June 22, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- For the last 53 years, Advertising Age has tracked the spending and calculated the rankings of the nation's 100 largest advertisers. Over the years, that annual Ad Age DataCenter report has become a much-anticipated barometer of the overall health of the ad industry itself. In this video interview, Ad Age's director of data analytics, Brad Johnson, interprets the key points and implications of this year's findings.
June 19, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- How about a contest to determine the country's fastest SMS texters? That 2007 idea for a small-scale PR gimmick has spawned what has become a major branded-entertainment property for LG Electronics. The modest effort three years ago drew in several hundred mobile phone thumb athletes. This year's program, co-promoted with MTV, the Mets and Citi Field, attracted 250,000 entrants. The finals were filmed as a TV show earlier this week in New York with the winner -- a 15-year-old from Iowa -- taking home $50,000.
June 17, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As he prepared for his trip to serve as president of the film and press juries at Cannes, David Lubars critiqued Bob Garfield's harsh critique of the annual event. The chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO said he was puzzled by the constant attacks on the awards shows that highlight the industry's best work and most accomplished creatives. But he also said the overall quality of this year's advertising creative declined as recession-wracked marketers reined in their budgets and vision.
June 15, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Bloomberg's digital future will heavily involve distribution of original video news content to mobile-phone users around the world, according to Andrew Lack. The former president of NBC News was named CEO of Bloomberg's new Multimedia Group eight months ago. And ever since, industry watchers have been speculating on Bloomberg's digital expansion strategy. At last week's Advertising 2.0 event, Mr. Lack detailed some of his visions.
June 11, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb sparked a recent controversy with his remarks about Michael Vick. But he didn't call a press conference or tap a friendly editor to do it. Instead, he directly made news with his blog on Yardbarker.com. It was the latest example of how the Yardbarker ad network and celebrity-athlete blogging hub is becoming a growing presence in the world of sports media.
June 09, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- New York times Op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof has become an unlikely evangelist for digital games as a new form of journalism. He's so taken with the idea that he's developing an online game to go with his new book due out in the fall. Authored with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, it's a serious work about the oppression of third-world women. In this keynote address at the recent Games for Change Festival in Manhattan, Kristof explained how an MTV game had opened his eyes to the true power of that online messaging format as a reporting tool.
June 02, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Coors Light has enjoyed 14 consecutive quarters of sales growth but back in 2003 that brand was tanking. What turned it around so dramatically? On the surface it appeared to be a simple new marketing strategy focused on the refreshing nature of cold beer. But what really drove the success was a disciplined approach to the management of creative ideas and insights inside the company.
May 29, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A new CMO Council study reports that digital attacks are the greatest threat facing marketers today but that many still aren't doing enough about it. It says phishing attacks against financial services marketers increased by 51% alone in the last half of 2008. The Council also argues that granting legal departments exclusive jurisdiction over the problem is not an effective solution.
May 27, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As it goes into its third season as a smash TV hit across the mainland, the Chinese version of "Ugly Betty" is also pioneering new levels of product-placement clutter. The show is set in an advertising agency rather than a fashion magazine, which enables the program to focus on all manner of products and their attributes. Mateo Eaton, who heads the branded-content division of Mindshare North Asia, acknowledged that the dense placements are a bit over the top, but advertisers -- and the TV producers they're paying -- aren't complaining at all.
May 25, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It's one thing to debate the potential power of social-media marketing to influence product sales but quite another to watch a social-media project actually create a popular new product. In his keynote address at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Social Media Conference last week, Forrester Research's Josh Bernoff explained how Del Monte Foods did that very thing in just six weeks.
May 21, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Josh Bernoff is vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research and co-author of the book "Groundswell." Keynoting the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Social Media Conference this week, he discussed how major marketers such as Procter & Gamble are using social media in increasingly potent ways. With the social-community effort detailed in this video, P&G significantly increased sales of its feminine-care products.
May 19, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Even the big-time marketers that actually understand Twitter remain wary of its raw and freewheeling nature. But imagine if they had a system that could automatically find, aggregate and display as a stand-alone feature only positive Twitter chatter about their brand. What if they could even filter out profanity and mentions of competitors? That's what the recently launched Tinker.com aims to do. Glam Media's Joe Lagani explained it at the ANA's Brand Innovation Conference last week.
May 18, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- With all the fuss about carbs and obesity in recent years, Dunkin' Donuts has been downplaying its namesake product. But no more. As the economy collapsed into chaos last year, the restaurant chain discovered that previously carb-conscious consumers were drifting back to donuts as comfort food. Since then, Dunkin Donuts has launched aggressive new campaigns targeting that fried-dough-craving demographic. And its latest -- and largest -- online donut promotion has been a wild success.
May 18, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The May 13 Association of National Advertisers conference opened to a crowd of marketers struggling with recession and searching for a glimmer of hope along the horizon. They were offered tips and insights related to both throughout the day. The gathering was organized around the theme "Brand Building in Tough Times and Beyond." Here are video highlights from seven of the day's presentations by top marketing executives.
May 18, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In this nine-minute video interview with Ad Age editor-in-chief Rance Crain, Walter Anderson discusses his retirement as chairman-CEO of Parade Publications. Editor of Parade, the Sunday newspaper magazine insert, for 20 years, he has served as the company's chairman-CEO since 2000. Carried by 450 newspapers across the country, Parade reaches 32 million homes each week. Anderson, who authored five books, is also a playwright, avid deep-sea fisherman and a licensed Coast Guard merchant marine captain.
May 14, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- How big of a game changer will online video watching ultimately be for the TV industry? And when will those changes really start to happen big time? According to Akamai CEO Paul Sagan, consumers are watching the tipping point occur right now and sweeping industry upheaval may come sooner and more dramatically than many imagine. Mr. Sagan was keynote speaker at this week's Streaming Media East conference.
May 12, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- "Heroes" creator and executive producer Tim Kring believes mobile phone apps provide powerful new tools for TV writers of the digital age. At Ad Age's recent Digital Conference, he discussed the new mobile phone applications that will soon be released as part of Nokia's new Ovi apps store. The phone software enables viewers to interact in new ways with programming content from their handsets. Kring said he expects waves of real-time phone feedback to alter the direction of the plotline and programs.
May 08, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Hulu, the online video site backed by Fox, NBC Universal and ABC, is using millions of dollars worth of traditional TV ads to lure viewers away from TV. According to CEO Jason Kilar, the strategy has been incredibly effective. In his on-stage interview at the 4A's Leadership Conference, Mr. Kilar said Hulu's Super Bowl ad was directly responsible for increasing the online video portal's business by 49%. Also, curiously, Mr. Kilar revealed that Hulu does not have -- and does not want -- a marketing department.
May 06, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Hulu hasn't just grown since it launched 13 months ago; it's exploded. According to Nielsen, it streams more online video than any other site except YouTube. Although it is viewed by many as the symbol of a bright future for traditional TV, some wonder about the long-term strength of its business model. That question was put to Hulu CEO Jason Kilar in an onstage interview at the 4A's Leadership Conference.
May 04, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- During her first year as the new CEO of the 4A's, Nancy Hill has worked hard to open new channels of communications with industry critics. But she clearly has a long way to go with bloggers -- and knows it. At last week's annual Leadership Conference in San Francisco, she took to the podium with some choice words for what she called America's "incessantly negative adverbloggers."
