The Financial Times's blog and some of its social media accounts were hacked today, with messages appearing on the sites relating to the conflict in Syria.

The FT Trading Room account on Twitter posted two messages. One said "Syrian Electronic Army Was Here," and the other "Do you want to know the reality of the Syrian 'Rebels'? Just watch this video." The link showed a man cutting the heart from a corpse as an unidentified voice says "I swear in the name of god that we will eat from your hearts and livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog."

The attack on the Financial Times accounts again highlights users' concerns that it's too easy to compromise social-media channels such as Twitter.

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Glass Explorers -- Google's term for the world's select few Google Glass owners -- will soon be able to share their experiences through platforms other than Google's. Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter are all developing apps, or "Glassware," for the wearable device, the companies said Thursday. So get ready for all kinds of Glass explorations in your social feeds.

The companies' arrival on a nascent platform previously limited to apps for The New York Times and networking service Path mean Glass is getting increasingly social. But it still isn't obviously lucrative for anyone but Google.

That's because the company has been adamant about not allowing outside developers to serve ads in Glassware.

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Machinima -- one of the largest channels on the world's largest video platform, YouTube -- is now available without a computer, by way of Xbox Live.

The video entertainment network is already available on iOS and Android apps, but the deal represents its first expansion to a big distribution network beyond YouTube itself. It's also the first time that Xbox Live has simultaneously introduced an app in all of its 41 global markets.

While Machinima is expanding -- the move actually began late last month -- its arrival on Xbox is also a bit of a return of the company's roots: Machinima started out by posting video content related to Xbox video game "Halo." It later grew to encompass all aspects of "geek" culture -- graphic novels, superhero movies and hit TV shows like "The Walking Dead."

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NBC Universal is projecting an $800 million-plus advertising haul for the 2014 Winter Olympics, said Seth Winter, exec VP-sales and marketing for NBC Sports Group. But that record projection for winter games coverage might have to count out traditional sponsor Anheuser-Busch InBev, which has indicated it can better connect with consumers through non-traditional means.

The advertising windfall for the games, to be held in Sochi, Russia, would eclipse the record $700 million-plus that NBC collected for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. (The record for the summer Olympics was set by the London 2012 Olympic Games, which drew over $1 billion in ad sales, according to Mr. Winter.)

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Rival Univision gets much of its programming from Mexico's media giant Grupo Televisa, but Spanish-language network Telemundo Media is looking to Ryan Seacrest and Donald Trump.

The slate of new shows announced at Telemundo's upfront presentation on Tuesday night at Lincoln Center included "Duelo Musical: Super Estrella" ("Superstar Showdown"), a showdown between two different music stars each week who face off in four rounds of music-based games and sing-offs that the audience will vote on. The showdown will be produced in association with Ryan Seacrest Productions in the "American Idol" producer's first foray into Spanish-language programming.

Telemundo, part of Comcast-owned NBC Universal, is also creating Miss Latina USA, a combination reality show and beauty pageant whose winner will go on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant. This will be the first time another U.S. contestant in addition to the official Miss USA pageant winner will be part of the Miss Universe competition. NBC co-owns the Miss Universe Organization with Donald Trump, and Miss Universe already airs on Telemundo as well as NBC.

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Like a host of other brands, Yahoo has a millennial problem, and its potential acquisition of Tumblr could be a step toward fixing it. But could new ownership help Tumblr with one of its biggest problems -- drawing major advertisers?

The companies are in talks about an alliance, some kind of investment or even an outright purchase of Tumblr by Yahoo, according to reports that began with AllThingsD on Thursday night. For CEO Marissa Mayer's Yahoo, a deal with Tumblr would check many boxes: social, mobile, content and buzzed-about native ads, which Yahoo recently introduced to its home page.

A deal or sale also makes sense for Tumblr, a six-year-old company that's raised $125 million to date but just began building out an ad platform last year, with an emphasis on formats that blend with the aesthetic of a platform that's about beautiful visuals and animated GIFs. Tumblr's sales team is still small and its products still deemed experimental, though its head of sales, Lee Brown (a 10-year veteran of Yahoo himself), has said that he expects the company to become profitable this year. Yahoo's relationships with ad agencies and marketers could certainly help Tumblr's business along.

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Advertising Age makes a cameo appearance in Reddit's new ad-sales pitch deck in the form of a quote grabbed from my recent column about the social-news site: "Reddit has become, simply put, mainstream media." (See slide 3.)

Reddit's new sales and strategy boss, Mike Cole, sent me the whole deck last night and I'm sharing it with you here because, well, it's pretty funny. It tries to make the case for Reddit's reach, cultural power and user engagement using the lingua franca of Reddit: goofy images.

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Does the future of media include breaking-news headlines materializing in front of your eyes as you walk down the street?

CNN and Elle magazine have become the second and third media brands with apps on Google Glass, following The New York Times, and all three are testing early adopters' appetite for a constant stream of content served to them on the go. In their current form, the apps seem to follow the vein of push notifications mobile phone users get increasingly frequently from The Times and The Wall Street Journal. Unlike the apps those push notifications bring users to, however, the media brands' Glass apps aren't allowed to carry ads.

The revenue opportunity is currently minuscule in any case. Google Glass is still only available to a small group of people -- mainly developers -- who plunked down $1,500 for the privilege of beta-testing the device.

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Walmart reported first-quarter sales and earnings that missed forecasts, but it's forging ahead with more local price-comparison ads and e-commerce investments amid signs its executives see that both are working.

Earnings of $1.14 per share for the quarter ended April 30 fell a penny below analyst forecasts. Comparable-store sales for the nameplate U.S. stores fell 1.4%, compared to a forecast of "about flat," breaking a streak of six positive quarters.

But executives pointed to things they said are producing positive results, including aggressive pricing, particularly on groceries, backed by local market-basket price-comparison ads on TV and radio that U.S. CEO Bill Simon said will now expand to 70% of Walmart's markets, up from the current 60%.

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StyleHaul announced that Alison Kennedy has been appointed chief revenue officer. She will be responsible for managing and driving revenue both through sales and global product development, as well as developing an enhanced distribution platform. Ms. Kennedy brings more than 14 years of experience to the position. She was previously the senior vice president of global sales and product strategy at Glam Media Inc. Her latest launches include a social dashboard with a unique partnership measuring social content as well as Private Marketplace with Rubicon.

Kirk Chartier has been named chief marketing officer for online lender Enova International. he will oversee worldwide brand marketing and business strategy across the global lender's product lines. He will also be pursuing new-product opportunities in the U.S. Before joining Enova, Mr. Chartier was chief marketing officer at Chicago-based online broker OptionsXpress. Prior to that position, he worked as business strategy practice leader at Atlanta-based Zyman Group, now a part of MDC Partners. He received a master in business administration from Syracuse University, a bachelor's degree in economics from Holy Cross College, and a bachelor's degree in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Sue Davidson has joined the R/GA New York office as the senior VP-analytics and accountability. She will lead R/GA's global team of more than 40 digital, social- and advanced-analytics specialists focusing on turning data into actionable insights for R/GA's new and existing clients. At Market Evolution, Ms. Davidson was responsible for client delivery, operations and business development of the New York office. Prior to Marketing Evolution, she served as senior partner-director of insights planning at MediaCom. Ms. Davidson holds an MBA from MIT Sloan and an M.S. in behaviorial biology from the University of Maryland.

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My old boss, Stanley E. Cohen, Washington editor of Advertising Age for 42 years before retiring in 1987, died May 6 of renal failure. He was 93.

Stan joined Ad Age from Broadcasting Magazine in 1943, when Bureau Chief John Crichton (and later Ad Age editor) left to join the Navy. A recent graduate of Cornell and Columbia universities, the job interview he had for the Washington opening was the last he would ever have.

"Even though it was 30 years ago, I still vividly remember sitting aside Stan as he edited some of my first copy for Advertising Age with his rapid-fire, two-index-finger, hunt-and-peck-style typing on the keyboard," said David Snyder, now publisher at Crain's Chicago Business, who was hired by Stan in the D.C. bureau of Ad Age one week after his college graduation. "He took raw copy -- very raw -- and made it sing."

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Cory Berger has joined Pereira & O'Dell as managing director of the New York office. In his new role, Mr. Berger will manage the day-to-day operations of the office which currently serves clients like Corona and Reebok. Previously, he was the vice president of business development and client services for the digital and social agency Noise. Prior to Noise, Mr. Berger held position at various leading agencies including Mother New York, Momentum Worldwide, and Euro RSCG.

Vizeum has appointed Nadine Young as the communication agency's new chief strategy officer. In this newly created position, Ms. Young will be responsible for developing insight-based strategies and communication plans that enable brands to engage with their consumers in unconventional ways. Bringing over 15 years of experience at leading media agencies to the table, she most recently served as managing partner and group communications director at Mindshare. Before moving to the U.S. to join Mindshare, Ms. Young held a variety of positions at media agencies in the U.K., including ZenithOptimedia and AW Media.

MDC Partners has named Andre Coste the chief financial officer of the newly created MDC Partner Network. He will be responsible for partnering with the agency executive teams to drive efficient and effective growth and optimize financial management, as well as providing guidance and expertise as MDC agencies seek to expand internationally. He brings nearly 30 years of management experience to the job, the last 10 of which were spent at Publicis Group. Most recently, he served as global chief financial officer for Publicis.

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Adrienne Lofton Shaw has been announced as Dockers brand's vice president and chief marketing officer. In this role, she will be responsible for creating and leading the Dockers brand strategy and overseeing the company's global marketing efforts. Most recently, she was the senior marketing director at Under Armour, Inc., responsible for the global brand strategy for men's, women's, and youth products, as well as accessories. Prior to working at Under Armour, Inc., Ms. Lofton Shaw held marketing positions at Target Corporation, General Motors, Planworks/Starcom MediaVest and Gap Inc.

Veteran digital executive Jason Rapp joins Science Inc. as the managing director. In his new position, Mr. Rapp will find and develop new opportunities for the Science portfolio and offer strategic counsel to the firm and its existing portfolio companies as they mature and grow. He is also an executive, investor, and adviser to digital media and technology companies. Prior to joining Science Inc., he was the president and member of the board of directors of Maholo.com. From 2006-2009, he was a senior executive in Barry Diller's IAC corporation. Before IAC, Mr. Rapp was an executive at The New York Times Company, serving as associate general manager and head of operations for NYTimes.com.

Leesa Eichberger is the new chief marketing officer at Jenny Craig. She will be responsible for the strategic direction and implementation of the company's marketing initiatives. Ms. Eichberger brings 20 years of marketing-management experience to the company. She has previously held leadership roles at Vonage and Cingular wireless (now AT&T mobile), as well as various advertising agencies including Ogilvy & Mather.

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Dachis Group has announced Erin Mulligan Nelson as the company's new president. In her new role, Ms. Nelson will utilize her experience to lead Dachis Group's end-to-end go-to-market strategy and execution. She has previously worked as both a Fortune 50 C-level exec and a startup executive. Previously, Ms. Nelson served as senior VP-chief marketing officer of Dell. She had been responsible for Dell's global brand, communications, social media, Dell.com, agency and corporate social-responsibility strategies. Following her time at Dell, she was the chief marketing officer of Bazaarvoice.

JB Brokaw has joined Sociomantic as president of its North American operations. At Sociomantic, he will lead the charge on sales and revenue operations and further develop the company's advisory and services teams. The digital marketing veteran brings more than 15 years of experience in digital marketing and search technology. Previously, he was the former chief revenue officer and chief client officer of iProspect. While at iProspect, Mr. Brokaw was responsible for securing new business as well as the growth and development of the agency's 400-plus person client services organization. He also served on the Global Steering Board. Before iProspect, he was the executive director of market development at Mindset Media.

Amanda Peters has been appointed as head of social media for iCrossing. In her new role, Ms. Peters will be charged with driving increased engagement, visibility and loyalty for iCrossing's clients through social media. She will oversee the agency's rapidly growing social-media practice and manage a nationwide team of social strategists, content creators and community managers. She joined iCrossing in 2010. Prior to the company, she served as a writer and producer on WNBC's "Digital Life with Shelly Palmer" and worked at Advanced Media Ventures Group. Ms. Peters graduated from Miami University with a B.A. in mass communication.

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Bacardi USA's answer to Captain Morgan is Colonel Roosevelt.

The marketer's flagship rum brand on Monday plans to introduce a TV commercial evoking the history of the "Cuba Libre," better known as the rum and Coke cocktail, which Bacardi says was created in Cuba in 1900 as then-Col. Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders helped fight for the nation's independence from Spain.

Directed by Jake Scott, the spot is the first in a series of ads that will emphasize the historical events that shaped the 151 year-old brand, which has links to the creation of other rum cocktails such as the Daiquiri and Mojito. Global parent Bacardi Limited began looking back last year, with a global campaign celebrating the brand's 150-year anniversary. The new campaign -- called "Vivimos! ("We live!") -- was created for the U.S., although elements might be expanded globally. It is the first work overseen by boutique agency OW, which Bacardi USA recently brought on board to oversee brand and creative strategy.

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Advertising Age brought its Women to Watch franchise to a third continent this week, celebrating the inaugural class of Women to Watch Turkey, in a partnership with local licensing partner MediaCat, part of Kapital Media.

The evening event, held in Istanbul's Swissotel on the European banks of the Bosphorus, honored 14 women in Turkey's advertising and marketing industry. Women to Watch, which has been celebrated for 16 years in the U.S. and was inaugurated in China last fall, acknowledges women who have already accomplished significant milestones--but are poised for even more achievement ahead.

"Receiving an award motivates a person to do a little bit better and it's a great recognition not only for myself but my whole team," said Galya Molinas, region president of Coca-Cola Turkey, Caucasia and Middle Asia. "And if we're able to inspire other people, particularly young people with this, there wouldn't be a happier person than myself."

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A 24-year-old Ogilvy PR employee in Beijing has died after suffering a heart attack while at his desk. Ogilvy China confirmed the young man, Gabriel Li, passed away suddenly, but local media reports that followed -- saying his death was caused by overwork -- have not been substantiated.

According to a Beijing Times newspaper's account, Mr. Li let out a yell and collapsed while working in the office Monday evening. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Mr. Li was a junior staffer at the WPP-owned agency, part of a team that serviced a technology client.

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Aussie airline Qantas is asking consumers to ditch their Kindles and curl up with a good book -- one that's been specially curated by the airline so that flyers will manage to finish just as their plane touches down.

Droga5 Sydney, which won the client's business last year, teamed with publishing house Hachette to create a push geared toward Qantas' most traveled passengers. It's called "Stories for Every Journey," and is a collection of bespoke books, each of which promises to last only for the duration of one of the airline's routes.

Stephanie Tully, CMO Qantas Loyalty, said the tactile experience and custom-created books are meant to reflect the sophistication of the brand. It's a trait that's Qantas is focusing on more than ever thanks to its recent partnership with luxury airline Emirates, which makes Dubai a key travel hub and opens the airline up to 65 destinations. The effort is aimed at the brand's high-frequency travelers but is "just one of many conversations we're developing with our members, from Bronze to Platinum One," she said.

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At Univision Communications' upfront presentation, President-CEO Randy Falco posed the question "What's better, more or less?" Mr. Falco was playing the role of the deadpan moderator in a commercial spoofing AT&T's ubiquitous TV campaign in which four small children debate why it's better to have more, or be faster.

In the Univision version, Mr. Falco horrifies the kids with a scenario in which they go into a donut shop but get only half a donut. The kids rant charmingly about ridiculous, mean people who would steal their money by giving them less than they paid for.

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Hispanic consumers will soon say 'hola' to a new family: the Rojos, courtesy of Wendy's.

Hispanic marketers frequently latch on to the idea of family. According to Technomic, a family-friendly atmosphere and authentic and healthful menu offerings are particularly important for Hispanic consumers compared to the general U.S. population.

Most of the spots throughout the campaign will be in Spanish, although Mr. Bahner said that Wendy's will air an ad later this summer "that you will understand whether you speak English or Spanish."

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The U.S. Hispanic market will have a judge after all this year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity as LatinWorks' Sergio Alcocer was named this week to the film jury.

Mr. Alcocer, president and chief creative officer of the Austin-based U.S. Hispanic shop, was a Cannes judge in 2011 on the print jury.

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Walmart was named the first Marketer of the Year by AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing at the Hispanic group's annual conference on Wednesday in Miami.

Tony Rogers, Walmart's senior VP-brand marketing and advertising, and Greg Warren, VP-creative marketing, accepted the award by Skype after being stranded in Chicago on their way to Miami.

In its announcement of the new honor, AHAA cited Ad Age's coverage of a Walmart presentation from the October 2012 Association of National Advertisers' multicultural marketing conference, where the two Walmart execs pledged that the company would double its 2013 multicultural ad spending. The move was part of a sweeping initiative to move the company from a silo-like approach and ensure everyone takes full responsibility for multicultural marketing.

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The top five U.S. Hispanic ideas, chosen this week in awards organized by the Hispanic creatives' group Circulo Creativo, include the first abs-building yogurt for men and an environmentally-friendly tent that doubled as a Glad trash bag at Austin's SXSW festival.

If these ideas don't seem particularly Hispanic -- although a Hispanic agency is behind each one -- it's just another sign of how integrated Hispanics have become in what WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell, speaking at this week's Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) conference, called the "new mainstream."

In an advance look at Hispanic work that might do well next month at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, here are the U.S.H. Ideas awards' top five:

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Never in history has such richness of information been so readily available to so many. We're only beginning to realize both sides of this technology-empowered coin. It's one that can simultaneously enrich and complicate our everyday lives.

The simplicity of a web search allows knowledge-sharing or plagiarism. Tweets can share real-time stories in a war zone or take school bullying to a whole new level. The cloud itself holds the promise of preserving our digital memories, while enabling unprecedented levels of piracy, hacking and identity theft.

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Taco Bell's Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer Brian Niccol has been promoted to president of the chain. Chris Brandt, a Taco Bell marketing executive, is now the chain's chief marketing officer.

A Taco Bell spokesman confirmed the moves, and said that Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed will remain in his post. Mr. Brandt will lead brand marketing, media and brand sponsorships, consumer insights and digital marketing.

Mr. Brandt was previously the chain's VP-marketing. He joined Taco Bell in 2010 as senior director of marketing. He was promoted in 2012 and helped roll out the "Live mas" tagline. During his tenure, he's overseen marketing strategy, led the launch of Doritos Locos Tacos and developed the Cantina Bell menu. Prior to joining Taco Bell, Mr. Brandt was a VP-marketing for Odwalla, a Coca-Cola brand, and launched a number of products, including protein smoothies and relaunched Odwalla bars. Before Odwalla, he worked in various brand-management roles at General Mills for brands including Betty Crocker, Nature Valley Granola Bars and Yoplait.

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BIO

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Dunder Mifflin will close up shop when the "The Office" airs for a final time Thursday on NBC. But if Quill.com gets its way, the fictional paper-products company will live on for years to come -- and not just in syndication.

Quill, which is owned by Staples, has aggressive marketing plans for its line of "Dunder Mifflin" branded office products, which were first introduced in 2011 under a licensing deal with NBC. "I don't think we went into this saying this is going to be a two or three year thing," said Paul Bessinger, Quill's director of innovation. "We think his thing can stand on its own and become an evergreen brand."

The marketer's first step comes Thursday night when it will air a new ad in the markets where the fictional Dunder Mifflin operates, such as Scranton, Pa.,; Utica, N.Y.; Akron, Ohio; Albany, N.Y.; and Syracuse. The commercial, which was crowd-sourced by Tongal, will run right before or after show but probably not during it, Mr. Bessinger said.

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A week after the biggest advertiser in the world -- Procter & Gamble -- announced it would stretch the time it takes to pay agencies to 75 days, packaged-goods giant Mondelez has gone a step further, instituting 120-day payment terms.

Execs across adland are decrying the practice, saying it verges on unethical. But they also say they feel helpless going up against such big players who wield massive ad budgets and work with dozens of agencies.

Shops may want to begin holding frank discussions with clients, however, given more and more marketers are reexamining the length of time they have to pay vendors. From advertisers' perspective, it's all about maintaining a competitive advantage or not allowing a competitor to gain one.

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Two prominent agencies that are part of Omnicom Group -- BBDO and Goodby Silverstein & Partners -- were forced to make sizable staff cuts Thursday due to client losses.

BBDO's cuts were linked to the agency's recent loss of one of its biggest U.S. accounts, Procter & Gamble's Gillette just weeks ago. After a seven-month review, the business was awarded to WPP's Grey, a major blow give BBDO's relationship with the brand spanned nearly 80 years.

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Ted Royer was recently appointed chief creative officer at Droga5 New York. Since the agency's founding in 2006, he's helped to lead much of its best known work, from celebrated efforts like Tap and Decoded, to more recent campaigns for clients like Coke Zero, New Museum and Prudential.

But it seems that the more colorful moments of his life happen outside the job. We chatted with him as part of Creativity's continuing series of "Things You Didn't Know" about the ad industry's creative leaders. When it comes to unearthing some unusual traits, this one does not disappoint.

1. He got into advertising because of the TV show "Bewitched." Darrin came home with an assignment to write an ad for Napoleon Soap. Of course the real Napoleon showed up and things got crazy. But Ted thought, Wait, that's a job? Just writing ads?

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Agency holding companies established trading desks to leverage their collective size and buying power.

But that hasn't stopped some small agencies from launching their own digital trading operations. Case in point: Interpublic's Campbell-Mithun has decided to build its own trading desk rather than buy separately through IPG Mediabrands' Cadreon.

The objective? To streamline the planning and buying process and allow deeper integration of data from Campbell-Mithun's retail and CPG clients, which is becoming more important in the digital ad buying process than data purchased from third parties.

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Baby-boomer marketers should be salivating over the 105 million-strong millennial market. Born between 1982 and 2004, millennials make up the first generation that actually outsizes the influential-but-aging boomers. So why are so many senior marketers missing the opportunity -- and their piece of $200 billion in spending power?

Why are they convinced the methods and media that have worked over the past 30 years of their careers will continue to produce results with tech-savvy millennials, even though they have vastly different media habits?

Among other things, baby-boomer marketers need to accept the fact that millennials have not inherited their parents' love for the "touch" of paper. They do not naturally go gaga over double-page spreads of either editorial or advertising in magazines. They do not feel compelled to seek their fashion and beauty direction from the magazines that served as bibles for older generations.

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There is a false assumption when talking about what goes viral. It's something like this: "Viral is what happens to great content."

It's a nice thought. Sometimes it's even true. But as much as we'd like to believe that well-scripted, beautifully produced and properly placed content always goes viral, again and again we see examples of how that's just not the case.

When we look at the most popular form of content on YouTube right now, we find something called "shopping-haul" videos. These are webcam videos of teenage girls and young women showing off clothes they just bought. Bad video, bad sound -- and still many of these pieces of content soar to tens of thousands of views.

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It was in San Francisco in the 1990s, and my boss took me to lunch to ask if I was interested in becoming CEO of the agency office there. I replied that I had never thought of myself as a CEO of an agency and needed a day to consider it.

Can you imagine?

Here I was, at the agency for a year and a half, and not once had it occurred to me that I was capable of running the place. So when the offer came, it came from left field. I have to believe that reaction stemmed from being a female executive in a sea of not so many; a man in my position would likely have been expecting the top job since day one and when it was offered, taken it as his due.

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Fueled partly by the rising Dow, and partly by pure entrepreneurialism, we're in a state of creation. Agencies are popping up from coast to coast, even in places like Chicago.

I'm pretty sure it's written in the Ad Executive Code of Conduct that after a decade or more, it is mandated that any and all founders of agencies author an article on what they may have learned. So now for some advice from a guy who started his career by failing typing tests at N.W. Ayer, J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather and Grey.

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Today's business climate includes unprecedented corporate consolidation, global expansion and diversification of brand portfolios. Just as many agencies are integrating their services, the number of shops unbundling services is on the rise, too.

Additionally, with the increase in specialized discipline partners, agency relationships are becoming more transactional, driven by deliverables and less about the long-term relationship, making one wonder if the "agency-of-record" designation is a thing of the past. It's important to consider too the impact of holding-company alliances, as growing multinational clients actively seek a consolidated offering that allows them maximum control, flexibility and cost savings.

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I was prepared for Phil Knight to be one cantankerous dude, hiding behind those fierce sunglasses you see in pictures of him.

But when he arrived for our video interview (sans sunglasses), the chairman emeritus of Nike was unguarded and unassuming, still bearing a resemblance to the runner he was more than a few years ago at the University of Oregon. The press clippings said he ran a 4:10 mile back then, but when I mentioned the time he said "close enough." I asked him what the actual time was and he said 4:13. "I like 4:10 better," I said. "Me, too," he said.

So that's how our conversation got started. Dan Wieden, who introduced Phil at the Advertising Hall of Fame induction last week, said he had to talk Phil into the "Just do it" slogan, but Phil told me his reputation for not liking advertising was misunderstood.

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You might have noticed a new addition to our cover with this issue. At the far right of the Advertising Age logo we have inserted this statement: "What's news to what's next."

My dad's tagline for Ad Age was "The national newspaper of marketing." Then we switched to "The international newspaper of marketing." Since 2007, we've had nothing to describe who we are and what we do.

Maybe we felt it wasn't necessary to explain ourselves. After all, we've been around for 83 years. The New York Times, which has been publishing a lot longer than we have, is "All the news that's fit to print" (which doesn't say much for its digital offerings, now driving its circulation).

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I don't understand why NBC is so anxious to show Jay Leno the door. Late night is about the only thing working for the network.

Ratings for "The Tonight Show" have reached a seven-week high, with over 3.5 million viewers. Sure, the ratings spiked after Jay started insulting NBC brass over the network's miserable performance on prime time and their treatment of him. But handily beating Letterman and Kimmel is one of the few things NBC can boast about.

Meanwhile, things at the "Today" show continue to deteriorate in full view of the show's dwindling audience. If NBC doesn't want Jay on "Tonight" any longer, how about hiring him to replace Matt Lauer on "Today"?

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In most of the world (the U.S. excluded), ad agencies get rebates from media companies based on their "pooled buying" power. In other words, they get cash returned, above and beyond their normal commissions, based on all the money they spend for all their clients.

Clients aren't routinely informed about exactly how much of these rebates is generated by their particular spending. Even when clients press for answers, they often allow agencies to keep the extra money so clients can continue to pay lower fees.

In the U. S. the pooled buying concept never really gained a foothold. But now agencies have the opportunity of using similar pooled buying and selling techniques to gain additional revenue in the digital-media realm. In this case, the money doesn't come in the form of media rebates but from buying low and selling high, a technique called arbitrage. Agencies are able to sell high because they add audience and behavior data to the original digital-media buy.

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Bob McDonald, chairman of Procter & Gamble, has preached for a few years now that P&G's calling was to "touch and improve the lives of more customers, in more parts of the world, more completely." His marketing chief, Marc Pritchard, carried the message to podiums across the world: "Marketing is serving."

And their lofty words influenced other companies to embrace a higher purpose. Burger King talked about "empowering" consumers to achieve "social connectivity," and Pepsi devoted much of its advertising firepower to awarding grants for all kinds of worthwhile purposes.

The problem is, none of it worked. Burger King floundered around for years until it got sold and got discipline. And Pepsi's lack of product promotion enabled Diet Coke to become the No. 2 soft drink in the U.S. The company was forced to put massive amounts of advertising behind Pepsi and its other brands to pull off a turnaround (forget the do-good projects -- "Live for Now" is the new Pepsi slogan).

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BIO

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Greg Karber -- a self-described "writer, performer, video-maker, cultural critic and entrepreneur" based in L.A. -- doesn't mince words. His YouTube video titled "Abercrombie & Fitch Gets a Brand Readjustment #FitchTheHomeless," starts with the words "Abercrombie & Fitch is a terrible company," and things only get more harsh from there. Scroll down below the video for the back story.

Though Abercrombie-bashing has been in fashion for years now, Karber appears to have struck a nerve with the media stunt his video outlines: He's started a campaign to get people to donate Abercrombie & Fitch clothing to homeless people to punish the teen and collegiate clothier for its elitist attitudes.

Karber's video shows a screenshot of a headline, "Abercrombie Says It Would Rather Burn Clothes Than Give Them To Poor People," from a site called Elite Daily ("The Voice of Generation-Y"), which cites a two-year-old interview with an unnamed A&F district manager who said the chain declines to donate its damaged and defective clothing to the needy because, well, Abercrombie is an aspirational brand that doesn't belong on the poors.

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1. Google CEO Larry Page will rethink default privacy settings for Google Glass after embarrassing Google Glass video footage of him pleasuring himself -- by Googling himself (Larry Page net worth, Larry Page private jet ...) -- leaks to Valleywag.

2. In the wake of President Obama's joke at the recent White House Correspondents' Dinner about the rise of BuzzFeed as a media phenomenon -- "I remember when BuzzFeed was just something I did in college around 2 a.m." -- congressional Republicans will launch a formal investigation into exactly what post-toke munchies Obama consumed at Columbia and Harvard (chips? candy bars? day-old pizza?) in an attempt to get him in trouble with first lady Michelle Obama, who is famously an advocate for a healthful diet.

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1. Reddit has become, simply put, mainstream media.

As noted in Ad Age recently, Reddit closed out 2012 with more than 37 billion page views and 400 million unique visitors. Even people who don't check the so-called social-news site regularly -- or at all -- constantly experience the Reddit Effect because ...

2. The mainstream blog media is almost ridiculously (even pathetically) dependent on Reddit.

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You probably saw this coming: New York Magazine's Hurricane Sandy cover, dated Nov. 12, 2012, has just been named the Cover of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors. ASME's citation reads:

Shot on the Wednesday evening after Hurricane Sandy hit, Iwan Baan's photograph of Manhattan, half aglow and half dark, captured the larger story of a powerful city rendered powerless. A true viral phenomenon, the image became an instant icon of the event -- [and a] magazine cover that many New Yorkers have saved for posterity. In fact, a poster version was offered for sale by the Museum of Modern Art.

How did Baan capture the image? At the time of publication, New York magazine's The Cut blog offered the back story. During half an hour spent circling over the city in a hastily rented helicopter, Baan took "between 2,000 and 2,500 shots -- 80 percent of the shots are a blur, 10 percent are maybe useable, and 1 percent were really sharp."

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New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg may have been able to sway public opinion with a multi-million-dollar ad campaign promoting new gun-control measures, but his message, transmitted often by gun violence victims, swayed few votes where it mattered most -- in Congress.

In the end, the Senate voted largely along party lines this week to kill even the most modest new gun-control measures. Efforts to place new regulations on firearms aren't likely to be resurrected in this Congress.

Mr. Bloomberg's organization, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, hired a team that included SKDKnickerbocker and Tom Synhorst of DCI Group, dividing the work by political party, in essence tapping each to do what they do best -- run ads taking aim at the other side.

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"Republicans need to tell Donald Trump to shut up and get off the stage," said political consultant James Carville at the 4A's Transformation conference.

Strong statements by Louisiana native Mr. Carville and his wife, political consultant Mary Matalin, set the tone for a lively panel on the impact of branding and marketing on the presidential campaign. Chris Weil, CEO of IPG's Momentum Worldwide, moderated the panel.

Ms. Matalin, a Republican, kicked off the panel with a statement describing Mitt Romney's campaign operation as "two cans and a string."

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When you think about it, your typical political ad isn't much different from the pitch in a dating profile: "Here are my qualifications. Please like me!"

But a recent ad from Pete Snyder, former CEO of New Media Strategies, makes that connection abundantly clear and weirdly hilarious.

Snyder is aiming for the Lieutenant Governor's seat in Virginia. The next step in the process is getting the nomination at the Republican convention in May. And at the moment, he's in a crowded field of seven.

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Illinois state Rep. Robin Kelly is in the news today because she won a Democratic primary election held yesterday in Chicago. She was one of more than a dozen Democrats looking to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and she came out on top with a little help from a friend: Mike Bloomberg. The New York mayor has thrown his financial support behind Kelly specifically because she's in favor of gun control. (Mayor Bloomberg has been especially vocal about the need for new gun-control laws since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.)

CNN reports that Kelly's chief rival for the Democratic nomination, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, cited the nonstop barrage of negative ads against her in her concession speech. "There was $2.3 million dollars minimum spent against me," she said. "Someone timed it. Every seven and a half minutes there was a commercial."

What's remarkable about the negative messaging against Halvorson is not only that it made gun control a central issue, but portrayed the National Rifle Association as an unambiguous villain. For instance, in this spot from Independence USA, a Bloomberg-backed PAC, Halvorson and fellow candidate Toi Hutchinson are criticized for winning "A" ratings from the NRA. "They can't be trusted," a voiceover intones darkly.

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Blondes may or may not have more fun, but at least in the case of Beyonce, blonde makes for a more popular ad.

Last week H&M rolled out two ads [below] featuring the pop star. In one, her hair is blond and she's wearing a swimsuit, in the other it's brunette and she's wearing a revealing dress. Both ads feature the same song and similar dance routines.

The ad featuring Beyonce as a blonde scored significantly better with consumers, and 16% of consumers mentioned the singer by name, according to research from AceMetrix. In contrast, in the ad featuring Beyonce as a brunette, attention scores were lower and only 7% of consumers referenced the singer by name. Of course, it could be that the Beyonce in a bikini outperforms Beyonce in a wet, clinging dress.

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"Fake Apple Store," "Tater Tot" and "Barnacle." All are contenders in the naming of Victors & Spoils' new conference room, the latest crowdsourced project launched by the Havas-owned agency.

It sounds over the top to put out a brief to come up with a moniker for where you go rehearse powerpoints or furtively call your spouse, but the truth is, crowdsourcing on this occasion is probably a fairly efficient way of doing something that normally seems to eat up a lot of staff time at agencies, marketers and, especially, at tech companies.

To underscore how weighty a decision it can be, here's a Quora thread on the topic, and here's a very lengthy Reddit thread on the topic. Any number of Yelp, Ask and other pages exist with lots of earnest askers for help, and responders too.

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Dove took over the web this week with a moving video that uses a forensic sketch artist to show women that they're more beautiful than they think. Now comes the inevitable parody -- in which guys test their own self-image.

Here's the parody:

And if you haven't seen it yet, here's the original, the latest from Dove on the "Real Beauty" theme:

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If you're an ad person, and you're on Twitter, you've probably caught at least a few #AgencyLife tweets in your stream.

The hashtag, which was fueled by the blog Adland, caught on like wildfire Thursday in the span of just a few hours, with hundreds of tweets by ad people eager to poke some fun at themselves and blow off some steam. Makes sense; ad folks usually tend to have a good sense of humor. But many people were expressing that the missives didn't feel like mere jokes and rang a bit too close to home.

Below is a selection of them. That last tweet has to make you wonder about the state of morale in the business today.

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How does Don Draper measure up to the competition? And how does the work of today compare with that of the '60s? Check out some of the classics from advertising's golden age and see how far creativity has come -- or not.

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In April 1998, Andy Grove, then president and CEO of Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, introduced the idea of the strategic inflection point. He described this, in "Only the Paranoid Survive," as "a time in the life of the business when its fundamentals are about to change. They are full-scale changes in the way business is conducted, so that simply adopting new technology or fighting the competition as you used to may be insufficient."

This is the point at which many agencies now find themselves -- though often they seem to be in denial. They moan and groan about the cost of participating in RFP-based new-business pitches, but aren't positioning themselves to adapt to clients' changing expectations, so they can compete for the new business.

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I was at a luncheon recently and my client (who is a young GenXer, smart, and very modern is her business and personal lifestyle), told me that she was appalled at how most of the guests were looking at their small screens rather than at the speaker during a talk that must have taken many hours and care to prepare.

It's an all-too-familiar sight at conferences and presentations. What's going on? Have we lost our sense of decency and proclaimed rudeness as the rule for an audience? Are we suddenly in an era of exceedingly boring speakers, and resorting to multi-tasking -- returning e-mails to be productive while tuned out? Is there a national epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder? Or are we audience members actually listening, and commenting on the content of the presentations on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google +, etc. Maybe it just looks rude?

I have heard suggestions that presenters ask the audience to turn off their phones during the presentation. Some companies make employees and guests check mobile devices, as they would a coat, before entering an auditorium. But we are living in a world where people expect access to their mobile devices at all times. That makes all of this sound like an attempt to change human behavior and ignore new communicating habits.

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This the final extension. Due to many requests, the deadline has been extended to May 15. We will not be accepting any entries after this date For more information about registered for the awards, or for the conference in Portland on July 24th and 25th, at which Dan Wieden will serve as keynote speaker, go here.

Advertising Age's 2013 Small Agency Awards is open. Now in its fifth year, the Small Agency Awards recognize the power of being small and independent.

More and more marketers recognize small agencies are not only nimble but often highly creative and innovative. And we think so, too.

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"You know, when I first got here, I didn't think Y&L was a very nice place."

Hearing this reflection from one of our account guys a few years ago was like a punch in the gut. I had never realized that new people felt that way. My impression was that from the beginning of someone's career with us, the agency had a close-knit, almost familial feel. Except for the few who didn't work out, people seemed to enjoy working here and stayed a long time.

Fortunately, the next part of the account guy's comment affirmed at least part of that view. "Now I do feel like part of the group," he said. "I don't know when it changed -- but it did."

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The deadline has been extended to May 8.

For more information about registered for the awards, or for the conference in Portland on July 24th and 25th, at which Dan Wieden will serve as keynote speaker, go here.

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A year or two from now, Foursquare users may not have to take their phones out and manually check in to each location they visit, co-founder Dennis Crowley said in the latest "#AFewGoodMinutes" interview from Allen & Gerritsen. Foursquare may check them in automatically.

But won't that raise a few privacy concerns? Should we really tell corporations everywhere we go, as we go there?

"Whenever you're kind of inventing the future this happens," Mr. Crowley said. "I can think of the number of people who were like, 'I will never get a cellphone because I don't want people calling me all the time. And I will never get on Facebook because I don't want to share that stuff with people. And Twitter, that's not for me.' And this is just the natural progression of things."

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Brands looking for ways to capitalize on Instagram or other social media platforms can hesitate too much, according to Shiv Singh, global head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages.

"We often work with the assumption that people do not want to hear, or care, about brands, and that it's an intrusion in their lives and that they would be happier people without their brands," he told "#AFewGoodMinutes," the new series of video interviews with marketers, agencies and innovators by Joel Idelson, senior VP and creator of opportunities at

Allen & Gerritsen.

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Russell Simmons, founder of hip-hop's Def Jam records and later the clothing label Phat Farm, said Wednesday that he was opening Narrative, a digital marketing, entertainment and technology company.

He talked with Joel Idelson of Allen & Gerritsen about the opening he sees, moving to Los Angeles and where Hollywood is failing.

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Marketers are plowing more and more resources into digital strategies, and often multicultural budgets are pilfered to pay for it.But this may be a critical mistake, because multicultural consumers are key influencers in the digital space, as well as in a brand's relevance to popular culture.

Michelle Ebanks, president of Time, Inc., multicultural brands ("Essence" and "People En Espaol"), puts it this way: "Both Hispanics and African American women are driving digital adoption, and marketers with digital strategies would benefit greatly from understanding them as leaders of digital behavior."

Thomas Newman, president of Interactive One, observes, more broadly, "Our research has shown that both Hispanic and African American consumers tend to jump on trends early ... recent examples include early adoption of social networking, early adoption and higher usage of smartphones, and over indexing on specific next -generation platforms such as Twitter."

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More and more, marketers are backing away from the idea of targeted multicultural advertising in favor of a "general market" approach. It's a philosophy that seems to fit the current mood of America.

"We're not as divided as our politics suggest," proclaimed a newly re-elected Barack Obama during his victory speech. With Americans split down the middle on seemingly every issue -- from guns to health care, from abortion to the deficit -- we did manage to come together and reelect our first African-American president.

But the nation is still hardly as unified as the president's rhetoric would have it. Two recent studies suggest, for example, that it may be a grave mistake for marketers to assume that Americans see eye to eye when it comes to race.

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How often do we see or hear in the media about a black man rescuing a black woman? Tarzan rescued Jane; Matt Dillon rescued Miss Kitty; Superman rescued Lois and Spiderman rescued Mary Jane. Now, finally, we have a popular black example: Django rescues his wife, Broomhilda, in the film "Django Unchained."

While true love is not restricted by race or gender, black love, between a black man and black woman, continues to be a really big deal in the black community. Just about every February, popular black magazines focus on "Black Love." Both Ebony and Essence's February cover stories this year stayed true to this tradition.

For years and years, we had not seen many black loving couples in mainstream media. Remember "L.A. Law" in the '90s? Most of the (white) lawyers were embroiled in a love relationship or love triangle, except Blair Underwood. Really? (If I'm wrong, please set me straight!) Hollywood has made some strides, but it has been slow in coming.

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As much as we all talked about 2013 finally being the Year of Mobile, I'm convinced that it actually is going to be the Year of Video. Here's why:

Viewing is growing on video, with more time spent on more devices. Too much is made of falling network prime-time ratings. According to our estimates at GroupM, overall video consumption is up year on year by about 3.7%, assisted by viewing of streaming video on PCs, connected TVs and mobile devices. According to the latest comScore, on average, 183 million Americans view 215 videos each month online. Mobile's big boost is also being driven by video, with Cisco forecasting that by 2016, two-thirds of mobile traffic will be viewing video.

Dynamic content is growing audiences. The rules are being re-written on the back of strong original programming investment. Cable network AMC's "Walking Dead' was the second highest rated show on prime-time television, beating top network shows such as FOX's "American Idol" and ABC's "Modern Family" in straight 18-49 ratings. Netflix's "House of Cards" reportedly pulled in 2.7 million viewers in its first 12 days, which is about the same as what premium cable network Showtime's pilot of "Homeland" achieved in live and on-demand viewing when it launched in 2011.

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I am the CEO of a digital agency. I also chair the board of an association of digital agencies. My problem is I don't know how to tell people what I do.

It's not that I don't know what I do. I just don't know how to describe it in terms that people will understand. The problem is that the word "digital" has become obsolete. Every time I hear it or use it I cringe.

What isn't digital these days? TV is digital, you can't even get the old kind anymore, whatever that was. Photography is digital. The old days of film are so gone, but do you see Canon trumpeting their digital cameras? Digital vs. what? So here we are, professional marketers, and we are using a word to describe what we do that has no real meaning anymore.

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The dream of interactive TV has been around for almost two decades. We've imagined a TV that allows us to transition seamlessly from watching a Yankees game to pulling up a music video on demand to ordering an advertiser's product. But iTV as we conceived it remained elusive for the brightest of minds, even for the likes of Steve Jobs.

But today's TV is increasingly a laptop, mobile or tablet experience, unless it arrives on a "proper" TV screen through a broadband-enabled device like an Xbox or Roku. It's not coming through the cable operators that, at one time, were thought to hold the keys to iTV. In fact iTV is already here, all but ready to deliver everything we've been waiting for. We've just been waiting for it on the wrong screen.

Nielsen's March Cross Platform Report recently dove into the deep end of this trend, describing the five million homes in the United States that it classifies as "Zero TV" because they eschew traditional cable or satellite viewing -- often for streaming alternatives. Two-thirds of these "Zero TV" homes consume video content on other devices, and the distribution across age groups of "Zero TV" homes is not as concentrated as you might think. Almost two-thirds are age 44 and under, but a healthy chunk -- more than one-third -- fell into older demographics.

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In this season of upfront presentations, the major broadcast networks are facing their toughest challenges in memory. Will they survive? History tells us yes.

The 2012-13 broadcast season has been, with little question, the most disruptive to the broadcast television industry since the medium was in its infancy over 60 years ago. Cable networks, which have been siphoning off viewers and ad dollars for three decades chiefly with sports, news and children's programs, now are reaching parity with broadcast television for original scripted entertainment shows. And online video programming reached a defining moment, producing more quality original content.

Initially cable networks waited until the summer before scheduling such programs, despite lower viewing levels, because that was when broadcast networks offered minimal competition. In recent years original scripted series have aired on cable during the broadcast season with modest success compared to broadcast shows.

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YouTube finally announced this week that it would allow channels to charge monthly fees to access content on YouTube. Some have predicted that YouTube's subscription model would undercut its ad model in an echo of the infamous paywall problem that has bedeviled online newspapers as they shifted from ad-supported to paid. Others have suggested this shows that YouTube is up against an advertising wall of their own making -- advertisers will only pay so much to advertise against this amateur and semi-pro content. Still others gleefully wait to watch as YouTube learns how hard it is to get people to pay for things online.

In fact, all three of these things are minor asides in YouTube's decision-making, as I see it. Instead of reacting to these and other constraints, YouTube is acting on an imminent opportunity: making a grab for more of everything that matters:

More business model options. TV is both ad supported and subscription supported and that works just fine. It gives people like HBO the creative flexibility to generate content advertisers may not be ready for and it gives companies like Scripps the freedom to promise more home-focused entertainment that home-focused advertisers care about. That flexibility is crucial to the ongoing success of those companies and it will be crucial to YouTube as well. Although in YouTube's, case, I would be surprised if the revenue balance in the 1- to 2-year time-frame exceeded 10% or 15% subscription to advertising.

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