Bell Steps Up to the Mic ... Again
What to say about this Taco Bell "music video" for its song "It's All About The Roosevelts"?...
A Taylor-Made Complaint for United Airlines
Halifax musician Dave Carroll has created a viral hit with a video decrying the behavior of United Airlines and its treatment of his Taylor guitar....
Build Your Band and the Brands Will Come
There is no music-branding silver bullet that will skyrocket a developing artist to stardom and riches. Take your time and focus on your own career and we will find you. It's often not the answer these artists want to hear, but it's the truth....
Brands Should Be Wired Into Music Discovery
Music fans care about discovery. Connecting people with what they want and what they don't even know they want yet is the name of the game....
Thank You for Killing Auto-Tune, Wendy's!
Somehow it took a fast-food restaurant to do for hip-hop what Jay-Z couldn't: kill Auto-Tune. He recently told a Chicago radio station that his latest song, "Death of Auto-Tune," was, in part, a reaction to a Wendy's spot that parodied the ubiquitous pitch-correction technology....
Advertising Age - Digital
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- AOL has added another ex-Google exec to its leadership ranks. The latest to jump to AOL is content chief David Eun, who led all of Google and YouTube's licensing and partnerships with TV networks, publishers and studios and played a key role in navigating Google's sometimes...
Adidas Rewards Consumers for Sharing in Online Push
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Walmart Makes a Viral. Yes, Walmart
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Expect this to happen with increasing frequency: A major marketer not known for online antics hits the top of the chart via massive offline promotion. In this case, it's Walmart with one of its more popular TV spots that found nearly 1.7 million views on the...
Brands Try to Become 'Mayor' of Foursquare but Will They Pay for It?
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Don't look now, but big brands are checking in on Foursquare. Pepsi, frozen-dessert chain Tasti D-Lite and cable network Bravo are all attempting to harness the power of the mobile game/social network....
Google's Back With Nexus One, While Airline Tries 'Cougars'
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Google is increasingly using video ads to promote its products and services, so no surprise that its ad for the Nexus One, "Ninja's Unboxing," came in at No. 3 on the chart this week with just north of 700,000 views....
Lego Takes Video Highbrow, While Axe Drags It Back to Earth
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- New additions to this week's top 10 represented three basic genres of web video: the arty, long form ad; the unbelievable stunt; and, always a stalwart, the over-the-top sexual innuendo-fest....
Advertising Age - Rance Crain
U.S. Appears Hypocritical in Demanding Visa for Reporter
The editor of our German-language newspaper, AutomobilWoche, was denied entry into the U.S. to cover the North American International Auto Show in Detroit because he didn't have a visa....
Dubai's Media Censorship Fuels 'Double Standard' It Denounces
Hiding behind "politically correct" financial terms that have the effect of denying reality won't help bring the changes Dubai Chamber of Commerce President Obaid Humaid Al Tayer thinks are so necessary....
Inconspicuous Consumption Will Motivate Consumers in Next Decade
If it's true, as the Wall Street Journal reports, that the new consumer is "embarrassed by flashy shows of wealth," then it's marketing's job to encourage inconspicuous consumption....
Welcome to the 21st Century. Now, Let's Fix the Mess
How could so many things go wrong in one decade?...
Even at Age 90, the Irrepressible Stan Cohen Covers All the Bases
Stan Cohen -- my first boss and my best boss -- celebrated his 90th birthday recently amid a gala get-together of his many friends and business associates....
Marketers Go for Squeeze Play, but the Basic Rules Still Count
It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game. Baloney, say major marketers who are apparently tired of paying hefty sponsorship fees no matter if their teams win or lose....
Advertising Age - DigitalNext
The IAgency: How the IPad Will Change the Advertising Business
What a difference a week makes. With Apple's announcement of the iPad last Wednesday, publishers may have just gotten a reprieve from their death sentence, and agencies may have just been handed a convenient way to get into the content business....
Super Bowl Shuffle: Why Marketers Will Shift to 'Platforms'
Rarely do you get so many Americans watching one event and actually enjoying the advertising. It's a tremendous opportunity for most brand marketers and we'd be foolish to look at this year's Super Bowl as proof of either the rejuvenation of the 30-second spot or the rejection of it....
Is the IPad Publishing's Savior? Pro and Con
This week's iPad launch brought publishing's future back to many media minds; we asked two agency thinkers to argue the pros and cons of the device's potential for reviving a sagging industry. Arguing pro is Hill Holiday's Greg Winter; con is Hill Holiday's Ilya Vedrashko....
In Praise of Seth Godin's 'Linchpin'
Seth Godin's premise is that today's organizational structure is a throwback to the days of factories, with interchangeable parts and interchangeable workers. Basically, this means that if you do your job as you're told, then you're easy to replace. Seth wants you to "become indispensable" instead....
Does Apple's IPad Take a Bite Out of Web Advertising?
We've known for quite some time about the iPhone's inability to render Flash content within the mobile Safari browser, and based upon Apple's announcement of the iPad today, it looks like that device isn't going to do it either....
Media Buyers: Roll Your Own Mobile Strategy
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Advertising Age - Top Work
On this week's episode of Creativity's Top 5, F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and Fundacao SOS Mata Atlantica ask Brazilians to pee in the shower for this water-conservation PSA; Wunderman/Team Detroit and First Born bring gaming and car customization together for Ford; the Help Remedies package design seems almost good enough...
Stella Taps Swinging '60s, Grolsch's Mobile App, an ARG for 'Tron: Legacy' and Other New Work
On this week's episode of Creativity's Top 5, Mother, London, recruits illustrator Robert McGinnis to lend his sultry '60s style to Stella Artois; Artist Jimena Oddi and director Jorge Jaramillo create visuals as frenetic and eclectic as the N.A.S.A. track it showcases; Grolsch challenges your sobriety with a mobile app;...
Music Videos for U2 and Coldplay, Durex Condoms as Aphrodisiac and Other New Work
In this week's episode of Creativity's Top 5, McCann Erickson and Durex see the condom as an aphrodisiac; David O'Reilly expertly animates U2's latest single; Shynola directs a lo-fi fantasy land of chalk for Coldplay; RKCR/Y&R and Virgin Media go walking on a TV backlot; and Ghostly International releases a...
Twitter Gaydar for Stockholm Pride, Jonathan Glazer Becomes a Dead Weather Man and Other New Work
In this week's episode of Creativity's Top 5, Jonathan Glazer's music video for Jack White's band the Dead Weather, Stockholm Pride's Twitter gaydar and more....
Aussie Beer VB Toasts the Everyman, Nike and Livestrong Send Messages to Cyclists and Other New Work
In this week's episode of Creativity's Top 5, Barkley dresses up the Johnson County Library's delivery trucks with fake brands inspired by literary favorites; 2Degrees and TBWA/Whybin launches a mobile service in New Zealand; DDB, Stockholm, and North Kingdom test if web users are fit for the Swedish Armed Forces;...
Levi's Waxes Whitman-esque, The Economist Walks the Talk, Barclays Gets Real and Other Work
This week's episode of Creativity's Top 5, a new campaign by Levi's and Wieden & Kennedy uses the winning combo of Walt Whitman and prancing nubiles to sell jeans; AMV BBDO and director Tom Carty show how balanced The Economist can be with a new high-wire spot; Venables Bell &...