Campaign articles from March 2009

Campaign archives from March 2009

Producers in crisis over Omnicom plot.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The future of UK production companies has been called into question after an attempt by Omnicom to rewrite contractual terms between agencies and production businesses. The group is trying to prevent its agencies from paying production...

Tories lambast Govt anti-recession ads.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Government has run into controversy by launching a 'real help now' campaign to promote its anti-recession measures. The Tories claim the push breaches Whitehall rules banning party political advertising at taxpayers' expense. The same...

Engine acquires Edwards Groom Saunders.(Engine Group)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Engine Group has acquired the comms planning agency Edwards Groom Saunders for an undisclosed sum. Under the terms of the acquisition, the group has made an upfront payment in cash, in exchange for 100 per cent ownership of EGS. There...

Nokia calls pounds 300m review.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Media agencies on alert as handset giant overhauls global planning and buying. Nokia has called a review of its global media planning and buying account, estimated to be worth pounds 300 million. The mobile handset manufacturer is...

Touch DDB scoops Save the Children.(Save the Children Federation)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Save the Children has appointed Touch DDB to work on the direct marketing account for its legacy marketing programme, following a pitch against undisclosed agencies. The agency will create a campaign aimed at encouraging existing Save the...

CheezeDMG lands Oxfam digital task.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Oxfam has awarded its pounds 2 million full-service digital marketing account to CheezeDMG, following a four-way pitch against undisclosed agencies. The agency will work closely with Oxfam's newly created digital communications team and...

Standard Life seeks direct agencies.(VCCP)(Standard Life Assurance Co.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Standard Life has called a pitch to find a roster of agencies to handle its below-the-line advertising account. The insurer has approached at least three agencies, both independent and network, with a view to setting up a roster to manage...

Saatchis appoints Potts and Jex as creative directors.
March 6, 2009... Saatchi & Saatchi has poached Mother's award-winning creative team Rob Potts and Andy Jex to take on the roles of creative directors at the agency. Potts, a copywriter, and Jex, an art director, will report to the creative partners, Kate...

Sorokin nets digital role at Mindshare.(Scott Sorokin)(MindShare UK)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Mindshare has hired Scott Sorokin, the former president of Carat in the US, as a global digital leader. Sorokin, who will be based in the US, will head digital on the Unilever account and work alongside the global digital leader Norm...

ITV cuts jobs and budget.
March 6, 2009... Broadcaster set to slash workforce and programme budget as ad revenues slump. ITV is set to make around 15 per cent of its commercial staff redundant as it looks to deliver savings in the wake of a dramatic fall in advertising revenues....

My Agency set to relaunch SunnyD.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... SunnyD, the Florida juice drink that became synonymous with its artificial ingredients, has appointed My Agency to relaunch the brand. The Gerber Juice Company, SunnyD's UK distributor, appointed the agency without a pitch. My Agency...

Avenue A/Razorfish wins Audi business.(Audi UK Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Avenue A/Razorfish has won a digital advertising brief for Audi following a pitch against Reading Room, Grand Union and Golley Slater. The agency will take responsibility for all Audi's technical web design and build, with particular focus...

Carter calls for ad industry shake-up.(Lord Carter)(Brief article)(Conference notes)
March 6, 2009... The government minister charged with driving Britain into a new digital age has called for a shake-up in the way the UK ad industry does its business. Lord Carter, the one-time JWT boss, now the Minister for Communication, Technology and...

MCHI appointed to handle AOL's pounds 2m media planning and buying.(AOL (UK) Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... AOL, the online portal, has appointed MCHI to handle its pounds 2 million media planning and buying business. The move sees media for AOL consolidated into MCHI alongside planning and buying for The Carphone Warehouse, which owns the AOL UK...

Aegis launches digital creative agency Farfar in the UK.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Aegis is launching its digital creative agency Farfar in the UK, as the Aegis digital network Isobar undergoes a domestic repositioning. Farfar, a Swedish shop acquired by Aegis in 2005, will launch in London next month as part of Isobar's...

Cossette launches social media shop.(Cossette Communication Group)(Rocket XL)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Rocket XL, a North American social media agency owned by the Cossette Communication Group, has launched in the UK under the leadership of Channel 4's Steve Forde. Forde resigned from his role as Channel 4's new-media marketing manager last...

The Week: Advertising news - Govt in 2012 funding drive.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Government has launched an initiative to increase private sponsorship of Team GB to make up the pounds 79 million hole in funding promised to athletes training for the 2012 Olympic Games. The Government initially promised UK Sport, the...

The Week: Advertising news - LBi unveils digital PR unit.
March 6, 2009... LBi has launched a specialist digital PR division to work across online media outlets, standalone digital PR campaigns and to help complement the digital marketing activity run by the agency. The division, which will be based in the...

The Week: Advertising news - DJ trials new ad format.(The Brighton Port Authority)(Silence)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Brighton Port Authority, the new band formed by the DJ Fatboy Slim, is trialling a new performance-based advertising model in a banner ad campaign created by the digital agency Silence. The cost-per-engagement format will see Southern...

The Week: Advertising news - MTV launches clothing line.
March 6, 2009... MTV has partnered with the high-street retailer Zara to launch a line of men's clothing. The Streetmuse range, which is aimed at 16- to 24-year-olds, will feature designs based on the MTV logo. It will comprise T-shirts and hoodies in more...

The Week: Media news - Regionals hit by ABC losses.(Liverpool Daily Post)(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Liverpool Daily Post's circulation was hit the hardest of all of the regional daily morning papers in England, according to ABC figures for the second half of 2008. The newspaper, owned by Trinity Mirror, saw its circulation drop 17.1...

The Week: Media news - Tesco ditches in-store TV.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Tesco is scrapping its in-store TV network, five years after the service was unveiled to claims that it would revolutionise retail marketing. The supermarket claims the decision was taken because of 'outdated and energy-inefficient'...

The Week: Media news - Guardian tops web figures.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Guardian.co.uk maintained its position as the UK's leading newspaper website, with a 30 per cent increase in users in January to 29.8 million. Telegraph.co.uk recorded the largest annual growth in users to maintain second position, with a...

The Week: Media news - Jobs tumble at NatMag.(National Magazine Company Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The National Magazine Company is making 15 per cent of its staff redundant, in a bid to cut costs in the face of what it described as 'unprecedented economic challenges to the business'. It is expected that the number of people affected...

The Week: Media news - Facebook seeks user input.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Facebook has responded to criticism from users over how it uses their data by replacing its advertising terms and conditions with a new 'statement of rights and responsibilities' that will be drawn up with democratic input from users. The...

The Week: Media news - Sky admits UKTV interest.(British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC)(UKTV Interactive Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Jeremy Darroch, the chief executive of BSkyB, has admitted his interest in buying UKTV, the broadcaster that is owned by Virgin Media and BBC Worldwide. Speaking at a conference in Florida, Darroch said that content companies were within...

The Week: Media news - Canvas set to cost pounds 24m.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Project Canvas, the internet video-on-demand venture between the BBC, ITV and BT, will cost the partners pounds 24 million to get off the ground. The BBC Trust has launched a consultation into the proposals, to be completed by 24 July this...

The Week: Media news - NI accused over ad sales.(News International PLC)(advertising)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... News International may face an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading over claims it is conditionally selling ad space across its newspaper brands. The IPA's legal department has been contacted by at least one media agency claiming...

The Week: Men's magazine Arena to shut its doors after 22 years.(Bauer Media)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Bauer Media is to close its men's magazine Arena after 22 years, a decision that could result in up to 12 redundancies. Arena's final April issue goes on sale on Thursday, 12 March. Bauer has now entered consultations with employees....

The Week: Best of the blogs - Do we value innovation?
March 6, 2009... Here you see the famous Boston comedian 'Louis CK' appearing on the Conan O'Brien show. And he is asking the very question which should rightly preoccupy the waking hours of anyone who works in technology marketing, indeed anyone who works...

The Week: City News - IPG revenues rise in 2008.(Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Interpublic Group has reported a 6.2 per cent increase in its revenues during 2008. Full-year revenue rose to dollars 6.96 billion, with income rising 71.3 per cent to dollars 344.3 million. However, the group, which owns agencies...

The Week: City News - Trinity Mirror profits down.(Trinity Mirror Newspapers revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Trinity Mirror, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, has reported a pre-tax loss of pounds 73.5 million for the year to 28 December. Revenues fell by pounds 100 million over the year to pounds 871.7 million. While a decline in ad revenues was...

The Week: City News - STV Group ad revenues up.(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... STV Group, the broadcaster that owns the Scottish ITV franchise Stv, has announced that its TV ad revenue increased 11 per cent year on year in 2008, and now controls 22 per cent of the Scottish ad market. The group also saw a 50 per cent...

The Week: People news - George signs off from AOL.(Duncan George)(AOL (UK) Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Duncan George, the head of UK agency sales at AOL's ad unit Platform-A, has left the company. The move comes less than a month after AOL's global president, Lynda Clazirio, departed. George joined AOL as a sales director two years ago. ...

The Week: People news - Lund to keep DLKW stake.(Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners)(Mark Lund)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Mark Lund, the chief executive of Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners, will retain a financial stake in the agency when he departs in June to become the new chief executive of COI. Lund's interest in DLKW will be managed by a blind trust, a...

The Week: People news - Murdoch leaves Pizza Hut.(Alasdair Murdoch)(Pizza Hut (U.K.) Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Alasdair Murdoch, the chief executive of Pizza Hut UK, is stepping down from the role and will be replaced by Jens Hofma, the chief executive of KFC Germany and Holland. Murdoch, who is not thought to have a new job to go to, has been in...

The Week: People news - Barnes quits DMA position.(Direct Marketing Association)(Mike Barnes)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Mike Barnes, the director of marketing at the Direct Marketing Association, has left his position after ten years in the position. He will move to British Eventing, the trade body that governs events such as dressage and show jumping, as...

The Week: People news - MPG promotes executives.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... MPG has promoted three senior executives from its digital agency Media Contacts to new roles across both operations. Media Contacts' head of digital, Paul Frampton, has been named managing director across both businesses; the managing...

The Week: Advertising reviews - Paramount set for rebrand.
March 6, 2009... Karmarama is to refresh the identity and provide marketing support for the rebranding of Viacom's Paramount Comedy to Comedy Central. The agency will work with Viacom's in-house team to create channel idents, which will be filmed at key...

The Week: Advertising reviews - Brookyn Bros nets ad brief.
March 6, 2009... The Share Centre, an independent share-dealing service, has hired The Brooklyn Brothers to handle its advertising, direct marketing and digital communications. Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel previously held the account, before the...

The Week: Media reviews - Admiral calls media pitch.(Admiral Group)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Admiral Group has kicked off a pounds 7 million media review for some of its key brands, which are currently handled by Mindshare The review, which is being handled by the AAR, includes media planning and buying for Admiral.com, Diamond,...

The Week: Media reviews - Activision in global review.(Activision Blizzard)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Vivendi-owned video game publisher Activision Blizzard has called a review of its global media planning and buying account, currently handled by Starcom MediaVest Group. The pitch is being run from the US and includes the pounds 3...

The Week: DM Reviews - WDMP lands Philips task.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Philips has appointed WDMP to handle direct marketing for its UK consumer lifestyle division. The agency won the account after a pitch against undisclosed agencies, and will now work on maximising customer lifetime value and developing an...

The Week: Mindshare's Wilding named head of planning at PHD.(David Wilding)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... PHD has appointed David Wilding as its new head of planning. Wilding, who will join the Omnicom-owned agency from Mindshare in June, will replace Jonathan Fowles, who left PHD in January. He joins after eight years at Mindshare, where...

The Week: i-Q - Web chat about ... MPs attempts to crack down on Google.
March 6, 2009... I don't understand how Google is a monopoly. There are thousands of search engines available. Google just happens to be the best. - Johnny Watters Google, like Microsoft, Apple, Wikipedia, Facebook, BlackBerry and others, simply changed...

The World: Chicago - Advertisers spend dollars 72 million on Oscar spots.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The 26 minutes of advertising time sold by ABC during this year's Oscars ceremony brought in around dollars 72 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The figure, which was the highest recorded since 2004, came despite two of the...

The World: Detroit - General Motors to cut marketing budget by dollars 800m.
March 6, 2009... General Motors has announced that it is to slash its marketing spend in North America by around dollars 800 million in 2009 alone. The figure, which includes vehicle incentives, is an increase on the sum quoted by the company in December...

The World: Amsterdam - TMG sells Bloom Publishing to G+J Uitgevers.(Telegraaf Media Group)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Telegraaf Media Group, the largest group of its kind in the Netherlands, has sold its majority interest in Bloom Publishing, which produces the women's glossy JAN, to G+J Uitgevers. The disposal is in line with TMG's strategy of selling off...

The World: Zurich - Suter named chief executive of Mediabrands.(Rolf Suter)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Mediabrands has appointed Rolf Suter as the new chief executive of its Swiss operations. Suter, who joins the agency from M&M Media in Zurich, replaces Stephan Kueng in the role. He will be responsible for working across Mediabrands'...

The World: Hong Kong - Digital agencies pitch for Cartier account.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Cartier, the French jeweller and watch-maker, has called a pitch for its digital business in the Greater China region. Agency.com, Digitas and Euro RSCG 4D are all believed to be involved in the process, in what will be the first time the...

The World: New York - BBH beats W&K to Sprite creative business.(Bartle Bogle Hegarty)(Wieden & Kennedy Portland)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Coca-Cola has handed the creative duties on its Sprite brand to Bartle Bogle Hegarty New York, following a pitch against Wieden & Kennedy Portland. The agency will work on the business across the North America and Asia regions. Crispin...

The World: New York - BBDO and PHD lose staff as Chrysler cuts spend.
March 6, 2009... The decline in advertising spend of the Chrysler Group, the car company that owns brands including Jeep and Dodge, has forced its roster agencies BBDO and PHD to lay off staff. Just three months after laying off 145 people, BBDO will cut...

The World: Paris - Havas' new streamlined structure boosts net income.(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Havas has reported a 25 per cent year-on-year rise in net income to EUR104 million during 2008, with net debt reduced to around EUR79 million. The group, whose operations include Euro RSCG, Arnold Worldwide and Havas Media, cited its new...

The World: Singapore - Ogilvy promotes Cheong to regional president.
March 6, 2009... Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific has promoted Eugene Cheong, its regional head of copy, to regional creative president. Cheong first joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1981, and has worked across the network's Singapore and London offices. In his...

The World: Sydney - Wyeth moves brands into Whybin\TBWA\Tequila.(Wyeth Consumer Healthcare)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Wyeth Consumer Healthcare has shifted a portfolio of its brands from the creative agency 303 into Whybin\TBWA\Tequila Sydney. The pharmaceutical company has moved brands including Centrum, Recharge, Caltrate and Chapstick into the agency,...

The Work: New Campaigns - UK.(Boursin)(Aero)(Red Bee Media)(briefs)
March 6, 2009... AERO - AERO CREDITS Project: Aero Clients: David Rennie, marketing director; Clare Heathcote, marketing manager; Katie Jordan, brand manager, Nestle Confectionery Brief: Broaden the appeal of Aero Creative agency: JWT Writers/art...

Pitch Update.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The pounds 9 million Britvic media pitch has taken an interesting turn, with roster creative agencies, including Bartle Bogle Hegarty and CHI & Partners, set to pitch for the planning part of the account via their media planning arms. The...

New-Business Rankings: 6 March 2009.(Statistical table)(Company rankings)
March 6, 2009... Rank Rank Agency/ Total Total Net Wins this last Last three wins billings billings billings week week gained lost gained ...

Hotline: Leagas Delaney working with Nationwide.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Leagas Delaney has announced that it is now working with Nationwide on an 'ongoing basis'. The agency initially decided to resign the account in October last year, but has now resumed its relationship with the building society, following the...

Hotline: Virgin Media announces Malcolm Wall is leaving.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Virgin Media has announced that Malcolm Wall, its chief executive of content, is to leave the company. Wall will leave the company next month as it considers a sale of its Virgin Media Television content arm. In a statement, Virgin Media...

Hotline: Fairtrade Foundation hunts for advertising agency.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Fairtrade Foundation, the charity that promotes fair trade products, is on the hunt for an advertising agency. The charity has approached a number of above-the-line and digital agencies with a brief and meetings are scheduled for later this...

Hotline: Paddy Power appoints M2M and Goodstuff.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Paddy Power, the bookmaker, has appointed M2M and Goodstuff to handle its pounds 1 million media business. The Omnicom-owned M2M will oversee buying, with the independent Goodstuff responsible for communications planning. ...

Hotline: India Tourism hunts for ad agency.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... India Tourism is on the hunt for an ad agency to promote the country as a destination for UK tourists. The tourist board has issued an RFI and is seeking agencies with travel and tourism experience. Jagdish Chander, the director of Tourism...

Hotline: Dennis Publishing appoints David Weeks.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Dennis Publishing has appointed the former Economist ad director David Weeks to a new global role at The Week. Weeks will take the title of director of strategic sales as The Week looks to target international advertisers. Reporting to...

Hotline: Department for Work and Pensions appoints DDB London.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Department for Work and Pensions has appointed DDB London to handle an advertising brief to promote a number of pensions reforms. The agency picked up the account following a shootout against CHI & Partners, Delaney Lund Knox Warren &...

Hotline: Farrow and Ball looks for direct marketing agency.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Farrow and Ball, the manufacturer of decorative paint and traditional wallpaper, is looking for an agency to handle its direct marketing account. The company has shortlisted a number of unspecified agencies, with a result expected before the...

Hotline: Promotion at JWT London.(Sally Spensley)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... JWT London has promoted Sally Spensley, its chief financial officer for the UK Group, to chief financial officer for EMEA. Sky's James Cotton, who joined the agency on Monday, replaces Spensley. -------------------- Did you find this...

Close-Up: What adland can learn from movie marketing.
March 6, 2009... Hollywood is deploying increasingly innovative marketing techniques to create cut-through, Noel Bussey explains. How much do you already know about Watchmen? How many articles have you read about it? Have you seen the trailer? Worn the...

Close-Up: Advertisers pull together to face the recession.
March 6, 2009... Agencies are starting to recognise that partnership marketing is one answer to the credit crunch. Matt Williams investigates. If the recession has been good for anything so far, it's that it has encouraged a number of ad agencies to look at...

Close-Up: Is the Nielsen billings table relevant?
March 6, 2009... Do the findings provide a fair and accurate representation of the industry, Anne Cassidy asks. It's archaic and belongs in the 80s. No, not Rory Sutherland's dress sense, but the annual Nielsen billings table, as viewed by Gary Leih, the...

Close-Up: The hot seat - Sir John Hegarty, Bartle Bogle Hegarty.(Interview)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Name: Sir John Hegarty Job: Group chairman and worldwide creative director, Bartle Bogle Hegarty - You've got five hours left before the world explodes. What do you do? Hopefully, not panic. - What's your best joke? It's...

Media Perspective: Taking a chaIlenger position may be the way to go for media.
March 6, 2009... As the likes of ITV announce yet more job cuts, it seems clear that media owners are experiencing serious structural changes and that sectors such as newspapers and commercial television won't look the same in a couple of years' time even...

Media Forum: Are ITV plans an alarm call?(Channel 4)(Five)
March 6, 2009... Should ITV's merger proposals rattle the industry, Alasdair Reid asks. So it has come to this. By rights, ITV's Armageddon proposal should have been wildly entertaining. Last week, the results of some executive blue-sky thinking, namely...

Media: Chatter.
March 6, 2009... 'I'm a big believer in standing up. I told some of the team at NI the other day that they should get rid of their chairs. They weren't very happy.' - James Murdoch, the chief executive of News Corporation Europe and Asia, on improving...

Media Headliner: Big screen provides big opportunity for Bowley.(Digital Cinema Media)
March 6, 2009... A burgeoning cinema sector is the latest to be added to the diverse CV of Martin Bowley, DCM's new MD. Martin Bowley's back. Again. And this time it's cinema. What's more, this may turn out to be a rather diverting partnership. When...

Media Lifeline: Ad break innovations.
March 6, 2009... Creative breakthroughs have included event spots, such as a live skydive, and themed breaks. December 1998: There had been several isolated examples of advertisers moving to 'own' whole ad breaks with epic commercials - for instance,...

Media Perspective: App Store is perfect platform to show off those quickie ideas.(Apple Inc.)(Column)
March 6, 2009... Before we were so politely interrupted, I'd threatened to tell you of some of the interesting and revealing things that have popped up as iPhone Apps: things that point at some possibilities for brands and communications companies. The...

Media: All about ... Virgin Media.(TV's plans to stage a takeover of UK commercial television Virgin Media )
March 6, 2009... Would a sale of the content arm hurt advertisers? Ian Darby investigates. Amid the excitement surrounding ITV's plans to stage a takeover of UK commercial television, the events swirling around Virgin Media almost went unnoticed. Last...

Media: Things we like.
March 6, 2009... Radio Times special covers Radio Times took the slightly over-the-top step this week of running a whopping 21 different covers, all in the name of charity. The Comic Relief issue, which paid tribute to 21 years of Red Nose Day, featured...

Media: Double Standards - The brands getting into the heads of consumers.(News International Commercial)(Interview)
March 6, 2009... With media owners setting up their own insight departments to gain a better understanding of audiences, we meet the heads of two such teams. CLAIRE MYERSCOUGH - business intelligence director, News International Commercial - Why did...

The World: How agencies are coping with global client cuts.
March 6, 2009... As consumer nervousness about spending grows, advertisers are reluctant to commit to budgets, Claire Billings writes. An uncomfortable reality of a recession is that ad and marketing budgets are among the first to be cut. In the UK, the...

The World: Insider's View - Australia.
March 6, 2009... Australia's agencies are struggling to drop the national stereotypes cultivated by an earlier generation of creatives, Anthony Freedman says. Australia Day, which celebrates the country's discovery and creation, has prompted me to consider...

Editorial: Google's success should be admired not criticised.
March 6, 2009... It's human nature to mistrust corporate success. And especially so since the macho behaviour within so many major financial institutions has been exposed as reckless and greed-driven. It's this that has transformed what has al-ways been a...

Editorial: Broadcasting alliance speaks volumes.
March 6, 2009... Needs must when recession is in the driving seat. And it's a telling sign of the times when ITV, Channel 4 and Five co-operate to run three consecutive ads for Lastminute.com to create a 'Mexican wave' of advertising. It's a far cry from a...