Advertising Age articles from January 2005

Advertising Age archives from January 2005

Garfield's Bobbys; Coveted annual awards smile on subtlety.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Bob Garfield Here's why the Seventh Annual Bobby Awards are more important than the Oscars. First of all, the easiest way to get an Oscar is to play someone retarded, autistic, crippled, dying or simply a blithering nutso. Ask Tom...

Now, many words from our sponsor; Cheaper new deals assure marketer logos saturate sports events.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: RICH THOMASELLI If you can't have your name on the building, having your name on everything else is just as good. And sometimes better. The hottest trend in sports marketing these days is to serve as a presenting sponsor for...

The Week; MSN shows ball drop on New Year's.(Briefs)
January 3, 2005... Three major marketers-Olympus, Nokia and 1-800-Flowers-sponsored MSN.com's first live Internet coverage of New Year's Eve festivities in New York City's Times Square. MSN.com offered three elements in the Webcast, said Adam Sohn, director of...

Late News; Electronic Arts dumps See for Wieden & Kennedy.
January 3, 2005... [San Francisco] Video-game maker Electronic Arts is parting with its agency of 10 years and is about to move its $70 million account to independent Wieden & Kennedy, executives familiar with the situation said. Electronic Arts and its shop,...

Computer can't measure creative.(Viewpoint)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Procter & Gamble's new system for evaluating agency creative turned up Fallon and Wieden & Kennedy as strong-performing agencies. It needed a specially designed computer program to learn that? P&G and clients in general should be lauded for...

Billings up: Spike DDB, Bromley, IW soared in '04.(Multicultural)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Laurel Wentz Many multicultural agencies had their best-ever year in 2004. Spike DDB, New York, increased billings by 35% with six account wins totaling $12 million, and the agency's "Diner'' spot for Pepsi-Cola was the first...

LesserEvil offers up deliverance from fat; Ex-Snapple exec joins actor Gene Hackman as marketing Evildoer.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: STEPHANIE THOMPSON In the conference room/warehouse of startup healthy snack marketer LesserEvil Snack Co. in Bronxville, N.Y., former Snapple Chief Marketing Officer Michael Sands, the company's co-founder, is often seen packing...

Online retail comes of age for holiday; Speed, service, ease are key to record growth.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: KRIS OSER Toys `R' Us, after a grim vision of Christmas yet to come, last week laid off hundreds of workers and announced the closure of one of its Manhattan stores. Amazon, which happens to be the e-tailer for Toys `R' Us...

Voted & Quoted; 51% ... of AdAge.com voters think Martha Stewart's new team can return her personal brand image to its previous luster. The remaining 49% of our respondents don't believe reality TV master Mark Burnett can return the Queen of Entertaining to her throne.(Viewpoint)
January 3, 2005... "There's no debating the fact that Martha's prison time has [affected] her brand-but is that necessarily a bad thing? Martha's just in need of a little redecorating. If she had never been charged, it is likely her brand would have gone stale.''...

Can video-game characters sing? MTV2 has the answer.(Viewpoint)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Scott Donaton Quick: What channel is MTV2 on your cable system? You don't know? Go on, ask your kids (I'll wait). You need to find out, and to tune in, because the Viacom-owned music network is home to one of the most...

Hairdresser ads use bin Laden image.(The World: Ad Age Global News & Data)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Laurel Wentz [Brussels, Belgium] Although most Americans wouldn't want to share a hairdresser with Osama bin Laden, a tiny Belgian company used his image to promote its visiting hairdressing business. Interpublic Group of Cos.'...

Critical mass needed: TiVo must reach tipping point in '05.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: BETH SNYDER BULIK It's crunch time for TiVo: If it doesn't get it right, 2005 will be the year the company is consigned to the textbooks as a case of what not to do when marketing new technology to the masses. If this year...

Shareholder sues Grey, WPP in an attempt to halt merger; Charges deal would reduce value of return and limit tax benefits.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: LISA SANDERS A Grey Global Group shareholder has sued Grey Global Group, all four of the company's directors, WPP Group and Abbey Merger Corp., a wholly owned WPP entity, in an effort to stop the pending Grey Global Group-WPP Group...

Spots: Aquafina.(News)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Aquafina encourages revelers to choose a different kind of drink while making their New Year's toasts. Ads from BBDO, New York, appear in year-end issues of Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek and Us Weekly. TV and outdoor ads were...

O'Connor on 40 years at Ford, and the future.(News)(Interview)
January 3, 2005... Jim O'Connor, group VP-marketing, sales and service in North America at Ford Motor Co., retired Dec. 31 after 40 years with the automaker. Mr. O'Connor, who joined Ford in 1964 , rose from his first job as a regional field rep calling on...

Magazines: the next new thing; Marketers must accept print as the last word in consumer control.(Viewpoint)
January 3, 2005... Byline: RENETTA MCCANN Why are magazines still compelling? That question intrigued Starcom as it explored innovative media strategies to accommodate our rapidly changing media world. Today's conventional wisdom says that digital is...

Ikea, Circuit City stores go bilingual; Retailers use Census data, targeting software to cater to Hispanics with Spanish signage, expanded offerings.(Multicultural)
January 3, 2005... Byline: MERCEDES M. CARDONA At Ikea's store in Hicksville, N.Y., even the racks of lingonberry jam in the Swedish Shop are tagged in Spanish. As many big retailers begin spending more marketing dollars to target Hispanics, they are...

People.(News)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Lee White to chief operating officer, Zyman Group, Atlanta, from president-chief operating officer, CommerceQuest. Bill Stutzman to VP, Time Inc.'s Fortune Group Online, New York, from director-entertainment group, Time Inc. Interactive....

Beijing '08: GE jump-starts Olympic push.(News)(General Electric)
January 3, 2005... Byline: NORMANDY MADDEN [Beijing] General Electric Co. is virtually unknown in China despite its 90-year history in that country. So the company is using its Olympic sponsorship to position GE among Chinese consumers as an innovative,...

Adages; Sappier than a Christmas tree, and almost as cuddly.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Ken Wheaton Before starting off another year with snark and hearsay, Adages would like to offer the heartwarming tale of a man and a dog. Lee Clow, while developing a new global emotional pitch for Pedigree, cast a bulldog puppy as...

People.(The World: Ad Age Global News & Data)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Paul Matheson to planning director-Southeast Asia, WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather, Bangkok, Thailand, from head of planning at Publicis Groupe-backed Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York. Alexandra Ruiz to director-urban marketing, the Farm,...

Brady's Bunch.(People & Players)
January 3, 2005... Byline: James Brady Alyce Alston and Joe Zee of Fairchild (she's group publisher, he's the current resident genius) told me wondrous things over a Four Seasons lunch. Their W, fat and slick as ever, sold more than 2,000 ad pages in 2004,...

Work: Nokia.(The World: Ad Age Global News & Data)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Nokia's "Distinctly Bold'' global campaign by Bates, Singapore, combines the elegance and individuality of Hollywood's golden years with modern fashion flair to introduce the geometric shapes, intense colors and futuristic detailing of Nokia's...

Behind the scenes: Kia win gives new meaning to David & Goliath.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: JEAN HALLIDAY and MATTHEW CREAMER Few-if any-industry observers expected David & Goliath to hang on to Kia Motors America's national and regional dealer creative accounts when the automaker put its business up for review six months...

CODE RED FOR DTC.(News)(Direct-to-consumer)
January 3, 2005... Byline: RICH THOMASELLI Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising, a $3.5 billion category that thrived through the ad recession and helped prevent an industry meltdown, is in jeopardy. When Merck pulled arthritis drug Vioxx after...

The Buzz; What We're Talking About.(MediaWorks)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Ann Marie Kerwin Here's hoping Howard Stern and Mel Karmazin have invested their money wisely and aren't counting on stock options from Sirius. Satellite radio has gotten a lot of attention ever since Mel and Howard signed on, but...

Exclusive: P&G programs computer to rate creativity; Evaluates non-roster shops.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: JACK NEFF Procter & Gamble Co. has put in place a computerized system that uses advertising awards-including a measure of awards per client dollar spent-to rate the creative output of its agencies and others. It's the latest of...

Mirrorball's Blatter takes marketers to cutting edge.(People & Players)(Michael Blatter)
January 3, 2005... Byline: MATTHEW CREAMER Any number of people can say they were around for the birth of what's become loosely known as influencer marketing, but Michael Blatter's claim stands up particularly well. One of his promotion plans for R.J....

Marketers rush to aid tsunami-relief efforts.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: RICH THOMASELLI Realizing that manifest mercantilism doesn't sit well at a time of international tragedy, some U.S. marketers are putting aside self-promotion in favor of efforts aimed at helping the victims of the tsunamis that...

Super Bowl: It's a big (ad) deal; A play-by-play on buying tactics for the big game.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: CLAIRE ATKINSON To get to the Super Bowl you need committed management, the right players, a smart, flexible game plan and a lot of hard work-as an advertiser as well as a football team. Everybody knows the Super Bowl has...

Overreaching is unpleasant side effect of DTC advertising.(Viewpoint)(direct-to-consumer)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Rance Crain Direct-to-consumer prescription-drug advertising is being conducted in a parallel universe, a bizarro world. On the face of it, DTC (direct to consumer) drug advertising makes little sense. Cultivating a mass market...

Marketing to stay under microscope; More scrutiny from Congress expected in '05.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: IRA TEINOWITZ Direct-to-consumer drug advertising isn't the only troubling issue on Capitol Hill. After a relatively worry-free year in Washington, marketing groups are bracing for major woes in 2005 as Congress returns this week...

Fox nearly sold out for game day.(News)(Fox Cable Networks Group)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Claire Atkinson This year sees the arrival of a whole set of first time advertisers. They will include Ameriquest Mortgage Co., Volvo and Novartis' CIBA Vision along with a number of marketers returning to the big game after a long...

Work 1.3.05; Image of the week.(Work)(Eisner Communications Inc., William Gelner)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Johns Hopkins Medicine asks what the world would have gained if celebrities like Ella Fitzgerald had lived longer. Agency: Eisner Communications. Executive creative director: Stephen Etzine. Art director: Helen Goldring. Copywriter: Brian Eden....

Disney hopes virtual park delivers real-world results; Free online game offers passes, prizes to lure tween demo.(News)(Walt Disney Co.)
January 3, 2005... Byline: T.L. STANLEY Looking to break out of its traditional marketing methods with some alternative media, Walt Disney Co. is launching a multi-player online game this spring called Virtual Magic Kingdom intended to drive kids to the real...

Sony looks to redefine itself via ultra-upscale Qualia line; Aims to assert its lead with top quality products.(News)(Sony Corporation of America)
January 3, 2005... Byline: BETH SNYDER BULIK At first glance, it seems an odd strategy for a mass marketer like Sony. Its Qualia brand is comprised of only four products that sell in just two retail outlets in the U.S. Only a limited number of each product...

Expanding lineup: Saturn has designs on new segments.(News)
January 3, 2005... Byline: JEAN HALLIDAY Get ready for the new face of Saturn. The struggling General Motors Corp. brand is entering new vehicle segments in the next 24 months in hopes of strengthening the line and extending its appeal. Saturn plans to...

After the carb craze: Diet marketers bet on balanced options.(News)(General Mills Inc., eDiets.com)
January 3, 2005... Byline: STEPHANIE THOMPSON After a year-and-a-half of gorging on sausage and bacon, the weight-loss industry expects consumers to seek customized, balanced options. Jenny Craig, which is using actress Kirstie Alley as its spokeswoman,...

Drink your fruits, veggies: Water's the new fitness fad; Nestle, Coke, Pepsi, VitaminWater add enhancement, flavor.(News)(Coca-Cola Co., Nestle Holdings Inc., Pepsi-Cola North America)
January 3, 2005... Byline: KATE MACARTHUR First there was water, then bottled water. Now the beverage battlefield is shifting to flavors and health-enhancing water as the industry heads for shakeout in 2005. Thirsting for a larger market share of the...

Automakers push AWD as hot option beyond the Snowbelt.(News)(all-wheel-drive)
January 3, 2005... Byline: JEAN HALLIDAY All-wheel-drive systems on cars and trucks are gaining traction in the marketplace. The systems, once popular only in snow country, have been popping up in more models within the past five years and gaining ground in...

Carat convenes iTV think tank.(MediaWorks)(Carat USA, interactive television)
January 3, 2005... Byline: DAISY WHITNEY Media agency Carat USA has created a think tank to brainstorm the next-generation of interactive-TV-ad models before they hit the small screen. The group, hatched through the newly formed Carat Digital division,...

Coke gives away 4 mil cans in U.K.(The World: Ad Age Global News & Data)(Coca-Cola Great Britain)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Emma Hall and Kate MacArthur [London] Coca-Cola GB is giving away more than 4 million cans of Diet Coke in the U.K. this week and increasing the brand's U.K. marketing spending by 50% in 2005. The giveaway highlights the new...

Smart moves biz to Aimaq Rapp.(The World: Ad Age Global News & Data)(contract between Mercedes-Benz USA Inc. and Aimaq, Rapp, Stolle, Berlin)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Dagmar Mussey and Automotive News Europe [Boeblingen, Germany] Dissatisfied with poor sales, DaimlerChrysler-owned Smart moved the estimated $10 million international budget for Smart ForFour, the four-seater version launched in...

Canada weighs do-not-call registry.(The World: Ad Age Global News & Data)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Gail Chiasson [Ottawa] Canada has introduced legislation for a national do-not-call list, but the Canadian Marketing Association opposes parts of the proposed law. The CMA already maintains its own list of more than 340,000 phone...

FYI...(The World: Ad Age Global News & Data)(contract between Diageo PLC and Bartle Bogle Hegarty Ltd., J. Walter Thompson Co., Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and Mediaege:cia Worldwide Ltd., Coca-Cola de Argentina and Havas' Media Planning Argentina)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Two months after moving the $13 million Smirnoff Ice U.S. business to Publicis Groupe-backed Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York, Diageo awarded the agency's London office the $37 million international business for Smirnoff Ice and other...

AdWatch.(News)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Mercedes M. Cardona Advertising Age and Bloomberg's AdMarket 50 index of 50 top publicly traded marketers, agency and media companies rose 3.3% in the last 12 months. That compares to a 9.1% gain for the Standard & Poor's 500 index...

Heat Index; Weekly Rating (0-10) of Sizzle & Fizzle.(MediaWorks)(Amazon.com Inc., Usher, pharmaceutical industry)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... 10 Online shopping The Internet resurgence is official! Amazon.com reports biggest-ever shopping day as most consumers were happy to let their fingers do the clicking this year. 8 "Meet the Fockers" Just doesn't seem like Christmas without...

People & Players.
January 3, 2005... New York: Country Home celebrates the release of designer Rachel Ashwell's book, "Sumptuous Settings & Other Lovely Things," at Ms. Ashwell's Shabby Chic store. (From l.): Mary Emmerling, creative director, Country Home; David Kahn, publisher,...

Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 3 stars The essence: Co-founders Richard Kirshenbaum and Jon Bond last January sold a majority stake to holding company MDC Partners, putting their agency into a family whose siblings include creatively driven shops like...

McGarry Bowen.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 4 stars The essence: Founded in September 2002 by three ex-Young & Rubicam executives and a former Ogilvy & Mather creative director renowned for work on clients including American Express Co., McGarry Bowen, New York, has...

Leventhal aims to intensify consumers' thirst for Evian.(People & Players)(Column)
January 10, 2005... Byline: KATE MACARTHUR With bottled water increasingly in demand, you would think Eric Leventhal would have a relatively easy job. But as more than a hundred rival water brands flood the market, the new president-general manager for Evian...

DDB Worldwide.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 4 stars The essence: A tale of two offices. Chicago's new-business engine sputtered most of the year and it lost the nearly $100 million Alltel Corp. business. The hiring of Dana Anderson, president-CEO of Interpublic Group of...

Fallon Worldwide.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 3 stars The essence: It was a tough year for Publicis Groupe's Fallon. Subway Restaurants left, as did top creative David Lubars. On a positive note, it landed the much-lauded Brit Paul Silburn as its new executive creative...

Leo Burnett USA.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 rating: 3 stars The essence: Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett showed signs of emerging from management tumult and client losses. The hiring of Tom Bernardin as CEO of Leo Burnett USA and Leo Burnett Worldwide president resolved...

Doner.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(W.B. Doner and Co.)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 4 stars The essence: The feisty Southfield, Mich., independent couldn't stop winning new business, most notably Circuit City Stores. New "Zoom Zoom'' commercials for the Mazda3 helped make it the best-selling car in the lineup...

Spike DDB.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 3 stars The essence: Omnicom Group's Spike DDB, the first African-American agency to be included in this report, had its best new business year and won creative kudos for PepsiCo ads. But it failed to get John Kerry elected...

Grey Worldwide.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 2 stars The essence: Grey's 87-year reign as an independent company ended with the September acceptance of WPP Group's bid. The deal, originally set to close in January, may be delayed because of European regulators' scrutiny....

Crispin ups ante; Widely applauded creative shop sheds its 'underdog' label via BK win; shows capability to solve problems on mass scale.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)
January 10, 2005... Byline: MATTHEW CREAMER It's the end of the biggest year for the advertising industry's hottest agency and Alex Bogusky, its chief creative force, seems glum. Why? Because Crispin Porter & Bogusky no longer has to scrap for business. "I...

People.(News)(appointments)
January 10, 2005... Peter Medwid, 42, to associate publisher-sales, Time Inc.'s People, New York, from associate publisher, Hearst Magazines' Cosmpolitan, New York. Alison M. Brink to VP-marketing strategy, DHL Americas, Plantation, Fla., from head of global...

McD's '05 strategy hinges on 'balance'; But expert says public may find push suspicious.(News)
January 10, 2005... Byline: KATE MACARTHUR Intent on taking its "leadership marketing'' to the next level, McDonald's Corp. has outlined its top five global marketing programs for 2005, and communicating "balanced lifestyles'' tops the list. Larry Light,...

Kaplan Thaler Group.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 2 stars The essence: Kaplan Thaler Group, best-known for schticky ads as the Aflac duck and Herbal Essence's orgasm, had a fairly quiet 2004, despite the agency's management relentless promulgation of its "Big Bang'' theory...

Top child-rearing titles in dead heat.(MediaWorks)
January 10, 2005... Byline: JON FINE An early peek at year-end ad page data suggests a significant shift in the parenthood category. The two heavyweights of the space, Gruner & Jahr USA Publishing's Parents and Time Inc.'s Parenting, have wrestled to a...

Adages; Let the big game begin (and someone call the FCC).(News)(Federal Communications Commission)
January 10, 2005... Byline: Ken Wheaton As everyone knows, the Super Bowl, fast on its way to becoming our greatest secular national holiday, edged into Mardi Gras territory last year during the half-time show. And while the FCC, CBS and the NFL are wishing...

The U.S. cellphone tipping point is nigh; are you ready?(Viewpoint)
January 10, 2005... Byline: Jonah Bloom Back in my native Britain for Christmas-they don't do that PC "holidays'' guff in Blighty-I was struck by the omnipotence of the mobile phone. There are lots of people here who would tell you their cellphone is...

Tequila tries a flavor shot to maintain sales; Follows vodka trend to get young adults.(News)
January 10, 2005... Byline: JAMES B. ARNDOFER Distillers are hoping what's good for vodka will be good for tequila. Mexican regulators are weighing an approval for the manufacture of flavored tequilas, and a green light could come during the first half of...

Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 2 stars The essence: The Boston-based Interpublic Group of Cos. agency lost a sizable piece of business when the $40 million FleetBoston Financial account vanished as part of the fallout of the Bank of America Corp. merger....

Make-goods soar: NBC doles out $50 mil in ads as ratings slip.(News)(National Broadcasting Company Inc.)
January 10, 2005... Byline: CLAIRE ATKINSON NBC is on the hook for at least $50 million in make-goods, and some are predicting that figure could grow to as much as $500 million if ratings for 18-to-49-year-old viewers continue to slide in the second half of...

The Buzz; What We're Talking About.(MediaWorks)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... Byline: Jon Fine THE REMARKABLE THING about the exit of Conde Nast Publications' Editorial Director James Truman is that no insiders in the company's notoriously gossipy hallways report anything that differs from the official line: That...

Saatchi & Saatchi.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Saatchi and Saatchi)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 1 star The essence: Outside the U.S., Saatchi & Saatchi's reputation is rich (particularly in the U.K., its country of origin); inside, Saatchi is an enigma. In the recent past, it has simply focused on current blue-chip...

BBDO Worldwide.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 rating: 4 stars The essence: 2004 will be remembered in one of two ways for BBDO: either as the year the 30-second spot agency stole a march on rivals and moved into 21st century marketing world, or as the beginning of the end of...

Lowe Worldwide.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Tony Wright appointed as new chief executive officer)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 2 stars The essence: Rumors of Lowe's demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated, as Interpublic Group of Cos. quelled talk of a breakup or a merger with sibling Draft by naming a new worldwide management team. But the...

Spots: American Legacy.(News)
January 10, 2005... Crispin, Porter & Bogusky, Miami, takes the stink off family ties in an anti-smoking campaign called "Don't pass gas'' for the American Legacy Foundation. Art directors: Tiffany Kosel, Kat Morris. Copywriters: Scott Linnen, Ronny Northrop.

The Week; Group calls for ad ban of junk-food.(Briefs)
January 10, 2005... The Center for Science in the Public Interest unveiled proposed food-marketing guidelines that would dramatically limit marketing to kids and urged TV networks, food marketers and movie companies to implement the limits. The group, which has...

Reinvention: Delta sets the stage for a marketing war; Pits itself against low-cost carriers with price cuts.(News)(Delta Air Lines Inc.)
January 10, 2005... Byline: RICH THOMASELLI Delta Air Lines' declaration of a price war in the airline business isn't just a short-term bid to pressure rivals but part of a long-term plan to reinvent the No. 3 carrier to rival the likes of JetBlue and...

Crispin's big-idea tack works: The proof is in production.(Viewpoint)(Crispin Porter and Bogusky)
January 10, 2005... Byline: Teressa Iezzi What happens when an idea that starts as a 30-second TV commercial blossoms into two :30s and a :60, a DVD, an interactive campaign and a booklet inserted into magazines? Silly. It's a trick question. What happens at...

Ketchum.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Ketchum Public Relations Worldwide Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 3 stars The essence: Omnicom Group's Ketchum, a top PR shop at reaching consumers, strengthened that reputation in 2004. Not only did it win a raft of new business, including Domino's Pizza, Honda Motor Corp., Aetna and...

Weber Shandwick.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 4 stars The essence: The world's biggest public relations agency got bigger in 2004. Interpublic Group of Cos' Weber Shandwick picked off an impressive list of new clients, including Allstate Insurance Co., Electronic Arts,...

Y&R.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Y and R Cos.)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 2 stars The essence: Y&R CEO Ann Fudge is streamlining operations and processes, and has hired a new set of executives acting as a "catalyst team'' to provide cross-disciplinary insights. But the U.S. unit of WPP is shrinking,...

Major mergers, DTC issues conspire to slow TV ad sales; Media buyers already talking down upfront.(News)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... Byline: CLAIRE ATKINSON Agencies are already predicting a gloomy start to the 2005 TV ad market, citing a potentially shrunken direct-to-consumer drug business and consolidation under way with mergers of Kmart and Sears, Cingular and AT&T,...

Y&R catalysts need to speed recovery; Triage team's charge: Replace lost accounts.(News)(Young & Rubicam, Inc.)
January 10, 2005... Byline: LISA SANDERS Six months ago, Y&R brought in a "Catalyst Team'' of executives to find ways of growing its business-triage task force might have been a more appropriate moniker. Ann Fudge, the ex-Kraft Foods executive who joined...

Draft.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Draft Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... 2004 Rating: 5 stars The essence: Draft had a great 2004 as marketers shifted more dollars to direct response. The Interpublic Group of Cos.' agency won more than a dozen new clients and deepened relationships with existing partners; it...

Vidal keeps reeling in business; `Deep bench' helps shop weather obstacles, produce winning ads.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Vidal Partnership)
January 10, 2005... Byline: LAUREL WENTZ The Vidal Partnership's phenomenal new-business binge in 2004 kept CEO Manny Vidal busy. First he rented five different Nissan models for a month each, to be familiar with whichever brand his agency was assigned as...

2004 Agency Reviews.(Special Report: Agency of the Year)(Crispin Porter and Bogusky)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... Advertising Age's selection of Crispin Porter & Bogusky as Agency of the Year shows not only the billings bonanza the agency has ridden for the last year, but also the innovation the agency has wrought on the industry, tapping the Internet and...

Brand Experience opens up playroom; Marketers toy with high-tech concepts in Lab.(News)
January 10, 2005... Byline: MATTHEW CREAMER On a rainy day in December, David Polinchock was doing one of the many things that draw oohs and ahs from the audiences of marketing and advertising executives that visit his Brand Experience Lab. He was shooting a...