Advertising Age - Latest News

It's Official: Waxman Ousts Dingell on Committee

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Veteran House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell will be replaced by California Rep. Henry Waxman as committee chairman in the new Congress.

T-Mobile Gives Yahoo Prized Role

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- Yahoo will be the default search engine on T-Mobile's new mobile-web portal in a deal that gives the search giant a window to mine advertising revenue from the carrier's 32-million-plus customers.

Me and My Shadow

Readers of Marca.com, the online version of the Spanish sports newspaper, were targeted in this campaign from Adidas as it promoted its Techfit range of sportswear.

Scion's Marketing Story: As You've Never Heard It Before

NEW Y0RK (AdAge.com) -- Prior to the current economic crisis and Toyota's shift in product strategy, Scion was one of auto industry's most extraordinary marketing success stories. And we haven't heard anyone summarize that tale better than Jeffrey Rayport did at the recent CTAM conference. The marketing consultant told the Cable TV industry to rethink its relationship with consumers and empower them more. As an example, he cited the way Scion's 2003 launch managers rethought every aspect of customer engagement.

Ad Network Tries Money-Back Guarantee
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- How tough is it getting in the online ad market? Undertone Networks, which only works with so-called premium online publishers, is offering to refund advertisers up to $50,000 if an ad ends up on a site that it shouldn't.

Booz & Co. Study for ABM Outlines Two 'Paths'
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Two transformational paths are open to business-to-business media companies, and while the two are not mutually exclusive, companies will be more successful if they explicitly pick one or the other and organize their mission, staffing and technology accordingly. That was the stark conclusion of a study, "A Roadmap for Profitable Revenue Growth," presented by Booz & Co. at American Business Media's annual Top Management Meeting today in Chicago.

AdMarket 50 Hits Lowest Point Since 2000 Launch
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- The AdMarket 50 dropped 5.1% today to its lowest point since Ad Age and Bloomberg launched the index in 2000. Broad stock indexes tumbled to multiyear lows amid deepening signs of a nasty recession.

NIH: Banning Fast Food Ads Will Make Kids Less Fat
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- A ban on fast-food advertising to children would cut the national obesity rate by as much as 18%, according to a new study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research and funded by the National Institute of Health.

CBS's Bright Light 'The Mentalist' Slips to Third

MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- Patrick Jane's (Simon Baker) job is to psych people out in "The Mentalist." But the show itself is doing the same thing, as last night it pulled a number on those who follow the numbers in the Nielsen ratings race.

Dave & Buster's Opens Review for $13M Account
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Casual dining chain Dave & Buster's is seeking a new creative agency. The restaurant/arcade group, which spent about $13 million in measured media last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, had been with Dallas independent Slingshot for two years.

Axelrod Tapped as Obama's Senior Adviser

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- To the surprise of no one, President-elect Barack Obama today enlisted David Axelrod, the Obama campaign's chief strategist, for his White House staff, naming him a "senior adviser to the president."

What ESPN's Winning of Bowl Championship Series Means

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- ESPN's high-profile $500 million bid for the exclusive rights to the Bowl Championship Series is a major coup for a network that already claimed "College Football Lives Here" as a slogan. But can the cable network recoup the investment on its latest big-budget broadcast sports property?

Ballmer Won't Rescue Yahoo, but Opens Door to Search Deal

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer ruled out another run at acquiring Yahoo, but did say the software giant would be interested in a partnership in search to create a stronger No. 2 to Google.

Waxman One Step Closer to Committee Leadership

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) --- U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman has won a preliminary vote over U.S. Rep. John Dingell in their battle to head the House committee that oversees all media, health-care and telecom legislation.

Magazines Still Push Programs Off the Page

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Despite the publishing industry's troubles, Rodale's Best Life is going ahead and taking over a Delta lounge at New York's JFK airport, while Time Inc.'s Cooking Light supplies recipes and its brand to the room-service menu at the New York Palace Hotel.

Google, Marc Jacobs and Other Casualties of the Christmas Party Recession
Google, Marc Jacobs and Other Casualties of the Christmas Party Recession The Daily Beast posts a piece by professional party-goer/reporter Deborah Schoeneman that notes bottom lines are at the breaking point, so companies known for lavish holiday celebrations are downsizing. This year, the shattered economy has canceled Christmas. The emails keep pouring into employee inboxes that their companies just can't justify the expense (nor the expense of seeming frivolous in these dire days). Hearst was among the first to cave, and other corporations have quickly followed, like Conde Nast, MTV and UBS' Wealth Management division. All three parties (LA, NY and DC) at ABC News were canceled, in the same memo that asked all executives "to stay in 'B' level hotels." Even Google is Scrooging this year. We shudder to think of the implications this will have for Ad Age's annual Swag Watch.

Cliff Freeman CEO Asked to Leave
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Cliff Freeman & Partners CEO Jeff McLelland was asked to leave the agency, he confirmed today.

Legal Tangles of 'Project Runway' Keep It Frozen on the Catwalk
Legal Tangles of 'Project Runway' Keep It Frozen on the Catwalk The New York Times reports on "Project Runway," the popular reality competition in which aspiring fashion designers face off with their clothing creations, is still stuck in a legal quagmire that threatens to keep the show off the air indefinitely. In its first five seasons on the Bravo cable channel, "Project Runway" increased its average audience to 4 million viewers an episode from 1 million an episode, making the most recent season its biggest ever. But while producers of the show have already shot the design competitions that will make up most of the series's sixth season, those new episodes are unlikely to see the light of day for several months, according to people involved in the case.

Pepsi Exec Kempczinski Takes New Job at Kraft

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Chris Kempczinski, VP-marketing, non-carbonated beverages for Pepsi-Cola North America, is moving over to Kraft. He will start work Dec. 1 as senior VP-meals and enhancers, working on brands such as Mac & Cheese, Kraft salad dressings, Miracle Whip, Kraft mayonnaise and Grey Poupon.

U.K. Shoppers Outspending U.S. Consumers Online
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- U.S. online shoppers are being "outshopped" by their U.K. counterparts, with U.K. consumers spending 40% more money and making 24% more purchases online than U.S. shoppers.

Bazaarvoice Multiplies the Power of Product Reviews

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Bazaarvoice, the company that introduced online consumer reviews to sites such as Bestbuy.com and Walmart.com, is introducing a service that would help increase the number of reviews on retailers' websites, driving sales. The idea is that consumers can submit product reviews on a manufacturer's website and then those reviews can be forwarded to the retailer sites.

CBS Moves Media Buying to OMD
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- CBS Corp. has abruptly moved its media-buying business -- which encompasses promotions for the Showtime cable operation as well as the CBS broadcast network -- to Omnicom Group's OMD from Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative, without a review.

PC Mag Moves to All-Digital; Cottage Living Closes

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Ziff Davis Media's PC Magazine is the latest monthly magazine to quit print and become a purely digital operation. The January issue will be its last print edition. The move eliminates jobs for seven people who had been associated with print production.

Marketers to Up Spending in Cable, Online, Mobile in Next 6 Months
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Over the next six months, not only will ad spending be down, but the feeling among advertisers and their agencies toward media such as broadcast TV, national newspapers and magazines is growing more pessimistic. The dreary outlook is courtesy of the new Advertiser Optimism Report by Advertiser Perceptions.

Meredith Corp. Acquires Stake in Real Girls Media
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Meredith Corp., the magazine publisher and broadcast TV operator, has bought a minority stake in Real Girls Media, a network of social websites aimed at women.

Public Body-Scanning Stunt Promotes Thermal Underwear

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Who were those hotties dressed in silver lame jumpsuits and wielding hand-held body scanners in Times Square yesterday? They were part of a PR stunt that was as hopelessly tacky as it was successful. Crowds of people streamed in throughout day to watch each other have their bodies scanned and to get free thermal underwear. It was all part of a promotion for the Uniqlo clothing chain.

Butterball Goes Web 2.0 With Turkey Texts, Blogs

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Thanksgiving staples are going high tech this year, as marketers look for new ways to ingratiate themselves to a new generation of consumers. Shoppers can now get turkey advice on their mobile phones in the grocery store and get a free pizza through Facebook on Thanksgiving Eve.

Website Sees Rise in Car Owners Swapping Leases
DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- A Miami-based dot-com is helping financially strapped Americans bail out of their vehicle leases in a hurry.

Deutsch, ID Media Ranked Among Best Places to Work in NY
Deutsch and ID Media are among the advertising, marketing and media companies included on Crain's New York Business' annual list of the best places to work in the city.

'Worst Week' Has Best Week Since September

MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- It was the best week for "Worst Week Ever" since the CBS sitcom premiered on Sept. 22, indicative of the network's night, which won with an overall 4.1/10 rating and share in the ad-centric 18-49 year old demographic by having four of the five series see ratings even or higher than last week.