Advertising, Branding and Corporate Design Review

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Subway Puts Phelps Back in Its Advertising Pool

So you heard the one about the world's fastest swimmer and the bong? Michael Phelps, infamously, admitted to an ill-advised toke at a party and a pictures was shot 'round the world last winter that potentially jeopardized millions in sponsorships.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Greg Bell Departs Venables Bell & Partners


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Greg Bell, co-founder and co-creative director of hot indie shop Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco, is departing the agency.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Modernista Puts a Price on Ideas — and Gets $45

What's with agencies and eBay these days? For nearly as much money as a case of suds, Modernista used the site yesterday to auction off a pack of 12 commercial scripts suitable for a beer marketer.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

10 Cool Ways To Get People To Know More About You & Subscriber To Your Twitter Page

When it comes to Twitter, subscribers or “followers” are your key to building popularity. And popularity is a fundamental and very important concept to grab hold of. The idea is that by following someone, they’ll agree to follow you back.

The following are other ideas which can help with subscriptions:

1)  Connect your blog or social network site to your profile. By adding a link to each of your social media profiles to your Twitter profile, and vice versa, you are making sure everyone you know is able to reach you in all the places they have accounts as well.

2)  Ask others to recommend your profile.
A blog reader could recommend your social networking page, or other members of your social network could recommend your blog. Word of mouth can go a long way, especially in the world of social networking. Although you may not get every person who hears of you on your Twitter page, you can easily raise the number with a few referrals from friends.

3)  Purchase banner ads which in turn can be linked to your profile.
This way, when your website banner ads are clicked on, the link is automatically established to your Twitter page. This will prevent anyone having to search far and wide in order to find you.

4)  Use usernames and avatars which match either your business or other social networking sites. When you sign up for your Twitter account, use the same name you have on other social network sites. If this name isn’t available, try to use something as similar as possible. You can use the same avatar as well. Anyone who is familiar with you from another site will notice when you send out a tweet.

5)  Avoid spamming your Twitter. If you constantly drop in silly and unproductive comments several times a day, people won’t take you seriously for long. Make sure you are adding something of value when you post. While it’s fine to post your own URL, joining into conversations will show people you are approachable.

6)  Asking questions will show people you are not only looking for input, but you don’t consider yourself a guru either. Who knows - this may result in not only receiving an answer to your question, but with reciprocal following as well.

7)  Be careful when posting URLs in Twitter. If the link is too long, it will be shortened with tinyurl. If this happens, it becomes impossible to see the source link to figure out what the page is before clicking through. Before you post any links, it’s recommended you write a short description or the title of the page.

8)  Follow people from within your personal niche
. Not only will you be able to understand what they are talking about, but you may be able to bounce some ideas off them when you get stuck. Having similar concerns and experiences means they are more likely to follow you as well.

9)  The difference between bios and backgrounds is easy. Bios on Twitter are short and to the point, unlike an About Me page found on most blogs. People will get to know you from how and what you tweet, not from a novel written in your bio section.

10)  If at first you don’t succeed, try again. The most experienced in the internet world make mistakes sometimes. It’s part of life. If you find you have made a mistake in one of your tweets, fix it. If you find you have chosen the wrong person to follow, stop following them.

Take the time to work out the kinks on your Twitter page, and you will see how quickly everything else will fall into place.

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July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Unilever to Review Massive Global Media Account

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- One of the world's largest advertisers, Unilever, is launching a massive review of its media planning and buying later this month encompassing 13 countries around the globe. The payoff for the winning agencies will be huge, considering that Unilever spent $755 million in measured media in the U.S. alone last year; Ad Age's annual Leading National Advertisers report found that the consumer-package-goods giant laid out $2.4 billion overall on advertising in the U.S. in 2008.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Gap Awards Holiday Campaign Duties to Crispin


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Gap Inc. is busy finalizing a deal with Crispin Porter & Bogusky to handle its flagship brand's holiday campaign, according to executives familiar with the matter. The move could be a precursor to a full-blown account shift if last year's Old Navy review is any indication. Gap Inc. put out an open call for fresh creative ideas for that brand and ultimately handed the entire $200 million account to Crispin in October.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Crown Imports on the Lookout for Media Agency


CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Corona marketer Crown Imports is seeking a media agency to handle buying and planning for its brand portfolio, which includes the Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial and Pacifico beer brands.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Online Ad Spending Overseas to Hit $25 Billion by 2013

LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Internet ad spending is forecast to keep growing despite the recession, but the mix of online spending is changing as display falls further out of favor with marketers, leaving online alternatives to fight for the marketing dollar.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Brewer Pushes Bicycling to Help the Planet


The New Belgium Brewing Co. is giving away more than 1,500 cruiser bikes to encourage Americans to cut down their carbon footprints as part of the annual Tour de Fat bicycling festival, which will launch its 11-city run in Chicago on July 11.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Earned Media: Is No Chatter Worse than Negative Chatter?


While we discuss how earned media is an output of the combination of paid media and owned media, I think the simplification of the three terms has made a mess out of the expectations of clients everywhere.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Who’s Not Sick of Sexualized Sandwiches? Viral-Video Viewers


Carl's Jr. snuck onto the Viral Video Chart this week in the No. 10 spot with its video of "The Hills" star Audrina Patridge eating a Teriyaki burger in a gold bikini.


July 2, 2009   Comments Off

Online-Ad Industry Tries to Stave of Government Regulation

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Google, AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft, along with agency and marketer associations, took another step today in pressing their case that no government regulation is required over the collecting of data for ad-targeting purposes by search engines, websites, advertisers and ad networks. They've crafted their own set of rules, in hopes of heading off potential regulation in Congress.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

U.S. Auto Sales Fell 27% in June — and That’s Not a Bad Thing

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- U.S. auto, car and truck sales in June dropped 27% vs. the same month a year ago, to 880,000 units. While that estimate, courtesy of Ford Motor Co., might not look so hot on its face, Ford's U.S. sales analyst George Pipas noted that the last time the U.S. industry's monthly sales fell less than 30% was September 2008 -- nine long months ago.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

MediaVest Is Looking for Brand ‘Swingers’

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- After years of doing business the same way, lately it seems as if there's no end to new metrics for TV. This year, Publicis' MediaVest is seeking to add a secondary guarantee to its TV deals with select networks, based on new data from media and marketing research company TRA and TiVo.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

How Coke Is Targeting Black Consumers

Coca-Cola re-established a dedicated African-American marketing group in 2006. The beverage giant has spent the past few years testing programs and conducting market research. And in the first half of this year, those efforts have come to fruition, with four new campaigns for the Dasani and Coca-Cola brands.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

Cool Flashbacks from an Airline Mag

July 1, 2009   Comments Off

Karl Malden Never Left Home Without It

Karl Malden, who spent 21 years as a pitchman for American Express, died today at age 97. The Oscar-winning actor is most famous in the advertising world for his earnest delivery of the AmEx tagline: "Don't leave home without it."


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

For Broadcast TV Networks, Summer Break Begins Now


MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- School may have ended around Memorial Day, and the summer solstice was on June 21. But this week seems to be the official start of the season, with workers scrambling to free themselves from bosses and BlackBerrys in order to enjoy Independence Day.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

Coke, Pepsi Make Nice on Twitter


Yes, even hardcore rivals can be social-media friends (or followers, at least).


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

Dallas Daily Turns Over National Ad Sales to Rival Tribune


CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- In what's believed to be a first-of-its-kind arrangement in the struggling newspaper industry, Belo's Dallas Morning News has tapped rival publisher Tribune Co. to handle its national ad sales.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

Tylenol Latest Big Brand to Come Under FDA Scrutiny


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- First, the Food and Drug Administration went after Cheerios. Now it appears to be targeting another beloved U.S. brand: Tylenol. That could present advertising problems for J&J and Tylenol, as well as the rest of the big players in the pain-relief industry.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

Not Everyone Can Afford to Work for Free


Although many agencies are cutting their internship programs in misguided attempts to remain solvent, some of the recent graduates and college upperclassmen have still managed to land that plum gig. For the rest of the Millennials who may be forced to find a job that is completely unrelated to advertising, there is still hope. After all, not everyone can afford to work for free.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

Millennials Are Evolving; Are You Keeping Up?


I'm a changed person, thanks to this recession. I eat more meals at home and actually pay attention to the price of groceries. Living on my own for the first time, I find myself buying and using more household products, from dishwasher soap to stain remover. As a result, I'm newly receptive to advertising in those categories. But what surprises me is how few marketers of such products actually pursue my age group.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

State Farm Re-evaluating Agency Compensation


CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- State Farm is reassessing how it compensates its advertising and marketing-services agencies. It wasn't immediately clear whether the insurer is looking to slash fees; adopt the sort of value-based model lately championed by Coke; or simply to bring its practices closer in line with contemporary norms.


July 1, 2009   Comments Off

Big Returns From Very Small Products



July 1, 2009   Comments Off