Advertising Industry Archive

Bermuda’s official announcement of the renewal of its Tourism advertising contract with Globalhue contained a snide footnote directed at anyone who asks why the agency was rewarded after being accused of overbilling the $14 million account by $1.8 million. Here’s what public affairs officer Malika Musson put into the statement: In April of this year Cabinet made a ground-breaking...

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Omnicom hired the sister of New York City councilman Larry B. Seabrook as executive director of its diversity committee — leaving the effort to encourage minority hiring in the ad business open to accusations of nepotism and patronage, according to The New York Times. Omnicom created the Diversity Development Advisory Committee in 2006, funding it with $1.25 million, in an agreement that...

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Burger King is in the midst of a huge Star Trek co-promotion right now, but its restaurant owners claim the corporate HQ has adopted a tactic from Star Wars — the part where Darth Vader tells Lando Calrissian: “I have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further!” In a suit filed in federal court, 850 Burger King restaurant franchise owners claim that Burger King’s...

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Can KFC CEO Roger Eaton keep his job after screwing up the launch of Kentucky Grilled Chicken? It’s a legit question once you consider the litany of incompetence collected by Ad Age today, which christened KFC’s Oprah Winfrey-sponsored free grilled chicken promotion as possibly “one of the all-time blunders by advertisers.” BNET noted the “riots” caused by...

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Lamar Advertising revealed it has laid off about 400 employees as its revenues tumbled and losses widened in Q1 2009. The basics: Revenues sunk 13 percent to $247 million; net loss widened from $3.2 million to $21.3 million. Cash flow was up $179 million but most of that was from a $315 million note offering. The result was slightly better than expected because Lamar had predicted a 15 percent...

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If the ad agency business had 10 commandments, this would be No. 1: Thou shalt not do anything that might get thine client fired. But Globalhue’s handling of the $14 million Bermuda Tourism account has inched its client, Bermuda premier Ewart Brown, closer to that fate. An extraordinary series of stories in the feisty Bermuda press over the last few days has described a rebel group within...

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Marks & Spencer, a major UK high-street retailer, has taken out full page ads in newspapers apologizing for its policy of charging an extra $3 for bras that are size DD or larger. The ad (pictured) says “we boobed.” Context: This sounds trivial until you realize that everyone — everyone — in the UK buys their underwear at M&S. The apology ad explains: It’s true...

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WPP is suing a private equity firm and the directors of Australia’s George Patterson and The Communications Group agencies over an $80 million deal struck in 2005 that has since gone wrong, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The agencies are known for the world famous Foster’s beer campaigns. The case is the second recent one in which WPP boss Martin Sorrell and his lieutenants...

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It’s an animated image you won’t soon forget: President Abraham Lincoln (represented by a bunch of CGI dollars), having sex with the Queen Elizabeth of England (represented by a bunch of CGI pounds sterling). The commercial (see below) was created for Bontrust, a German currency trading company. Their point? “Make your money multiply with us.” At the end of the spot, the...

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Game news website Gamasutra reported that as part of Microsoft’s effort to lay off 5,000 employees, 28 percent of staff at its Massive in-game advertising unit have been given the boot. You have to do a little math to figure out how many, exactly, have been let go at Massive. Wired noted that about 100 employees would be 75 percent of its staff, meaning that Massive had about 133...

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