Frohlinger's Marketing Report articles from March 1999

Frohlinger's Marketing Report archives from March 1999

Ad Libs:.
March 1, 1999... Search out for a Vice President, Marketing at Rite-Aid. Position reports to Beth Kaplan. "The company is looking for a classical marketer with a little bit of retail experience to loosen the load on Kaplan," said an industry source. Search...

NEW PRODUCTS TAKE A TWIST WITH PACKAGING INNOVATION.
March 1, 1999... Innovation and a strong diet of new products are headed for regional and national rollouts from some of the largest packaged goods marketers in the next three months. General Mills. Taking a page from the fact that consumers are not spending...

FORREST RETIRES AT MARS.
March 1, 1999... Retirement of Forrest Mars next month from Mars, the confectionery/petfood giant, is expected to have major repercussions. The elevation of Mike Murphy to head Mars has drawn high marks from inside as well as outside the company, report...

BERTLESMANN CHANNELS MUSIC MARKETING MIX.
March 1, 1999... Bertlesmann Marketing Group (BMG) has taken a multi-faceted approach to development of cross-platform marketing efforts for its artists and labels. Many of the themes reflect a belief of BMG's Senior Vice President Marketing Kevin Conroy...

MERCEDES HEADING TO HAVAS?
March 1, 1999... Strong rumors kicking around over the $150 million Mercedes account in the United States to be nestled into a second network holding of Euro RSCG. Plan considered a backup in case deal to move Mercedes into Omnicom's BBDO New York office does...

APPAREL MIX-UP.
March 1, 1999... Sears is looking to harder its edge as the apparel/hard goods retailer is caught in a merchandise mix meltdown. Sears has been buffeted by increased competition from Wal- Mart, Target and Kohl's. "The current advertising tests stronger than...

YOU'RE IN NEW HANDS.
March 1, 1999... The Allstate Company is on the prowl for a Senior Vice President of Marketing, report industry sources. The position reports directly into new Allstate Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edward Liddy. Allstate Corp. posted mediocre...

MOLSON DRAFTS O'NEILL.
March 1, 1999... Dan O'Neill, a high-profile packaged goods executive, has landed as the new Chief Operating Officer of Molson Breweries in Canada. O'Neill served a long stint with S.C. Johnson before moving to Campbell's and eventually the H.J. Heinz Company...

KODAK LOOKS AT NEW PIX.
March 1, 1999... Kodak is rolling nationally with the Picture CD, a product that will be supported with an aggressive advertising budget but which will take advertising in return. Picture CD was test marketed in Indianapolis and Salt Lake City in the last...

HEIDRICH LOOKS BAD.
March 1, 1999... The public release of documents relating to the True North CEO search by Heidrich & Struggles is a real bonehead scenario. The search firm should have used better discretion and never articulated thoughts onto paper. Highlighting the issues...

NEWHOUSE SPEAKS UP.
March 1, 1999... There is a new emphasis on profitability rolling through many of the magazines after the word has filtered down from Conde Nast CEO Si Newhouse. "The word is publishers are operating under a page driven mentality and are fearful of erosion....

CARNIVAL SETTING SAIL?
March 1, 1999... Carnival Cruise Lines is looking for a top marketer to join the leading brand in the cruise industry, Position reports to President Bob Dickinson who previously had the senior marketing post before landing the No. 2 job at the company. "It...

UNITED AD FLIGHT.
March 1, 1999... Speculation has popped up on the status of United AirLines and its dual ad agencies, Fallon McElligott and Young & Rubicam. Fallon McElligott handles domestic and Young & Rubicam responsible for overseas assignments on $150 million ad budget....

MATTEL OPENS DOOR ON $200 MILLION MEDIA REVIEW.
March 15, 1999... Mattel is in the early stages of a major media review for its global A&P account, reveal sources. Mattel spends globally over $200 million on advertising and promotion dollars. The company, under CEO Jill Barad, has gone through a number of...

PUBLICIS LOOKS FOR NORTH AMERICA CEO.
March 15, 1999... The Publicis network is pounding the marketplace to find a seasoned advertising executive to head up its North American operations which are over $1.2 billion in 1999 billings. Publicis consists of Publicis Hal Riney & Partners (San Francisco...

PHILIP MORRIS SMOKE?
March 15, 1999... There has been smoke over the Philip Morris corporate ad assignment. Sources report that PM top management has been looking into the value of the work and is not happy. "They were talking to Publicis Hal Riney & Partners recently about it and...

ESTEE LAUDER POPS NEW PRODUCTS.
March 15, 1999... Several new lines are hitting the shelves from Lauder. The major effort will be behind a new line of Hilfiger scents in August called Freedom. Line launched under Aramis collection. Line will be in dual fragrances of male/female. The fragrances...

P&G LAUNCHES TON OF NEW PRODUCTS.
March 15, 1999... 1. Oil of Olay Cosmetics is being rolled out nationally (as predicted in FMR, 1/99). The assignment (handled by Saatchi & Saatchi) is heavily weighted to chain drug, discount and food stores. The brand will be promoted with FTD Florists by...

MEDIA RESEARCH IS THE PLACE TO BE.
March 15, 1999... The tables have turned and one of the sexiest places to be working in the advertising industry is in the media research sector. "For seventy years it was the last thing you would want to do but it's gone full circle and now it's huge. The whole...

SIMPLY AMAZON.
March 15, 1999... Amazon.com is beefing up the e-commerce categories that it competes in. The company recently purchased a 40% stake in Drugstore.com and word on the street is that the company is looking to add General Managers to handle each area of e-commerce:...

AVIS DRIVING NEW WORK ON THE ROAD.
March 15, 1999... Avis debuted a new series of advertising last week and the company is looking to push its advertising & marketing component once again. CFO Kevin Sheehan said the company is looking to pursue strategies to expand its leisure business long-term...

NEW DIRECTION AT TBWA.
March 15, 1999... Several moves afoot at third network of Omnicom under CEO Michael Greenlees who is settling into new role in New York. Greenlees is eager to put his stamp on the network and in particular, the New York office. "We are going to rebuild around...

BORDERS LOOKS FOR NEW FORMATS.
March 15, 1999... With new management on board, Borders is changing its format. The firm has embarked in an about-face under new CEO Phil Pfeffer (replaced Bob DiRomualdo as Borders' Chief Executive Officer on November 11). Led byPfeffer, Borders now...

SMART DEAL.
March 15, 1999... TMP Worldwide continues to stretch its aggressive acquisition policy in the search business for its TASA Worldwide brand. The deal to pick up LAI Worldwide, a New York-based retained executive search firm, with 19 offices in the United States,...

KEN SOBALSKI ADDED AT HUNT WESSON.
March 15, 1999... Former Pillsbury veteran named to Presidency of Hunt Wesson division. Ken and troops will have work cut out for them. Sobalski noted as hard executive to work for (e.g. 100+ hour work-weeks) which can take its toll on management ranks. The...

OUCH !!
March 15, 1999... The Dorrance family has lost about $3.5 billion of its investments with its two key holdings in 1999 in Campbell's and Vlasic. With both stocks stuck in the doghouse, the family is bound to hike the pressure on management because the...

UNILEVER HIKES ACTIVITY.
March 15, 1999... Multiple marketing initiatives at Lever divisions in the U.S. Key effort is the launch of Dove Body Wash backed by a $22 million ad effort. The wash, called Dove Neutrium will break a multi-pronged TV/radio and print effort in April. The line...

GREAT CHOICE.
March 15, 1999... Selection of David Bell as new Chairman and CEO of True North Communications Inc. smart choice. Bell currently CEO of Bozell Worldwide and helped drive growth for Bozell's 22% annualized billings increase from 1994 to 1998. Bell key leader in...

J&J STUMBLES AGAIN.
March 15, 1999... Still trying to come up with the right positioning for its skin care lines, J&J is focusing on the global branding for its skin care lines (Clean & Clear, Neutrogena, Aveeno, Purpose and PH4). J&J has played with its French RoC line for the...

MTV LOOKS FOR HEAVYWEIGHT.
March 15, 1999... Viacom has a major recruitment effort underway to land a CEO to develop the company's broadcast operations into the Internet world. Assignment to launch MTV Networks (MTV, VH-1 and Nickelodeon) into a single brand combined in an Internet entity...

DIME STRETCHES EFFORTS.
March 15, 1999... Dime's Senior Vice President Advertising Paul Brindak looks to maximize regional bank's marketing efforts. Dime major provider in N.Y. of consumer financial and mortgage services across U.S. "I recently came aboard but what has impressed me is...

BAT LOOKS FOR INTERNATIONAL GROWTH.
March 29, 1999... Chairman Martin Broughton focused on global emphasis to drive tobacco company worldwide. "We're well spread in geographical sectors and the Rothmans deal helped us grow in Europe, Australia and also in parts of Africa where we were weak. We...

CLIFFF FREEMAN - PIZZA!! PIZZA!!
March 29, 1999... Cliff Freeman & Partners, one of advertising's most celebrated advertising agencies, is up for sale, report industry sources. The agency is part of Saatchi & Saatchi PLC, which is bent on improving its financial performance. Freeman & Partners...

TIME EYES MAGAZINE PURCHASE.
March 29, 1999... Time Inc. is looking at a purchase of Business 2.0, a magazine that focuses on the Internet and e-commerce world. Business 2,0 is owned by Imagine Media, and is seen as a clone of Fast Company. "They are in discussions. Time would like to own...

STARBUCKS LANDS A POPSTAR.
March 29, 1999... Paul Davis, one of PepsiCo's top rising stars, has left to join Starbucks as an Executive Vice President heading the beverage company's growing grocery business. Davis was in that rarified category of Pepsi executives who achieved ratings in...

GEOCITIES ON THE MOVE.
March 29, 1999... CEO Tom Evans pleased with new marketing initiatives at Internet portal. Affiliate marketing program pushes solutions and adverting sales to affiliates. Program akin to Amway meets the Web. "We started on this recently and we have sold it...

SPRINTING FORWARD.
March 29, 1999... DeWitt Media has been on the receiving end of several major media assignments recently. President Tina Georgeou said the media company's most recent assignment from Sprint for television and print upped the company's billings close to $350...

CLOROX CLEANS UP.
March 29, 1999... Moving forward with its First Brands acquisition, the Clorox Company is looking at ways to cut costs initially. Cost savings should pop as Clorox moves its cat litter production in-house (FBR is vertically integrated in its manufacture of cat...

REEBOK GETS INTERESTING.
March 29, 1999... A global corporate marketing campaign is in the works from Reebok. The campaign would be a departure for the sneaker/apparel company but it will be interesting to see what the campaign looks like. Angel Martinez has been inserted into the...

IOC LOOKS FOR HELP.
March 29, 1999... The International Olympic Committee is sniffing around for outside marketing help. The IOC, battered by poor communications messages from the scandal-plagued Olympics upcoming in Salt Lake City, is looking to tap an advertising agency to help...

GOOD MOVE AT TIME.
March 29, 1999... The shift of Ed McCarrick back as Time Publisher is a smart move by the company. McCarrick has done an outstanding job at Life Magazine where he was Publisher for the last six years and grew ad pages 52% and revenue by 78% in the last five...

BESTFOODS EXAMINES NORTH AMERICA.
March 29, 1999... Bestfoods management is looking to jumpstart its North American food business. The company's peanut butter business has not responded to marketing initiatives and has lost share (down 2% year to year) to a 20.1% dollar share....

SUCCESSION-STILL THORNY.
March 29, 1999... Finding great talent at advertising agencies is hard work as many top global network CEO's have discovered. The focus recently has been on consultants (very mixed performance to date) and on talent from Europe in the United States (again,...

LEVI's LOOKS FOR MEDIA CLOUT.
March 29, 1999... It's sad to see a great brand like Levi Strauss flounder in its own backyard. Levi's advertising and marketing is so fundamentally flawed. The company is preoccupied with the 16-17-year old boys with pierced noses that they can't see how they...

GIVE ME A BREAK.
March 29, 1999... The ad review for the $50 million American Media assignment being bandied about by David Pecker is a smelly one. Six agencies were invited into the dance for the assignment as Pecker has walked the walk about "reinvigorating" a tired brand-The...

MOTOROLA LOOKS FOR CLARITY.
March 29, 1999... Motorola, looking to improve its advertising picture, has tapped Jeff Frost as a top executive to oversee its $100 million+ ad budget. The company is looking to clarify its image and with the addition of the former Nike executive, feels it has...

WATCH OUT FOR MEL.
March 29, 1999... CBS President Mel Karmazin is expected to make a bigger splash in the Internet area, predict industry watchers. The success of CBS' investments in MarketWatch and Sportsline have shown the ability of CBS to develop strong properties in the...

JERRY, WE LOVE YOU, BUT....
March 29, 1999... It might be me but the current round of work in the credit card category outside of the magnificent work being done by MasterCard and McCann-Erickson is way off the mark. The Discover ads are horrible and led to the current ad agency shift to...

COINCIDENCE OR NOT?
March 29, 1999... It may or not be a coincidence but there is a lot of whispering going on in the halls of the Washington Post company over the re-entry of Greg Osberg. Osberg, the former Associate Publisher of Newsweek, left the magazine left summer to join...

SARA LOOKS TO SAVE.
March 29, 1999... Sara Lee is making a move to free up funds for marketing expenditures and grow its top-line. Sara Lee management is looking for benefits from outsourcing and deverticalization that could save the company up to $400 million in savings over the...

Ad Libs.
March 29, 1999... Tickets.com is opening up its advertising review on its $5 million plus account from California to New York shops this week&Several key positions reportedly open at Caribiner International, the New York based trade marketing firm with $750...