In Spots and Space

Changing Zeitgeist Brings Out The Best In Advertising - June 7, 2018
Despite protestations to the contrary, the advertising people are firmly attached to their traditions. Always rewarded - and awarded - are momentous ad campaigns that conjure brand-enhancing stories. The medium is the message, as somebody once said, and the message has always been on television. Along came the digital revolution.

Basics Are Back, A Bit Less Digital - March 5, 2018
So much newness is upon the land. Everything is new. Even new is new. But that’s not news. What can we use? Do we choose? Along the way we are confused. Are we in the supply chain or dissolved into Blockchain? Many have the blues.

Easy Fun Is Breaking The Digital Bank - September 11, 2017
For two centuries and two decades advertising people have enjoyed a privileged life. They have benefitted from one innovation after another designed to display messages from product makers and service suppliers. The advertising people charged fees and commissions for this service. The digital revolution made them very happy; more opportunities for billable service. Profits grew exponentially. Alas, what the profit margins giveth, the digital gods taketh away and the advertising people are having a bit of a mid-life crisis.

Ballast Overboard, TV Broadcasters Seek Ad Lift - August 31, 2017
Ad spending growth rates have long correlated with GDP growth rates, a lagging variable say the economists. Through the last decade TV ad spending led GDP growth, partly on the collapse of print advertising. That bubble has lost its lift. The worrying possibility of a disconnect appears to be another digital dividend.

Ideas May Change Day By Day But Advertising Is Forever - July 24, 2017
Advertising people, happy as always, trade in ideas, presented creatively. They also sell all sorts of stuff, proclaiming their creativity as beneficial or, at least, benign. Over the decades their efforts have undergone adjustments, sometimes by legal boundaries such as prohibitions on tobacco ads and sometimes by social convention. Ad-supported media businesses, then, grumble about losing money.

Yes, Virginia, Media Economics Is Still Zero-Sum - March 20, 2017
If disruption is the key to success, these are the best of times. Nothing is as it was a year ago, even five minutes ago. Blame social media. Blame the web. Blame the moon. But all that lovely disruption comes at a price. No worries: inflation will reduce the risk.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Ad People To Millennials Total Enthrall - December 12, 2016
Nobody in the advertising business, at least, is altogether prepared to let go of the notion that buying and media habits established before adulthood are, well, set for life. Many advertising people fear – really fear – that Millennials are rejecting advertising and always will. There’s no fear like the fear of rejection. Ad people want to be loved.

Words, Pictures, Algorithms Converge On Yachts - June 27, 2016
Between robotics, artificial intelligence and other imagination-bending tricks, technology is the be-all and end-all of being-all and ending-all. Creativity is no longer an entirely human endeavor. There’s an algorithm for that.

For Some, Advertising Is More Popular Than Ever - April 11, 2016
Advertising is a world of opportunity. With the digital space fully open, every sort of message meant to persuade can be crafted to touch just the right customer. This makes ad blockers so popular, the message being inescapable. Ad spending has recovered from the Great Recession quite nicely. And nobody turns down the money.

Block And Tackle, Dance And Tumble - September 21, 2015
The interruption model has revered status within the advertising business and the media sectors dependent on them. Media consumers have groused for decades about ads getting in the way of favorite radio and television programs. Ad supplements falling out of the newspaper at most inconvenient moments can be irritating. The digital dividend has brought cool stuff to media consumers - and cool cash to providers - and easily excitable advertising people have fallen for the trap.

All Very Unconventional From The Sound Of It - June 29, 2015
The creative side of advertising thrives on the edge. On one side is all the excitement digital media affords. On the other, it’s the workhorse of traditional media. Big ideas must fit both. And those ideas can come from anywhere.

Ads Off, Except For Beer; Reality Conditional - August 4, 2014
More often than not regulations affecting the media sector are put in place to either adjust behavior or raise revenues for state coffers and, maybe, both. Sometimes rule makers find it necessary to make changes when a large ox is about to be gored. We’d all enjoy a good debate if we could find one.

Listen To This Algorithm - June 23, 2014
Faced with all the hype and hubbub from the masters of the digital universe, the advertising people have, mostly, turned to big data, big numbers and all the boring nerdy stuff. Being creative is less important in the world of Facebook. It’s all about targeting, efficiency and programmatic buying. Well, almost…

New And Exciting Attention-Getting Opportunities - June 5, 2014
In the great department store of life, said a commentator lost to memory years ago, sports is the toy department. This makes sports the perfect pitch for the advertising people. And the digital age has given them more toys. Everybody is very happy.

Ad Spending Rises: Goodbye Mad Men, Hello Bots - April 10, 2014
Advertising people follow trends better than anybody. Their currency is the newest, latest and greatest. But the tools of the trade - slick phrases, clever visuals, unique display – aren’t what they used to be. The geeks have invaded. "Believe me," said Don, "everybody thinks this is temporary."

Couch Potato Future Dulls, Nobody Cares - December 12, 2013
The health of the television business has long been predicated on a robust market for television advertising. For decades, selling a TV campaign to advertisers has been easy. Broadcasters responded in kind by welding viewers into their couches with comedy, drama, variety shows, sports and even news. The digital dividend, along with new attitudes toward access to video content, changed all this.

More Ads, Less Sex: Another Digital Dividend - November 28, 2013
Online advertising is soaring. Ad buyers can’t get enough. New platforms and new devices have captured consumer’s attention. But the ad people trade on anxiety as much as optimism. Perhaps social media is replacing the traditional headache.

People Like Ads That Like Them Back - September 19, 2013
Advertising at its best reflects the mood and spirit of the times. Sometimes this is warm, fuzzy and friendly. Sometimes it’s dark. The promise of digital sharing through social media is irrepressible.

Every Advertising Season Has A Story - June 20, 2013
Trend watchers scour each and every tell-tail for probabilities, possibilities, hints and hunches. None are more attune than the advertising people. Their creativity with sounds and images has stirred generations, shaped language and shaken foundations. We love them. They scare us.

Advertising Slip Sliding Away - May 20, 2013
With resigned entente it’s accepted that advertising as media’s primary revenue source is slipping away. Advertising in newspapers and magazines fell to the internet first and fastest, readers attracted more to the web’s cornucopia and media buyers following. Television advertising held steady until viewers strayed, the web offering more, sooner, everywhere. Publishers and broadcasters answered by building paywalls. Then internet advertising began slowing.

A Quick Phrase Well Placed Turns The Coin - February 7, 2013
The importance of major events must not be forgotten. It’s true in all media. Advertising people know this. Creating an event – pegged to a brand – is the stuff the ad people dream of. “Find a parade and claim it,” Walt Disney once said. The social media people know this.

New Media Users Confused, The Ad People Are Watching - December 20, 2012
The advertising world is constantly moving. Those who would like to touch some of that largess, ad-supported media, are in a race to keep up. Readers, viewers and listeners generally take this in stride; it’s the cost of free media. New media users seem not to believe the old rule applies to them: If you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.

For Ad Revenues Exceptions Rule The Future - November 29, 2012
Global ad spending growth is slowing ever still, except where it isn’t. Major advertisers will hold on to their money tighter next year, except where they won’t. Another forecaster sees a less than exciting year ahead, except for digital media.

The Buzz In That Message Is A Wonderful Thing - June 25, 2012
Always seeking the zeitgeist, advertising people have thoroughly embraced technology. With that understood, does traditional media have a chance? Apparently so, whether you can hear it or not.

Ad Report: Digital Gain, More Pain - June 19, 2012
Ad spending growth forecasts are positive, just not so much. Continued economic uncertainty makes for lower expectations. And big diversions, whether sports or elections, aren’t making much of a difference. The winner, of course, is digital advertising.

More Money, Less Madness: The Ad People Are Flying - March 5, 2012
A giant outdoor ad campaign for the coming new season of the hot and trendy Mad Men TV drama shows, simply, an image of the lead character falling through the air. It’s controversial in New York City, evoking gristly images, though the producers call it a metaphor for “a man whose life is in turmoil.” Mad Men portrays the highly charged, brutally competitive and enormously creative world of Madison Avenue of the early 1960’s. The advertising world is still the same…but not.

Good Cheer From The Ad People This Season… And More - December 12, 2011
The end of year holiday season means many things to many people. For some it’s good cheer, merriment, a little nostalgia and, of course, shopping. For others it’s advertising. And, too, there’s a message.

Advertising, Enhancement And Economics - October 24, 2011
That advertising powers a considerable portion of the media world is clear to one and all. The advertising people know this and leverage their investments for maximum benefit. Media people know it, too, and want their piece of the action. What advertising means to broader economics is the stuff of late night debate.

Uncertain Ad Trends Continue - September 1, 2011
Providing juice to all media houses, ad spending reports and forecasts are watched carefully. The big trends haven’t changed much over the last year. As the summer of 2011 draws to a close, the tone has become ominous.

Tradition Need Not Apply - June 24, 2011
Give advertising people a proper canvas, metaphorically speaking, and magic can happen. They do have a way with words. They exist to sell things, to be sure, but also to make the best use of that canvas.

Advertising Find Its Mad Road Map - June 17, 2011
Advertising luminaries will be packing their finest soon for the annual trek to the French Rivera for the 58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. It begins next week. Skies will be sunny and everything just hot, hot, hot. Already more ad people have registered and there have been more award entries than ever, ever, ever.

Stoking Online Advertising Draws Fire - April 15, 2011
Online advertising is, without argument, the current growth engine for the advertising business. Behavioral advertising is its fuel. Targeting consumers more directly, more precisely, has had the advertising people in a lather for more than a hundred years.

Internet Advertising Is A Scary Place - March 29, 2011
By nearly every measure internet advertising is the fastest growing ad sector, taking money from all but television. The reasons are simple. More consumers attractive to advertisers are using the Web, certainly. More importantly, internet advertising is “cost effective,” meaning cheap.

Ad Agencies Forecast Big 2011 Global Growth But Read The Small Print – It’s Not So Great For the 'Mature' World And Print Remains In The Doldrums - December 8, 2010
The forecasts that came from the annual UBS Media conference in New York brought big smiles – global ad spending next year will be up, the TV spend will be up, the Internet continues it merry way, but when it comes to print that kind of got buried. After all, who likes bad news when you’re trying to promote the good?

The Ad Business Is Eye Popping - September 28, 2010
Advertising people are used to taking knocks. Their ads are too loud or too long. Some are too rude, more than a few just dumb. Mostly media people complain that ad people aren’t spending enough.

Looking For Money In All The Ad Places - September 14, 2010
Advertising has long been a target of scorn by the well-meaning, looking to cure all walks of evil. Laws keep bad ads from good people. But advertising has great potential for good. And governments want a piece of it.

Another Lesson From The Old Spice Guy, Maybe Two… - July 21, 2010
Anytime anything remotely interesting happens with new media, the rush is on to divine some sort of significance. When something quite cool happens media people get excited about being excited. Oh, yes, it’s all very post-modern.

And The Winner Is: New Media - June 28, 2010
TV spots are “a constraint.” Radio advertising? Who cares? And print? Please! The advertising people swarmed into Cannes surrounded by their new best friends: the social media and smartphone people.

Great Ads Sell Dreams And Cars, Even Small Ones - June 9, 2010
Advertising people love automobiles. Big budget brand campaigns make or break agencies, production houses and media buying services. Once upon a time, media outlets could count on the automobile sector for a third or more of their ad revenue. Automakers and their ad agencies have changed with the times.

Happier Advertising Days Are Here Again For Most But Still Not Print - May 27, 2010
US Q1 advertising revenue rose by $1.5 billion from a year ago marking the first quarterly increase for two years and the largest gain for four years fueled by the automobile sector finally seeing advertising sense again, according to a Kantar Media survey, with TV, radio, and the Internet the main beneficiaries, but newspapers and magazine are still in decline.

The Advertising People Wait For No One - May 17, 2010
Advertising people see change and immediately begin jumping up and down. Emerging from noughties gloom the sellers of spots and space, brands and images have even more to sell and more to sell to. Watching all this horizontal motion can be tiring.

iAds – A Whole Different Order of Magnitude - May 5, 2010
Not content with disrupting the entire media sector, new media giants Google and Apple have their sights on the mobile advertising business. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has firmly seized the opportunity to leverage ‘very cool’ for big money.

Can Reviews Be Trusted? - March 3, 2010
If you can’t trust those with whom you do business then do you continue doing business with them? The Tiger Woods fiasco shows what can happen when loss of trust means loss of endorsements, so when a Web review site gets hit with a lawsuit claiming extortion via selling advertising contracts in exchange for removing or hiding bad reviews then what happens to the trust factor with that site?

Odds Still Good on Product Placement - January 13, 2010
For television producers, product placement is like having your cake and eating it too. Widely considered financial salvation, the fine art of sticking a branded product in a TV show has more critics. But even advertising people are wary.

Advertisers No Longer Find Acceptable That Half The Money They Spend On Advertising Is Wasted
One of the more famous advertising quotes comes from one of the founding Lever Brothers who knew even then in 1925 a thing or two about advertising – “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted and the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Today, advertisers are no longer willing to accept that as their way of life.

Look Beyond 2010 For Global Ad Growth - December 9, 2009
Every December the major global advertising giants prognosticate on how great things are going to be the following year, and then usually come April they reduce their forecasts a bit, come July by quite a bit more and come October we more or less know the true picture which is substantially less revenue less than had been forecast that past December. Well, at this year’s New York UBS Media Week they forecast a 1% gain for 2010, so if recent past experiences are anything to go by, 2010 is going to be another rotten advertising year.

If The CPM Advertising Model Doesn’t Work For The Likes Of Murdoch Can You Imagine What It Does For The Likes Of ftm? - November 19, 2009
An advertising agency contacted ftm recently and suggested a cpm deal for a campaign it was about to launch in the UK. We told them we had bad experiences with cpm models (not worth the effort) but for a fixed price of 1,000 Euros a month they could have a banner on the home page and the new pages for our daily stories. And then we got back their math!

The Number Is Up - October 5, 2009
Ad spending drives the media world. Media buyers have, it would seem, all the leverage on rates if not content. They play a numbers game. But they may find that others can play that game, too.

TV Viewing Up But Revenues Down 13%, Magazine Ad Pages Off 29%, Newspaper Revenue Off 30%, Overall Marketing Spend Down 15% -- With Auto Advertising Down So Much Can The Good Old Days Ever Return? - September 9, 2009
Traditional media’s shocking first half results were grizzly – no matter where you looked the results were abysmal but will it stay this bad or will the “good old days” return? Media eyes are focused on auto advertising, down 35% so far this year and that $2.7 billion deficit is going to be very very difficult to replace in the short-term.

Automotive, Financial Services And Clothing Lead The World’s Downward Ad Spend With More than 70% of Global Marketing Budgets Cut July 9, 2009
Two surveys tell traditional media executives what they really already know from their big revenue declines this year – the ad spend on traditional media is down and a greater proportion of the remaining budget is finding its way to digital.

How Long Before Ad Agencies Give Up On Traditional Media? - July 2, 2009
The headline is intentionally provocative and probably premature, but the goings on last week at the annual Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival really should have traditional media wanting to know more, for there were Internet giants such as Google and Microsoft cozying up to the world’s big ad agencies encouraging them to switch more of their spend to digital and the body motion from the advertising community showed it was only too happy to welcome digital into their fold.

Shush! It’s the radio ads - June 25, 2009
Here in the south of France, the Cannes International Advertising Festival gathers ad people to celebrate advertising creativity, pat themselves on the back and, well, party like it’s 1999. Every medium has its moment, some longer than others. If you are very quiet you can still hear the radio ads.

Ad Rules and Changing Behavior - June 15, 2009
Governments regularly invite controversy when advertising is the subject. In the most honorable sense, civil society stakeholders have a right to demand civil responsibility from those creating commercial speech. On the other side, it’s about changing people’s behavior or, simply, rewarding the powerful few.

Get out and sell something - June 12, 2009
Advertising remains medias primary revenue source. Moving that money from advertiser to media means selling. It shouldn’t be that complicated. But it is. And maybe that’s one problem.

The Front Page – Does Survival Overtake Editorial Policies? - April 14, 2009
There was a hue and cry from the Los Angeles Times’ newsroom last week because the newspaper sold, for six figures, a L-shaped front page ad in which half looked like editorial copy, and the other half a display ad. The journalists said what the publisher did was sacrilegious to the newspaper’s traditions. The publisher says the newspaper needed the cash. Who’s right?

Advertising Mutates - March 16, 2009
We’ve been wondering and sometimes worrying about the immediate future of advertising. Web advertising is slowing, other media dropping. Broadcasters can’t find visibility. The advertising people, though, see a new world.

Does A Rate Card Mean Anything These Days? - February 19, 2009
With the huge advertising downturn does a rate card in a competitive environment mean anything these days? Indications are the discounts are now huge and increasing.

Advertising; Out Of Print And Off The Air - February 15, 2009
Google’s exit from radio and print advertising says little about the company yet speaks volumes about advertising and media’s place in it. It’s a media buyers market and will be for the foreseeable future. Retail traffic and branding are only part of what advertisers are buying. Google knows this.

Advertisers complain about advertising - January 19, 2009
It’s just, just, just too much. Everybody (almost) complains about advertising. Either there isn’t enough to keep media outlets afloat or there’s too much. Now advertisers, in a protective way, are complaining.

2009 ad forecasts: It’s all about television - December 10, 2008
For the first time since the dot com bubble burst next years’ global ad spending will shrink, say the forecasters. Developing markets will, however, continue to develop. By 2010 or 2011 the realignment of media markets could be well underway.

The Dirtiest Word In A Luxury Brand’s Vocabulary Is 'Discount' But That Doesn’t Stop Those Brands From Accepting Heavily Discounted Ad Rates - November 27, 2008
Everyone had thought that economic crisis or not, luxury brands would weather the storm. But with the very rich suffering the same type of percentage wealth declines as the rest of us their hands are staying more and more in their pockets and that’s bad news for those publications that saw luxury advertising as one solution to the general advertising downturn.

Oh the advertising it’s a’ changing - November 16, 2008
It’s not good enough to say the ad spending trajectory – down – is carrying with it the old media lions, or lions’ share thereof. Online advertising changed everything. And online advertising is changing, too.

Ad Forecasts For 2009? You Just Don’t Want To Go There! - October 16, 2008
Every December during New York’s Media week the biggest names in advertising forecasting trot out their estimates for the coming year, with the trend the past few years of reducing those forecasts come July and September. But given the current economic mess, that advertisers are aggressively putting their hands in their pockets does anyone really want to go out on a limb for next year? For those who insist on something, it’s going to be down, big-time.

Oh, the pressure of it all - September 9, 2008
It’s tough in the ad business today. Really, it is. Maybe Martin Sorrell is jetting around from location to location buying and buying but back at the shop those darned clients are demanding more.

Everyone Keeps Talking About the Disastrous Financials At Many US Newspaper Groups, But Have You Seen The Recent Appalling Numbers From Television And Radio? - August 5, 2008
Talk about traditional media financial disasters and most people think newspapers, but recent US radio and TV results point to big problems there, too, and the feeling is that the Olympics and the Presidential/Congressional campaigns that are supposed to save their day won’t.

When Detroit Sneezes Media Usually Catches A Cold But You Just Can’t Call Ford’s $8.7 Billion Q2 Loss A Sneeze - July 30, 2008
Ford and General Motors together spend around $5.5 billion annually on advertising but take a look at their advertising spend trend over the past three years and it’s down each year. And when Ford released its record $8.7 Q2 loss it also announced it had cut its marketing budget by 50% for the quarter.

Biggie Advertiser Anheuser-Busch Cuts Back Its US Radio Advertising In Favor Of TV – Just What ‘Overlooked’ Radio Doesn’t Need Right Now
Much has been made of the trend by major advertisers to tweak their advertising spend away from traditional media to the Internet, but it came as a bit of a shock recently when Zenith Optimedia forecast that globally the Internet advertising spend will surpass radio this year.

Ad spending up 69%…in Oman. ZenithOptimedia revises forecasts - July 3, 2008

The dark side visits Cannes - June 25, 2008
It wasn’t all parties, awards, parties, beach and parties at the Cannes International Advertising Festival; well, almost not all. Advertising and media luminaries took to the podium for a few rounds of complaining, whinging and begging. Google’s business model was long argued. And Mr. Murdoch asked for the money.

Cannes Lions winners mix media and stories, just like real people - June 23, 2008
The Cannes International Advertising Festival mixes the rough selling trade with the high art of small frames, big frames and no frames at all. For more than a half-century the advertising people have put on this little show to celebrate their best work and themselves. The just finished 2008 gathering was a challenge event; the ad people again proving they’re a half-step ahead.

The Web’s Attraction To Readers Is Not Matched By The Advertising Bucks From The Big Guys, Nor The Public’s Trust, And Now There’s A Dip In Internet Growth - June 20, 2008
The news for the web hasn’t been so great lately -- a new Yankelovich study says that ads on traditional media platforms make a more positive impression than digital, which may be why the Procter & Gambles of this world still put the vast bulk of their spend into traditional platforms, and that readers say they trust traditional media more than they do the Internet, and to top it off Q1 saw the Web’s first growth blip.

The bleeding edge at Cannes - June 5, 2008
Mobile phone giant Nokia is spreading its love. As a major sponsor of the Cannes International Advertising Festival Finland’s best known exporter wants to romance the advertising people. There’s a party and free phones.

With US Network Television Viewing Numbers Down This Year Fox Is Going To Try Something New For The New season To Lure Them Back – Cut Back On The Ads - May 22, 2008
True culture shock for most Europeans visiting the US is to turn on the TV and watch around 18 minutes of ads in every hit one-hour series – programs that they could watch at home a few months later with likely no ads at all.

Oy, In Jerusalem Sex Is A Dirty Word - May 21, 2008
Israel has had its problems with Sarah Jessica Parker billboards in the past -- she was considered too unclothed in a soap ad and she had to be redressed with warmer winter attire to satisfy the ultra religious community -- so when billboards came out this week promoting her new Sex and the City movie would there be more commotion? Yes, not with her in this case but rather of the word “Sex” portrayed in great big letters and the billboard owner thought that would be too much the ultra-religious.

Web Advertisers Are Flocking Increasingly To Cheaper Search And They Question The Effectiveness of More Expensive Banner and Column Ads, Wanting Proof Their Campaign Will Succeed Before Committing Long-Term - May 20, 2008
One of the things that has always bothered advertisers is that the medium that takes their money usually offers no guarantee of success. Each platform says it is the best for the message, but if it doesn’t work then tough luck on the advertiser. No money back guarantees if sales targets aren’t met.

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad TV advertising world - May 7, 2008
Commercial television company executives may be looking forward to summer holidays, somewhere in the distant future. But it’s a long slog to Olympics time, if that brings up ad spending. There was a first quarter slow down in ad spending. Don’t blame it all on the internet.

Take Digital Advertising and Multiple Platforms – Two Success Keys That Shoot Out From Accenture’s Media Survey -- Add NBC Saying TV Survival Depends On Other Platforms And The Media Landscape Is Changing Faster Than You May Think - May 6, 2008
Here’s the short of it – 52% of respondents in Accenture’s respected annual survey of Global Media Content believe that by 2012 digital advertising will eclipse traditional advertising. And 66% said that the largest driver of additional revenue in the next five years will come from new ways of delivering content. Having said that, there is still a cloud over how long it will take for mobile to shine.

Google Money: the business model that rules - April 22, 2008
It was a shot across the bow of the traditional advertising media model last week when Google announced first quarter profits jumping 30%. It’s not just recessions, and fears there of, driving advertisers to click-through ads. It’s the triumph of accountability.

News International Publishes Four Great Ads Celebrating That Print Newspapers Are Here To Stay - April 16, 2008
It’s very seldom that one gushes over a print advertising campaign, even more so one targeting the long-life of print newspapers, but News International has excelled itself with four great ads promoting not only its UK national newspapers, but the general longevity of the print newspaper industry.

Russian advertising is big, bold and creative - April 15, 2008
It’s routine now to report another multi € million deal or year of double digit growth for Russia’s advertising business. And, too, there are the legendary Moscow billboards (almost) the size of football fields. Russia is a big country, something all Russians feel, and its’ advertising creatives reflect it all.

Chrysler Is Spending Some $35 Million To Launch Its 2009 Dodge Journey Crossover Auto, But If Newspapers Are Lucky They May See Around $1 million Of That Spend - April 10, 2008
Detroit just doesn’t love newspapers any more. But it likes the Internet a whole lot.

More Newspapers Join QuadrantOne National Web Advertising Scheme - March 25, 2008
The idea of newspaper groups banding together in a consortium to sell prime display advertising on their web sites is catching on with those newspapers that have been partnering with Yahoo on a display and classified advertising scheme now also joining the QuadrantOne scheme. The scheme, announced in February, has yet to run ads.

Auto Industry Drives More Of Its Advertising Billions Away From Traditional Media And Steers Them To The Internet - March 21, 2008
The subprime and credit crisis has ripped into newspaper real estate and auto advertising with double-digit percentage revenue declines, and while real estate may come back somewhat this year if the Fed’s actions take hold the same cannot be said for auto advertising – everything points to more and more of that spend being aimed at the Internet.

Junk food fight moves to new media - March 18, 2008

The ad people aren’t stupid. When the job is selling Skittles, they will mass that awesome creativity and sell Skittles. Consumer groups want laws.

In Non-Competitive Newspaper Markets Maybe It’s Time To Go Back To The Good Old Days – Get News Off the Front Page And Give It Back To Advertising - March 7, 2008
If newspaper publishers are really serious about seeking new business models so they have the money to produce a great local editorial product, thus maintaining and increasing circulation, then in non-competitive markets maybe now is the time to dump news from the front page and give all that prime space to advertising.

Four US Media Companies Team To Attract More National Advertising To Their Newspaper and Broadcast Web Sites – Now Why Haven’t They Done That For Their Print Properties Where It Is Really Needed? - February 27, 2008
One of the biggest complaints that US national advertisers have in conducting a national newspaper print ad campaign is how difficult it is to actually place the ads. Apart from the chains, each newspaper has to be contacted separately and it’s a real time-killer, and something that advertising agencies have seemingly forever asked newspapers to fix.

Seven reasons to love outdoor advertising - February 7, 2008

At one end of the media pipeline advertising exists to pay the rent and, of course, the shareholders. At the other, ads build brands and entice consumers. Along the way, advertising creatives are turning heads and outdoor advertising is right in front.

Did You Know Ryanair Used a Picture Of French President Sarkozy and Carla Bruni In An Ad Pushing Cheap Tickets. If ‘Yes’ Then Another Viral Marketing Success And A Paltry €60,000 Court Penalty Made It A Bargain - February 6, 2008
As if French President Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t have enough problems with huge falls in popularity because the French people believed he was spending too much time wooing Carla Bruni, whom he married Saturday, and not enough time on solving economic problems, then along came Irish cheap ticket airline Ryanair running an ad showing the couple with a bubble above Bruni’s picture reading, 'With Ryanair, my whole family can come to my wedding.'

Upheavals In The Advertising World: The Interruption-Disruption Model Is Said To Be Dying, Newsday Fires Its Advertising Manager Because The Revenue Isn’t There, And The Chicago Tribune Cuts Classified Help Wanted Ads, and Goodbye To Sexism - January 17, 2008
There seems to be a revolution of sorts in the advertising world – print and video. Who would have thought a major metropolitan newspaper like The Chicago Tribune would cut out help wanted classifieds during the week in print; that another metropolitan newspaper, Newsday, would publicly criticize its advertising manager for not bringing in the expected revenue and very publicly fire him; yet alone for a very well respected marketing analyst to make the point that advertising as we know it – interrupting and disrupting our media life -- is on the way out.

Food And Soft Drink Companies Representing Some Two-Thirds Of European Food Advertising Pledge To Stop Promoting Junk Food to The Under 12s Within A Year, And Unlike A Similar Food Company Pledge In The US, This One Has Independent Verification - December 12, 2007
European governments are serious in attacking obesity. It’s not just the individual’s personal health – the disease kills 10-13% of all Europeans and obesity rates have tripled since the 1980s -- but it’s a money issue, too, eating up some 2-8% of all health costs depending on the country. So it’s no wonder the European Commission threatened food manufacturers that they take action, or action will be taken for them.

With 2007 Advertising Spend Numbers Revised Down, How Does 2008 Look? Not Great According to the Experts At The UBS Media Week - December 4, 2007

Here’s how Robert J. Coen, the guru of US advertising forecasters, summed up his downbeat presentation to financial analysts and media executives Monday, 'Things don’t look good, but not as bad as you might fear and will get better,' and after a slight pause he remembered the most important part, but not next year.' To Steve King, CEO of Zenith Optimedia, the good news was, 'We do not believe there will be an ad recession in 2008.' Neither quote really instills great confidence.

Advertising Watchdogs On The Prowl For Corporations Fudging Facts To Earn 'Green' Credentials Or Making Excessive Health Claims -- In The UK American Stalwarts Boeing and Kellogg Have Been Shot Down In Flames - November 29, 2007

Vote for me and I’ll set you free - November 19, 2007
Election campaigns are always newsmakers. Politicians, political parties and their messages become the stuff of media for weeks, and in some cases months. Political advertising augments what time and space they can get for free. Two recent studies, one from Russia and one from the US, show it is all very irritating.

Warning: This automobile ad contains 20% fine print - October 25, 2007
It’s a good thing when national and international assemblies take seriously issues that harm one and all. The entire planet – North, South, East and West – feels the gathering effects of climate change. And so the European Parliament addressed the automobiles’ contribution to global warming the old fashioned way – blame the advertising.

Serbia is worlds fastest growing ad market - October 6, 2007
Between 2006 and 2009 the advertising market in Serbia will grow 308%, faster than all other countries. A new forecast raises to 18.3% this years’ ad growth in Central and Eastern Europe from 16.9%.

US Advertising Spend Drops In First Half, and Newspapers Particularly Get Nailed, Down 5.8%, But Even The Internet’s 17.7% Increase is Disappointing - September 12, 2007

The US report card for the first half’s advertising spend is in and the trend line is bad – media advertising expenditures have dropped for two consecutive quarters, the first time that has happened since 2001-- and while some media did better than others newspapers, as usual, have the poorest results.

Google Outlasts American Blinds In Trademark Suit - September 7, 2007
If ever proof was needed that it is very costly and very time consuming for a small company to take on a much larger company in court then American Blinds has learned its lesson in going against Google.

Radio Advertising - a sales story - September 3, 2007

A diminished future for radio advertising is again headlined by yet another report on internet ad spending. Yet the figures belie the story. In fact, the story is the story.

Macy’s Plans $100 Million TV Ad Campaign - August 24, 2007
It was considered a shock back in June when the highly-regarded Anne MacDonald was booted out after just 16 months as chief marketing officer of what was then Federated Department Stores but now renamed as Macy’s. She had the primary job of building up the Macy’s brand name, but with poor Q1 sales and now Q2 sales reporting in a 77% profit drop perhaps the reasons for her departure are becoming a bit clearer.

The Word 'Copyright' Keeps Google Lawyers Busy Day And Night Whether it Be For Selling Alleged Trademark Infringements On AdWords Or Listing Third Party News Items On Its News Service - August 21, 2007

Being a Google lawyer just got a whole lot busier – the world’s largest airline, American Airlines, is suing the world’s largest media company, Google, for allegedly selling its trademarks as keywords to third parties that use them to advertise within Google’s AdWords service.

It's The Headline That Newspaper Publishers Have Nightmares About -- “Online Ads To Overtake US Newspapers By 2011” – And Now It’s In Print - August 9, 2007
Everyone knows that print’s slice of the advertising pie has been dipping annually while the Internet’s slice grows each year. But not until now has any reputable research company put a date on the crossover – but now one of the industry’s most reliable annual state of the industry reports has gone on record -- watch out for 2011.

Screen time - July 30, 2007
Love it or not, media showing moving visual images continues to evolve. As the most widely used form of media expression, the directors and producers art reflects, distorts and pushes reality, constantly feeling its way. When ftm asked film and television director/producer Joaquin Lira about trends influencing his work he talked about finding the right color, local influences in globalized media and rediscovering the creative leaders.

Big bucks in billboards, €22 billion by 2010 - July 30, 2007
The global outdoor advertising market is rising, fast. The ad industry may wag about be internet and all the “potential” of ads on mobile phones but billboards, transit posters and street furniture are attracting out-of-home ad money. Industry analysts Global Industry Analysts (GIA) project outdoor adverting world-wide will take €22.3 billion (US$30.4 billion) by 2010

Lightning Does Hit Twice For Viral Car Ads - July 23, 2007
Now it’s DaimlerChrysler’s turn to pull a viral ad that has only served to embarrass the company, but this time around – unlike what happened to Volkswagen a couple of years back – this ad was actually created by Chrysler’s agency in The Netherlands rather than by rogues.

VW and NBC Universal – Not A Happy Product Placement Marriage - July 19, 2007
Two years ago with a huge amount of hype from both sides NBC Universal and Volkswagen signed a three-year product placement deal. Originally it was said the deal would be worth some $200 million but by the time the ink was dry it was more like $40 million.

Most Forecasters Lower Their Full Year Ad Spend Prognoses And Traditional Media’s Angst At The Growing Digital Spend Gets Worse - July 4, 2007

The prognosis for the US 2007 advertising spend is that it’s not going to be as strong as originally forecast, newspapers in particular should be grateful for whatever they get, but next year will be something else -- US Presidential elections and the Beijing Olympics make for a year to really boost spirits.

Ad Creative Goes Outdoor - June 28, 2007

Most outdoor advertising evokes nothing more than a sideward glance in the ad world. Billboards, posters, benches, shelters, taxi-tops and bus-backs and the like are not sexy at all. The Cannes Lions ad awards show that outdoor is back.

Kellogg Will Advertise Only Nutritional Food To The Under 12s Globally In A Major Victory In The War Against Childhood Obesity - June 15, 2007
Make no mistake, television food advertising aimed at kids is a huge grown-ups business worth some $3 billion in the US alone last year. A recent US government study said that half the junk food, sugary cereals, and soft drinks ads are on TV programs aimed at the under 12s. Nutritionists and government officials around the world are convinced such ads are a leading cause of the large increase in childhood obesity. But an admonished Tony the Tiger says he’ll do better from now on.

“Take Two Aspirin And Wait For 2008; Ad Spending Through The First Three Months Contracted At An Even Faster Rate Than We Expected” – TNS Media Intelligence Research Director - June 14, 2007

TNS Media Intelligence was the most optimistic of all the big forecasters last December with its 2007 ad spend predictions, but now halfway through the year it’s rollback time, big time. No more 2.6% gain for the year, that’s now down to 1.7%, or put another way, $1.4 billion disappears off the projections.

Anne MacDonald Out At Macy’s - June 1, 2007
Anne MacDonald, the chief marketing officer for Federated Department Stores who gave US newspaper publishers some blunt advice on what they need to do to continue getting the bulk of her near $1 billion ad budget, is suddenly herself out of a job. A company spokesman would not say why, but said her duties would be taken over by Peter Sachse, chairman-CEO of macy’s.com who was the marketing manager MacDonald had replaced when she came to Federated 15 months ago.

This Beer Web Site Apparently Not For You – Bud.tv Viewership Tanks - May 27, 2007
After all the hoopla of a Super Bowl launch timed with a huge promotional piece in the New York Times Magazine on which you could not put a value, and a spend of some $30 - $40 million on the site itself – a drop in the beer barrel for owner Anheuser-Busch (A-B) – it looks like Bud.tv just hasn’t satisfied beer taster’s taste buds.

TV Web Sites Overtaking Newspaper Web Sites - May 25, 2007
One salvation for newspapers wrestling to make their multiplatform approach to news as profitable as print used to be alone is that their web sites are so popular – 37.6% of US active internet users visited a newspaper site in Q1 -- but new studies show that local TV web sites are increasingly snapping at their heels, and at the end of the day the most important buzz word for advertisers will be “Reach”.

Nearly $12 Billion Has Been Spent This Year (And It’s Only May) By The Likes of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft In Buying Up Digital Advertising Companies Signaling It’s No Longer Just Chasing Eyeballs But Rather Running The Advertising Those Eyeballs Will View - May 22, 2007
In the past five weeks alone Google, Yahoo!, WPP and Microsoft have spent $10.5 billion for digital advertising businesses and since the beginning of the year the spend now totals $12 billion. There’s no question that the big guys want their piece of the advertising financial pie and that means owning how web ads are bought, sold, and displayed.

The Young Broke Box Office Records For Spider-Man 3 And That’s Really Bad News For Newspapers As Sony Pictures Concentrated On Digital Marketing Rather Than Newspaper Ads, Toyota Relaunches The Scion xB Without Newspaper Ads, And Macy’s Warns Publishers They Will Continue To Lose Out Unless They Change Their Ways. - May 9, 2007
With the young your primary customers, and you believe that target audience has drifted away from newspapers to the Web then who can blame Sony Pictures for following the money to the Web too, with resulting box office records for Spider-Man 3 around the world. Sony intentionally cut its newspaper marketing spend to increase its digital activities, and the studio couldn’t be happier. Are newspapers a necessary advertising spend any more?

Bud.TV Going From Bad To Worse - April 25, 2007

Have You Noticed That In The Recent Traditional Media Deals Announced By Google and Yahoo That They Are Not Spending Even One Penny On Buying Traditional Media Properties; You Can’t Pull The Wool Over Those New Media Eyes! - April 18, 2007

Google and Yahoo are getting involved with traditional media in big ways. Nary a day goes by that some sort of co-operation or advertising deal isn’t announced with traditional media by the new media gurus. But there are limits to their largess – they’re not spending one penny on actually buying traditional media properties. They’re just doing business with them. Stupid, they’re not.

Not Much Unites The World These Days, But One Thing Most Do Seem To Agree And Act Upon Is That Obesity Is A Global Disease And Those Junk Food Ads Aimed At Kids On Any Media Platform Need To Tone Down - April 17, 2007
Canada’s food and beverage announced Monday that 15 of its biggest companies will devote at least 50% of their ads directed to children under 12 to promote healthy food choices and how to live an active life. The industry will also sponsor new public service ads under the umbrella “Long Live Kids.” They’d live longer if 100% of that advertising budget aimed at the under 12 went to promote healthy food choices and lots of exercise, but it’s just one example of how the world is on the same wave length to encourage the food industry to change its ways. Junk food has replaced tobacco as the young’s Public Enemy #1.

ftm follow-up - That Los Angeles Times Mission: Impossible III Promotion That went Badly Wrong Results In A $75,000 Settlement - April 16, 2007

Those Sleeping Giants -- Local Television Web Sites -- Are Waking Up To Do Battle With Newspaper Web Sites – Witness The New Expanded TV Co-Branding Deal With Monster.Com For Classified Job Ads - April 13, 2007
More than one-third of US web users visit a newspaper Internet site, which is great for newspapers as they try to persuade advertisers to look not just at print circulation but to combine that with its web site readership numbers, but local TV is now waking up, adding loads of local video and programming to their sites, and this week’s expanded deal with Monster.com shows they are getting into the classifieds big time, too.

Remnant Sale! Cheap Ads! Call Google! - April 2, 2007
Google’s ambition to reshape – if not revitalize – advertising sales has never been a secret. With the advantage of looking at advertising through totally new eyes, they bring a totally destructive process to traditional ad sales. The Web mind-set is nourished by this kind of positive deconstruction.

Bud.TV Off To A Very Dry Start - March 18, 2007

It Looks Like The Business Side of Newspapers Is Finally Getting Its Act Together, Too - March 1, 2007
Perhaps the biggest complaint advertisers have against newspapers is how very difficult it is to actually do business with them. In the days of 20% plus margins that didn’t worry publishers so much – the money still rolled in – but today things are different and the business-side now has good reason to get its act together.

It’s All Well And Good Turning Print Journalists Into Video Journalists For the Web, But It Is The Smart Publisher Who Will Also Turn His Print Ad Salespeople Into Video Ad Salespeople, Too - February 21, 2007
Newspaper publishers have caught on that multi-platform means multimedia and newsrooms around the world are training on how to shoot video for the newspaper’s web site. But it is the really savvy publisher who provides that same training to his sales people, too.

Bud.tv In Trouble Over Age Checks - February 21, 2007
Bud.tv can’t win – it has been severely criticized by the media because the age verification process has acted as a deterrent to some adults who wanted to view the site, but now 21 American State attorneys general have written to the brewer saying that the site can be too easily accessed by the underage drinker.

Notice How Newspapers And Web Classified Job Listing Sites Are Now Rushing Together To Form Partnerships. Better Late Than Never, But What About LiveDeal That Started It All In The First Place? - February 16, 2007
It was, perhaps, a bitter pill to swallow but newspaper companies have come to the realization that if you can’t beat the major web classified job-listings companies then you might as well literally join them.

Bud-TV Launches Today After Its Super Bowl Introduction And If The Idea Works Then Television Will Be Crying In Its Beer - February 5, 2007
Anheuser Busch begins a really novel idea today that has television executives gritting their teeth – it is launching a multi channel Internet television network, Bud TV, all with original programming, and if the site captures its target male 21 – 27 year-olds then television could well lose an awful lot of advertising as other sponsors climb onto the Bud wagon.

Anheuser-Busch Is Getting The Headlines For Its $18 Million Super Bowl Spend, But The Real Story Is Who Is Not Showing Up To The Party – Procter & Gamble -- And It’s Also Giving The Oscars Telecast A Pass, Too. Spot A Trend? - January 31, 2007
That Anheuser Busch is spending around $18 million for its nine Super Bowl Spots is getting all the buzz, but what is really more important to the advertising and TV industry is how Procter and Gamble has bowed out of this year’s game, and it is also bypassing the Oscars telecast. Could it be that P&G is losing faith in the value of the 30-second ad and is really enamored by digital?

General Motors Cut Its Time Inc. Ad Spend In 2006 By $48 Million, But the Automaker Sponsors Three New AOL Online-only Programs – A Clear Example Of Ad Spend Drifting To Emerging Media - January 26, 2007
The Three Big US automakers – General Motors, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler -- cut their ad spend with Time Inc last year by more than $100 million which is one reason for the magazine group cutting 289 jobs this week, but the automakers weren’t just pocketing all of that unspent cash but rather they were directing more and more money to what is becoming known now as emerging media.

Europe Started Slower Than The US In Embracing Internet Advertising Opportunities, But It Has Caught Up Real Fast -- In Percentage Terms Its 2007 Web Advertising Spend Is Forecast To Just Exceed The US And Gain Even More In The Years To Come - January 23, 2007
European online advertising is forecast to grow some 25% this year whereas in the US online growth rates are projected at 19%, but while the Internet’s percentage of the total advertising spend is pretty much the same for both (7.2 – 7.3%) Europe is expecting to hit around 9.4% in 2010 compared to 8.9% in the US.

What Could Be Easier Than A Traffic Light On A Food Package Telling Us The Item Is Healthy (Green), So-So (Amber) Or Unhealthy (Red), But Most Of The UK Food Industry Is Fighting Mad And Just Sees Red - January 12, 2007
The KISS strategy (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is usually the smartest marketing practice and so the UK government hit pay dirt with its traffic light system it wants printed on packaged foods saying if the product is low, medium or high in fat, saturates, sugar, and salt. But that has sent the food industry ballistic. Making it too easy for the consumer to practice safe food, especially if there are a bunch of red lights on your product, does not help sales for those products, which, of course, is the government’s way of persuading the manufacturers to make their foods more nutritional.

Which Country Leads Advertising Growth This Year? Which Country Has The World’s Largest Proportion of Its Advertising Spend Going On The Internet? Hint: If You Answered “US” To Either You’re Wrong! - December 8, 2006
When it comes to advertising growth the world is leaving the US behind. Many forecasters have cut their US year-end expectations to somewhere between 2 – 3%, but for the world as a whole advertising growth is predicted at around 5%.

Viral Advertising Is The Rage, But Sony Discovers That Faking A Viral Site Has Done Nothing But Earn It Scorn - December 2, 2006
Think of viral advertising as an electronic word of mouth. The idea is to spot something really interesting on the Internet and pass it onto our friends who in turn pass it to their friends and this great advertising flow costs the company whose product is being promoted absolutely zero. Not a bad deal! But if you cheat, as Sony has, and get found out, that’s a whole different ballgame and brings the full revenge of the nerds upon you.

That Traditional “Screen” That Everyone Watches On Thanksgiving Day Is Not So “Traditional” Any More. American Football Gives Way To Surfing The Internet For Shopping On Black Friday - November 22, 2006

Thursday is perhaps the biggest holiday in the US, even bigger than Christmas. Families congregate from all over the country for the family Thanksgiving holiday. But this year a new tradition enters many homes –Thanksgiving becomes the day families research the Internet for where to shop on Black Friday.

The Kremlin Wants You To Know There Is More To Mother Russia Than Contract Killings of Bankers and Journalists, So It Is Spending Big For Monthly Inserts In The Washington Post, The UK’s Daily Telegraph and Other Newspapers Around The World - October 19, 2006
The Russian Federation wants a more positive view of the country seen around the world and is willing to pay the price to get it. Via the official Rossliskaya gazeta, the Kremlin has decided to invest several million rubles for a monthly insert, Trendlines Russia, to appear in The Washington Post, and The Daily Telegraph (UK) starting this year and in 10 other major national newspapers in other countries by the end of next year.

The Auto Advertising Spend Will Increase In Q4, But The Question Remains Where Will The Money Go? - October 12, 2006
Several automakers, Chrysler being the biggest, say that ad spending is going to pick up significantly in this last quarter of the year because there are so many new models being introduced. But what isn’t clear is how that spend is being proportioned, although TV will probably get the lion’s share, but how much more will go into the Internet and at print’s expense?

Internet Advertising Revenues Will Increase By At Least 30% Internationally This Year – Some Countries Up 40 - 50% -- But Does The Yahoo Glitch Mean A US Growth Slowdown? - October 2, 2006
Yahoo gave Wall Street a mighty fright by announcing its third-quarter revenues would come in at the low end of forecasts, with some analysts lopping as much as $400 million off their previous forecasts, but was Yahoo a glitch or a sign of worse to come?

Advertisers Are Still Trying To Figure Out Where They Get The Most Bang For Their Dollar/Pound/Euro. In The US They Are Sliding Away, Again, From Newspapers. In The UK, The Q4 Prognosis For ITV Looks Horrible - September 24, 2006

Very little of the media advertising news has been good these past couple of weeks. In the US newspaper group after newspaper group announced that Q3 sales, particularly September, were very soft – as the New York Times put it, the market is “very challenging” – and for ITV, the UK’s premier commercial television network, the Q4 prognosis is a 20% drop in advertising revenue from the year before.

When Yahoo’s Shares Are Hammered 12% Because A Drop In Auto Advertising Hurts 3rd Quarter Ad Revenue Forecasts Then You Begin To Understand The Enormity Of The $750 Million Tip Of The Print Auto Iceberg - September 20, 2006

A $750 million drop in US auto print advertising this year by domestic and foreign auto companies has already hit bottom lines with double-digit percentage revenue declines at most newspapers and generalist magazines, but the prevailing view was that print’s loss was the Internet’s gain. So when Yahoo announced that a slight drop in auto and financial advertising would adversely affect its 3rd quarter revenue forecasts Wall Street went into a tizzy.

Advertising Revenue on US Newspaper Web Sites Increases 33%, But Print Continues Its Decline With More Dark Clouds On The Horizon - September 3, 2006
Even newspaper trade organizations chose to lead on the 33% growth in web advertising revenues earned on US newspaper sites, mentioning later the decline in print advertising revenues. But dig deep into those reports and new forecasts and studies just released and the real story is that not only is print down, but there are very dark clouds on its horizon.

US Automakers See Sales Drop Dramatically And For Newspapers Experiencing a Near 50% Drop in the Auto Spend “It’s A Melting Ice Cube All The Way Around.” - August 7, 2006
That the US automobile industry is in another crisis is no secret. Headlines blare out about Toyota overtaking Ford in June sales, how Chrysler Group sales fells 37% over a year ago, etc. etc., but for the media watcher the real story is how those automakers and their dealers are desperately trying to lure buyers back to the showroom. They are cutting way back on the newspaper spend, TV is still the biggest spend but recent “folksy” campaigns have flopped, and the Internet and mobile are increasing their popularity.

With Two Of Every Three Dollars Of Newspaper Online Earnings Coming From Classifieds, Why Isn’t The Industry Ready To Enter The “Golden Era of Online Classifieds”? - July 31, 2006
Globally about 6.8% of all newspaper classified revenues comes from online and the obvious question is why that number isn’t much larger especially since everyone knows classifieds have been migrating online for some years. Why haven’t newspaper’s online classified operations taken up the slack better than this?

LiveDeal Ties Up With AdStar – Now An Online Ad Can Be Automatically Fed to the Local Newspaper’s Print Edition - July 26, 2006
It seems a no-brainer – newspapers partner LiveDeal, a specialist in online classifieds, and let LiveDeal do all the site maintenance, keeping its technology up-to-date, and they share the revenue. The Toronto Star liked the idea so much it actually invested in LiveDeal and then set up its own Canadian site that has been very successful since its January start.

The World Cup Brings Advertising Riches To Some, But Not To All - July 13, 2006
China wasn’t even in the World Cup, and the tournament was held mostly in Chinese morning hours, but its web sites cleaned up big-time with huge advertising profits. For some European countries, the television advertising revenues could benefit by as much as 4%, but in others, including the UK, the World Cup has had a negligible effect on television advertising. And the ratings in the US for some of the games matched major domestic sporting events.

US Overall Advertising Forecasts Are Lowered, Outdoor Is Up, Internet Is Way Up, UK Regionals and ITV Are Way Down, US Network Upfronts Are Flat Or Down – Just What Is Going On Out There? - July 3, 2006
The world’s largest advertising market by far is the US. When it catches cold others sneeze – in the UK right now it’s more like pneumonia! And although the Internet continues its merry way and select segments like outdoor are also up, Wall Street’s most prominent ad forecasters are now revising their full year US figures down.

Publicis’ CEO Warns The Advertising Industry that The Playing Field Has Changed – Consumers Are Now In Charge Of When and How They Receive The Message -- And The Only Three Ways For Agencies To Survive In This New Media World Are “Change, Change, and Change” - June 19, 2006
Consumers now have so many different ways, empowered by technology, to obtain the news, information and entertainment they want when they want it that they have become “enlightened despots” according to Maurice Levy, Publicis Groupe CEO. And while he thinks television will remain a preferred medium for some time to reach those consumers, he does question whether print can continue to charge on a long-term basis.

FCUK Advertising Not Yet Banned In Boston – But Getting Close - May 15, 2006
For clothes retailer FCUK -- the initials stand for French Connection United Kingdom, the initials easy to remember for a reason that doesn’t take a marketing MBA to figure out – sales recently have been seriously dropping. So it embarked on a new advertising campaign featuring lesbianism and women fighting one another. And now sales are dropping even more!

Read Between the Lines Of Ford’s Announcement Of Its Double Digit Ad Spend Growth This Year And Traditional Media Should Not Cheer Too Much – A Lot of That New Spend Is Going Digital and Elsewhere - May 4, 2006
Traditional media, hard hit by automobile companies cutting back on their advertising spend because of poor sales and huge financial losses, thought it heard the announcement this week it has waited so long for -- Ford is boosting its advertising spend over the next 12 months. But look closely at how the company is going to spend that additional money and there’s no reason to uncork the champagne.

US Internet Advertising in 2005 Grew 30% Over 2004, and Newspapers Can Take Heart Their Web Sites Got About 16% of the Total, About Nine Times More Than TV Station Web Sites - April 24, 2006
The forecasts were about right – Internet advertising grew by 30% in 2005 and Q4 actually saw a 34% increase over the same quarter a year earlier, but some traditional media are doing better than others in taking advantage of the multi-platform approach. Newspapers are doing OK; TV has a long way to go.

A Drop in Auto Advertising Is Really Beginning To Hurt US Traditional Media, But It Is Nothing Compared To What Will Happen If GM’s Delphi Unit Goes on Strike In May And Shuts The Company Down. - April 10, 2006
Metaphorically, when General Motors sneezes, the advertising business catches cold. So with a threatened strike looming within the next couple of months at its Delphi parts offshoot, and analysts saying if it happens it will be a long strike, crippling GM and forcing it into bankruptcy (intensive care) then the advertising prognosis (spend) for America’s leading advertiser on its traditional clients may well leave them feeling faint.

With More than 2 Billion Mobile Phone Users in the World Of Which 236 Million Use 3G, Can Advertisers Be Very Far Behind? - March 30, 2006
It’s already well understood that advertising money is flowing away from traditional media to more unconventional channels, and a survey by eMarketeer points out that the two tactics that advertisers want to experiment with this year over any other are video and the mobile phone.

Is There A Correlation Between Internet Advertising Increasing 22% in 2005 While National Newspaper Advertising Dropped 4.7%, And That Some 50 Million Americans Now Turn to the Internet For Their Daily News Fix? - March 27, 2006
As broadband Internet access increases so will their users turn to the Internet for their daily news requirements, according to significant US research. And since 37% of adult Americans now have broadband compared to 10% four years ago, is it just coincidence that advertising revenue growth for traditional media fell last year while on the Internet it soared 22.3%?

If You Want The Cheapest Cost Per Thousand Viewers Then Your Advertising Should Go Outdoors, But if You Want to Spend The Most For A Captive Audience Then Cinema Is Your Ticket - March 9, 2006
For the first time since Initiative Futures Worldwide published its global media costs survey in 2000, advertising rates for all media sectors in 2006 look set to rise ahead of economic inflation, driven by emerging countries where high economic growth, surging demand and scarce supply are pushing prices up sharply.

Eight of the 10 Largest US Advertisers Slashed Their Ad Budgets in 2005, Led By Proctor & Gamble’s 4.6% Decline, But The Total US Spend Still Grew By 3% to $143 Billion. What Does That Say For 2006? - March 6, 2006
Procter & Gamble’s $3.2 billion spent on advertising in 2005 ensured it still remained the largest US advertiser, but that figure was down 4.6% over the year before, and eight out of the largest US advertisers also spent less meaning the total spend of the top 10 dropped by 3.3% to $18.6 billion.

Russia’s Ad Market Explodes in 2005. New Law Puts On The Brakes - February 23, 2006
Ad spending in Russia passed US$ 5.1 billion in 2005, at the explosive rate averaging 30% in each of the last three years. Legislation now passed its second reading in the State Duma might bring an end to the seemingly endless TV ads, billboards on virtually every building and, of course, spam, filling Russian computer screens and threatening mobile phones.

The Good News For Newspapers Is that More People Than Ever Before Are Reading Their Online News Sites. The Bad News Is that One of Their Major Advertising Sectors – Automotive – Is Moving Much Of Its Spend to The Web, Too, But Not Necessarily To Newspaper Sites - February 6, 2006
US newspaper web sites continued to attract web crowds in record numbers during Q4, 2005 as some 35% of all active US web users spent time on a newspaper site. But that is about the only thing newspapers can find to celebrate, and with print circulations still in decline, and revenues basically flat there is now the added dose of bad news that newspaper classified automobile advertising has taken a nosedive, and all the signs are things will get worse, not better.

$2.3 million for a 30-second Super Bowl TV Ad –This Year For That Kind of Money Advertisers Are Getting Sharp – Converging The Spend With Online Campaigns, Even Advertising In Print To Watch Their Ad - January 23, 2006
It’s not every day that a company takes out print ads in major newspapers beseeching readers to view their Super Bowl advertisement February 5 in what is annually America’s most watched TV program. But Emerald Nuts is going to do just that.

Whole New World for Radio Ads: Google - January 18, 2006
It could be good news for radio advertising. It could be great for commercial broadcasters. It could go nowhere. Or, it could be transformative. Google will now sell radio ads.

Can Newspapers Maintain Their 20% Plus margins in 2006 On Print Ad Revenue That Could Actually Decline By 1.5%? The Answer May Rest On The Advertising Opportunities Their Own Web Sites Provide. - January 12, 2006
If a publisher takes as a basic premise that the trends of past years will continue in 2006 – that print advertising growth will be less than 5% -- the bears say it will actually drop 1.5% and fear that is too optimistic -- and that Internet advertising will grow from 20-30%, is there any way to continue the usual 20% plus margins?

The 2006 Advertising Forecasts Are In – The Internet Continues Huge Growth At the Expense of Newspapers and Televsion, and the US and European Percentage Growth Will Lag Far Behind Such Growing Markets As Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia and China - December 7, 2005
As the major advertising forecasters lower their projected 2005 results and cut back on their predictions for 2006 growth, their common thread is that European and the US traditional media, particularly television, are going to see their existing advertising monies flow ever more to the Internet, especially to broadband.

With Obesity on the Increase, European Countries Target Food Advertising, Especially That Aimed at Kids, While Food Manufacturers Greatly Increase Their Spend to Promote Healthy Food - November 10, 2005
Food advertising in France next year must contain a health warning against high fat or sugar content or the manufacturer could face a 1.5% tax on its advertising spend.

Television Just Isn’t the Same Any More: Audi, the German Auto Maker, Launches Its Own UK 24-Hour Digital TV Channel While TV Networks Sample Their Programs via Internet Broadband and Mobiles - November 7, 2005
It seems that advertisers and program providers are all having the same idea as set forth recently by Jana Bennett, the BBC’s director of television, “ to exploit the opportunities that new technologies offer to look at how programs might be delivered beyond the traditional linear broadcast.”

Cannes Lions – Real Radio Genius - November 1, 2005
Every year for the last half century the advertising world gathers in Cannes, France to celebrate the best of their creations. The 2005 Cannes Lions included for the first time awards for radio advertising. Other major media awards – Cleos, New York Festivals and London International Advertising – have had a radio category for several years.

“How Can Traditional Media Continue to Charge More For Less?” – Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP; Heineken Pulls TV Ads in the UK Because of Cost And Other Negative Factors - October 31, 2005
Traditional media can’t say it is not getting warned. Martin Sorrell, ceo of the world’s second largest advertising agency, has warned that costs cannot continue to grow while audiences delivered are going down.

The UK Ad Watchdog Gets Its Knickers In A Twist Over An Ad Offering a Free “Boob Job”, But A Topless Woman Biting the Leg Of A Man Showing His Bare Buttocks – In Vogue No Less – That’s OK! - October 27, 2005
It was a novel first prize for a men’s magazine contest: “Win a Boob Job For Your Girlfriend.” But it raised the ire of a dozen readers and the UKs Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has now labeled the contest in Zoo Magazine as irresponsible, but it did clear it of being offensive or misleading.

Now There Is A Way For Newspapers to Compete With Craigslist. Say Hello to LiveDeal - October 27, 2005
Newspapers know they stand to lose billions of dollars in classified advertising revenue to Craigslist, and many publishers have simply no idea how to compete against free ads. But now comes along LiveDeal, a Craigslist competitor that actually encourages newspapers to turn over their classifieds to a site LiveDeal will run for them on a revenue share basis. It’s aimed at local readership within a 50-mile radius of local postal codes, but it extends nationwide.

Internet Advertising Soars to New Records on Both Sides of the Atlantic and a European Survey Shows Big Companies See Online Advertising As Critical to Their Campaigns - October 20, 2005
The percentage figures for online advertising increases this year are truly staggering: Yahoo reports a 46% increase in advertising from last year; The UK, Europe’s largest online market, reports 62% growth; in Poland it is 50% and it’s 35% in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany; Italy is expected to grow 18% and the list goes on.

Where Is Newspaper and Television Advertising Going? It’s Transferring Slowly But Surely From “In Your Face” to Encouraging the Oldest , Most Successful Advertising Forum of All – Word of Mouth - September 26, 2005
A recent survey from Intelliseek said that 88% of consumers trust “word of mouth” and 65% of consumers trust friends for product recommendations. Compare that to 56% who trust newspaper advertising and the 47% who trust radio and television advertising and it’s not too difficult to figure out why some advertising spend is shifting to word of mouth.

Ad Growth Moves East, But Not that Far Away - September 22, 2005
Widely reported and now taken as simple truth, ad spending world side – except in Asia and except for the internet - is shrinking. Aegis, a division of media buyer Carat, recently revised downward its ad spending forecasts for 2005. But you might have missed the part about Central and Eastern Europe.

The Kate Moss Episode Has Taught Advertisers That Just Because They Might Forgive A Celebrity’s Folly, the Public May Not, and the Public Wins. There May Be Something to the Morals Clause After All. - September 22, 2005
The amazing point about Kate Moss’ cocaine snort is that she apologized, her future employer accepted the apology, and everyone thought the issue closed. But no one had counted on the extreme negative public reaction to a super model role model breaking a hard narcotics taboo, yet alone how the UK tabloids would rip her apart.

“The Advertiser-Dependent Television Model Can Not Survive. Those Broadcasters Who Cannot Resolve This Will Die” – Unilever Global Media Director - September 19, 2005
When the vice-president of global media for Unilever, one of the world’s largest television advertisers, tells the television industry it needs to change its ways or “die”, then the industry had better pay close attention.

60% of US Web Surfers Say News Is The Most Important Content On the Internet, But They Complain Most Online Advertising Is Targeted At Age Groups Other Than Their Own - September 15, 2005
News is of more interest than anything else on the Internet, according to a new study from BURST! Media, and that is good news for newspapers since their web sites are the most popular news sites on the Web, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

The UK Ad Watchdog Continues Campaign to Stop Unsubstantiated Claims By Cosmetic Manufacturers That They Have Found the Next Best Thing to the Fountain of Youth - August 25, 2005
Even the smiling face of super model Claudia Schiffer wasn’t enough to convince the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that make-up products from L’Oreal were the wonder products their television advertisements said they were. And therefore ASA made the French cosmetics company take the ads, part of a multimillion dollar television campaign, off the air.

Hollywood Blames Failure of Newspaper and Television Advertising For Its Box Office Slump. Threatens Diverting Advertising to Where the Young Congregate – The Internet - August 20, 2005
Hollywood is going through its worst slump in some 20 years, and the problem, according to the movie moguls, is not that their films are bad – a matter of opinion -- but rather the hundreds of millions of dollars they are spending on newspaper and television advertising are being wasted on age demographics that don’t go much to the movies.

Does it Cross the Editorial Line in the Sand If an Automobile Manufacturer Pays for Its Car to be in a News Photo, Or a Brand Named Ketchup Pays To Be Mentioned in a Cooking Recipe? - August 15, 2005
Product placement is worth in the billions of dollars to movies and television but what may not be so well known is that it is worth in the hundreds of millions to newspapers and magazines. And some advertisers want to see that grow, even crossing that boundary that has traditionally separated advertising from editorial.

Wall Street Has Coined a New Term For the Advertising Difficulties Facing Traditional Media: Welcome to “Media Malaise” - August 1, 2005
With nearly all the traditional media advertising pointers for the rest of the year looking particularly sick, trust Wall Street to introduce the term that sums it all up. “Media Malaise” is forecast to be with us for some time to come!

Can Anyone Explain the Difference Between Payola and Product Placement? - July 28, 2005
Two major advertising stories hit this week – Sony/BMG agreed to pay $10 million to settle a payola investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. And PQ Media says that the value of US product placement advertising excluding TV and movies in 2005 has gone up 18.1% and is now worth $384.9 million.

Overall Global Advertising In 2005 Is Forecast Lower, But the Internet Spend Keeps Going Up With Television Feeling the Worst Pinch of Ad Placements Going Elsewhere - July 21, 2005
The television share of global advertising appears to have peaked at 38% and is now on the way down, led by two of the world’s leading television markets – The US and Japan – according to new report issued by the ZenithOptimedia Group.

With Newspaper Ad Spend Up Only About 3% in 2005 Newspapers Look For New Ways of Attracting the Spend. Here’s the Story of One Idea That Didn’t Come Off, And Another That Has Come and Gone. Time for a Revisit? - July 18, 2005
New newspaper advertising ideas are the rage these days. Whether its changing page 1 into a false full page ad for the local department store (Detroit Newspapers) or turning the front page green to boost an advertiser (Liberation in Paris), newspapers are in the mood to try just about anything to boost advertising revenue.

ASA Draws the Line at Spitting - July 7, 2005
When it comes to advertising, spitting is a partial no; masturbation is a definite no-no; but when it comes to explaining the evils of smoking, a verbal kick right where it hurts the most is perfectly OK

Food Ads Under Attack Again: New Survey Says Kids Think “Fat-Free” and “Diet” Are Synonymous with “Nutritious” - June 27, 2005
As the food industry globally works on self-regulations in advertising various fatty or salty foods to the under 12s, a new survey has come along suggesting certain buzz words like “fat-free” and “diet” need to be fully explained, or not used, since kids equate those words with healthy foods.

Times Square Actually Bans an Ad For Being Too Raunchy June 16, 2005
There’s an old saying that there is no one more rehabilitated than a reformed prostitute.

When Procter & Gamble, the Worlds Largest Advertiser, Dramatically Cuts TV Spot Buys And Puts the Money Into More Product Placement Then You Know the Television Advertising Revolution Is Underway. Goodbye to the 30-Second Ad? - June 16, 2005
Procter & Gamble (P&G) has just moved the earth under Madison Avenue, and the television advertising executives, who knew doom was impending but perhaps not this soon, are still in shock. Television product placement has become so important for P&G that it has cut way back on its upfront TV ad buying for next season, putting the money instead into increasing its already very successful product placement campaigns.

With McKinsey Warning that Newspaper Classified Advertising Revenue Could Take a $4 billion Hit Within Two Years, Knight-Ridder Fights Back Offering Some Classifieds for Free On Most of Its Web Sites - May 30, 2005
McKinsey had warned newspaper publishers in April that their classified advertising revenue was going to take a $4 billion hit by 2007 – that’s about 9% of the $46.7 billion that newspapers earned from 2004 advertising. The losses are forecast because so much of that advertising is increasingly moving to the Internet where it is posted for free or for much less than a newspaper charges.

The One Second Ad Campaign - May 30, 2005
Antwerp agency defies all logic, again, and tells you all you need to know about advertising in one second.

That “Chinese Wall” Between An Advertiser and Being Able to Editorially Criticize That Advertiser Is Crumbling As Major Corporations Decide To Play Hardball: “Criticize Us, Then Pull Our Advertising.” - May 25, 2005
We warned when General Motors withdrew its advertising from the Los Angeles Times because GM didn’t like the Times’ stories about the automaker that it was firing a bombshell which would be heard around the media world. With great regret it’s already “told you so” time, and it’s getting serious.

Sex and Nudity Are OK Within Limits, But Better Not Mess With Religion - May 10, 2005
If an advertiser messes with God there is more chance that the ad will get banned, according to the 2004 annual report of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). But the Brits do see things a bit more liberally than their continental cousins.

Now It’s Confirmed: Some of That Double Digit Internet Advertising Increase Forecast For Each of the Next Five Years Will Come Directly From the Pockets of Newspapers - May 8, 2005
While mainstream newspapers are bemoaning circulation declines, and trying to get the young more interested, they were at least secure knowing that while the industry’s $47 billion spend hasn’t grown much over the years it is still 40 times more than Internet advertising.

For the Advertiser, Are the Total Number of Eyes Looking at the Product the Most Important Gauge At Getting Your Money’s Worth, Or Does “Quality” of the Beholder Count, Too? - April 25, 2005
As newspaper circulation drops, and as some web sites struggle to get the number of unique visitors that advertisers demand, a question being asked more and more of advertisers is whether they are after “quantity” or “quality”.

How Can Advertising Supported Television Continue If Increasing Numbers of Viewers Skip the Ads? - April 18, 2005
It Can’t, So Get Ready for a Television Advertising Revolution.

Rapper 50 Cent In A TV Ad Tells He’s Been Shot Nine Times, Then Shows His Reeboks and Proclaims “I Am What I Am”. Maybe So, But Not On British Screens -- Ad Withdrawn! - April 18, 2005
And Then There is Tiger Wood’s Kind of Shot.

As If Metro Was Not Already Giving Publishers Heartburn by Taking Their Younger Readers - April 14, 2005
Now It Is Going For the Jugular Targeting Classified Advertising Revenues By Converging With New Web Sites

If the Cell Phone Rings During Sex, Do You Answer It? - April 14, 2005
Anyone who has visited Italy knows how much the Italians love their cell phones.

Product Placement Explodes Onto Our Screens. It Could Be the Beginning of the End For the 30-Second Commercial - April 4, 2005
You think it is by chance that a rap song you may hear on the radio happens to mention McDonald’s hamburgers?

Christina Aguilera Says She Wants to Sing the Blues. Which Is Just As Well After Opening Her Mouth Cost Her a Lucrative Product Licensing Agreement For Her Own Clothing Label - March 21, 2005
There are times when being the business manager for a pop music star just isn’t worth the effort. After months of license negotiations, Christina Aguilera clothes and accessories were set to hit stores in the summer. Then the diva mouthed off at the Academy Awards, “I just think it is so tacky (for celebrities to have their own clothing lines). I have always thought it one of those things that just make people look like they don’t know what to do any more.”

US Newspaper Internet Sites Grew 2004 Advertising By 26.7%; Print Newspaper Advertising Rose by 3.9%. Which Do You Think Is the Growth Market? - March 17, 2005
For those newspaper publishers searching for double-digit advertising growth opportunities in 2005 they need look no further than their own web sites. Statistics released by the Newspaper Association of America showed record advertising revenues for US newspaper Internet sites in 2004 of $1.5 billion.

As the EC Declares War on Obesity, the Food Industry Changes Its TV Advertising. Their Voluntary Theme - In the Hope Regulators Won’t Ban Their Ads Aimed at Kids - Becomes “Eat and Live Healthy” - March 17, 2005
Europeans used to scoff at the fat American – there were so many of them (especially those who insisted on wearing shorts to emphasize their figure) -- but now obesity has reached epidemic proportions in Europe, and the regulatory fingers are wagging at television food advertisers. The alleged villains are not just the junk food outlets, but also household-name food manufacturers who target their heavily sugared or salted products in programs watched by the under 12s.

Anything Wrong with Depicting the Apostles at the Last Supper as Women?UPDATED - March 13, 2005
Or As a Drunken Binge? French, Italian and Greek Officials Are Not Amused. And Neither is the Church.

Put on Your Dancing Shoes, More Reports of Ad Spend Increases - March 9, 2005
IREP France and IMA Sweden release final 2004 figures along with a few predictions.

There’s A Good Reason Advertisers Are Flocking to the Internet – New Research Shows The Very Rich Are the Fastest Growing Web Users - February 28, 2005
High-income users – those earning more than $150,000 a year – are more active on the web than any other financial segment in the US, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Men favor the financial sites; women like entertainment sites; and both spend a lot of time on travel sites.

Amex Learns Surfing the Waves Not Exactly Perfect Timing After Tsunami Newscast - February 24, 2005
Having watched extended coverage of the tsunami disaster viewers on British television were then treated to an American Express advertisement featuring surfer Laird Hamilton riding the big ones. Not exactly the most tactful message to show at that particular moment.

With Record Internet Advertising in 2004 on Both Sides of the Atlantic Is It Any Wonder Traditional Media Invests Big-Time Buying Online Sites? - February 24, 2005
US Internet advertising grew 17% in the 2004 fourth quarter to achieve a record $9.6 billion for the year – that’s 32% more than 2003 and 19% more than in 2000 when the dot com boom was at its highest. Some European countries are reporting even higher percentage gains....

The $1.5 million Donald Trump Engagement Ring, the Car that Jack Bauer Drives on "24", and the Camera Lingering on the Coffee Can In the Friends Kitchen All Have One Thing in Common. Clue: Money Changed Hands! - February 17, 2005
They say one reason the rich get richer is because they know a good deal when its offered.

Why Is It That Every Time We Add the Word “Sex” To A Story About Advertising the Hit Rate Goes Crazy? No Matter, Now That You’re Here … - February 7, 2005
Men: The next time your wife gives you hell for leering at a picture of a voluptuous woman just tell her you are doing your job – you are studying to see if your corporate message would fit across the woman’s breasts.

Something Nice to Read in Your Morning Mail: “You are Going to be My Next Murder Victim!” By the Way, Did You Miss It was a Promo for a TV Show? - January 31, 2005
Picture this: You’re reading your morning mail over the cereal bowl when you open a brown envelope and out falls a dossier of crime scene reports, news clippings and photographs all with the basic message: YOU are the victim of a murderous stalker and you could be next.

Pigs Cannot Fly. Nor Does the UK Labor Party’s Poster Showing the “Pigs” to be Jewish - January 31, 2005
In advertising timing is everything. So is recognizing quickly when you have made a faux pas and fix it.

Just When You Thought Bad Taste Couldn’t Get Worse: The (Unapproved) VW Video Ad Starring A Suicide Bomber. Console Yourself With the (Approved) Elle Macpherson Underwear Ad in Vogue - January 20, 2005
Volkswagen swears it has nothing to do with the video ad for its Polo car that has shown up on the Internet featuring a suicide bomber. In the ad the bomber, sitting in his Polo parked outside a restaurant, hits the bomb detonator blowing him to pieces, but the car remains intact. The tagline, was the same as used by Polo in legitimate ads: “Polo, Small but Tough”.

How To Write Into the Script a Volkswagen Sitting in the Middle of the Oval Office? Or in the ER? With $200 Million At Stake, They’ll Find a Way! - January 16, 2005
If the television program or movie comes out of NBC Universal, or appears on NBC television, then expect within the year to find plenty of Volkswagens throughout the script. Indeed one can imagine scenes where on busy city streets everyone (except perhaps the bad guys) is driving a Volkswagen.

Some Good Has Finally Come From Seeing Janet Jackson’s Nipple: We Don’t Get to See Mickey Rooney’s Posterior - January 16, 2005
The idea was that Airborne, a cold remedy, would spend $1.15 million on a 15-second ad during the 2005 Super Bowl in which old-time Hollywood star Mickey Rooney sits in a sauna, he hears a cough, and as he rushes out he drops his towel and we see…. well, we see what we really don’t want to see of a 84-year-old man.

European Ad Growth to Slow in 2005 - January 10, 2005
European ad growth is forecast to be a bit less in 2005 than in 2004 with only Germany among the major countries expected to see growth improvement, according to media agency Carat.

Warming Up The Ad Buyers - January 6, 2005
Each New Years brings with it tidings, if not promise, of health and prosperity. Forecasters have already chimed in with the prospect of more ad spending for most media in 2005.

Media Buyers Revise Global Advertising Forecasts Upwards for 2005, But Traditional Media Fears Record Internet Ad Spending Will Come at Their Expense - December 13, 2004
At the end of each year global traditional media powerbrokers meet in New York for two media conferences where they prognosticate about the year ahead. This year it was a mixed bag...

Sex, A Businessman Skewered by a Stiletto Heel, and a Pool of Blood. What More Do You Want In a Story About Advertising? - December 2, 2004
The print ad was plain, stark and simple. A giant stiletto heel skewering a businessman in his stomach as his blood poured on the floor.

Sex, Sarah Jessica Parker, an Orthodox Rabbi and a Corporate Giant Brought to Its Knees Within 24 Hours November 25, 2004
It has not been a good week for famous brand advertisers.

Putting Their Money Where Their Mouths Are – Two Major Digital News Players Invest in Online Ad Campaigns - November 24, 2004
When two such media stalwarts as the Financial Times and Reuters decide to promote their web services via major internet advertising campaigns it sends a strong message through the industry that they themselves have great faith in their web businesses.

Junk Food Joins Alcohol and Tobacco as TV Advertising NO-Go Areas - November 15, 2004
The reason we and our kids are fat is because we succumb to all that junk food advertising on television instead of eating healthy nutritional salads, vegetables and the like. Actually, it’s not our fault as parents; it’s the kids fault since they are the ones who after watching all those television ads directed at them are dragging us to those fast-food outlets

Can Self-regulation Hold Off The Ad Police? - November 8, 2004
EU Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne told the World Advertising Federation that self-regulation is a good idea and he expected the industry to rise to the challenge.