A combination of cheap kid's meals and Xbox games means increased same-store sales for Burger King compared to last year, which has executives in the company doing a more than a little embarrassing happy dance in the corporate hallways. While busting a move they're also prepping for the launch of their breakfast value meal, which they're hoping will lead to more happy dancing.- Saatchi went a courtin' they did right....hambone. Saatchi went a courtin' they did right...hambone. Saatchi went a courtin' they did right, the Wendy's account is out of sight, Saatchi went a courtin' they did right...hambone.
- Pampered pups get park promotion. The story about high end canine fashion earns my eternal gratitude for including the phrases "doggy style" and "rich bitch."
AdAge in 6 Sets of 10 Seconds
AdAge In 63 Seconds
If you rub some of the ads the Wall Street Journal is planning to run then you'll be able to smell them. The paper promises that the scented ads will be much classier than the fragrance inserts in glossy magazines.- It's hard to figure out what the actual advertising angle is to this story about the tabloids coverage of Jennifer Aniston's rumored nose and boob job. Seriously - can anyone tell me how this is news?
- If you like to shop in New Jersey (and who doesn't) you're probably looking forward to the 2008 opening of the Xanadu Meadowlands retail complex (read: mall). To finance the construction it's offering $2.5 billion in naming rights to different areas within the mall.
101 Dumbest Moments in Business
So many dumb moments in business, so little time. But Business 2.0 mag has their picks for the 101 dumbest of 2006.
Wal-Mart is #1, for hiring a big firm to create their "Candidate Wal-Mart" campaign. #2 is Northwest Airlines, for giving their employees a "How To Save Money" booklet after laying them off. #3 is the contest McDonald's held in Japan, with the winners getting free mp3 players with a virus on them. The rest of the top 10 are GM, Kazakhstan, Steve Wynn, The New York Times, Spirit Air, Porter County, and Comcast.
There are 101 in all, so grab a hot beverage and get comfortable. You can't see the entire list on one page, which is a little annoying, but there is a handy scroll function at the bottom.
Coke and Brit band settle out of court
You might recall a post I wrote earlier this month about the British band 7 Seconds of Love. Lead singer Joel Veitch, he of the odd little Web site RatherGood.com and the mind behind those fun but creepy "sponge monkey" commercials for Quiznos, was upset about a South American ad for Coca-Cola that copied the band's song "Ninja" and the music video Veitch himself created for it.
Well, the band sued and Coca-Cola is now going out of business. Wait, I'm sorry, that's not what happened at all. Actually, the band and Coca-Cola settled out of court, and the ad for Coke Light has been pulled from television. If nothing else, this was a nice little bit of publicity for the band.
Yahoo might start with display ads with newspaper partners
While Eric van Miltenburg, GM of Yahoo's Newspaper Consortium Group, was mum on some aspects of the partnership he did confirm that Yahoo and its newspaper partners are discussing possibilities that exist around display ads. Specifically, the consortium, which started simply to shore of classifieds and jobs ads, has been discussing display ads as a potential expansion of the partnership. Under such a deal, Yahoo would be serving up the ads on the paper's sites but both parties would likely have the ability to cross-sell. Display ads are often more sought after than text or search ads by marketers because they allow for a better branding opportunity. Companies who have been hesitant to dive into search ads may be more willing to buy display ads because it's a solid buy and not dependent on the number of searches and click-throughs.
AdAge In 60 Seconds
Miller Brewing Company has gotten tired of waiting for the "Man Laws" campaign to turn around sales and has decided to ditch the effort. It was originally created this past Spring by Crispin Porter & Bogusky but did not manage to turn around declining sales numbers.- TBWA/Chiat/Day has decided not to keep going in the review process for Sprint's creative work. The agency will continue to handle some work for the cell phone company though. Incumbent agency Publicis & Hal Riney is still in it.
- A number of agencies are moving away from the "get paid by the hour" billing format and instead are working with their clients to structure compensation around creative work and other, more partnership oriented arrangements. The approach was first adopted by CP&B.
Goodbye "Singapore Girl"?
I'm not actually familiar with her, but apparently the Singapore Girl has been an ad icon staple for Singapore Airlines for about 35 years. Despite her long tenure, the symbol might be about to take her last flight as Batey Ads, which created the campaign featuring her, now has to compete in a review process for the account. Batey has been doing work for Singapore since 1972, when it first introduced the Singapore Girl. The mascot's look has been adopted by stewardesses of the airline and those stewardesses also are prominent parts of the ad campaigns for the airline.Beauty marketing goes young
Manufacturers and marketers of skin-care products, while enjoying the success they've had selling their wares to Baby Boomers, are now turning their eyes toward their kids. Clinique, Avon and others are shifting their advertising focus to target young people, particularly those in college but even in some case kids as young as 10. That doesn't mean they're forsaking the older folks (no one puts Baby Boomers in a corner!) just that there's money they feel they're leaving on the table by not specifically going after people with no skin problems who think they need skin treatments. To that end they're approaching cable channels and social networks popular with this demographic as a way to engage them in the marketing and raise awareness and subsequent demand. Part of that includes websites that do more than sell the products the company makes but give other beauty tips as well, including those that involve household items.
Bye bye monkeys
I have to admit I'm a little bummed out by this move. CareerBuilder is dropping the monkeys that have starred in two year's worth of Super Bowl ads for the 2007 game. The chimps are being put out to pasture (forage? What's the right euphemism here?) in a series of spots leading up to the game that bid adieu to the monkeys. Those same spots also direct watchers to pay attention to the new spots that will debut during the game. The point of slowly saying goodbye is to build anticipation prior to the Super Bowl and the new ads that will debut there. Despite this being a successful campaign for two years now, CareerBuilder execs and other experts say the advertising world is too competitive not to be constantly innovating. That means even though there's nothing wrong with the monkey campaign it's time to ditch it because...I'm honestly not sure.
AdAge Horns in on 60 Seconds of Your Afternoon
VNU is no longer VNU. It's now going under the name of Nielsen as a way to more closely associate the company with its best known for. All the various business units will adopt the re-branding over the course of this year. - The question asked in the title of this article is Will Google/CBS Start an Online Media-Buying Auction? The answer, of course, is yes. When Google's system goes live it will give online media buying for TV legitimacy and will lead to more adoption.
- The Chandler Family, which sold the Times-Mirror Co. to Tribune Co. seven years ago, has now put in a bid for the Tribune as the company seeks to...I'm not even sure what their goal is. The $31.70/share they're offering is just barely over the $30.95/share the company is currently trading at.
- Wow. 289 staffers were laid off at Time today.
AdAge In 60 Seconds
- The commute into work for Time staffers had to be nerve-wracking to say the least. That's because today is the day that between 150 and 250 of those staffers are going to be told they've been let go as the company seeks to trim operating costs.
- Even though they named "The Consumer" as their Agency of the Year, AdAge takes some time to recognize some of the great work actual agencies did in 2006. That's very nice of them, I think.
- 2007 is going to be a rough year for marketers who target kids. That goes for food marketers especially but a number of other industries are going to wind up being scrutinized as well.
AdAge In Another Couple of Minutes
This is just a little bit more than the law will allow.- Behavioral targeting networks are just going to get bigger as advertisers look to, well, track how people are behaving across a network of websites. For example, Dow Jones has switched to Tacoda to handle its profiling.
- Yes, the web is for entertainment as well as info and search. Anyone who has spent hours on YouTube watching "Robot Chicken" clips could have told you that.
- Memo to Apple: The iPhone still needs to have a marketing campaign behind it in order for it to be successful.
Trains, kids and demons
There's not a lot in this world that's funnier than one language loosely translated into another language. If you've ever purchased a toy produced in Japan, you know what I'm talking about. Sometimes you can guess what the instructions are saying, and other times something just gets lost in the translation.
Here's a great example of what I'm talking about. Zompist hilariously dissects the packaging on what appears to be a plastic train set for preschool-age kids. It has the same bad translation from Japanese to English, which is understandable, but what's a little harder to explain is why the cover includes a laughing demon and dripping blood. I can only guess, but I think the package is telling children to appreciate their precious youth, for the twisted face of death peers over their shoulders at all times. Heavy, yes, but kids should know the edge of the Great Abyss is always just a heartbeat away, and no plastic train set is going to change that.
[via Boing Boing]
They're everywhere...OMG they're everywhere!!!!
The New York Times has yet another entry in the "Ads are everywhere because advertisers are desperate for your attention" genre. The gist is that because people are so unpredictable nowadays it's better just to throw ads on anything that doesn't run away from you because it *might* be seen. The problem, of course, is that by doing so they've effectively turned ads into part of the landscape - and a part that doesn't get through the mental filters of people at that. That, in turn, leads to more and more outrageous ads that try to jumpstart people's attention. Pepsi messes with the packaging
Pepsi has announced two new campaigns, one revolving around the Super Bowl and one not, but both involving futzing with their packaging. The first is this push, scheduled to launch in February, that will have the soft drink company changing the look of its packaging every few weeks in 2007. Considering that's three times more than the look of the drink has changed in over 100 years, that's a big deal. The constantly shifting packaging is part of an attempt to become more of a "cool kids" drink and will also include asking people to design a billboard that will be displayed in New York City's Times Square in April.
The Super Bowl-related promotion also involves Pepsi's packaging, but in a much different way. As part of its sponsorship of the game's halftime show it's asking people to register and get a code at SuperBowl.com/pepsi. The person with the winning code wins not only Super Bowl tickets for life but also a jewel-bedecked can valued at $100,000. That's right, a $100,000 piece of Pepsi bling. If this is the rec room conversation starter you've been waiting for go register and good luck to you.
