Advertising Industry Archive

Goodbye February, hello March. Here’s all the news that wasn’t fit to print from last month: Clear Channel takes down a bus shelter; political crisis ensues Malmesbury, England, is livid at the loss of their advertising hoarding. Town councillor Martyn Snell said: “I’m absolutely brassed off with it, there are people standing out there in all sorts of winds and weathers....

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MDC Partners‘ recent conference call only deepened the mystery of what the real condition of Cliff Freeman & Partners is. CEO Miles Nadal told investors: We divested ourselves of several firms that did not meet our strategic and financial goals … the Cliff Freeman relationship got far more coverage than it was economically worth talking about. We had about $800,000 invested in...

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Revenue at Interpublic Group declined 4.1 percent to $1.9 billion in Q4 2008, but that topline masked what was actually a sterling performance for IPG. BNET previously chided the company for a number of issues: its negative cashflow performance, which for three straight quarters had been in decline; and it came near the bottom of a ranking of agency networks by efficiency. This quarter, BNET...

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The Lamar Advertising canary just gets sicker and sicker. The company predicts its Q1 revenues will decline 15 percent. Lamar released its Q4 earnings today. Here’s the news: Revenues decreased by 8.4 percent to $279 million; the company saw a net loss of $6.8 million compared to net income of $4.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. The results were a shade better than the prediction...

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When he launched a new design for Tropicana, Peter Arnell gave a rambling, pseudo-intellectual explanation of the packaging. This was the packaging that was just cancelled by Pepsico after it emerged that consumers really, really liked the old packaging. But Arnell’s explanation of the new trade dress — captured on video by Ad Age — rings familiar. Why? Because of Arnell...

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BBDO Detroit is laying off more staff. The cuts come after 145 people were let go there about three months ago, and 189 BBDO staffers in North America were laid off in December. AgencySpy reports (variously) that the layoffs are 20-100 people. BNET understands that the actual count is around one third of the 145 number from last year — i.e. 50 or so. The move, while sad, is not entirely...

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The National Advertising Division has asked the FTC to look into Mead Johnson Nutritionals‘ advertising of Enfamil infant formula. The NAD — which functions as the advertising industry’s internal police force — has thrice asked Mead Johnson to stop making unsupported claims for Enfamil. Those claims include the notion that Enfamil improves eye development and IQ in...

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The New York Stock Exchange has threatened to de-list Valassis stock if it does not present a business plan that convinces the exchange that the company can meet certain minimum standards in 18 months. The company said in a statement: Upon receipt of our business plan, the NYSE has 45 days to review and determine whether we have made a reasonable demonstration of our ability to come into...

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Enfatico, Dell’s captive ad agency, has begun a round of layoffs, the agency said. The cuts are the latest in a chain of bad news for Enfatico, which began with the exit of Dell vp marketing Casey Jones, and later CMO Mark Jarvis. The pair were Enfatico’s main clients at Dell. You can read Enfatico’s press release on the 8 percent jobs cut here. And CEO Torrence Boone’s...

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Valassis CEO Alan Schultz told investors recently that “we are hearing some consumer grumbling” about his company pulling its Red Plum coupons out of local newspapers in favor of sending them via the U.S. Postal Service or making them available online at RedPlum.com. But it’s more than just grumbling. There’s an online tidal wave of anger at Valassis for yanking its...

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