WPP chief Martin Sorrell said he may not be able to meet his margin guidance this year due in part to aggressive client procurement tactics in contract negotiation. The remarks, made to the FT at the Cannes Advertising Festival, touched a nerve at ProcurementBlog, whose commentary reveals much about the opaque, intangible nature of advertising “accountability,” agency billing...
Advertising Industry Archive
June 2009
Publicis could be a likely buyer for Razorfish now that Microsoft – which acquired the digital shop in its aQuantive buy — wants to sell it, the FT reports: One analyst valued Razorfish at $600m-$700m, based on sales of about $400m last year and profit margins for similar businesses of 12-13 per cent. The other networks will likely take a look at the books, even if only out of...
A direct marketing company and the Discovery Channel are already planning to resurrect the corpse of Billy Mays by continuing to run his ads and TV shows once his funeral is over, Ad Age reports. The president of Media Enterprise, marketer of Mighty Mendit and Mighty Putty, said he will ask the Mays family to put Billy’s ads back on the air. The Discovery Channel will run...
The Valassis v. News America Marketing trial is on a break this week, with testimony resuming July 6. News America is using the breather from Michigan state court to do some repair work on its image, which has taken a hammering. In a message to BNET, News America vp/corporate communications Laura Richards asked for a more “balanced” view to be presented of CEO Paul Carlucci in our...
Julie Roehm exposed herself to yet another profile piece — this time in Fast Company — in an attempt to rehab her image as a marketing consultant. The story illustrates the weird fascination that female business writers and their male editors have with Roehm (Forbes’ Allison Fass did a similar piece a year ago*). As everyone knows, the former Walmart advertising chief was...
“Chav fighting,” Harrison Ford, and “Comfort Wipes.” It all happened in June, mostly via Saatchi & Saatchi for some reason. Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority Probes “Chav Fighting” Ads A small chain of London gyms advertised training for those who want to fight “chavs” — poor but brand-conscious white trash who are the...
UPDATED: Billy Mays “Zombie” to Be Resurrected in Ads, TV Shows Billy Mays, the shoutingest infomercial pitchman to ever bellow “But wait, there’s more!,” died Sunday aged 50. Mays was a much-loved face of an industry that makes a lot of money but often does not afford its participants much dignity (check out the Body Snake, for instance). Mays, however, had a...
The sun appears to be setting on MySpace as the company lays off 1,150 staffers ahead of the end of a $300 million-a-year advertising deal with Google, Reuters reports. The site has half the traffic of Facebook. More importantly, revenues and profits at MySpace are in decline, according to News Corp’s most recent earnings statement. MySpace’s numbers aren’t broken out...
Former Pepsico executive Christine Hall testified that she believed News America Marketing’s policy of pricing its in-store supermarket ads as a bundle with its newspaper coupons was ethically problematic. She told a Michigan state court that News America’s bundled deal represented an $18 million price discount over taking supermarket ads alone. In the case, Valassis is alleging...
Michael Jackson died today aged 50. The facts of his death will be better reported elsewhere. But for those of you interested in his contribution to advertising, here’s a gallery of his commercials. From his well-known ads for Pepsi to his more obscure Japanese commercials (Space Channel 5?), there was almost nothing this human brand could not promote. Among the forgotten gems are ads for...
- Chelsea F.C.'s Need for Stadium Sponsor Proves It Fumbled Samsung Deal
- Toyota and Saatchi Used Images From Flickr Without Permission
- Snuggie Infomercial Retooled for Weezer CD Launch. It's Not a Joke.
- WPP in Talks to End Patterson Suit; Pact Could Head Off Embarrassment for CEO Sorrell
- Omnicom Bosses Get Jackpot Payouts Even if They Are Fired
- Comcast Itching for a Fight With FTC Over Ad Claims
- Bloggers Hate Bogusky's Book But Didn't Bother to Read It
- Insignia's Legal Bills in News America Suit Are 24% of All Its Expenses
- Audi's Proposed £90M Sponsor Deal With Bayern Munich Could Be Football's Biggest Ever
- Layoffs at Ad Agencies Likely Much Worse Than Reported
- Why Won't the FTC Stop FreeCreditReport.Com's Bait-and-Switch Ads?
- BNET's Ad Agency Layoff Counter: 44,616 Jobs Lost
- McCann Is Hemorrhaging Jobs and Clients, and CEO Dooner Needs to Name a Successor
- The Weirdest Ad Stories of the Month
- Agencies Fight Against Procurement Execs - a War They Will Surely Lose
- Microsoft Edits Black Person Out of Ad; Everyone Offended
- Fox Runs House Ads to Fill Empty Slots in Glenn Beck Boycott
- Beck Compares Obama to the Nazis; Ad Boycott List Reaches 46; Viewers at 3M
- UPDATED: Glenn Beck's Current Advertisers: Extenze and the "Egg Genie"
- Autopsy: Steven Cohen and the Ad Boycott That Ended His Career
- Crispin's Contest for New Brammo Logo Infuriates Creatives Because It Shows Them The Future
- Coke Needs Corporate Responsibility Image Refreshed After Battles Over Labor and Obesity
- Steven Cohen Abandons Sirius Radio Show Following Advertiser Boycott
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- News America Talks Tough on Valassis Appeal But Borrows $1B, Just in Case
- Clients Overcharged by News America Listed in Court; Sara Lee: NAM "Is Raping Us and Enjoying It"
- Insignia Wins Ruling v. News America; Stage Set for Another Antitrust Trial in POP Biz
- Insignia Uses Valassis Trial to Bludgeon News America in Minn. Federal Case
- The Day After: News America CEO Carlucci Finds Options Limited
- Everybody Hates Palm Pre's Creepy Ads by Modernista!
- News America's Carlucci Again Accused of Threatening to "Destroy" Floorgraphics
- Valassis v. NAM Federal Trial Set for February; Judge Denies Pretrial Motions
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