Continue reading Cinema Shilling Shenanigans: 1/19/07

• The potential merger that's been floated between XM and Sirius has, unsurprisingly, been given a thumbs-down by FCC chairman Kevin Martin. I can't imagine why he would think that the only two companies in a particular marketplace merging would create a monopoly. Oh, that's right, because it does.
• Online video is very cool and there's some awesome content being created for it. But it's still running into problems as an advertising medium because marketers don't quite get it yet and also because of some unintentional contextual missteps.
• Mary Minnick is leaving Coca-Cola just a month after being passed over for the number two position within the company. Minnick has been with Coke for 23 years and will leave at the end of February.

• CBS is negotiating with Google about a variety of things, including how the network might put their content on Google Video and how CBS radio stations might begin using Google Audio to sell ad inventory.
• Hearst Magazine president Cathleen P. Black says that while the company might have made some early mistakes in terms of web strategy there's still time to right the ship and make progress online.
  
• The Parents Television Council once again is warning advertisers to shun the increasingly violent programming on TV or, I don't know, the group will glare at them or something.

Continue reading AdAge Consumes 60 More Seconds of Your Life

• Sprint is looking for a new creative ad agency after putting that portion of its work up for review. The company still has both its own agencies as well as the ones it inherited when it took over Nextel. All those firms have been informed that Sprint is looking for some fresh thinking.
  
• Shortly after dropping Crispen Porter & Bogusky, Method Products has chosen TBWA/Chiat/Day as its new agency. Method has been building a reputation as in innovative marketing thinker despite a budget that's not exactly the biggest.
• Rory Finlay, formerly VP-managing director at Wrigley, has now been named the new chief marketing officer at Beam Global Spirits & Wine. Part of his mandate will be to revive flagging spirits sales at the company.
  

• Julie Roehm, who recently and unceremoniously left Wal-Mart, was one of the biggest backers of the development of e-Media Exchange, the online auction-based system for buying and selling TV ad time. Despite her departure, thankfully, the project will continue forward. Other participants in the platform met and decided to continue on with or without Wal-Mart's involvement should her predecessor have a different mindset on it.
• AdAge actually has a detailed feature on the things that led to Roehm's departure, including some ethically questionable behavior and rumors that she slept with her subordinate. The biggest problem, though, is that she was just too darned radical in her thinking for the retailer that works hard to not change its image. Interesting, since changing the corporate culture and image was what she was more or less hired to do. It's all very interesting.
• All this is just the latest in a series of scandals and missteps by the retailer that include executives admitting to wire-fraud, a couple of botched attempts to shoot for a high-end image makeover, a couple of fake blogs and continued labor issues.

• A branded line of food is being planned by Martha Stewart Omnimedia, the latest category to bear the home-goodness maven's moniker. That's just one area of growth for the company, though, as it seeks to expand both in retail outlets as well as prepping for a major online relaunch that will include a series of web video segments.
• Yahoo chief sales officer Wenda Harris Millard recently spoke at a conference about how difficult it is to for advertisers to wrap their heads and arms around user-generated content. Millard points out - rightly - that while it's very popular there's no way to effectively present such content to potential marketers.
  
• Two recent executive moves that have happened: Joe Eberhardt has been shifted from working at Chrysler Group to the retailing arm of Mercedes-Benz. Julie Roehm has suddenly left Wal-Mart less than a month after over-seeing the retailer's first ever agency review process.
  

• Microsoft is showing just how important MSN is to the future of the company by appointing Joanne Bradford, previously in charge of ad sales and marketing to run the portal.
  
• Marc Brownstein signals his intent to let the consumer-generated-content idea pass by his agency. While he has a point about some of the work consumers turn out being, well, junk, that doesn't mean you should ignore what they're already saying and doing. That's a lot different from openly asking for submissions.
  
• Brand names like Reebok and Pepsi, the number two such brand in their respective areas, actually scored higher in a recent survey of customer satisfaction than market leaders Nike and Coke.
  
• I'm convinced the headline for this story on Maxim's new cellphone-friendly site took twice as long to write on account of all the giggling going on. And if the headline isn't bad enough check out the lede. As Tom said, "OMG." I think that sums it up nicely.

• Robert Lachky has been tapped for the first ever Chief Creative Officer position at Anheuser-Busch. It's actually a return to the brewer by Lachky, who had been in charge of the advertising department until 2005 when he left to work on the "Here's to Beer" industry awareness campaign which was funded and backed mostly by A-B.
• Former MediaVest exec Nancy Mullahy engages in a little bit of futurist thinking regarding the relationships between ad agencies and search engines such as Google.
  
• Chrysler Group realizes just how important the online discussions of both its brands and those of its competitors are. That's why they've engaged research firm Brandimensions to track those mentions and report back.

• After a contentious month-long battle with Tribune executives over staffing cuts, Los Angeles Time publisher Jeffrey Johnson has resigned. Johnson had gone to the mattresses over cost - and employee - slashing efforts Tribune higher-ups had wanted him to make. Johnson had refused to make those cuts, saying they would hamper his paper's ability to do its job.
• Initiative may once again be the agency of record for computer maker Gateway. No one is commenting or confirming that, though. Gateway had cut ties with Initiative in 2003 and gone over to Carat.
• Ad Age contributing editor Mya Frazier interviews Wal-Mart senior VP-marketing Steven Quinn on life at the world's largest target retailer.
  

• Deutsch is the new agency of record for General Motors' corporate reputation work. The agency will handle issues such as environmental leadership, quality and other non-brand-specific work. Their speedy work for GM's extended warranty announcement is largely credited for getting them the work.
• Things are getting serious at YouTube. The site has hired their first ever Chief Marketing Officer, naming Suzie Reider to that position. Rieder had previously been VP-general manager of entertainment at CNET. This marks a new and more intense focus by the company on monetizing its video sharing model, something that has been, to date, a series of experiments with different concepts.
• Mark Cuban thinks 1) YouTube will eventually get sued for copyright violation, 2) Click fraud is just too lucrative for the perpetrators for it to go away anytime soon and 3) Advertisers creating standard definition ads for hi-def TV channels are cheapskates. He also weighs in on the movie release window. It's nice to see Cuban is finally comfortable enough to let us know what he really thinks.

• MSN is partnering with Control Room, a spinoff of Network Live, to produce live concert webcasts. Control Room is the new operation from one of the founders of Network Live, which last year worked with AOL to stream the Live 8 concert over the internet. The MSN/Control Room partnership will debut Oct. 2 with a concert by John Legend.
• August Busch IV has been named the next president-CEO of Anheuser-Busch. The young Busch scion has overcome a party-boy image to be seen by people within the companies as well as wholesalers as a solid choice to lead the company. He faces problems, though, from spirits manufacturers who are increasingly taking sales away from beer products.
• Just a few months after selling the Pert shampoo brand to Innovative Brands, Procter & Gamble has now sold Sure deodorant to the same company. Sure is a gender-neutral brand and P&G has decided to focus on gender-specific products that have stronger sales numbers.

• Boston agency Arnold has won the $250 million ad account of Progressive Insurance. The win comes after a lengthy review process as well as after Progressive has vowed to increase its ad spending in order to compete with Geico, Allstate and others.
• Jack Stahl has been axed from the CEO position at Revlon by chairman Ron Perelman. Perelman apparently was tired of Stahl's inability to turn around the financial fortunes of the company, which has seen three years of losses with no end in sight.
• Diageo, maker of a number of liquors and drinks, is expanding its reach into territory that right now is dominated by beer and soda. The company will begin selling pre-packaged 12-ounce drinks from their Captain Morgan, Smirnoff and other brands.

• Alan Mulally, formerly president-CEO of the commercial airplane unit at Boeing, has now been named president-CEO at Ford Motor Co. Mulally will also be joining the Ford board of directors. William Clay Ford Jr., who had been CEO at the struggling automaker, will make the switch to being executive chairman and have a new focus on strategic initiatives to turn around Ford's fortunes.
• As if we needed a more inane way to categorize voters, we now have the term "Playboy voters." The label was coined by, of course, the magazine itself to describe...I'm not even sure what. I think the basic idea is that these "Playboy voters" are smart, educated, sexually liberated and, the words of Banky Edwards, like their girls "arty and airbrushed."
• Sumner Redstone is cutting through Viacom with a ruthless efficiency. The latest to displease Redstone and subsequently be shown the door is Viacom CEO Tom Freston. The firing comes just two months after Redstone had expressed his complete and utter satisfaction with Freston's work and assured investors Freston would remain in the post.

• Mike Roberts has suddenly and unexpectedly resigned from the post of chief operating officer at McDonald's. It's just the latest in a series of management shifts at the company, some from deaths and some from resignations. The COO slot will now be filled by Ralph Alvarez, who had been president of McDonald's North America.
• Industry watchdog group the Children's Advertising Review Board has taken Warner Bros. to task for advertising the PG-13 rated Superman Returns on Cartoon Network. The group said the movie's themes were a bit much to advertise to the channel's audience. Warner Bros, which also owns Cartoon Network, disagreed with the ruling but will not formally appeal it.
• Fashion title Vogue is launching a new podcast series that seems solely focused on providing long-form outlets for its advertisers. The first installment will feature an interview with Jeremy Piven of "Entourage" as well a new series of Gap ads. Future shows will likewise feature famous people who are appearing in advertisements. This isn't co-branding so much as it is just fluffing the ad buyers.
  

• Doug Scott has been hired by Ogilvy to build up the agency's branded-entertainment offerings. He's been tasked with bringing together the various practices relating to branded entertainment Ogilvy currently offers and make sure they're all coordinated and consistent. The move is just the latest in a long line throughout the agency world to make sure efforts along these lines are working like they should.
• Columbus Media International is the name of a new network that's been formed by 13 independent media buying agencies. They came together primarily to pool resources for research and more to compete against some of the big agency holding companies. The goal is to have Columbus operate as a unique entity while the members retain their individuality.
• Tacoda CEO Dave Morgan takes issue with some recent statements by WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell. Morgan thinks Sorrell has understated just how dramatic the media landscape is shifting with the internet becoming more and more ingrained in people's lives.

• John Pepper, former Chairman-CEO of Procter & Gamble, has been named non-executive chairman at Disney. Pepper will replace former Senator George Mitchell at the beginning of 2007. He's been on the Disney board since 2004 so he's not exactly coming in cold.
  
• Competitive eating contests get a lot of coverage because there's nothing that entertains Americans like watching their fellow citizens eat 24 hot dogs in a minute. Despite that wealth of media mentions, the contests don't get much sponsorship from food companies, many of whom might be wary of associating themselves with over-eating.
  
• Jaya Kumar has been named CMO at Frito-Lay. The position has been vacant since September, 2005, when Stephen Quinn left the company.