Advertising Industry Archive

Dixie, the company that makes disposable cups and plates, has successfully snookered rival paper cup maker Solo into retracting an advertising campaign that claimed its products were made with bamboo and were therefore more green than products made with petroleum, the National Advertising Division reports. The move is interesting for two reasons. First, it shows that NAD has a seasonal bias in...

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Arsenal F.C.’s sponsorship pact with airline Emirates once looked like a good deal for the club: The Gunners received £100 million for a 15-year lead sponsorship contract in 2004. But five years in, that deal looks less like a lottery win and more like a millstone. Arsenal receives far less for its sponsorship rights than comparable clubs Manchester United, Chelsea F.C. or Liverpool...

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George Rebh, founder of Floorgraphics, said News America Marketing CEO Paul Carlucci threatened to “destroy” his agency if he competed for clients, a Michigan state court heard. The testimony came in a case where newspaper coupon giant Valassis is trying to prove that News America used illegal monopoly practices against its competitors. It is the second time that Rebh has told the...

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A ruling of the Canadian Supreme Court which allows “political” advertising on transit systems in the North will test the ethics of Lamar Advertising’s religious management. Lamar previously sidestepped the issue of whether it would run ads for atheists by blaming transit authorities’ anti-politics stance. The court held that two British Columbia transit systems’...

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In an interview with a Huffington Post blogger, Crispin Porter + Bogusky boss Alex Bogusky suggested “creativity might be a commodity.” The statement is interesting because it shows that he is thinking about what is arguably the single biggest threat to the agency business today: The fact that creativity is no longer special and can be found cheaply — or for free — on...

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Russia is set to ban or restrict beer advertising because too many young people are drinking, the WSJ reports. The clampdown has produced two traditional stock responses from the ad industry: whining over crimps in agency “creativity” and the assertion that without ads, brewers will just use other media to reach consumers. The back story includes this only-in-Russia detail: Though...

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Ad agency execs will spend today reading a Morgan Stanley analyst note penned by a 15-year-old who argues “Most teenagers enjoy and support viral marketing [and] really big tellies.” The note is interesting for two reasons: First, it contains nothing that we didn’t know already. Second, it has caused a frenzy among investors trying to gauge the future of ad dollars in the...

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The pace of layoffs at ad agencies appears to be slowing. While there are no signs of mass rehirings at agencies, there are some signs that the headcount situation appears to be stabilizing. BNET’s Ad Agency Layoff Counter climbed over the 33,000 mark this month. The counter records publicly reported layoffs at agencies, and thus significantly under-counts the actual numbers of jobs...

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WPP and Publicis are competing to acquire Razorfish, reports PaidContent. That means two things: One of them will be forced to pay more than Razorfish is worth in order to get it; and it will be personal. WPP chief Martin Sorrell and Publicis boss Maurice Levy have a longstanding — and highly entertaining — personal rivalry. If the pair really are locked in an auction for Razorfish...

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As Congress and the FTC continue their review of online behavioral targeting, Google, Omnicom, Phorm and other web advertising providers are moving forward with plans to end privacy online — as long as they have your consent. Silicon Alley Insider recently got hold of Google’s behavioral targeting policy document (see below). It states that Google wants to see a system in which ads...

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