ALLISON ARDEN

Encouraging news came earlier this year when McCann released the results of a study out of its Truth Central initiative: four out of 10 consumers say they "love" advertising -- and 69% said they think advertising has the power to make the world a better place. 

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Bungie and Activision have launched "Law of the Jungle," a live-action trailer for the much-anticipated game "Destiny" -- this being the first collaboration between the developer and publisher. Activision tapped 72andSunny to create the film, directed by "Iron Man" helmer Jon Favreau (who worked with the agency on its all-star Super Bowl Samsung Spot) and starring actor Giancarlo Esposito, perhaps best known as bad guy Gus Fring on AMC's "Breaking Bad."

"Destiny" is the new title from the creators of the Halo franchise and casts gamers as Guardians of the Earth's last outpost. Their goal is to scour the solar system for all that was lost during the fall of mankind's Golden Age. In the trailer, Esposito recounts the tale of one Guardian on his quest to reclaim our Solar System, bringing strength to his pack, but also gaining power from it. The film also announces the game's upcoming gameplay reveal, set for June 10 during the Sony Playstation E3 press conference.

For more exciting ideas in brand creativity, check out Creativity-Online.com, follow @creativitymag on Twitter or sign up for the Creativity newsletter.

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"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need."

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CNN is starting a late-night Friday talk show hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos next month, the network said today.

Mr. Stroumboulopoulos, a longtime host on Canada's CBC, was hired by CNN in April for a Friday interview show to begin this summer, but it wasn't clear what time slot he would take. Now "Stroumboulopoulos," as it will be called, is scheduled to begin on Sunday, June 9, following the season finale of Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown," before moving to its regular timeslot on Fridays at 11 p.m. on June 14. 

"Parts Unknown" has done well for CNN, with new   episodes averaging 740,000 viewers, according to Nielsen, far more than CNN had been attracting before Mr. Bourdain arrived.

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Twitter is attempting to deepen its links to TV -- as well as skim TV ad budgets -- with a series of new media deals and technology to target ads at TV viewers.

Twitter's ad pitch has been consistent over the past year: advertising on Twitter in conjunction with TV makes TV ads more effective. "Our perspective is everybody in digital has it wrong; they have ben going to market with an either-or proposition," said Twitter global head of revenue Adam Bain. Twitter is a bridge to these different screens and experiences."

Today, at an Internet Week event, the company unveiled a series of media deals and a targeting tool designed to bring TV advertisers on to Twitter. Twitter already has partnerships with ESPN, Turner Sports and the NBA to distribute video clips; today it announced a host of new partners including A&E, Clear Channel, Conde Nast, Vevo, Major League Baseball, WWE, Vice and others. 

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How does advertising perform in a social-media world? How can you build a cohesive social strategy? And what are the hidden influences that shape your organization's creativity?

These topics are explored in three winning research papers, released by Advertising Age today. The papers were awarded honors from Advertising Age, the American Academy of Advertising and Temerlin Advertising Institute at Southern Methodist University in a competition to uncover the best academic thinking around marketing and advertising business problems.

Ad Age is committed to bringing the that thinking to its professional audience, and to encouraging productive interaction between the academic and business communities. So in 2012, Ad Age partnered with the Temerlin Advertising Institute at Southern Methodist University to sponsor a research-paper competition for the American Academy of Advertising, an organization of advertising scholars and professionals with an interest in ad education. 

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Michelle Gass, a longtime Starbucks executive is leaving to join Kohl’s in the newly-created role of chief customer officer.

The Ad Age Woman to Watch honoree had just this month been tapped to work with CEO Howard Schultz at the company’s Seattle headquarters as part of a senior leadership team. She leaves a 16-year career at Starbucks, where she most recently headed its Europe, Middle East and Africa unit. In contrast, her new role at Kohl’s, based in Menomonee Falls, Wisc., will be exclusively domestic -- the third-largest U.S. department store chain operates 1,155 stores in 49 states.

Ms. Gass, who will report directly to chairman-CEO Kevin Mansell beginning next month, will be responsible for marketing, e-commerce and omnichannel experiences. The retailer has been without a chief marketing officer since Julie Gardner departed late last year. It’s unclear whether that role will remain unfilled, given Ms. Gass’ responsibilities for marketing.

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Kmart’s “Ship My Pants” campaign was a huge viral success, so the retailer’s attempting to capitalize on the buzz with the release of another video ad.

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Nielsen has partnered with IBM to put its Watson technology to work for advertisers. IBM will make the data-parsing system which famously outwitted "Jeopardy!" champions in 2011 available to companies for CRM, customer call centers and other purposes through its new Watson Engagement Advisor offering. Over the next several months Nielsen aims to apply the Watson technology to improve measurement of ad effectiveness and media planning.

"There's lots of information and data in the public domain that the average practitioner … typically isn't taking advantage of and Watson would use all of this information to come up with the best possible answer," said Randall Beard, global head, Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen.

A 26-year-old media planner....asks questions like, 'Who are my best prospects in the telecom category?' and 'How much should I budget for next year,'" said Mr. Beard. Using Watson, that media planner could tap into data she might normally ignore.

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The company encouraging marketers and publishers to use SnapTag QR codes says it didn't infringe any patents in developing the system, but it faced a patent lawsuit last year all the same and settled in December. So what does growing patent litigation mean to the marketing world? Brian Heidelberger gives his view.

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Brazil, say hello to Mother.

The independent agency -- which has offices in London, New York and Buenos Aires -- agency is all set to open its fourth location in 2014, and has appointed Gustavo Sousa, the Brazilian creative director most recently of Mother London, to global partner.

Mr. Sousa lives in New York, where he leads the shop's Stella Artois account, but has been spending a significant amount of time working on Mother's expansion in the Latin American region. The agency would be making its second foray into South America, with its first office there being in Argentina. 

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Anthony Del Monte

A recent episode of "Mad Men" highlighted something all of us in the agency world already knew to be true -- small agencies are often brought to the pitch table by large clients because of their outstanding creative prowess, but are rarely awarded the account. The big-client relationships go instead to the larger agencies because of their perceived ability to marshal resources (read: manpower), when there's a need for multiple services.  

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DraftFCB is doubling down on its new Los Angeles office, naming longtime Yum Brands account lead Rahul Roy as managing director of the agency.

Mr. Roy, who has significant ties to key creative clients KFC and Taco Bell, is tasked with revamping DraftFCB's Southern California operations with Eric Springer -- who is an alum of Deutsch Los Angeles and indie agency Pitch. Mr. Springer was named chief creative officer at DraftFCB Orange County in December. Mr. Roy and Mr. Springer will report to Michael Fassnacht, president of the agency's Chicago office.

The actions signal a move on behalf of the agency to better service its key Taco Bell client, as well as grow its client roster on the west coast. DraftFCB in recent months started moving the majority of its Orange County operations to Los Angeles, where the agency's Taco Bell account is managed. The agency's Orange County office will now effectively operate as a service office due to its proximity to Taco Bell's headquarters, and not one that seeks its own clients.

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Jimmy Smith -- the head of Amusement Park Entertainment and former TBWA creative -- has spent a considerable amount of time behind the camera on branded content projects like Gatorade's "Replay" and Nike's "Battlegrounds." He recently traded places, making his TV debut as a reality-show judge. Every Wednesday night, Mr. Smith appears on VH1's new series "Model Employee," in which women fashion models vie to become spokesmodel for Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Here, he shares some reality-TV secrets, and what it's like to be caught -- temporarily -- in the Hollywood glare.

1. In the ad world, concept is king. In the TV world, Nielsen is king.

If you're a dope ad creative, you believe the recipe for a smash hit is a big idea that's executed to perfection. If it's been done before, you kill it. But if you're a reality TV show creative, there's a powerful force pushing you towards what's tried and true. It's called Nielsen. Whatever brotha Nielsen says is gospel. So if it worked once, you'd better do it again and again until the wheels fall off. Often, I sympathized with Madwood Media's Michael Flutie, EVP/creator of "Model Employee." He had a vision for his show (which I can't elaborate on because it'll reveal what's going to happen in the show) but sometimes it seemed like his vision was falling prey to brotha Nielsen.

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Yesterday we told you which new dramas were most intriguing users of TVGuide.com's Watchlist, a customizable entertainment guide that lets users make a list of their favorite shows, actors, etc. Today we've got comedies for you.

We're interested in Watchlist because of its predictive powers; the Watchlist community (with more than 1.1 million people signed up, according to TVGuide.com, up from half a million when we first wrote about it) serves as a massive focus group of informed and committed TV viewers. If Watchlisters are excited about a show, that, historically speaking, has typically translated into respectable viewership.

The chart shown here lists the 10 most-added new comedies announced during the upfronts. As TVGuide.com Editor-in-Chief Mickey O'Connor explained yesterday, "Before viewers are able to learn every nuance of every new show, they latch on to the familiar -- whether it be an actor, the source material or even the production company. That's what we're seeing at this stage of the game on the list of new fall shows most added to Watchlists."

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What happens when you put 600 candy marketers in a room with thousands of retail buyers? A sugar-filled pitch-a-thon where no packaging detail seems too small or sales stat too regional.

"We dominate North Texas," Mike Sanderlin said at this week's Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago when asked about his cotton candy brand, called Cotton Candy A La' Cart. His pitch? Unlike other brands, it is packaged in transparent bags so "the kids can see it."

Like so many others, Mr. Sanderlin is looking to close deals at the three-day event, which is expected to draw some 15,000 people from across the globe. Buyers are seeking the next big thing in candy, while marketers large and small are hoping to fill orders as fast as they can. All the while, mascots like a walking Sour Patch Kid roam the exhibit hall, which is filled with enough free samples to induce a weeks-long sugar high.

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Cable networks are rebranding themselves, and pay-TV operators aren't pleased.

At least six channels are changing their names and programming this year to attract more viewers, advertising dollars and higher subscriber fees from cable and satellite companies. News Corp.'s Speed, for instance, will become Fox Sports 1 in August. NBC Universal, which changed Versus into the NBC Sports Network last year, it now switching G4 to the Esquire Network, with upscale programs for men.

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Walmart has hired Dan Bartlett, the head of public-relations firm Hill & Knowlton's U.S. unit, as exec VP-corporate affairs.

Mr. Bartlett, 41, who also worked on former President George W. Bush's presidential and Texas gubernatorial campaigns, will start in late June, Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart said today in a statement. He will oversee external communications, government relations, sustainability and the Walmart Foundation, the company said.

Mr. Bartlett replaces Leslie A. Dach, a former Democratic strategist, who announced he was leaving in March. Mr. Dach had previously held senior positions in Democratic presidential campaigns and handled work for the Clinton administration. He also was vice chairman of Edelman, a global public-relations firm.

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The future of the airline industry has got to be brighter than its present, according to Marty St. George, senior VP-marketing and commercial strategy at JetBlue Airways, in the latest "#AFewGoodMinutes" interview from Allen & Gerritsen.

"It's not as bad now as it was even two years ago, but you still have legacy airlines trying to compete on who's got the nicest prison cell," Mr. St. George said. "We're in a different class than that and I think the whole industry is going to be better off if we all up our game a little bit."

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Among leading industry observers and the media, there's widespread consensus that dramatic changes in the business landscape have made the role of CMO ever more complex. Globalization and technological advances have left organizations struggling to adapt their strategies to meet the heightened expectations of consumers. These developments have created more dynamic and potentially more profitable opportunities for companies that can infuse marketing into every facet of the enterprise.

While the challenges are widely acknowledged, solutions have proved to be in much shorter supply. Prescriptions have ranged from replacing the CMO with a chief customer officer to doing away with the CMO altogether. It's little wonder, then, that many CMOs are struggling with the lack of concrete direction about what their role should be, let alone how to make a tangible impact on the organization.

To address these challenges, we created the CMO Program. A critical component is to instill a broader perspective among CMOs for the complexities of global opportunities. Accordingly, we have assembled a roster of instructors that include leading faculty and practitioners from Fortune 500 companies. The course, developed for future leaders of Fortune 500 companies across a range of industries, combines the latest research and insight from academia, mentoring from CMOs and CEOs, as well as hands-on problem solving to build capabilities through experiential learning.

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Twitter announced a new kind of Tweet today designed to allow marketers to easily collect personal information from Twitter users, if they chose to provide it.

The format, an expanded Tweet called the "Lead Generation Card," includes a button that with one click allows the user to provide their name, email address and Twitter handle to the marketer as a request for a deal, more information or further communication.

The format is designed to help businesses collect leads -- those interested in more information about a product or a service. It's the latest "Twitter Card," an expanded Tweet that contains content far beyond the 140-character limitation of Twitter messages, including images and video.

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Yesterday I spoke at the International Council of Shopping Centers annual convention in Las Vegas on a panel called "Hispanic Markets: The Next Gold Rush." If you have been to La Gran Plaza Mall in Fort Worth or the Dessert Sky Mall in Phoenix or the newly inaugurated Plaza Mayor at the Crossroads in Oklahoma City, you have experienced one of the newest phenomena in the world of shopping centers -- Hispanic malls.

This is the brain-child of Jos De Jess Legaspi, a former advertising executive turned real estate developer who almost single-handedly has created a new format in retail shopping experiences specifically focused on Hispanic consumers. "I got into real estate while trying to help retailers reach out to the Hispanic community," said Legaspi, the founder and president of The Legaspi Company, who has over 30 years of experience in Hispanic retail marketing and owns 10 Hispanic shopping malls in California, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia.

While he acknowledges that each mall he develops is "keenly nuanced" by paying special attention to "local community mix," Legaspi has found success by creating "community-oriented centers with virtual 'cultural' anchors."

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The debate over the value of mobile advertising typically focuses on what effect, if any, it has on brand lift, sales and getting consumers into stores. But advertisers have been wasting money on mobile in the literal sense because a significant portion of the ads they're paying for never properly display on devices.

Now, networks and publishers are being pressured to more accurately report how well they deliver ads in an attempt to legitimize the industry and increase mobile-marketing spending.

Apple's iAd earlier this month became the first major mobile-ad network to be fully accredited by the Media Ratings Council as adhering to the standards the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Mobile Marketing Association jointly released earlier this year.

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With over 400 million people predicted to have Smart TVs by 2016, there is an impending "appification" of the TV that presents an enormous opportunity for brands, content creators and media companies. But chances are, few reading this blog have considered rethinking their content strategies for Smart TV consumption, not to mention the accompanying monetization models.

In part, that's because much of the skepticism about the value of the technology is justified. It's true, for instance, that many Smart TV components remain underutilized by consumers. The most successful apps have been video apps, such as Netflix. Software development for anything more complicated than basic streaming -- especially gaming -- has been a challenge because of Smart TV's notoriously slow (and quickly out-of-date) hardware. But manufacturers remain committed to the technology, and are taking significant steps to correct its flaws.

The latest report from IHS Screen Digest predicts that Smart TVs will account for 55% of the market by 2015 and by 2016 will account for two-thirds of the total units shipped globally. In addition, relatively inexpensive auxiliary devices like the Google TV box and the Xbox can turn any TV into a Smart TV in less than 15 minutes. An expected updated Apple TV that would run the iTunes ecosystem would accelerate Smart TV adoption. Inevitably, Smart TVs will become a key component of many households' connected-device ecosystem.

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Remember when the customer service desk was just a euphemism for a complaint bureau? Back then, customers ranted on the phone or in person about returns, wrong sizes, and overcharges. The idea was a good one, but the end result was frustrated shoppers.

Fast-forward to today. Imagine you're out house-hunting, and using a mobile phone, you can find out immediately from the bank whether you can really afford that dream house. Or instantly find out specific flights that can be booked with your frequent flier miles.

The explosion of social media has changed the notion of customer service across all industries. A service once restricted to phones and then email has been opened through social platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

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Credit reporting company Equifax has named Dentsu's 360i its lead agency as it reevaluates its approach to data and analytics.

The shift comes after Equifax selected Publicis Groupe's Digitas as its lead agency in August 2011. 360i will focus on direct-to-consumer integrated marketing efforts for the brand's credit and identity protection services.

Said Digitas in a statement: "We have mutually agreed to part ways after two years of partnership. We have high hopes that success will continue to follow both companies and we wish each other the very best."

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Among the biggest stories in this year's BrandZ ranking of the world's top 100 valuable brands is the rise of the apparel and retail categories, which posted approximately 20% brand value growth over last year.

One highlight from this year's retail story includes Amazon's gain over Walmart. Amazon, with a brand value of $45.7 billion, saw its value grow by 34%, while Walmart grew by 5% to $36.2 billion. Amazon's operational swiftness accounts for a good part of its financial success, namely, the retailer's ability to quickly adapt to market and pricing fluctuations and normalize goods to real market value. Additionally, Amazon has been making the move to in-store selling, with a push in the UK and US to sell merchandise within highly trafficked convenience stores.

Walmart's second place performance comes on the heels of a slowdown in the Chinese market, a major area of focus for Walmart. Despite this, the retailer is poised to gain in brand value over the next few years. With the major advantage over Amazon of owning its brick and mortar stores, the retailer is making great strides in becoming an in-store, online and mobile heavyweight. Perhaps the greatest indication of its auspicious future: a new i-Phone scan and checkout system available at more than 200 locations in the US. This is just one step toward meeting the customer through various mediums and making the shopping experience more interactive.

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World Nutella Day will likely survive after all.

The fan-led event, which celebrates the hazelnut spread annually in February, seemed threatened when the event's founder, Sara Rosso, said earlier this week that lawyers for the brand sent her a cease-and-desist letter. She blogged about the letter, drawing plenty of media coverage and outcry from Nutella fans who wondered why the Ferrero-owned brand would want to stop the grassroots effort, which seemed to only bring good PR. But in a blog post today, Ms. Rosso said Ferrero employees "reached out to me directly after I had posted my fan letter online" and that "they were very gracious and supportive and we were able to have a productive discussion about World Nutella Day living on for the fans, which is the whole point."

She also posted a statement from Ferrero, which described their initial letter as a "routine brand defense procedure." Here is Ferrero's full statement. (Ad Age confirmed its authenticity with the marketer's U.S. division.):

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Since last summer Ad Age has had an editorial partnership with TVGuide.com focused on its Watchlist, a customizable entertainment guide that lets users make a list of their favorite shows, actors, etc. We're interested in Watchlist because, thanks to the power of crowdsourcing, it has predictive powers: For several of the past TV seasons, 8 of the Top 10 most Watchlist-ed new shows were picked up for full seasons -- including last fall.

We think of the Watchlist community as a massive focus group of informed and committed TV viewers. When we started this partnership, the number of Watchlists created by TVGuide.com visitors and users of the TVGuide.com mobile apps had just topped half a million; today, the total is 1.1 million.

The chart shown here lists the 10 most-added new fall dramas announced during the upfronts. So keep in mind that Watchlist users are, essentially, publicly expressing hope -- that these shows will live up to hype (or at least be as good as their trailers) -- as well as an intent to watch. As TVGuide.com Editor-in-Chief Mickey O'Connor explains: "Before viewers are able to learn every nuance of every new show, they latch on to the familiar -- whether it be an actor, the source material or even the production company. That's what we're seeing at this stage of the game on the list of new fall shows most added to Watchlists."

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