Advertising Industry Archive

Another shareholder meeting at Havas went by last week and once again there was no news about the long-awaited merger with Aegis. In November, when Aegis lost its CEO, observers expected Havas chief Vincent Bollore to pounce on the company. Since then, we’ve seen a whole lot of nothing. Here’s what happened at the meeting: Chairman Vincent Bollore told the group’s annual...

More...

Saatchi & Saatchi failed to secure a URL to its own name and the site is being used by Asabailey Viral Advertising, a London based viral marketing shop. The site, saatchiandsaatchi.co.uk, now features a video promoting Asabailey along with the message “You’ve Been Hacked.” At the bottom is this message, directed at Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts: Dear Mr Roberts and the gang,...

More...

Peter Arnell may be the most hated man in advertising but someone still loves him — Kyra Sedgwick, star of Arnell’s ads for Tropicana (see video below). Arnell recently made a fool of himself on multiple fronts with high profile screwups on his Pepsi, Tropicana, and General Motors clients, and a catastrophically failed book deal. But Sedgwick is a fan. She did a commercial for...

More...

Fox Soccer Channel host Steve Cohen says he has been “hurt” financially by an advertiser boycott of his Sirius satellite radio show, and has created a fundraising web page to support his business. Separately, Cohen’s business filing status with California appears to be suspended, according to a state web site. The boycott was called for by American fans of Liverpool F.C. who...

More...

Alloy Media + Marketing’s revenues fell 13 percent to $43 million in Q1 2009, led by a 30 percent drop in placement due to declines in college and military newspaper advertising. The company posted a loss of $2.7 million, nearly double its loss a year ago. It means the recession has arrived at the agency that brought us Gossip Girl and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It also...

More...

The Courtroom View Network, a company that streams video of court cases on the web, has written to Judge Michael Sapala of Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit protesting his decision to ban cameras in the Valassis v. News America Marketing trial. Sapala’s camera ban has meant that there are no journalists covering the case, as local reporters are devoting themselves entirely to the...

More...

Standard & Poor believes Publicis may face a “worst-case scenario” in the General Motors bankruptcy — where GM fires the agency and leaves it on the hook for $146 million in unpaid media. As a result, S&P placed Publicis on “creditwatch.” The rating — which is a measure of Publicis’ creditworthyness — has “negative...

More...

Manchester United signed a shirt sponsorship deal to replace AIG with with insurer Aon believed to be worth £20 million a year (about $33 million). Bonus payments could add a further £5 million a year, according to the FT. The deal ends Man Utd’s dependence on U.S. taxpayer dollars. AIG spent about £14 million of its bailout money on the final year of its sponsorship, The Sun noted....

More...

Did WPP chief Martin Sorrell’s new $95 million pay package wipe $1 billion off his company’s market cap? That’s one — cynical — interpretation of the effect of his new compensation package, which potentially rewards him with nearly $100 million in WPP stock after five years. UPDATE: Another possible factor in the stock drop was this sale of $600 million in...

More...

Deutsch LA appears to be playing a huge prank on America with its “Reinvention” commercial for General Motors. The spot touts GM’s corporate vision now the company is in bankruptcy, by using generic stock footage of Americana and old GM ads. The spot bears a striking resemblance to a joke ad for Gavin Volure’s Sunstream corporation in the show 30 Rock (NBC). In that...

More...