UM | RSS

Digital Continues to Set the Radio Agenda

3:43:56 AM

A UM London Opinion - by Tom Thacker and Emily Smith

The latest set of RAJAR stats have highlighted the growing influence of digital radio – with digital receivers now accounting for a mammoth 29% of all listening.

DAB radios command much of this listenership, but the increased availability of smartphone apps has also played its part in digital progress, taking mobile listening growth into double digits.

The growth of digital-only stations looks set to continue, with digital success for the BBC coming in the form of one-time condemned BBC 6 Music, which gained over 25% on last year, posting 1.4m weekly listeners. 1 Xtra enjoyed similar success, breaking through the 1m barrier.

In the commercial sphere, Absolute saw some very strong digital trends, with 71% of the network's listening now via a digital platform. Digital-only brands also put in strong performances, with the likes of Heat, Q Radio, Jazz FM, The Hits, and Smash Hits all building on previous survey results.

The BBC posted a solid set of results across the board, holding firm with a share of over 55% of all radio listening, and leading national commercial brands have also maintained share. Breaking even in Q42011 can be considered an encouraging outcome, and household brands Kiss, Classic, Heart, Magic, Real, Gold, Smooth, Absolute, Capital, and talkSPORT have all consolidated their positions on the national landscape.

Capital FM has retained its dominant commercial position in London with another increase in breakfast listening hours. The London breakfast market has always been a tightly fought battleground, with Magic just nudging ahead of Heart, and Kiss breakfast posting a 19% increase in weekly reach this quarter.

After Johnny Vaughn’s departure from Capital breakfast following nearly 8 years in the hot seat, it will be interesting to see whether replacement Dave Berry can ensure that Capital continue to lead the pack.

Who Is RayWJ?

3:43:56 AM

Who Is RayWJ? YouTube's Top Star

Earning an Estimated $1 Million a Year, a Foul-Mouthed Comic Shows the New Rules of New Media

Article

Video

Interactive Graphics

Stock Quotes

Comments (13)

MORE IN TECH »

Save

↓ More

smaller

Larger

By EMILY GLAZER

It doesn't take the media to make a media star any more.

The new economics of entertainment have enabled a foul-mouthed performer working on his own to carve out a very lucrative business. He doesn't have the backing of a traditional media conglomerate. He's a lone comic with a YouTube channel.

Ray William Johnson's raunchy riffs have made him the latest sensation on YouTube,and thanks to his cut of his shows' ad revenue and merchandise tied to his persona, he's taking home about $1 million a year. Emily Glazer has details on Lunch Break.

Ray William Johnson curses constantly, often gives his audience the finger and sometimes dresses up as a penguin, but he is attracting more than five million regular viewers to his twice weekly video commentaries, making him the biggest draw at Google Inc.'s online-video outlet.

Known as RayWJ, the 30-year-old has morphed into an idol of the teen set at home and abroad by ranting about others' viral YouTube videos on subjects ranging from a hippopotamus defecating to people who staple the heads of co-workers.

These days, YouTube's audience easily dwarfs the viewership for traditional TV networks, drawing more than 780 million unique visitors a month globally, according to comScore's most recent data. That audience is fragmented among 30,000 channels and millions of videos, but a handful of personalities like Mr. Johnson are drawing significant audiences, according to traditional media benchmarks.

"Look at some of these major YouTube stars, [who] aggregate two, three, four million views of their content. That rivals second- and third-tier cable networks," says David Cohen, the global digital officer of Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos. "This is a microcosm of what's going on in the overall media landscape. We're moving from a scaled mass media to more hyper-local, niche media."

View Interactive

Mr. Johnson, who spikes his dark-brown hair two inches high, is the poster child for how some performers can harness the viral power of the Web to build a career, bypassing traditional media. The Oklahoma native earns an estimated annual income of around $1 million, say two people familiar with the situation, partly by participating in YouTube's Partner Program, which gives him a cut of the ad revenue generated by his video commentaries. In addition, he sells merchandise like Ray William Johnson bobbleheads and mobile applications for the iPhone. His "Pimp Hand Strong" app, for example, sells for 99 cents on iTunes, where it's described as "your chance to finally slap Ray."

"I produce a few shows. I'm also sexually attracted to women who look like Abraham Lincoln," Mr. Johnson's @RayWJ Twitter bio informs his more than 800,000 followers. Recently, one of his 2:26 a.m. Facebook posts notched more than 42,000 likes. "LOL," it read. "TRY THIS IT ACTUALLY WORKS! :) 1. Hold your breath for 20 minutes. 2. Die."

Thirteen-year-old Bliss D'Andrea of South Adelaide, Australia, says she has never missed Mr. Johnson's YouTube show. She especially enjoys it, she says, when Mr. Johnson says "Geezus!" or "Zing!" during his raunchy riffs. "He may be inappropriate at times, but that's what makes it funny," she says.

Mr. Johnson has been reluctant to confirm or deny information about himself. Some media outlets have described him as 23 years old. But he admitted that he is 30 after The Wall Street Journal confirmed he graduated from Norman North High School in Oklahoma in 1999. He later attended Columbia University's School of General Studies, where he was a history major, but didn't graduate, Columbia says.

Enlarge Image

RayWilliamJohnson/YouTube

A screengrab from Ray William Johnson's video on youtube.

Mr. Johnson, now based in Los Angeles, declined multiple requests for an interview, but he did respond to some emailed questions. Asked about his career, he wrote, "Maybe someday, if I work hard enough, entertainment will be a career for me, but right now making videos and uploading them to the Internet is just a hobby." He also disputed the idea that he is making a lot of money. "I run advertisements and sell T-shirts to cover overhead costs and pay the few people who help me out behind the scenes," he says. "Anything left over is spent on production costs, animation costs, etc."

People associated with YouTube, who have signed nondisclosure agreements, are tight-lipped about how much top performers there are paid. But people familiar with the matter say that for every two million views, performers who have partnered with YouTube receive $3,000 to $9,000, depending in part on the country and the platform where the video is viewed. To put that in perspective, Mr. Johnson has more than 1.5 billion total views.

A Google spokeswoman says that "several hundred" of its partners made more than $100,000 in 2011, up 80% from the "couple of hundred" partners who made more than that in 2010. YouTube partners have also increased to 30,000 in 2011 from 20,000 in 2010, says Tom Pickett, YouTube's global director of content, operations and online creators.

Ads from major marketers like McDonald's Corp. pop up during the videos of YouTube partners, including Mr. Johnson. The ad revenue is then shared between YouTube and the partner. "McDonald's wants to be where our customers are," a spokeswoman says. "Video is important to us, and YouTube is one of the many engaging digital platforms in our marketing mix."

Other YouTube stars leverage their YouTube followings to sell music, get on television or produce movies. Kevin Wu (kevjumba on YouTube) has more than 2.2 million regular viewers and 56 million total views. Last year he collaborated with YouTube star Ryan Higa, whose channel has five million regular viewers, to make the song "Nice Guys." It eventually became one of the top 50 songs on iTunes alongside songs by Justin Bieber and Jay Z, Mr. Wu says with a laugh.

He was also a contestant on CBS's "The Amazing Race" with his father, toured in Australia twice and is wrapping up a feature film that he plans to charge for, a strategy pioneered by comedian Louis C.K., an early YouTube star. People familiar with the matter estimate that Mr. Wu makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Mr. Wu wouldn't comment on his earnings, but his YouTube channel is the Houston native's full-time job.

"Every waking moment of my life is thinking about how to build this empire," says Mr. Wu, who is now based in Los Angeles. "I'm sharing a personal connection with [my two million subscribers] so they feel like I'm their friend. Anything I do, they want to support."

Some of the most successful Web comedian channels realannoyingorange and ShaneDawsonTV have secured partnerships with retail stores such as J.C. Penney and Hot Topic, respectively.

"Lots and lots of money is moving into this space," says Michael Green, chief executive of The Collective, an entertainment management and production company that represents the YouTube channels freddiew and realannoyingorange.

"If it really works, if it really goes," he says of his clients, "it could end up being worth millions and millions and millions of dollars."

YouTube's Top StarEarning an Estimated $1 Million a Year, a Foul-Mouthed Comic Shows the New Rules of New Media

By: EMILY GLAZER

It doesn't take the media to make a media star any more.

The new economics of entertainment have enabled a foul-mouthed performer working on his own to carve out a very lucrative business. He doesn't have the backing of a traditional media conglomerate. He's a lone comic with a YouTube channel.

Ray William Johnson's raunchy riffs have made him the latest sensation on YouTube,and thanks to his cut of his shows' ad revenue and merchandise tied to his persona, he's taking home about $1 million a year. Emily Glazer has details on Lunch Break.

Ray William Johnson curses constantly, often gives his audience the finger and sometimes dresses up as a penguin, but he is attracting more than five million regular viewers to his twice weekly video commentaries, making him the biggest draw at
Google Inc.'s online-video outlet.

Known as RayWJ, the 30-year-old has morphed into an idol of the teen set at home and abroad by ranting about others' viral YouTube videos on subjects ranging from a hippopotamus defecating to people who staple the heads of co-workers.
These days, YouTube's audience easily dwarfs the viewership for traditional TV networks, drawing more than 780 million unique visitors a month globally, according to comScore's most recent data. That audience is fragmented among 30,000 channels and millions of videos, but a handful of personalities like Mr. Johnson are drawing significant audiences, according to traditional media benchmarks.

"Look at some of these major YouTube stars, [who] aggregate two, three, four million views of their content. That rivals second- and third-tier cable networks," says David Cohen, the global digital officer of Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos. "This is a microcosm of what's going on in the overall media landscape. We're moving from a scaled mass media to more hyper-local, niche media."

Mr. Johnson, who spikes his dark-brown hair two inches high, is the poster child for how some performers can harness the viral power of the Web to build a career, bypassing traditional media. The Oklahoma native earns an estimated annual income of around $1 million, say two people familiar with the situation, partly by participating in YouTube's Partner Program, which gives him a cut of the ad revenue generated by his video commentaries. In addition, he sells merchandise like Ray William Johnson bobbleheads and mobile applications for the iPhone. His "Pimp Hand Strong" app, for example, sells for 99 cents on iTunes, where it's described as "your chance to finally slap Ray."

"I produce a few shows. I'm also sexually attracted to women who look like Abraham Lincoln," Mr. Johnson's @RayWJ Twitter bio informs his more than 800,000 followers. Recently, one of his 2:26 a.m. Facebook posts notched more than 42,000 likes. "LOL," it read. "TRY THIS IT ACTUALLY WORKS! :) 1. Hold your breath for 20 minutes. 2. Die."
Thirteen-year-old Bliss D'Andrea of South Adelaide, Australia, says she has never missed Mr. Johnson's YouTube show. She especially enjoys it, she says, when Mr. Johnson says "Geezus!" or "Zing!" during his raunchy riffs. "He may be inappropriate at times, but that's what makes it funny," she says.

Mr. Johnson has been reluctant to confirm or deny information about himself. Some media outlets have described him as 23 years old. But he admitted that he is 30 after The Wall Street Journal confirmed he graduated from Norman North High School in Oklahoma in 1999. He later attended Columbia University's School of General Studies, where he was a history major, but didn't graduate, Columbia says.

Mr. Johnson, now based in Los Angeles, declined multiple requests for an interview, but he did respond to some emailed questions. Asked about his career, he wrote, "Maybe someday, if I work hard enough, entertainment will be a career for me, but right now making videos and uploading them to the Internet is just a hobby." He also disputed the idea that he is making a lot of money. "I run advertisements and sell T-shirts to cover overhead costs and pay the few people who help me out behind the scenes," he says. "Anything left over is spent on production costs, animation costs, etc."

People associated with YouTube, who have signed nondisclosure agreements, are tight-lipped about how much top performers there are paid. But people familiar with the matter say that for every two million views, performers who have partnered with YouTube receive $3,000 to $9,000, depending in part on the country and the platform where the video is viewed. To put that in perspective, Mr. Johnson has more than 1.5 billion total views.

A Google spokeswoman says that "several hundred" of its partners made more than $100,000 in 2011, up 80% from the "couple of hundred" partners who made more than that in 2010. YouTube partners have also increased to 30,000 in 2011 from 20,000 in 2010, says Tom Pickett, YouTube's global director of content, operations and online creators.

Ads from major marketers like McDonald's Corp. pop up during the videos of YouTube partners, including Mr. Johnson. The ad revenue is then shared between YouTube and the partner. "McDonald's wants to be where our customers are," a spokeswoman says. "Video is important to us, and YouTube is one of the many engaging digital platforms in our marketing mix."

Other YouTube stars leverage their YouTube followings to sell music, get on television or produce movies. Kevin Wu (kevjumba on YouTube) has more than 2.2 million regular viewers and 56 million total views. Last year he collaborated with YouTube star Ryan Higa, whose channel has five million regular viewers, to make the song "Nice Guys." It eventually became one of the top 50 songs on iTunes alongside songs by Justin Bieber and Jay Z, Mr. Wu says with a laugh.

He was also a contestant on CBS's "The Amazing Race" with his father, toured in Australia twice and is wrapping up a feature film that he plans to charge for, a strategy pioneered by comedian Louis C.K., an early YouTube star. People familiar with the matter estimate that Mr. Wu makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Mr. Wu wouldn't comment on his earnings, but his YouTube channel is the Houston native's full-time job.

"Every waking moment of my life is thinking about how to build this empire," says Mr. Wu, who is now based in Los Angeles. "I'm sharing a personal connection with [my two million subscribers] so they feel like I'm their friend. Anything I do, they want to support."

Some of the most successful Web comedian channels realannoyingorange and ShaneDawsonTV have secured partnerships with retail stores such as J.C. Penney and Hot Topic, respectively.

"Lots and lots of money is moving into this space," says Michael Green, chief executive of The Collective, an entertainment management and production company that represents the YouTube channels freddiew and realannoyingorange.

"If it really works, if it really goes," he says of his clients, "it could end up being worth millions and millions and millions of dollars."

UM has won the tender on Digital Media serving of all InBev Ukraine brands in 2012

3:43:56 AM

Media communications agency UM will be the one to serve all the brands of SUN InBev Ukraine digitally in 2012 according to the company’s tender.

The task of the agency was to create a digital communication strategy for the company's brands. UM was appointed for the most effective communication solution, combined with the best budget offer.

Victor Sherstyuk, managing director of UM, said: "Winning such an ambitious and demanding client, as InBev Ukraine, is a great honor for us. UM team intends to use all our expertise and the full range of communication tools and knowledge to solve client’s marketing problems."

Media communications agency UM will be the one to serve all the brands of SUN InBev Ukraine digitally in 2012 according to the company’s tender results.

The task of the agency was to create a digital communication strategy for the company's brands. UM was appointed for the most effective communication solution, combined with the best budget offer.

Victor Sherstyuk, managing director of UM, said: "Winning such an ambitious and demanding client, as InBev Ukraine, is a great honor for us. UM team intends to use all our expertise and the full range of communication tools and knowledge to solve client’s marketing problems."

Pay-for-Performance Starts to Gain Steam

3:43:56 AM

Sophisticated Measurement Tools Help Model Become Reality at Media Shops Such as IPG's UM

Pay-for-Performance Starts to Gain Steam

Sophisticated Measurement Tools Help Model Become Reality at Media Shops Such as Interpublic's UM

By: Alexandra Bruell Published: January 30, 2012

Last year, Interpublic Group of Cos.' media agency, UM, hired consulting giant McKinsey to analyze how other industries are compensated. The objective was to change the antiquated agency-fee model to a riskier but more profitable pay-for-performance one. What resulted was a revamped system that more closely aligns the firm's goals with those of clients. It is tied to key indicators such as sales or market share.

Pay-for-performance is like an urban legend of media buying and planning. But with increasingly sophisticated measurement and planning tools, the concept is morphing into a reality that could in some cases replace the traditional fee model, under which shops make slim margins from a percentage of often low-balled budgets.

UM has experimented with pay-for-performance with clients for the past few years. After having some success with the model, UM has become more aggressive with it.

Half of the firm's clients, which include Chrysler, are engaged in compensation in which at least 20% to 75% of each media-buying contract is earned through pay-for-performance, according to Guy Beach, chief operating officer. Most of the remainder typically goes to cover costs.

This model does not adhere to traditional performance compensation, said Jacki Kelley, UM's CEO. In that formula, agencies typically received a standard commission and a 10% to 20% bonus based on a client's qualitative evaluation. The new approach is rooted more in quantitative benchmarks than in such evaluations.

Ms. Kelley, who before joining UM in 2009 was exec VP-media sales at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said the agency will make more money with pay-for-performance.

Jacki Kelley, CEO of UM

"The current model is not sustainable when you think about the level of analytics and investment that needs to be made to deliver what clients want," Ms. Kelley said.

But the system also represents challenges for UM. As it looks to implement pay-for-performance agency-wide, the firm is asking senior employees about accepting "slightly reduced" base salaries. Though the idea is just being tested, the result would be that they would take on personal risk but be more invested, with the potential to earn extra if the team meets goals.

"The result of being tied to performance and having skin in the game -- we want the managing directors to share in that for the purpose of total alignment," said Ms. Kelley.

For all the talk about these structures, they have not been broadly adopted. A 2010 study by the Association of National Advertisers found that pay-for-performance accounted for less than 1% of compensation agreements. Reporting on the study, Ad Age said that performance incentives had dropped slightly but that fee-based models (which during the 1990s replaced commissions as the main compensation method) had soared to an all-time high of 75%, vs. 63% in 2006, when the previous study was conducted.

David Beals, president-CEO of consultancy Jones Lundin Beals, said those numbers still hold but that he has noticed a push for such pay models during media-agency reviews.

"I've been in situations where agencies proposed zero compensation, defining it as getting compensated to cover costs without earning a margin unless you deliver," Mr. Beals said.

He attributes the shift to heightened pressure on marketers -- which are increasingly involving procurement departments in negotiations -- to cut expenses globally. Often, Mr. Beals noted, agencies' pay-for-performance proposals will tout the savings for marketers.

According to Chrysler, value and savings were key factors in its discussions with UM about a performance-based plan. But aside from fixed costs, the marketer compensates its agency largely through variable compensation dependent on results or key performance indicators (KPIs).

"It's working," said Susan Thomson, manager-communications at Chrysler, adding that investment in the model contributed to a 26% sales gain in 2011. "It ties them to some objectives that we're held accountable to, such as sales, share, brand perception -- those types of metrics that our management team looks to us to increase year-over-year," she said.

For example, a firm such as UM might track the effect of a media plan by linking it to a KPI such as test drives, which can be converted to sales or market share. And the ability to optimize media plans through digital tools and channels enables the team to meet KPIs.

Ira Hernowitz, senior VP-marketing at Hasbro, said that when the company brought on Initiative last spring, it wasn't just to make more-efficient ad buys but to achieve better performance.

"One thing we talked about was that it was easy to ask agencies about how well they buy media," Mr. Hernowitz said. "That's tactical. What we were looking for was a partner who would ultimately do well when we do well."

Such partnerships are made possible by sophisticated tracking tools and a complex media environment that lets agencies go beyond securing costs-per-thousand, Mr. Hernowitz said.

"Toy industry [marketing] was 95% TV, and now, with the digital world, it's expanding," said Mr. Hernowitz. "The landscape of TV and the landscape of entertainment is changing so much that we ask our partners to be strategic and make difficult decisions."

While more agencies experiment with evolving pay models, most industry executives remain skeptical and believe a wholesale shift to pay-for-performance is a long way off.

"[Agencies that are part of] public companies are limited by the fact that in a paid-for-performance agreement with a client they could be carrying all the agency starting costs with no revenue against them," said Phil Cowdell, the outgoing chairman of Mindshare North America.

Many marketers took the opportunity of the recession to renegotiate terms, and the times most likely inspired agencies' creativity in drafting compensation plans, Mr. Cowdell said. But in "the old days," an agency would resist taking a zero-margin contract for fear that it would lead to a "sinking deal."

These models are doubtlessly on everyone's radar, and their establishment depends on how much risk media agencies are willing to shoulder.

They're also a work-in-progress for marketers.

George Debolt, senior VP-media, promotions and partnership marketing at Showtime Networks, said that even with new technologies, pay-for-performance is difficult to implement without imposing uncertainty.

"If we tie performance to sales or business metrics, we don't want to unfairly [penalize] the partner if our metrics are down for some reason that's out of their control," Mr. Debolt said. As a result, a lot of brands have paid for performance based on softer evaluations and metrics.

Moving beyond that could help bridge the marketing-procurement divide that many have complained about. With proven results, procurement is beginning to align its objectives with those of the marketing department and agencies.

Brett Colbert, chief procurement officer at MDC Partners, said that when he was global manager of procurement, advertising and market research at Anheuser-Busch InBev, the objective was defined more by the quality and value of the buy than by cost-savings.

"We invested more to get a better return," said Mr. Colbert, though he admits that assigning measures to that are still difficult. "The biggest challenge is that most clients don't have the ability to define metrics that matter and are measurable. The agencies are defining it, though."Pay-for-Performance Starts to Gain SteamSophisticated Measurement Tools Help Model Become Reality at Media Shops Such as IPG's UM

By: Alexandra Bruell

Last year, Interpublic Group of Cos.' media agency, UM, hired consulting giant McKinsey to analyze how other industries are compensated. The objective was to change the antiquated agency-fee model to a riskier but more profitable pay-for-performance one. What resulted was a revamped system that more closely aligns the firm's goals with those of clients. It is tied to key indicators such as sales or market share.

Pay-for-performance is like an urban legend of media buying and planning. But with increasingly sophisticated measurement and planning tools, the concept is morphing into a reality that could in some cases replace the traditional fee model, under which shops make slim margins from a percentage of often low-balled budgets.

UM has experimented with pay-for-performance with clients for the past few years. After having some success with the model, UM has become more aggressive with it.

Half of the firm's clients, which include Chrysler, are engaged in compensation in which at least 20% to 75% of each media-buying contract is earned through pay-for-performance, according to Guy Beach, chief operating officer. Most of the remainder typically goes to cover costs.

This model does not adhere to traditional performance compensation, said Jacki Kelley, UM's CEO. In that formula, agencies typically received a standard commission and a 10% to 20% bonus based on a client's qualitative evaluation. The new approach is rooted more in quantitative benchmarks than in such evaluations.

Ms. Kelley, who before joining UM in 2009 was exec VP-media sales at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said the agency will make more money with pay-for-performance.

Jacki Kelley, CEO of UM"The current model is not sustainable when you think about the level of analytics and investment that needs to be made to deliver what clients want," Ms. Kelley said.

But the system also represents challenges for UM. As it looks to implement pay-for-performance agency-wide, the firm is asking senior employees about accepting "slightly reduced" base salaries. Though the idea is just being tested, the result would be that they would take on personal risk but be more invested, with the potential to earn extra if the team meets goals.

"The result of being tied to performance and having skin in the game -- we want the managing directors to share in that for the purpose of total alignment," said Ms. Kelley.

For all the talk about these structures, they have not been broadly adopted. A 2010 study by the Association of National Advertisers found that pay-for-performance accounted for less than 1% of compensation agreements. Reporting on the study, Ad Age said that performance incentives had dropped slightly but that fee-based models (which during the 1990s replaced commissions as the main compensation method) had soared to an all-time high of 75%, vs. 63% in 2006, when the previous study was conducted.

David Beals, president-CEO of consultancy Jones Lundin Beals, said those numbers still hold but that he has noticed a push for such pay models during media-agency reviews. "I've been in situations where agencies proposed zero compensation, defining it as getting compensated to cover costs without earning a margin unless you deliver," Mr. Beals said.
He attributes the shift to heightened pressure on marketers -- which are increasingly involving procurement departments in negotiations -- to cut expenses globally. Often, Mr. Beals noted, agencies' pay-for-performance proposals will tout the savings for marketers.

According to Chrysler, value and savings were key factors in its discussions with UM about a performance-based plan. But aside from fixed costs, the marketer compensates its agency largely through variable compensation dependent on results or key performance indicators (KPIs).

"It's working," said Susan Thomson, manager-communications at Chrysler, adding that investment in the model contributed to a 26% sales gain in 2011. "It ties them to some objectives that we're held accountable to, such as sales, share, brand perception -- those types of metrics that our management team looks to us to increase year-over-year," she said.
For example, a firm such as UM might track the effect of a media plan by linking it to a KPI such as test drives, which can be converted to sales or market share. And the ability to optimize media plans through digital tools and channels enables the team to meet KPIs.

Ira Hernowitz, senior VP-marketing at Hasbro, said that when the company brought on Initiative last spring, it wasn't just to make more-efficient ad buys but to achieve better performance.

"One thing we talked about was that it was easy to ask agencies about how well they buy media," Mr. Hernowitz said. "That's tactical. What we were looking for was a partner who would ultimately do well when we do well."

Such partnerships are made possible by sophisticated tracking tools and a complex media environment that lets agencies go beyond securing costs-per-thousand, Mr. Hernowitz said.
"Toy industry [marketing] was 95% TV, and now, with the digital world, it's expanding," said Mr. Hernowitz. "The landscape of TV and the landscape of entertainment is changing so much that we ask our partners to be strategic and make difficult decisions."

While more agencies experiment with evolving pay models, most industry executives remain skeptical and believe a wholesale shift to pay-for-performance is a long way off.
"[Agencies that are part of] public companies are limited by the fact that in a paid-for-performance agreement with a client they could be carrying all the agency starting costs with no revenue against them," said Phil Cowdell, the outgoing chairman of Mindshare North America.

Many marketers took the opportunity of the recession to renegotiate terms, and the times most likely inspired agencies' creativity in drafting compensation plans, Mr. Cowdell said. But in "the old days," an agency would resist taking a zero-margin contract for fear that it would lead to a "sinking deal."

These models are doubtlessly on everyone's radar, and their establishment depends on how much risk media agencies are willing to shoulder.
They're also a work-in-progress for marketers.

George Debolt, senior VP-media, promotions and partnership marketing at Showtime Networks, said that even with new technologies, pay-for-performance is difficult to implement without imposing uncertainty.

"If we tie performance to sales or business metrics, we don't want to unfairly [penalize] the partner if our metrics are down for some reason that's out of their control," Mr. Debolt said. As a result, a lot of brands have paid for performance based on softer evaluations and metrics.

Moving beyond that could help bridge the marketing-procurement divide that many have complained about. With proven results, procurement is beginning to align its objectives with those of the marketing department and agencies.

Brett Colbert, chief procurement officer at MDC Partners, said that when he was global manager of procurement, advertising and market research at Anheuser-Busch InBev, the objective was defined more by the quality and value of the buy than by cost-savings.

"We invested more to get a better return," said Mr. Colbert, though he admits that assigning measures to that are still difficult. "The biggest challenge is that most clients don't have the ability to define metrics that matter and are measurable. The agencies are defining it, though."

Streaming Dreams

3:43:56 AM

By: John Seabrook

On TV, airtime is a scarce resource; on YouTube, it’s infinite.

On a rainy night in late November, Robert Kyncl was in Google’s New York City offices, on Ninth Avenue, whiteboarding the future of TV. Kyncl holds a senior position at YouTube, which Google owns. He is the architect of the single largest cultural transformation in YouTube’s seven-year history. Wielding a black Magic Marker, he charted the big bang of channel expansion and audience fragmentation that has propelled television history so far, from the age of the three networks, each with a mass audience, to the hundreds of cable channels, each serving a niche audience—twenty-four-hour news, food, sports, weather, music—and on to the dawning age of Internet video, bringing channels by the tens of thousands. “People went from broad to narrow,” he said, “and we think they will continue to go that way—spend more and more time in the niches—because now the distribution landscape allows for more narrowness.”

Kyncl puts his whole body into his whiteboard performances, and you can almost see the champion skier he used to be. As a teen-ager in Czechoslovakia, he was sent to a state-run boarding school where talented young skiers trained for the Olympics. At eighteen, “I realized then that all I knew was skiing,” he told me. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, he applied to a program that placed Eastern Europeans in American summer camps as counsellors, and spent the summer in Charlottesville, Virginia. The following year, Kyncl went to SUNY, in New Paltz, where he majored in international relations.

People prefer niches because “the experience is more immersive,” Kyncl went on. “For example, there’s no horseback-riding channel on cable. Plenty of people love horseback riding, and there’s plenty of advertisers who would like to market to them, but there’s no channel for it, because of the costs. You have to program a 24/7 loop, and you need a transponder to get your signal up on the satellite. With the Internet, everything is on demand, so you don’t have to program 24/7—a few hours is all you need.”

For the past sixty years, TV executives have been making the decisions about what we watch in our living rooms. Kyncl would like to change that. Therefore YouTube, the home of grainy cell-phone videos and skateboarding dogs, is going pro. Kyncl has recruited producers, publishers, programmers, and performers from traditional media to create more than a hundred channels, most of which will début in the next six months—a sort of YouTV. Streaming video, delivered over the Internet, is about to engage traditional TV in a skirmish in the looming war for screen time.

Kyncl attacked the two-dimensional plane with his marker, schussing the media moguls, racing over and around them to the future. He drew a vertiginously plunging double-diamond run representing the dissolution of mass TV audiences as cable channels began to proliferate. Then he drew the bunny slope of Web-based channels that will further fragment audiences. According to Forrester Research, by 2016 half of all households will have Wi-Fi-enabled devices on their televisions, which will bring all those new channels into the living room, tempting people to cancel their pricey cable subscriptions. The only way for the networks and the cable companies to grow will be to buy Web-based channels.

Isn’t that more or less what happened thirty years ago? I asked. The networks, which had originally disparaged the new cable channels as cheap-looking and too narrowly focussed, ended up buying them when cable took off.

“Absolutely that’s what happened,” Kyncl said, with a slight Czech accent. “And it will happen again.”

He set the marker down on the conference-room table, and smiled. YouTube had won the gold.

YouTube was created by three former employees of PayPal, in a Silicon Valley garage, in early 2005. According to two of the founders, Chad Hurley and Steven Chen, a graphic designer and a software engineer, respectively, the idea grew out of a dinner party at Chen’s home in San Francisco, in the winter of 2004-05. Guests had made videos of one another, but they couldn’t share them easily. The founders envisioned a video version of Flickr, a popular photo-sharing site. All the content on the site would be user-generated: “Real personal clips that are taken by everyday people,” as Hurley described his vision.

The third founder, Jawed Karim, also a software engineer, had an additional source of inspiration: Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” on CBS’s broadcast of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The incident spawned an enormous amount of commentary, an F.C.C. fine, and a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court, but if you missed the live broadcast you were out of luck.

On the evening of April 23, 2005, Karim uploaded the first video to YouTube—an eighteen-second clip of him, standing in front of the elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo, wearing an ill-fitting hiking jacket. He says, “The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks, and that’s cool,” smirks a little, and ends with “And that’s pretty much all there is to say.” Civilization would never be the same.

By the time a beta version of YouTube went live, in May, 2005, its archive held several dozen videos, supplied mostly by the founders and their friends; Chen contributed a couple of his cat, Stinky. Not surprisingly, traffic was light. YouTube was like “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” without the fun. The founders had no outside financing at the time, and they were paying for equipment and bandwidth with the payouts they had earned from PayPal when eBay bought the company, in 2002; some of the costs went on Chen’s credit card. The situation looked bleak. In a video shot that month in a garage, the founders discuss their predicament. Chen says, “I was getting pretty depressed toward the end of last week.” Someone says, “This is lame.” The founders decided that videos of good-looking babes might help, and they placed ads on Craigslist, offering attractive women a hundred dollars for ten videos. No one responded.

On June 20th, Karim wrote in an e-mail to Chen and Hurley, “If we want to sign up lots of users who keep coming back, we have to target the people who will never upload a video in their life. And those are really valuable because they spend time watching.” What the watchers wanted was music videos, skits from “Saturday Night Live,” and episodes of “South Park”—professional content. “And if they watch, then it’s just like TV, which means lots of value,” Karim added.

In e-mails that later became the centerpiece of a billion-dollar copyright-infringement suit brought by Viacom against YouTube, in 2007, both Karim and Chen advocated a laissez-faire response toward copyrighted content. If the content owners asked YouTube to take a video down, the site would comply; otherwise, the founders would leave it. Hurley presciently wrote, “OK man, save your meal money for some lawsuits.” But he, too, went along with the relaxed approach.

In June, the site incorporated a number of new features, including the ability to embed YouTube videos in other sites and links between videos, and traffic began to pick up. By December, YouTube had several million views a day. That month, “Lazy Sunday,” a skit from “Saturday Night Live,” in which Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell rap about eating cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery and going to a Sunday matinée of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” was posted on YouTube, and viewed more than five million times before it was removed at NBCUniversal’s request.

I discovered the pleasures of YouTube around this time. Someone sent me a link to a music video, and I followed it to the site. The whimsical D.I.Y.-ness of the home page, with its clutter of clickable offerings, many sophomoric in nature, made the place feel like a college dorm. Adorable babies, angry cats, embarrassing falls, and child prodigies mingled with the music videos and great concert footage of bands I loved performing at their peak. I e-mailed links to my friends. One of them wrote back, “This is like public television was supposed to be!”

At the beginning, I used YouTube more as a radio. Almost every song I wanted to hear, from any era, was on it. (It never occurred to me that someone may have violated the owners’ copyright by uploading those videos; streaming seemed more like borrowing than stealing.)

Before long, I was taking online Delta-blues guitar lessons from a guy who called himself BlindBoy, and whose face never appeared onscreen—it was just the guitar, his hands, and his Lennon-like Liverpudlian accent. BlindBoy was a talented teacher and a prolific poster, and soon I was spending more time watching this headless Englishman than, say, the “The Daily Show.” I was definitely one of the watchers: I would never have thought of uploading a video myself. But watching YouTube was nothing like watching TV. It was user-generated anarchy.

In October, 2006, Google bought YouTube, for $1.65 billion. (Hurley and Chen made the announcement in a YouTube video entitled “A Message from Chad and Steve”; Karim, who had left the company by that point, was nowhere to be seen, and henceforth all but disappears from official company history.) Within a year, Google had tamed the Wild West of copyright infringement that characterized YouTube’s pioneer days, both through licensing deals with major content providers and through a content-management program, called Content ID, that alerted copyright holders automatically whenever any part of their content went up on YouTube. Owners can choose to remove the content, sell ads against it and share the money with YouTube, or use it as a promotional tool. Content ID generates a third of YouTube’s revenue. (In June, 2010, Louis Stanton, the judge in the long-running Viacom v. YouTube case, granted summary judgment to YouTube. Viacom is appealing that ruling, and a decision is expected soon.)

Having dealt with YouTube’s copyright problems, Google’s C.E.O., Eric Schmidt, turned to the issue of monetization. YouTube’s expenses—mainly the bandwidth costs of streaming all those videos—exceeded its revenues, which, like Google’s, came from ad sales. The general impression among advertisers at the time was that YouTube was not “brand safe,” because its streets “were not clean and well lit,” as David Cohen, an executive vice-president at the ad agency Universal McCann, put it to me. YouTube needed to devise a strategy similar to Google’s paid search. But although YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world, many people are searching for entertainment, which is different from searching for information and harder to match ads with; “lol” is one of the most popular search terms on the site. Keyword searches are confined to the “metadata”—the labels and titles of the videos; search can’t go inside the videos themselves. Often, videos are poorly labelled, and, if they come straight from cell phones, as many do, they may not be labelled at all.

If anyone at Google could solve the monetization problem, it was Salar Kamangar. Born in Iran in 1976, Kamangar came to the United States with his parents shortly before the Iranian Revolution. He got a degree in biology from Stanford, and stayed in Palo Alto to work on a degree in economics. In 1999, he attended a job fair on campus, where he met Sergey Brin, who was manning the booth for Google, a start-up that he and Larry Page had founded a year earlier. Kamangar became Google employee No. 9. Steven Levy, in his recent book about Google, “In the Plex,” describes Kamangar as having “a glow of success around him . . . as a result of his work in developing Google’s ad system.” That glow, however, does not translate into physical presence. Kamangar is slight of build, soft-spoken, and shy, especially around reporters. He brought his laptop to our meeting, and looked at it from time to time while we talked. His eyes relaxed whenever they hit the screen.

In the fall of 2008, at Schmidt and Hurley’s request, Kamangar began working at YouTube headquarters, in San Bruno, California. (Hurley remained at YouTube, but he ceded day-to-day management to Kamangar, and left altogether in October, 2010.) The airy, light-filled offices were originally designed for the Gap. There is a putting green in the atrium, with garden gnomes placed around it; red helium balloons float above the desks of new employees; the downstairs conference rooms are named for well-known video games; and a very large, triple-chute slide, also in YouTube red, is installed in the two-story central workspace. Underlying these whimsical touches is a seriousness of purpose that one encounters in small start-ups but only rarely in companies the size of YouTube (more than seven hundred employees and growing fast, to judge by all the red balloons).

Under Kamangar’s leadership, YouTube has continued to grow. Today, it has eight hundred million unique users a month, and generates more than three billion views a day. Forty-eight hours of new video are uploaded to the site every minute. According to Nielsen, it drew eight times more video viewers last year than Hulu, which is jointly owned by NBCUniversal, News Corporation, and the Walt Disney Company, among others. It is the first truly global media platform on earth.

YouTube’s Partner Program, begun in 2007, has also flourished. YouTube sells advertising against popular channels created by homegrown YouTube stars—vloggers, sit-down comedians (a form of comedy unique to YouTube), mashup artists, bedroom auteurs, Mr. Fix-Its—and shares the revenues with the channels’ creators. For most of YouTube’s thirty thousand partners, this means a few hundred dollars a month, but the top five hundred partners earn more than a hundred thousand a year, and in some cases—Real Annoying Orange, a socially inept talking citrus who converses with other pieces of fruit; Shane Dawson, a madcap twenty-three-year-old sketch comedian; and Michelle Phan, a Vietnamese-American beauty guru, among them—they earn much more. Tweens are more familiar with these “welebrities” than they are with the stars on TV, a grim augury for the future of traditional television.

As YouTube has grown, Kamangar and his team have struggled to keep its algorithm up to speed. The algorithm is that secret software machine that determines which videos the home page suggests for you, based on your watch history, trending videos, and the most popular videos on the site. Weighting each of those factors properly, while maintaining a sense of serendipity—those stumble-upon videos that are one of the delights of YouTube—has been a challenge. When the top hits become overly dominant, the algorithm is tweaked to encourage greater diversity. Too much diversity, however, and you get seemingly random suggestions on the home page, and you stop watching.

But there is one category in which YouTube has made little progress. The average ’Tuber spends only fifteen minutes a day on the site—a paltry showing when compared with the four or five hours the average American spends in front of the TV each day. The standard block of programming on TV lasts twenty-two minutes; on YouTube, it’s three minutes. As Rick Klau, a former YouTube product manager who is now a partner at Google Ventures, said, “We give people seven or eight opportunities in the course of a half hour to opt out.” People tend to watch YouTube on their computers at work. A three-minute break every couple of hours isn’t really goofing off; it’s more like a trip to the virtual water cooler. On TV, programmers bracket certain shows together in the hope that you won’t change the channel, and channels promote upcoming shows during commercial breaks. But on YouTube you’re the programmer, and every time a video ends you have to make a programming decision: what should you watch next? All too often, the algorithm isn’t much help.

If YouTube could get people to stay on the site longer, it could sell more advertising, and raise the rates it charges advertisers for each thousand views, which are known in the industry as C.P.M.s. (In spite of the fact that YouTube has a much larger number of users, it lags behind Hulu in C.P.M. rates, possibly because Hulu’s longer-format programming keeps viewers from leaving the site as quickly, and because advertisers prefer to be associated with the made-for-broadcast content that Hulu offers.) Advertisers spend some sixty billion dollars a year on television; they spend only about three billion on online video.

Clearly, YouTube would benefit from premium content, the kind of stuff you could watch on Netflix and Hulu. But the owners of that content were reluctant to license it to YouTube, either because they could make more money selling it elsewhere or because they didn’t trust YouTube/Google. Kamangar needed someone who would make content owners realize how valuable YouTube’s audience could be to them.

Robert Kyncl started his career in entertainment in the mailroom of a talent agency, J. Michael Bloom, in Los Angeles, and later worked for HBO in New York before returning to the West Coast to join a dot-com start-up called ALFY, a Web site for kids. In 2003, Netflix recruited Kyncl to help secure movies for its thriving DVD-by-mail business.

In 2005, Kyncl volunteered to look into the business of streaming video. At that time, the usual method of obtaining music as well as video over the Internet was to download the file. Apple’s iTunes store, which launched in 2003, sold downloads. Streaming video, which enables the viewer to play a file that resides on a remote server, was believed to be a less desirable method of delivery, because the picture quality was often inferior. “Every single company was focussed on downloading at that time,” Kyncl told me. “And then one day I saw this thing called YouTube, and I thought, Wow, a lot of people are watching grainy videos on this; obviously they’re willing to trade fidelity for utility. That was a revelation.”

The streaming service débuted on Netflix in 2007, offering movies and television programs, and it quickly caught on with subscribers. For the price of a subscription to Netflix, which was about ten dollars a month, you could watch as many movies as you wanted; if you didn’t like one, you could start another. “It brought channel-surfing to movies,” Kyncl says. For many people, Netflix was the first glimpse of a kind of content holy grail: limitless choice, all on demand, and available on any Internet-connected device. By 2010, streaming had become a major part of Netflix’s business. Its stock price soared.

But, big as the streaming-video business became for Netflix, its potential was even greater. Computers were already beginning to change the experience of watching TV, by allowing viewers to access programs and movies on laptops, phones, and gaming devices. The next phase would be televisions that connected to the Internet through Wi-Fi, which would allow users to stream Web-original content on the TV. Netflix, with one foot in the old world of DVD delivery—the world of atoms, not bits—might not fully realize the new medium’s potential. (Indeed, in September, 2011, when Reed Hastings, the co-founder and C.E.O. of Netflix, tried to separate the DVD-by-mail side of the company from the streaming side, and to charge customers more if they wanted both services, subscribers were outraged.) But someone was going to figure it out.

In the spring of 2010, a recruiter called Kyncl at Netflix and asked him if he would be interested in meeting Kamangar. Although the two men seem miles apart in temperament—Kyncl is outgoing and personable; Kamangar is introverted and intense—they hit it off.

The senior vice-president of YouTube wanted Kyncl to help chart YouTube’s future. “Because YouTube is focussed on a lot of different types of content at the same time,” Kyncl told me, “it has many opportunities, and the hardest thing is to figure out which ones you shouldn’t do, and focus on the ones you should.”

Kyncl’s relationships in Hollywood would help in securing premium content; and, more important, he understood entertainment culture. He brought “the skill set of being able to bridge Silicon Valley and Hollywood—an information culture and an entertainment culture,” he told me. The crucial difference is that one culture is founded on abundance and the other on scarcity. He added, “Silicon Valley builds its bridges on abundance. Abundant bits of information floating out there, writing great programs to process it, then giving people a lot of useful tools to use it. Entertainment works by withholding content with the purpose of increasing its value. And, when you think about it, those two are just vastly different approaches, but they can be bridged.”

In TV, airtime is a scarce resource, and quality programming is scarcer still, and expensive to create. Writers spend months or years developing an idea, which they then pitch to network and cable executives, who make decisions based, at least in part, on their “gut.” The majority of the ideas never get produced. If a project is green-lighted, the networks or cable channels buy it and fund its production, and the creators have to give up some or all of their control over the material.

But on YouTube “airtime” is infinite, content costs almost nothing for YouTube to produce, and quantity, not quality, is the bottom line. “YouTube green-lights everything,” as Tim Shey, the director of the site’s division for coaching content creators, YouTube Next Lab, told me. It’s up to the audience, not the executive gut, to decide what’s worth watching. “I’ve worked in TV, and I’ve been the one green-lighting projects,” Shey went on. “Believe me, the YouTube way works much better.” Kyncl told me that at Google it makes no sense to bring “a gut-based decision-making process to a culture that is based on numerically quantifying everything. Ultimately, that kind of decision-making gets rejected, as if it were a foreign body.”

When I met Kamangar, in California, he told me he thought that screen time in general was going to expand, so the battle for eyeballs wasn’t a zero-sum game. “Our data suggests TV watching is on the rise,” he said. “It seems to have increased from four to five hours in recent years, and we think it will keep increasing. Screen time in general will increase. I wake up with a Droid next to my bed, and I immediately look into the screen for my instructions.” At the mention of a screen, his eyes stole a longing glance back toward his laptop. “That’s the trend—more screen time—and we think that will benefit YouTube.”

Kyncl sees the situation in more absolute terms. He showed me a bar graph depicting the enormous advantage that TV has over YouTube in screen time. “We’re absolutely nothing compared to TV,” he said. “And this is why I came to YouTube. I want to take this”—he pointed to YouTube’s screen time—“up, and in a big way, because I think we can. And, if we do, this industry”—TV—“is worth three hundred billion dollars, worldwide, and we hope to see value shifting hands.”

In his first months on the job, Kyncl concentrated on beefing up YouTube’s streaming-movie-rental business—the company’s first foray into paid content—which, at that point, had mostly indie titles. He helped negotiate deals with Warner Bros., Sony, and NBCUniversal, among others. In May, 2011, the new service went live, heralded by a rare posting on the YouTube blog from Kamangar himself, entitled “Welcome to the future of video. Please stay a while.” More than three thousand titles were available for rent, at prices comparable to iTunes movie rentals. But, since most of the same films were already available for instant streaming on Netflix, for a flat monthly fee, the new service was something of a non-starter.

And popular TV shows like “Mad Men,” which Netflix also offered, were notably lacking on YouTube. When I spoke to Kamangar about this during my visit to company headquarters in July, he said that the deals were taking longer than expected to work out because so many shows were tied up in syndication and ancillary-rights deals that had been negotiated back when “no one thought that content would be watched on the Internet at this volume.” He added that making broadcast-content owners comfortable putting their stuff on YouTube “would require an attitudinal shift,” from scarcity thinking to abundance thinking, but that “there are signs this is happening.”

While Kamangar and Kyncl were expanding YouTube’s movie titles, they were also exploring a more radical idea. What if YouTube could get professional writers, directors, and producers to create original content for the site? As Kyncl put it, “YouTube already had many channels, but they were used more as a way for content creators to set up their relationship with YouTube and upload videos, rather than as a discovery mechanism for the viewer.” YouTube would not want to own or develop the content. “We’re a technology company, and that’s not in our DNA,” Kyncl said. “The focus would be on developing channels, and brands, rather than individual shows.” He added, “There is a fundamental difference between the way AOL and Yahoo behave and the way we behave. They commission individual pieces of content. What we do is commission channels. We don’t tell people how to program the channels. We have certain volume requirements”—for instance, channels would be required to supply a minimum number of hours of programming each week—“but we are not making show-by-show decisions.”

Early in 2011, Kyncl began meeting content creators in a variety of media—film, TV, music, print—whiteboarding the future of television, and inviting them to participate in it by creating new YouTube channels. He offered several million dollars in funding, in the form of advances against future ad revenues, to be used as development money. Once the advances are earned back, YouTube will share ad revenues with the creators. YouTube will have an exclusive right to the content for a year, but the creators will retain ownership. YouTube will be responsible for selling ads but will not invest in promoting or marketing the channels in the way that traditional television channels do. (There will be no lavish premiere parties, and no billboards in Times Square.)

Michael Hirschorn was among the people who heard Kyncl’s presentation. Hirschorn began his career in print but made his name in television, at VH1, where, as the head of programming, he oversaw hits like “Flavor of Love” and “Celebrity Rehab.” He now runs an independent production company called Ish Entertainment. Larry Aidem, the former president of the Sundance Channel, knew Robert Kyncl, Hirschorn told me, and he said he thought they should meet. “None of the stuff Robert described was happening yet, of course, but I felt, having been late to several revolutions previously, that we needed to go all out for this,” Hirschorn said. “I called Larry and said, ‘We need to start a company now.’ ”

In all, Kyncl received more than a thousand proposals for new YouTube channels. He and his staff heard more than five hundred pitches, and winnowed them down to just over a hundred channels that would be awarded advances. Hirschorn attended more than twenty meetings. The winning proposals—branded “YouTube Original Channels”—were announced late on the Friday evening just before Halloween, at a time usually reserved for scandals and resignations, signalling that the third age of television, whatever it might be, would not be show business as usual.

Hirschorn and Aidem’s company, IconicTV, has been given advances for three channels: Life and Times, which will focus on Jay-Z’s cultural and artistic interests; 123UnoDosTres, an urban channel for Latin American young adults; and myISH, a channel for scouting musical talent. Madonna and her longtime manager, Guy Oseary, are developing a dance channel called Dance On. Amy Poehler is creating a channel called Smart Girls at the Party. Shaquille O’Neal is behind the Comedy Shaq Network, and there is a skateboard channel, RIDE, from Tony Hawk. Brian Bedol, who started the Classic Sports Network in the nineteen-nineties, and his partner Ken Lerer, the co-founder of the Huffington Post, got funds for four channels: Network A, an action-sports channel; KickTV, featuring soccer; Official Comedy, a standup-comedy showcase; and Look TV, a fashion-and-beauty channel. The Onion, Slate, and the Wall Street Journal are also creating channels, as are Hearst and Meredith. Even Disney, which had not made its films available to YouTube until November, agreed to partner with the company.

Although most of the entertainment channels fall into the variety-show format (a staple of the early years of television), some creators are attempting long-form dramas. Anthony Zuiker, who created the crime show “C.S.I.” for CBS, got a deal, along with his colleagues, to develop a channel called BlackBoxTV, a “Night Gallery”-like chiller theatre. When I asked him what attracted him to the opportunity, he said, “This world of online video is the future, and for an artist you want to be first in, to be a pioneer. And that time is now. We’ve had amateur content on the Web, and we’ve had network shows rebroadcast on the Web, but now we are combining those two into a bigger game.” He added, “You know, even with a hit show like ‘C.S.I.’ there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen. There is a lot of interference and a lot of rules. With YouTube I will have a very small crew, and we are trying to keep focussed on a single voice. There aren’t any rules. There’s just the artist, the content, and the audience.”

And the advertisers. Like television itself, the business of TV advertising has had to learn to cope with audience fragmentation. Through the nineteen-sixties and seventies, it was not unusual for the three major networks to capture eighty-five to ninety per cent of the available prime-time audience. That made it possible for advertisers to create national brands. In the eighties, as cable caught on, with channels like CNN, TBS, MTV, and Lifetime, it began to chip off pieces of the audience from the networks. “The Cosby Show” was the last TV series to command a mass following. During the 1985-86 season, more than thirty per cent of all households with televisions tuned in. (Last year, “American Idol,” the most popular show on TV today, pulled in fewer than nine per cent of all television viewers in the U.S.) On any given day, most viewers are watching niche programming, from Rachel Maddow to Rachael Ray. The niches deliver fewer people to advertisers, which isn’t good, but in theory they also deliver a more engaged and more quantifiable audience, which might be good if it means that you can efficiently target the people who are especially receptive to your message. Nevertheless, many of the biggest brands continue to pursue what remains of the mass audiences of old, which is why ad time during the Super Bowl is so expensive.

On YouTube, the niches will get nichier, and the audiences smaller still. But those audiences will be even more engaged, and much more quantifiable. Advertisers have to rely on ratings and market research to get even a rough approximation of who’s watching which show. Because YouTube is delivered over the Internet, the company will know exactly who is watching—not their names but their viewing histories, their searches, their purchases, their rough location, and their online social connections. As Shishir Mehrotra, YouTube’s head product manager, explained to me, “Advertising will be done at the level of the audience rather than at the level of the show. Content is no longer proxy for an audience—we know who the audience is. We know what your preferences are, the types of shows you like to watch.” If you posted a video of your trip to Hawaii on YouTube, chances are YouTube is going to advertise airfare to Honolulu to you. Advertising can therefore be highly focussed, not the blunt instrument it is now.

That’s the theory, anyway. But audience-based buying is kind of creepy, privacy-wise, and it has alarming demographics-as-class implications. Would the one per cent watch Mercedes ads during the Super Bowl, while the rest of us watched ads from Walmart? Is audience-based advertising even practical? An agency would have to make thirty ads for thirty sub-niches. Say that a client wants to target the twenty-one thousand people who currently subscribe to Vegan Black Metal Chef’s YouTube channel. “So you’d have to hire a media buyer who was an expert in Vegan Black Metal,” David Cohen, of Universal McCann, said. “From a human-resources standpoint, that doesn’t make sense, unless you can figure out how to automate it.” According to Cohen, that’s beginning to happen.

Several weeks after YouTube announced the arrival of YouTube Original Channels, it held a training program at Google’s New York headquarters. Some sixty people, of varying ages, were in attendance, most with jobs at the production companies that would write, shoot, and edit the videos. They packed into conference rooms (which, like those at YouTube, are themed) for thirty-minute presentations from experienced YouTube creators on best practices. Sometimes people fanned out for breakout sessions around the vast Google floors that run the entire block from Eighth to Ninth Avenues, and which Google workers use scooters to navigate. The sessions I attended, in a room called Brass Monkey (the theme was New York bars), had the aspect of a nerdy summer camp.

Ben Relles, an employee at YouTube Next Lab and the creator of the Barely Political channel on YouTube, who had an early success with his 2007 “Obama Girl” video, featuring the actress Amber Lee Ettinger as a young Obama groupie, led off the first session. His subject was why certain videos go viral, and whether it was possible to study the data and deduce techniques that all producers can use to increase traffic. “It’s not true that viral videos are always accidents,” he said. Although people tend to think that viral videos are serendipitous, in fact, Relles said, six of the top ten most-viewed YouTube videos in 2010 were scripted and produced just like TV shows. The difference is that the poetics of YouTube favors authenticity over production values. But what looks good enough on your desktop may look cheap in your living room.

The day’s second session, on Audience Development, was led by Next Lab’s Andres Palmiter and Ryan Nugent. “The point is to bring people back on a daily basis,” Nugent said. “How do you leverage one viewer into many?” He reminded the participants to study the habits of their audience. Thanks to YouTube Analytics, the traffic-analysis program that YouTube makes available to everyone who puts up a video, creators can know both the size of their viewership and where people are watching—by country and state—as well as when they watch and how long they spend watching. If your audience is young, you want to post your video around 3 P.M., when kids are getting home from school. “Find out what it’s like to be a user,” Nugent advised.

Everybody took lots of notes, but I sensed a disconnect between the information people and the entertainment people. Familiar concepts from television, like “comedy” and “act structure” were spoken of with vocal quotation marks around them. During the Q. & A. period, someone asked, “What do you mean by ‘a show’?”

“What do you mean, ‘What do I mean by “a show”?’ ” Nugent replied.

“Well, can you talk about the difference between shows, playlists, and channels?”

Toward the end of the year, Kyncl came to New York for various meetings, and I went back to Google to see him. This time, I went to the eleventh floor, which Google has recently taken over. These conference rooms are themed according to both famous painters (an iconic work of each room’s namesake is rendered in glass around the door) and hit television shows from the past and the present. We met in the “Cosby Show” room, a nice touch.

Kyncl was excited about the new YouTube home page, which represents a major change to the interface. The cluttered old home page has been replaced by a sleek and streamlined menu of categories against a luscious black background on the left side of the screen. Not surprisingly, the redesign has been unpopular with some of the old-time users.

Most of the new content, Kyncl said, would begin “rolling out” in the first half of 2012. “I think it’s fair to say we spread our bets wide, and we can watch how things develop and decide which areas we want to go deep in.”

A number of people I had spoken to about the channel initiative were having trouble defining what exactly it is. Is Kyncl building a Web-based Comcast or Time Warner? Some believe that to be the case, but Jim Louderback, the C.E.O. of Revision3, an Internet video network, told me, “I don’t think he’s building a cable-TV competitor. I think he’s building the flip side of the cable business—a bundle of premium content that viewers just can’t live without. I see them more focussed on creating and nurturing new original properties similar to HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central.” Is YouTube attempting to seize the means of production from Hollywood? James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research, thinks so. “They’re saying, Fine, you don’t want to sell us your content, you want to tie everything up in distribution deals—fine, we’re going to make our own deals. Not just U.S. deals but global-rights deals, because YouTube is the largest video platform on the globe, and we’re going to sign Madonna and Amy Poehler, and guess what, this train is leaving the station, get on it or not.”

A prominent Hollywood insider told me, with a note of nostalgia in his voice, “I can tell you what YouTube is not going to do—generate shows like ‘Friends,’ ‘24,’ and ‘C.S.I.’ The world of TV I grew up with, where hit shows threw off hundreds of millions for the creators and networks—that’s not going to happen.” But others think it will; all it takes is a hit.

I wondered if there was any danger to the brand, in moving so decisively from the user-generated anarchy of the old YouTube to YouTV, where control and surveillance are centralized in the heart of the Googleplex. In its attempt to increase watch time, attract more viewers, and provide advertisers with as customized a customer as possible, YouTube risks alienating its core constituency—Chad Hurley’s “everyday people.” MySpace suffered steep reductions in traffic when it altered the user experience with redesigns and increased ads. Netflix lost more than half its value in the stock market and provoked a customer revolt after announcing its plan to separate the streaming and the DVD sides of the business. It’s possible that YouTube could make a similar mistake, by offering bigger, more professional niches than its amateur-niche audience wants right now. For all the information that new-media companies have about their customers, they can still fundamentally misjudge when those customers are ready for change.

“It’s certainly not going to be easy,” Kyncl said of the new venture. “There’s a lot of work to be done, to make sure this works. But, as a friend who just landed a job at one of the networks said, ‘At least you guys are swinging for the fences. There are a lot of other people who are just sitting around and watching things happen.’ ”

Media Analytics: Universal McCann

3:43:56 AM

Media Analytics: Universal McCann

by Nina Lentini, Yesterday, 4:09 PM

Comment Recommend

inShare

RSSEmailPrint

TAGS

awards

By combining art, science, math and humanity, UM achieves analytic breakthrough

We were so impressed with Universal McCann’s new media analytics technology that we created a new category and declared the Interpublic agency this year’s winner. UM has found an innovative way to refine the media plan as it’s playing out. Therefore, it can make adjustments accordingly and, it is hoped, reach the targeted audience more effectively.

How does it work? Think about Wall Street, where stockbrokers constantly evaluate which stocks are working harder than others and moving money around to their advantage. Well, over on Madison Avenue, this media agency has produced a continuous cycle of “measure, analyze, optimize.” It’s called UM 3.0.

Huw Griffiths, executive vice president and head of global performance, describes the methodology as a “one-two punch, an accelerated market-mix approach with macro feedback [that] tells you broadly to move money to national TV, to print, say, complemented by [audience measurement] research.

“These are high-level, strategic learnings of what’s working and how to execute the change at the channel level. We hand that to the planners and buyers, and it’s not conceptual any more; it’s very practical.”

Clearly, the agency has made a significant investment in 3.0. One reason is that it is moving toward a pay-for-performance compensation model. “We have to have a high degree of confidence that we can impact and optimize this,” Griffiths says.

“The key part is that we’ve created a next-generation measurement first, about measuring performance, the business impact our plans are having for our clients,” he says. “Not just reach of frequency but how many units are sold, media performance. We try and take that and blow it out. These techniques allow you to link media with sales.”

Whereas the methodologies of the last 10 to 20 years are to do this annually or every six months, Griffiths says that is too late to change anything that isn’t working. 3.0, he says, does the analytics every month or weekly, even, depending on how fast data is available, making mid-campaign changes possible.

“It’s a combination of having the technology to handle data sources and deploying the right people — having enough people to build and execute models faster,” he says. UM has invested in modeling and analytics talent and has the bandwidth to build the technology out.

Hari Abhyankar, executive vice president of global performance enablement at UM, says the level at which you make the buying decision is more granular than mere analysis. He notes the yin and yang of 3.0.

“The first part is a combination of doing analytics more frequently and the planner, buyers and analytics working together. No amount of math will ever solve this problem. Math is not be-all and end-all. It’s all top down and stops where human judgment takes over. It’s art and science, math and humans contributing, closing the last mile, to a degree.”

Abhyankar’s been on a five-year journey to where he is now and excitedly speaks about having arrived. “It’s happening! Data’s coming in, clients want it; it’s all coming to life in meetings. We are at the proving stage.” (Among the clients already using 3.0 are Charles Schwab, Chrysler, Johnson & Johnson and Sony.)

Keith Camoosa, UM’s senior vice president and head of North American research, is the guy behind UM’s Audience Measurement Platform or AMP, the engine that drives 3.0.

It is “the umbrella term for data platforms, involving lots of sources of data across the media industry. We customize and create data with suppliers in the industry,” he says, noting that the types of data NPD Group and Nielsen offer “are not things that can be purchased off the shelf.

“Agencies have invested in a lot of data intelligence to plan and buy, but not in the data that tell us how well those are working or not working. It’s a new way of thinking about research within the agency.”

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/165540/media-analytics-universal-mccann.html#ixzz1jAODhhXe

By: Nina Lentini

By combining art, science, math and humanity, UM achieves analytic breakthrough

We were so impressed with Universal McCann’s new media analytics technology that we created a new category and declared the Interpublic agency this year’s winner. UM has found an innovative way to refine the media plan as it’s playing out. Therefore, it can make adjustments accordingly and, it is hoped, reach the targeted audience more effectively.

How does it work? Think about Wall Street, where stockbrokers constantly evaluate which stocks are working harder than others and moving money around to their advantage. Well, over on Madison Avenue, this media agency has produced a continuous cycle of “measure, analyze, optimize.” It’s called UM 3.0.Huw Griffiths, executive vice president and head of global performance, describes the methodology as a “one-two punch, an accelerated market-mix approach with macro feedback [that] tells you broadly to move money to national TV, to print, say, complemented by [audience measurement] research. “These are high-level, strategic learnings of what’s working and how to execute the change at the channel level. We hand that to the planners and buyers, and it’s not conceptual any more; it’s very practical.”

Clearly, the agency has made a significant investment in 3.0. One reason is that it is moving toward a pay-for-performance compensation model. “We have to have a high degree of confidence that we can impact and optimize this,” Griffiths says.

“The key part is that we’ve created a next-generation measurement first, about measuring performance, the business impact our plans are having for our clients,” he says. “Not just reach of frequency but how many units are sold, media performance. We try and take that and blow it out. These techniques allow you to link media with sales.”

Whereas the methodologies of the last 10 to 20 years are to do this annually or every six months, Griffiths says that is too late to change anything that isn’t working. 3.0, he says, does the analytics every month or weekly, even, depending on how fast data is available, making mid-campaign changes possible.“It’s a combination of having the technology to handle data sources and deploying the right people — having enough people to build and execute models faster,” he says. UM has invested in modeling and analytics talent and has the bandwidth to build the technology out.

Hari Abhyankar, executive vice president of global performance enablement at UM, says the level at which you make the buying decision is more granular than mere analysis. He notes the yin and yang of 3.0.

“The first part is a combination of doing analytics more frequently and the planner, buyers and analytics working together. No amount of math will ever solve this problem. Math is not be-all and end-all. It’s all top down and stops where human judgment takes over. It’s art and science, math and humans contributing, closing the last mile, to a degree.”

Abhyankar’s been on a five-year journey to where he is now and excitedly speaks about having arrived. “It’s happening! Data’s coming in, clients want it; it’s all coming to life in meetings. We are at the proving stage.” (Among the clients already using 3.0 are Charles Schwab, Chrysler, Johnson & Johnson and Sony.)

Keith Camoosa, UM’s senior vice president and head of North American research, is the guy behind UM’s Audience Measurement Platform or AMP, the engine that drives 3.0.

It is “the umbrella term for data platforms, involving lots of sources of data across the media industry. We customize and create data with suppliers in the industry,” he says, noting that the types of data NPD Group and Nielsen offer “are not things that can be purchased off the shelf.

“Agencies have invested in a lot of data intelligence to plan and buy, but not in the data that tell us how well those are working or not working. It’s a new way of thinking about research within the agency.”

UM Banks On New Platform To Collaborate, Share Information

3:43:56 AM

UM Banks On New Platform To Collaborate, Share Information

by Joe Mandese, Dec 15, 2011, 8:13 AM

Comment Recommend (1)

inShare

Subscribe to MediaDailyNews

RSSEmailPrint

TAGS

agency, technology

Entering the second phase of its so-called “3.0” initiative to transform the modern media services agency model via technology and innovative information management, Interpublic’s UM unit is banking on a new proprietary network for collaborating and sharing information and insights worldwide. The new system, aptly named the Knowledge Bank, is built on top of Microsoft’s SharePoint platform, which ensures it works seamlessly with all of Microsoft’s Office suite, including programs like Excel, Word and Powerpoint, which are still major tools in media planning and buying.

Microsoft also happens to be a major UM client, but that was not the primary reason the agency opted to use SharePoint to develop its new Knowledge Bank. It was the flexibility and integration of the software that was the primary factor, says Kristi Argyilan, Chief Transformation Officer at UM.

“The idea for Knowledge Bank came from this observation we had in terms of the way people were accessing information from each other and sharing it,” she explains, noting, “The super, old-school way, for example, was that whenever you had a project gearing up, it usually started with an all-office email going out and asking who had any ideas for it. And we thought, ‘There just has to be an easier way for people to share information.’”

Argyilan said UM explored building the Knowledge Bank on top of a wiki platform or via a “shared” computer drive, but said those options were quickly rejected, because they tend to end up becoming “dumping grounds that aren’t useful, and always ended up reverting back to the “company-wide emails.”

The most important factor Argyilan says, was finding a platform the enabled groups, teams and individuals to “curate” information in a way that is relevant to specific projects, not just “dump it.”

She says the Knowledge Bank is being deployed throughout North America now, and would be rolled out into UM’s English-speaking markets first. She says language is still an issue UM is trying to crack, and that the agency is testing various translation programs to see if technology might also be a solution for exchanging, sharing and collaborating via multilingual information.

UM’s Knowledge Bank is the second major intranet-based information-sharing program launched recently by an Interpublic media unit. UM parent Mediabrands recently opened the IPG Lab, including a “virtual lab” that serves as a global information network testing, vetting and sharing developments and insights about cutting edge, and next-generation media technologies and platforms.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/164270/um-banks-on-new-platform-to-collaborate-share-inf.html#ixzz1h1LHqVYF

By: Joe Mandese

Entering the second phase of its so-called “3.0” initiative to transform the modern media services agency model via technology and innovative information management, Interpublic’s UM unit is banking on a new proprietary network for collaborating and sharing information and insights worldwide. The new system, aptly named the Knowledge Bank, is built on top of Microsoft’s SharePoint platform, which ensures it works seamlessly with all of Microsoft’s Office suite, including programs like Excel, Word and Powerpoint, which are still major tools in media planning and buying.

Microsoft also happens to be a major UM client, but that was not the primary reason the agency opted to use SharePoint to develop its new Knowledge Bank. It was the flexibility and integration of the software that was the primary factor, says Kristi Argyilan, Chief Transformation Officer at UM.

“The idea for Knowledge Bank came from this observation we had in terms of the way people were accessing information from each other and sharing it,” she explains, noting, “The super, old-school way, for example, was that whenever you had a project gearing up, it usually started with an all-office email going out and asking who had any ideas for it. And we thought, ‘There just has to be an easier way for people to share information.’”

Argyilan said UM explored building the Knowledge Bank on top of a wiki platform or via a “shared” computer drive, but said those options were quickly rejected, because they tend to end up becoming “dumping grounds that aren’t useful, and always ended up reverting back to the “company-wide emails.”

The most important factor Argyilan says, was finding a platform the enabled groups, teams and individuals to “curate” information in a way that is relevant to specific projects, not just “dump it.”

She says the Knowledge Bank is being deployed throughout North America now, and would be rolled out into UM’s English-speaking markets first. She says language is still an issue UM is trying to crack, and that the agency is testing various translation programs to see if technology might also be a solution for exchanging, sharing and collaborating via multilingual information.

UM’s Knowledge Bank is the second major intranet-based information-sharing program launched recently by an Interpublic media unit. UM parent Mediabrands recently opened the IPG Lab, including a “virtual lab” that serves as a global information network testing, vetting and sharing developments and insights about cutting edge, and next-generation media technologies and platforms.

Online Metrics Inch Closer to Standardization

3:43:56 AM

EXCLUSIVE

By Michael Depp

NetNewsCheck, December 14, 2011 6:58 AM EST

The Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative, a joint venture of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), has progressed from outlining general goals and operating principles toward a six-month testing period slated to begin in the first quarter of 2012, noting even that shift has been a tender one given its seismic potential for advertising in a cross-platform world.

And while the two biggest players currently in online audience measurement, comScore and Nielsen, are not represented among the 3MS panel’s 40 members — a deliberate exclusion — both companies said that they have a good working relationship with the panel and have already taken proactive steps to offer metrics products that meet the new standards as they drop.

Story continues after the ad

The problem of online metrics can be tidily and nearly universally summarized: “Look at four different measurement services and you’ll get four radically different pieces of information,” said David Cohen, global digital officer for Universal McCann in New York. “This has been a problem from day one and continues to be a problem today, so what we’re trying to do is step back, create a currency that is now extrapolatable across media types and move toward that.”

The vexing persistence of inconsistent online metrics may even be hampering the growth of digital and cross-platform ad sales. “I’m sure it’s not helping,” Cohen said. “To spend $100,000 in online advertising is far more complicated than $10 million in television.”

Steve Hasker, president of media products for Nielsen, agreed. “It doesn’t engender the kind of confidence in online display advertising that publishers would like and the industry would like,” he said.

So when the three advertising trade groups announced the 3MS initiative in February, the move was met with a loud chorus of support from all corners of the industry. Perhaps one of the most important validations came from George Ivie, CEO and executive director of the New York-based Media Rating Council, a private, nonprofit organization established by the industry in the 1960s at the urging of the U.S. government and charged with auditing and accrediting audience measurement research.

“It has been a great wake up call to the industry to focus on metrics, governance and making things more consistent,” Ivie said.

In June, the 3MS group announced its first major step, the articulation of five guiding principles for digital measurement. The first was to move toward a standard of “viewable impressions” rather than the served impressions currently counted to measure traffic. Since ad units are often outside a viewable space or don’t fully load before the ad server can see them, impressions are often substantially overcounted.

The second principle pushes online advertising to move to a currency based on audience impressions, not gross ad impressions. A third calls for the creation of a transparent classification system to mitigate the myriad ad types found in online media as opposed to traditional media. A fourth principle acknowledges an industry inundated in digital interaction metrics, many of which are irrelevant to brand marketers. It calls for identifying and defining metrics most valuable to brand marketers and defining and implementing reliable standards for the existing metrics.

The fifth and final principle may prove to be the initiative’s Holy Grail: making digital measurement increasingly comparable and integrated with other media. Doing so would facilitate cross-media platform planning, buying and evaluation, all of which is presently encumbered by digital’s stubborn exceptionalities.

The 3MS committee isn’t exactly starting from scratch. The MRC’s rigorous accreditation process, through which it can take metrics products years to pass, has a number of products both within and at the finished end of its pipeline that are addressing some of these standards. Ivie pointed to a product accredited over two years ago by Salt Lake City-based RealVu, for instance, which he said “essentially invented viewability,” along with other products currently under review by comScore, Nielsen and Omniture.

Still, the work in front of the panel is daunting. Sherill Mane, senior VP of industry services at the IAB, is one of the key players orchestrating it, and she said that plowing ahead into the testing phase wasn’t an option.

“Now that we have coalesced as an ecosystem around some guiding principles and some proposed solutions and we’ve embarked upon developing specifications for testing those solutions, it’s becoming increasingly clear that there are a plethora of variables that we have to take into account as we develop the tests, and the level of care and the level of detail is quite enormous,” Mane said.

The main issue, Mane said, is that this enterprise isn’t a question of one company going through a reengineering exercise, but rather an entire industry — both the buying and selling sides — laying out what it needs to transact in a cross-platform world, and a ship like that doesn’t turn easily or quickly.

Plagued by inconsistent measurement systems, the industry is seeking to standardize online audience measurements. The IAB, ANA and 4As are working on the Making Measurement Make Sense initiative that could hellp boost digital and cross-platform ad growth.

By Michael Depp

The Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative, a joint venture of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), has progressed from outlining general goals and operating principles toward a six-month testing period slated to begin in the first quarter of 2012, noting even that shift has been a tender one given its seismic potential for advertising in a cross-platform world.

And while the two biggest players currently in online audience measurement, comScore and Nielsen, are not represented among the 3MS panel’s 40 members — a deliberate exclusion — both companies said that they have a good working relationship with the panel and have already taken proactive steps to offer metrics products that meet the new standards as they drop.

The problem of online metrics can be tidily and nearly universally summarized: “Look at four different measurement services and you’ll get four radically different pieces of information,” said David Cohen, global digital officer for Universal McCann in New York. “This has been a problem from day one and continues to be a problem today, so what we’re trying to do is step back, create a currency that is now extrapolatable across media types and move toward that.”

The vexing persistence of inconsistent online metrics may even be hampering the growth of digital and cross-platform ad sales. “I’m sure it’s not helping,” Cohen said. “To spend $100,000 in online advertising is far more complicated than $10 million in television.”

Steve Hasker, president of media products for Nielsen, agreed. “It doesn’t engender the kind of confidence in online display advertising that publishers would like and the industry would like,” he said.

So when the three advertising trade groups announced the 3MS initiative in February, the move was met with a loud chorus of support from all corners of the industry. Perhaps one of the most important validations came from George Ivie, CEO and executive director of the New York-based Media Rating Council, a private, nonprofit organization established by the industry in the 1960s at the urging of the U.S. government and charged with auditing and accrediting audience measurement research.

“It has been a great wake up call to the industry to focus on metrics, governance and making things more consistent,” Ivie said.

In June, the 3MS group announced its first major step, the articulation of five guiding principles for digital measurement. The first was to move toward a standard of “viewable impressions” rather than the served impressions currently counted to measure traffic. Since ad units are often outside a viewable space or don’t fully load before the ad server can see them, impressions are often substantially overcounted.

The second principle pushes online advertising to move to a currency based on audience impressions, not gross ad impressions. A third calls for the creation of a transparent classification system to mitigate the myriad ad types found in online media as opposed to traditional media. A fourth principle acknowledges an industry inundated in digital interaction metrics, many of which are irrelevant to brand marketers. It calls for identifying and defining metrics most valuable to brand marketers and defining and implementing reliable standards for the existing metrics.

The fifth and final principle may prove to be the initiative’s Holy Grail: making digital measurement increasingly comparable and integrated with other media. Doing so would facilitate cross-media platform planning, buying and evaluation, all of which is presently encumbered by digital’s stubborn exceptionalities.

The 3MS committee isn’t exactly starting from scratch. The MRC’s rigorous accreditation process, through which it can take metrics products years to pass, has a number of products both within and at the finished end of its pipeline that are addressing some of these standards. Ivie pointed to a product accredited over two years ago by Salt Lake City-based RealVu, for instance, which he said “essentially invented viewability,” along with other products currently under review by comScore, Nielsen and Omniture.

Still, the work in front of the panel is daunting. Sherill Mane, senior VP of industry services at the IAB, is one of the key players orchestrating it, and she said that plowing ahead into the testing phase wasn’t an option.

“Now that we have coalesced as an ecosystem around some guiding principles and some proposed solutions and we’ve embarked upon developing specifications for testing those solutions, it’s becoming increasingly clear that there are a plethora of variables that we have to take into account as we develop the tests, and the level of care and the level of detail is quite enormous,” Mane said.

The main issue, Mane said, is that this enterprise isn’t a question of one company going through a reengineering exercise, but rather an entire industry — both the buying and selling sides — laying out what it needs to transact in a cross-platform world, and a ship like that doesn’t turn easily or quickly.

“This is huge,” Mane said, “so what I’m seeing is there are concerns about the pace of change and about making sure we’re looking at the right things so that when we implement change, we understand the impact.”

Mane was emphatic that she’s not seeing any resistance within the industry over making the changes, but that the concerns that have arisen so far have been more about speed as those within the industry plan their businesses going forward in the wake of the metrics shift.

Of course, nearly no one stands to be more affected by these changes than the vendors who currently provide online metrics to the industry, but both Nielsen and comScore said that they stand ready to embrace the panel’s principles and adapt accordingly.

“We just think this is a necessary step,” said Nielsen’s Hasker. “Basically, advertisers are saying they don’t have a lot of faith in the audience estimates whether they come from Google Analytics or comScore or Nielsen or anyone else. We applaud the 3MS initiative.”

Nielsen and comScore have traditionally measured online behavior using large consumer panels of opt-in participants, whose online behavior is then strategically projected to the entire population according to a number of different demographic variables.

But even though those panels are robust — comScore boasts about a million participants in the U.S. alone — they have their limits. “Panels are imperfect, and one of the areas of weakness is being able to accurately measure at-work usage of computers,” said Andrew Lipsman, VP for industry analysis at comScore. “We have a work-based panel, but as you can imagine a lot of large organizations don’t allow software like that, so large organizations were underrepresented by that panel.”

Taking proactive steps toward the shift to viewable impressions as an industry standard, comScore acquired AdExpose, a company whose products enable viewability, in August. Lipsman added that comScore also introduced a product called Unified Digital Measurement in 2009 that uses the panel at its heart but also allows publishers to participate in the process directly by including code on their sites that lets comScore know when an individual page is being viewed.

For its part, Hasker said Nielsen launched a product called Online Campaign Ratings in August that will expand its functionality by mid-2012 to work cross platform. “A major advertiser will be able to see for their campaign how many people saw it only on television, how many people saw it only online and how many people saw it on both for the first time ever in three metrics coming through the same interface and the same format,” he said.

Neither comScore nor Nielsen were included in the 3MS panel membership, IAB’s Mane said, because the industry wanted the standards and needs to be articulated by those within the business, not the vendors who serve it. That said, they haven’t exactly been left with their noses pressed to the glass outside 3MS meetings, either.

“Even if they weren’t asked to sit on the teams, there was an ongoing dialogue and it was very congenial,” Mane said.

Hasker said that dialogue is ongoing and that Nielsen communicates with 3MS at least every couple of weeks, and that whatever develops, Nielsen will be ready. “It won’t be a sea change, not at all,” he said.

And comScore’s Lipsman said that he’s not worried that the process will render any of his company’s products obsolete. “As much as there are calls for standardization, I think different businesses tend to rely on different approaches,” he said. “There are a lot of metrics out there, and not every metric might be the most relevant.”

Meanwhile, Mane and the rest of the 3MS panel will have their work cut out for them as they begin a sequenced roll out of pilot tests across 2012, beginning with viewable impressions targeted for a fourth quarter launch following a soft launch that extends through the third quarter. Test design is presently underway, Mane said, although participants have not yet been determined. She noted that the overall testing timeline is susceptible to revision, as the industry’s many vested parties continue to weigh in.

Speed, she said, will take a very big backseat to considerations of size. “The whole industry was part of it, so it’s bigger than a committee,” she said. “That’s the good thing. And the bad thing is that it’s bigger than a committee.”

Your brand wants to be social

3:43:56 AM

Your brand wants to be social: new research from Universal McCann

Native CEO Jason Xenopolous comes back from Cannes with an exclusive report-back for The Digital Edge Podcast.

Jonathan Allan-Barratt from Universal McCann reports back on the Wave 5 research on brands and social media — turns out South Africa in in the top 10 countries world-wide.

Plus why Allan-Barratt is skeptical about "customer engagement".

John Ginsberg from Ensight says CRM needs to gather more than telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. Your customers are on twitter, they’re on gaming platforms. It’s time for marketers to broaden their horizons, he says.

The Jupiter Drawing Room has implemented an internal social network called Firestring. We talk to Jupiter Creative Director Brad Riley (himself just back from Cannes) and Firestring’s Mark Johnson about it.

Listen to the podcast here: http://www.thedigitaledge.co.za/cambrient2/media_stream/cambrient2/audio/thedigitaledge_episode124.mp3

Download the full Wave 5 Research report here: The Socialisation of Brands

MAGNAGLOBAL FORECAST December 2011

3:43:56 AM

MAGNAGLOBAL MEDIA OWNERS ADVERTISING REVENUE FORECAST:
BRICs and Sports Will Help Global Advertising Revenues to Grow In 2012

New York, December 5, 2011

MAGNAGLOBAL, a division of IPG Mediabrands, released updated Global Advertising Forecasts, showing media owners’ revenue growth for 2011 and 2012 to be slower than previously projected, but still resilient.

Key Findings

2011 global growth is revised down to +4.7% (downgraded by -0.5%), totaling $427 billion.
2012 global growth is revised to +5.0% (downgraded by -1.5%), totaling $449 billion.
Quadrennial events, combined with the scale and dynamism of the BRIC countries will help sustain global growth despite worsening economic outlook. They contribute to 45% of the global growth in 2011.
Internet will become the second biggest media category in 2011, reaching a 20% global market share in 2012.
China will become the second biggest advertising market in 2012, outgrowing Japan.

2011: The Slowdown

In 2011, media suppliers around the world will see their advertising revenues grow by +4.7% to total $427 billion (constant USD 2010 basis). That estimate is down slightly (-0.5%) from our +5.2% forecast published in June 2011, due to the softening of some markets in the second half of the year. Our media suppliers advertising revenue projection includes: television (pay and free), Internet (search, display, video, mobile), newspapers, magazines, radio, cinema and out-of-home (traditional and digital). It excludes direct marketing categories such as direct mail or traditional "yellow page" directories. We monitor media suppliers’ revenues in 63 markets (including all major markets), representing more than 95% of the world’s economy.

The geography of growth. More than ever, emerging economies drove global advertising revenue growth in 2011, posting an average +15.0% growth during the year. Among these developing economies, Latin America posted the strongest growth rates, averaging +13.2%, closely followed by Central and Eastern Europe (+13.0%). Meanwhile, developed markets grew at much slower rates, such as +1.6% in Western Europe and +3.1% in North America, due to a number of factors including: a strong 2010 comparison (revenues were up +8.2% compared to 2009); macro-economic slow-down and persistent financial uncertainties; the absence of major sporting events or U.S. elections; and natural disasters in Asia. Among individual countries, the strongest growth rates came from: Argentina (+37.9% in the context of a strong inflationary economic growth), China (+22.5%), Kazakhstan (+25.6%), Russia (+20.4%), India (+15%) and Brazil (+10.2%). Eleven countries (out of the 63 analyzed by MagnaGlobal) suffered a decline in advertising revenues, including countries of Southern Europe hit by protracted economic turmoil and political instability (Greece: -19.3%; Portugal: -6.9%; Spain: -6.3%; Italy: -2.5%); emerging markets temporarily destabilized by the Arab Spring (Egypt -21%); and Asia countries hit natural disasters (Japan -2.0%, Thailand: -2.0%). Many of the large markets of Western Europe and North America wound up in the middle, typically showing low single-digit growth (UK: +1.8%; Germany: +3.0%; U.S.: +2.9%).

Among media categories, television, an unexpected winner in 2010 (+12.7%), continued to show strength in 2011, despite the absence of cyclical sporting events or elections in the U.S. Broadcasters’ advertising revenues grew 4.8% to $175 billion, in 2011, maintaining TV’s leadership with a 41.0% market share globally. Good audience levels and audience measurement improvements such as the integration of time-shifted DVR viewing into ratings for the first time (e.g. France) made the medium attractive. Out-of-home (OOH) media fared even better: including cinema, OOH grew 6.4% globally, driven by the incremental revenues generated through digital billboards (+19.9%), which have rolled out in various parts of continental Europe and Asia. Other traditional media categories, however, had a tougher year. Radio grew only +2.2%; newspapers revenues were down -2.4% and magazines declined -0.9%. Declining circulation, shrinking readership, Internet competition and short term media buying patterns (which penalizes monthly magazines), all contributed to print’s decline in developed markets. Things are different in emerging markets, however, where literacy is still increasing and broadband access is still relatively low. In those markets, magazines are growing along with the middle class, and there is enough advertising demand for every media to benefit beyond TV. Overall, print advertising revenues are up by a high single digit percent in emerging markets.

However the big winner of 2011 was internet media. Total internet advertising revenues increased +16.9% to $78.5 billion. While Display subcategories increased +15%, Paid Search reaped the benefits of usage growth and algorithm improvements to reclaim its position as the largest digital revenue driver (+19%). Within Display, online video continues to show impressive growth (+58.5%), reaching $4.7 billion in revenues. Pre- and mid-rolls in online videos now generate 6% of total internet advertising revenues and one percent (1.1%) of global advertising revenues. Even more than online video sharing specialists, TV broadcasters offering free, ad-funded online “catch-up” of long-form, full-length episodes are driving category growth.

Overall, coming after a strong 2010 and in a poor macro-economic context, media suppliers displayed a resilient performance in 2011. But the global market is barely back to where it was in 2007 ($423 billion in constant USD), and still smaller in the case of Western Europe (2007: $112 billion, 2011: $106 billion). This reflects that media costs that are still low from a historical perspective.

2012: The BRIC Engine

For 2012, we now forecast media owners’ advertising revenues to grow by 5.0% to $449 billion. This is 1.5% below our previous prediction published in June 2011 (6.5%).

This downward revision is due to deteriorating macro-economic perspectives. Our forecast model is based on current, official economic forecasts that are generally predicting weaker – but still positive – growth next year. However the uncertainty remains high, especially in Europe. In September, the IMF reduced its global output forecast (real GDP growth) from +4.5% to +4.0%. Although that forecast suggests the world economy would still grow, it’s an awkward average between emerging economies that are growing at healthy rates and developed economies that are still sputtering (average +1.9%, US: +1.8%). In late November, OECD revised its own global output forecast to +3.4% (including +1.6% for OECD countries and only +0.2% for the Euro area) warning that 4Q11 and 1Q12 could tip negative in most European countries, in line with 3Q11 slowdown. Greece, Italy and Portugal, in particular, are now expected to suffer full-year recessions in 2012. Other economic indicators (industrial production, personal consumption and business confidence) have been similarly downgraded in recent months and some independent forecasters have expressed increasingly gloomier views.

Despite the worsening economic outlook, we are still projecting a positive growth rate based on a few factors:

First, the well-known “quadrennial” cyclical driver is back, and we believe it will be stronger than ever. The incremental ad spend generated by major sporting events (London Summer Olympics, Poland/Ukraine European Soccer Championship) and the U.S. Presidential Elections will bring an additional 1% to 2% on top of organic revenue growth across markets. In the U.S., Political and Olympic (P&O) money will account for three billion dollars of incremental ad spend, mostly on television ($2.4 billion related to the Elections, $600 million generated by Olympic Broadcasts). Meanwhile, major sporting events will help in European markets that are otherwise hit by economic stagnation, such as the UK (which is hosting the Olympics, although the games are broadcast on the ad-free BCC) and Italy (where the Games and Soccer tournament will mostly be broadcast by RAI, one of the few European public television groups still allowed to carry a full, all-day advertising load).

Second, big emerging countries will increase their share of global economic and advertising influence. At the end of 2012, emerging markets will represent 24% of global advertising revenues (compared to 7% in 1999) and the four BRICs alone will account for 14% (compared to 3% in 1999). Adding scale to dynamism, the BRIC markets have the capacity to offset part or all of the Western weakness. The four BRIC markets equated to only 10% of Western Europe’s advertising revenues in 1999. That ratio will grow to 59% by the end of 2012, and by 2016 the BRIC countries will almost match the size of Western Europe (94%). The BRIC countries contributed to 45% of the global market growth in 2011 ($9 billion out of $19billion). With a growing proportion of the BRIC countries’ population accessing mass media, digital media and Western-style consumption patterns; with Western and local brands competing to position themselves in the top of mind of that emerging middle class, media demand is in excess of supply and inflation reigns. BRIC countries lag behind the global average advertising spend per capita ($80) – Russia: $70, Brazil: $60; China: $21, and India: $4. With such structural factors, we expect advertising spending and revenues in those markets to keep growing faster than the general economy, supporting global revenues in their wake.

Thirdly, some lessons learned in 2009 may help avoid a replay. Some major advertisers, e.g. in FMCG, have since admitted that they may have over-reacted back then by cutting advertising expenditure too hard too quickly, which harmed their brands. We believe that this time, even if sales forecasts are being revised downwards, marketers will remember that market shares are still up for losses or gains, including – and perhaps even more so – during a recession, as consumers reconsider their choices. Besides the Western advertising market is still smaller than five years ago, which means prices and net costs per thousands - despite some inflation in 2010-2011 - are still competitive and attractive by long term standards. Therefore, brands in various sectors have both the incentive and capacity to invest smartly to boost or defend their market shares.

In 2012, advertising revenues will grow by 12.4% in emerging economies, with Latin America still leading the charge (+13.0%) followed by Central and Eastern Europe (slowing down at +7.7%). Asia Pacific will re-accelerate to 8.3% due to the recovery of Japan and the continued growth of China. Western Europe will slow down at +1.1%. The sports driver will not be enough to offset recession in many European countries: Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland will decrease again (between -2% and -6%); Italy and France will be flat at best. UK and Germany will grow below 2%.

The biggest growth rates of 2012 will come from Argentina (+26.4%), Ukraine (+21.0%), Indonesia (+16.0%), China (+16.1%), Brazil (+12.0%), India (+13.5%) and Russia (+9.6%).

In terms of media market share, internet will grow by 11.2% and outrank newspapers to become the second biggest media category globally, accounting for nearly 20% of global advertising dollars (19.5% at $87.4 billion). The category already stands at 23% in both North America and Western Europe (where it even takes the #1 spot in a few markets, such as the UK). Television will receive the bulk of the “quadrennial” bonanza and benefits from the typical concentration of advertisers into leading media at the expense of secondary media during harsh times. TV will grow by 6.7% globally to $187 billion. Newspaper and magazine revenues will shrink by an average -1% and -1.3% respectively, with much deeper drops in Western markets, where circulation losses of 2011 will be reflected in 2012 ad pricing. Radio will grow by 2.2% to $30.4 billion. OOH will also benefit from the “quadrennial” events and the roll-out of new digital (+6.3% to $28.3 billion) platforms. In the UK, the innovative upfront auction process conducted last summer to allocate the most premium London inventory during the Games did not quite meet the high expectations, but the industry is still expected to grow healthily next year.

China Takes the #2 Spot

China’s advertising market is expected to continue outperforming its already impressive economic growth in 2012, with a +16.1% growth. At $33 billion, China will become the second biggest advertising market, ahead of Japan, now third at $32.1 billion. Germany remains the fourth biggest market, some distance behind ($25 billion). Other top 10 markets are – in that order - UK, France, Brazil, Canada, Australia and Italy. Russia will enter the top 10 in 2013, at the expense of Italy.

UK: Olympics provide some respite

This year, advertising revenues are expected to grow by 1.8% to GBP 12.2 billion. This is a considerable slow-down compared to the 2010 recovery (+8.8%) but a decent outcome considering the economic environment. Internet has been driving the market yet again (growing 11.4% to reach GBP 3.9 billion or nearly 32% market share) but most traditional media have posted some growth. Television should grow by 1.2% to GBP 3.7 bn despite the strong 2010 rebound comparison. Radio and outdoor media are also growing by approximately 1% whilst newspapers and magazine revenues are dropping by a high single digit.

For 2012, there are no prospects of economic recovery (the latest OECD forecasts predict a GDP growth of 0.5%) and still significant risks of double dip. We have therefore reduced our previous forecasts. However, the exceptional combination of events (London Olympics, European Football Championship and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee) should be able to generate enough marketing expenditure to conjure some advertising growth. Television and outdoor media will benefit the most (growing by respectively 2.3% and 5.2%) while internet media will continue to grow by a high single digit, driven by mobile and video formats. Overall, media owners’ revenues are expected to grow by 1.4%.

Media business chiefs brace for bleak 2012

3:43:56 AM

Media business chiefs brace for bleak 2012

By Yinka Adegoke, 12/2/2011

Top media executives across North America and Europe are bracing for a global economic slowdown in 2012, and are already surrendering to demands by advertisers that they offer shorter-term, flexible deals in case of another crisis.

After finally increasing advertising spending -- the lifeblood of the media business -- corporations have yet to show any sign that they are cutting budgets as they did in dramatic fashion between 2007 and 2008.

Still, executives who attended the Reuters Global Media Summit in New York, London and Paris this week said advertisers have turned more cautious in recent months and want to protect against uncertainty around the euro zone's future and political gamesmanship in the United States.

Globally, advertising deals and other business partnerships are being re-assessed and reworked, meaning deals that would normally run for six or nine months are now being shortened to just two or three months -- or less.

"It's very short-term thinking," said David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines. "There was a time when advertisers would commit three or four print issues at a time four or five months out. People are now committing a month or two out."

This fall, markets around the world suffered through weeks of turmoil as fears of an unraveling of the euro zone mounted with little sign of a settlement until the last minute. The result for corporations was a rethinking of previous plans, including how they would spend advertising money, among the most economically sensitive parts of any budget.

"You just can't run your business on the basis that something will turn up, so you have to plan on the basis that it doesn't turn up," said Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive

of WPP, the world's largest advertising holding company.

"So you think about what legally and contractually it is going to mean. You also say 'I'm going to run my balance sheet as conservatively as possible,'" he said.

CHICKENS COMING HOME

Jacki Kelley, global CEO of Interpublic Group's Universal McCann, was among those who said that advertisers had taken a noticeably "more cautious approach" in recent months.

"Advertisers are still hanging in there," she said. "While there hasn't been a significant pullback, there has been a shorter-term, more cautious approach."

Kelley, whose media agency's clients include Microsoft Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp, is expecting U.S. advertising to climb a modest 2-3 percent next year, with worldwide spending at a healthier 5 percent growth rate.

Several European executives, meanwhile, said they had high hopes the Euro zone issues would be resolved in time.

"Is it the apocalypse? I don't think so, said Maurice Levy, chief executive of Publicis, the third-largest advertising holding company in the world. "There are some serious issues, very serious issues. Can we find a solution? I am hopeful for a lot of reasons."

One bright spot is that corporate balance sheets in countries like the United States remain healthy. According to Federal Reserve data, there is more than $2 trillion on S&P 500 companies' balance sheets which is not being plowed directly back into the U.S. economy.

The question is how to spend the cash: A number of executives complained this week that solid decisions were impossible given the bitter atmosphere and political gridlock in Washington.

"I'm critical in a bipartisan way, it's pretty problematic," said Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of video game company Take Two Interactive and private equity firm Zelnick Media.

Zelnick, who called himself a liberal Democrat, said he believed that President Barack Obama's administration has "demonized capitalism."

A number of companies have used their cash to repurchase stock, and have come under criticism for not investing that money in growth and hiring. The U.S. unemployment rate has hovered above 9 percent for much of the past 18 months, though new numbers on Friday showed it had dipped to 8.6 percent.

Zelnick, however, pointed out that a closer look at the unemployment picture reveals a growing divide between classes.

"We have some really bad structural issues that are the chickens coming home to roost, no wonder people are camping out in Zuccotti Park," said Zelnick.

By: Yinka Adegoke
Top media executives across North America and Europe are bracing for a global economic slowdown in 2012, and are already surrendering to demands by advertisers that they offer shorter-term, flexible deals in case of another crisis.

After finally increasing advertising spending -- the lifeblood of the media business -- corporations have yet to show any sign that they are cutting budgets as they did in dramatic fashion between 2007 and 2008.

Still, executives who attended the Reuters Global Media Summit in New York, London and Paris this week said advertisers have turned more cautious in recent months and want to protect against uncertainty around the euro zone's future and political gamesmanship in the United States.

Globally, advertising deals and other business partnerships are being re-assessed and reworked, meaning deals that would normally run for six or nine months are now being shortened to just two or three months -- or less.

"It's very short-term thinking," said David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines. "There was a time when advertisers would commit three or four print issues at a time four or five months out. People are now committing a month or two out."

This fall, markets around the world suffered through weeks of turmoil as fears of an unraveling of the euro zone mounted with little sign of a settlement until the last minute. The result for corporations was a rethinking of previous plans, including how they would spend advertising money, among the most economically sensitive parts of any budget.

"You just can't run your business on the basis that something will turn up, so you have to plan on the basis that it doesn't turn up," said Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive
of WPP, the world's largest advertising holding company.

"So you think about what legally and contractually it is going to mean. You also say 'I'm going to run my balance sheet as conservatively as possible,'" he said.

CHICKENS COMING HOME

Jacki Kelley, global CEO of Interpublic Group's Universal McCann, was among those who said that advertisers had taken a noticeably "more cautious approach" in recent months.

"Advertisers are still hanging in there," she said. "While there hasn't been a significant pullback, there has been a shorter-term, more cautious approach."

Kelley, whose media agency's clients include Microsoft Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp, is expecting U.S. advertising to climb a modest 2-3 percent next year, with worldwide spending at a healthier 5 percent growth rate.

Several European executives, meanwhile, said they had high hopes the Euro zone issues would be resolved in time.

"Is it the apocalypse? I don't think so, said Maurice Levy, chief executive of Publicis, the third-largest advertising holding company in the world. "There are some serious issues, very serious issues. Can we find a solution? I am hopeful for a lot of reasons."

One bright spot is that corporate balance sheets in countries like the United States remain healthy. According to Federal Reserve data, there is more than $2 trillion on S&P 500 companies' balance sheets which is not being plowed directly back into the U.S. economy.

The question is how to spend the cash: A number of executives complained this week that solid decisions were impossible given the bitter atmosphere and political gridlock in Washington.

"I'm critical in a bipartisan way, it's pretty problematic," said Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of video game company Take Two Interactive and private equity firm Zelnick Media.
Zelnick, who called himself a liberal Democrat, said he believed that President Barack Obama's administration has "demonized capitalism."

A number of companies have used their cash to repurchase stock, and have come under criticism for not investing that money in growth and hiring. The U.S. unemployment rate has hovered above 9 percent for much of the past 18 months, though new numbers on Friday showed it had dipped to 8.6 percent.

Zelnick, however, pointed out that a closer look at the unemployment picture reveals a growing divide between classes.

"We have some really bad structural issues that are the chickens coming home to roost, no wonder people are camping out in Zuccotti Park," said Zelnick.

Forget fans, media execs can't get enough sports

3:43:56 AM

Forget fans, media execs can't get enough sports

By Paul Thomasch and Lisa Richwine, 12/1/2011

Rather than cheering along in a soccer stadium or basketball arena, today's biggest sports fans can probably be found sifting through spreadsheets in a quiet corner office.

That's because sports represent one of the few businesses that keeps getting better for media companies, providing an important buffer against an otherwise uncertain economy. Even as Americans struggle, they keep tuning in to sports. Scandals and labor strife seemingly have done nothing to subdue their passion.

At least for now, fans keep paying up for costly TV packages, such as "Sunday Ticket," DirecTV's National Football League offering. Advertisers, too, seem willing to pay top dollar to buy commercial time during sports. Some of the 30-second spots for the upcoming Super Bowl cost upward of $3.5 million.

Media and sports executives who spoke this week at Reuters Global Media Summit see no signs consumers are losing their appetites for sports or cutting back in tough economic times.

"Content is king, and sports content is the king of kings," said Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber. "Every time our industry thinks it's reached a peak, something happens which surprises."

When soccer governing body FIFA sold U.S. broadcast rights for the World Cup for about $1.2 billion this year, up from $40 million a decade ago, Garber said he was "astounded."

Others were just as shocked at the deal ESPN inked with the National Football League last September. The network agreed to pay $1.9 billion a year to keep "Monday Night Football" games through 2021, about 73 percent more than Walt Disney Co's ESPN had previously paid the league.

To ESPN, the deal secured not just weekly games that are grabbing more and more viewers but unlimited use of highlights and more than 500 new hours of NFL-branded studio programming per year. That content can keep fans watching and checking out the network's websites or mobile applications even when teams aren't on the field.

"It is expensive, make no mistake," said John Skipper, ESPN's incoming president and current head of content. "For us the deal is worth it," he said.

And that is because those costs -- plus a whole lot more -- can be made back from selling advertising time and collecting subscription fees from cable companies, who themselves can pass along higher prices to sports-crazy consumers.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH

This fall, 18 of the 20 highest-rated programs have been NFL games. And Major League Baseball's World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals on News Corp's Fox network averaged 16.6 million viewers, up about 19 percent from last year.

Those are attractive figures for any advertiser, well aware that most viewers are watching sporting events on live TV, rather than recording the program and watching it later, as is often the case with comedies or dramas.

"Advertisers do like live sports because of the level of engagement. You hold an audience," said Jacki Kelley, global CEO of Interpublic Group's Universal McCann, a media agency whose clients include Microsoft Corp, Sony Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp.

"Live sports are a continued opportunity and one we're continuing to invest in," she said, speaking at the summit on Thursday.

TV networks have responded by broadcasting an ever increasing amount of sports content. Comcast Corp, the new majority owner of NBC Universal, has made a priority out of building its sports coverage in hopes of better competing with ESPN. It just reached a three-year, $30 million deal for rights to air MLS games on NBC Universal's sports networks.

Then there is the 14-year deal between CBS Corp's CBS and Time Warner's Turner that allows basketball fans to watch more of the NCAA March Madness playoffs than ever before. And all three of the major U.S. sports leagues have their own TV networks that broadcast games, analyses and features.

Still, audiences can't seem to get enough.

"We've been able to add these things and consumption keeps going up and up and up," said Brian Rolapp, head of the NFL's media business.

By: Paul Thomasch and Lisa Richwine

Rather than cheering along in a soccer stadium or basketball arena, today's biggest sports fans can probably be found sifting through spreadsheets in a quiet corner office.

That's because sports represent one of the few businesses that keeps getting better for media companies, providing an important buffer against an otherwise uncertain economy. Even as Americans struggle, they keep tuning in to sports. Scandals and labor strife seemingly have done nothing to subdue their passion.

At least for now, fans keep paying up for costly TV packages, such as "Sunday Ticket," DirecTV's National Football League offering. Advertisers, too, seem willing to pay top dollar to buy commercial time during sports. Some of the 30-second spots for the upcoming Super Bowl cost upward of $3.5 million.

Media and sports executives who spoke this week at Reuters Global Media Summit see no signs consumers are losing their appetites for sports or cutting back in tough economic times.
"Content is king, and sports content is the king of kings," said Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber. "Every time our industry thinks it's reached a peak, something happens which surprises."

When soccer governing body FIFA sold U.S. broadcast rights for the World Cup for about $1.2 billion this year, up from $40 million a decade ago, Garber said he was "astounded."
Others were just as shocked at the deal ESPN inked with the National Football League last September. The network agreed to pay $1.9 billion a year to keep "Monday Night Football" games through 2021, about 73 percent more than Walt Disney Co's ESPN had previously paid the league.

To ESPN, the deal secured not just weekly games that are grabbing more and more viewers but unlimited use of highlights and more than 500 new hours of NFL-branded studio programming per year. That content can keep fans watching and checking out the network's websites or mobile applications even when teams aren't on the field.

"It is expensive, make no mistake," said John Skipper, ESPN's incoming president and current head of content. "For us the deal is worth it," he said.

And that is because those costs -- plus a whole lot more -- can be made back from selling advertising time and collecting subscription fees from cable companies, who themselves can pass along higher prices to sports-crazy consumers.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH

This fall, 18 of the 20 highest-rated programs have been NFL games. And Major League Baseball's World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals on News Corp's Fox network averaged 16.6 million viewers, up about 19 percent from last year.

Those are attractive figures for any advertiser, well aware that most viewers are watching sporting events on live TV, rather than recording the program and watching it later, as is often the case with comedies or dramas.

"Advertisers do like live sports because of the level of engagement. You hold an audience," said Jacki Kelley, global CEO of Interpublic Group's Universal McCann, a media agency whose clients include Microsoft Corp, Sony Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp.

"Live sports are a continued opportunity and one we're continuing to invest in," she said, speaking at the summit on Thursday.

TV networks have responded by broadcasting an ever increasing amount of sports content. Comcast Corp, the new majority owner of NBC Universal, has made a priority out of building its sports coverage in hopes of better competing with ESPN. It just reached a three-year, $30 million deal for rights to air MLS games on NBC Universal's sports networks.

Then there is the 14-year deal between CBS Corp's CBS and Time Warner's Turner that allows basketball fans to watch more of the NCAA March Madness playoffs than ever before. And all three of the major U.S. sports leagues have their own TV networks that broadcast games, analyses and features.
Still, audiences can't seem to get enough.

"We've been able to add these things and consumption keeps going up and up and up," said Brian Rolapp, head of the NFL's media business.

Tempur Appoints UM

3:43:56 AM

Australia's leading marketer of premium beds and mattresses, Tempur, has appointed UM Melbourne as its media communications agency.

Tempur markets a range of quality pillows, beds, mattresses and comfort accessories manufactured in Denmark and has appointed UM Melbourne to its media assignment focusing on communications strategy, buying, and digital including search.

Jason Nicholas, Tempur Australia and New Zealand managing director, said: "We chose UM as our media agency after reviewing their capabilities and identifying the opportunity to align resources. We are entering a period of heightened investment in our national marketing as Tempur becomes the world's favourite mattress and pillow company and as such we believe UM will be a highly effective partner for Tempur."

Managing director of UM Melbourne Wendy Gower said the Tempur appointment was an exciting win for the agency. "We have proposed a number of innovative initiatives for Tempur that we would like the opportunity to build into Tempur's media communications mix for 2012. We are looking forward to contributing significantly to their business," said Gower.

Sweet Win: UM Scores Ghirardelli Digital

3:43:56 AM

Sweet Win: UM Scores Ghirardelli Digital

by Steve McClellan, Nov 22, 2011, 4:42 PM

Comment Recommend (2)

inShare

Subscribe to Online Media Daily

RSSEmailPrint

TAGS

accounts, agency, digital, food

Interpublic Group media shop UM has been awarded the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company’s digital agency of record business, the agency confirmed today. The account will be handled out of the UM office in San Francisco, where the client is based. The assignment will be led by Matt Nessier, UM senior vice president, Emerging Media.

According to Kantar Media, Ghirardelli spent $940,000 on display ads last year and $730,000 on such ads during the first half of 2011. No data was available for the company’s search expenditures. Total digital annual ad spend for the client is estimated at $3 million, per sources.

“We were very impressed with the strategy and insights presented by UM,” stated Mona Maher, vice president of marketing for Ghirardelli. “Digital and social media are important tools in our marketing mix. As we continue to grow and invest in our premium brand, we see UM as the perfect partner to help us achieve our goals.”

Jacki Kelley, global CEO UM, stated: “We look forward to partnering with Ghirardelli as we utitilze our measurement capabilities to lead to successful business outcomes for them.”

UM sister agency Campbell-Ewald handles creative chores (which were not part of the review) for the client out of CE’s Los Angeles office. Ghirardelli just launched a new holiday season national TV spot to trumpet the return of its Peppermint Bark Squares. The new spot will run alongside another ad that broke earlier this year called "Rendezvous" designed to link Ghirardelli chocolates to a woman’s busy day.

Video of the new spot will run on selected sites as well, including Marthastewart.com, Hulu.com, Walmart.com and Target.com.

The client celebrates its 150th anniversary next year. It owns and operates 18 retail stores in seven states, including the original shop in San Francisco’s historic Ghirardelli Square.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/162895/um-wins-ghirardelli-digital-aor-biz.html#ixzz1gLgZEHmJ

By: Steve McClellan

Interpublic Group media shop UM has been awarded the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company’s digital agency of record business, the agency confirmed today. The account will be handled out of the UM office in San Francisco, where the client is based. The assignment will be led by Matt Nessier, UM senior vice president, Emerging Media.

According to Kantar Media, Ghirardelli spent $940,000 on display ads last year and $730,000 on such ads during the first half of 2011. No data was available for the company’s search expenditures. Total digital annual ad spend for the client is estimated at $3 million, per sources.

“We were very impressed with the strategy and insights presented by UM,” stated Mona Maher, vice president of marketing for Ghirardelli. “Digital and social media are important tools in our marketing mix. As we continue to grow and invest in our premium brand, we see UM as the perfect partner to help us achieve our goals.”

Jacki Kelley, global CEO UM, stated: “We look forward to partnering with Ghirardelli as we utitilze our measurement capabilities to lead to successful business outcomes for them.”
UM sister agency Campbell-Ewald handles creative chores (which were not part of the review) for the client out of CE’s Los Angeles office. Ghirardelli just launched a new holiday season national TV spot to trumpet the return of its Peppermint Bark Squares. The new spot will run alongside another ad that broke earlier this year called "Rendezvous" designed to link Ghirardelli chocolates to a woman’s busy day.

Video of the new spot will run on selected sites as well, including Marthastewart.com, Hulu.com, Walmart.com and Target.com.

The client celebrates its 150th anniversary next year. It owns and operates 18 retail stores in seven states, including the original shop in San Francisco’s historic Ghirardelli Square.

First Mover: Yin Woon Rani

3:43:56 AM

This is your first media agency job. What's the learning curve like? It's exciting mostly. It's one step to the left and it's not as daunting as I thought. People here are really generous with their time and it's very much a collaboration culture. So after week one, I think I've learned a lot and I have a lot more to learn.

Any surprises in that first week, either positive or negative? It really exceeded my expectations. It was a long due diligence process on both sides. I was able to meet a large group of people. So I got a sense of the culture, the challenges, the ups and the downs. So I felt I walked in pretty well prepped and that carried through, throughout the week. On the pleasant side, I think it's nice to see the collaborative culture is deep-rooted. But call me in a month and I'll let you know how I'm doing. [Laughs]

You guys just won the ExxonMobil business. How is that going to affect you next month or in six months? It's a great win, obviously. It puts great wind into our sails going into 2012. So it's going to be helpful for the bottom line, obviously. It's helpful for morale. It's validation of our view of what media should be about. There are many people focused on ExxonMobil beyond myself, but I think for the agency as a whole this couldn't have happened at a better time.
Any specific ideas that you guys are working on with them?No. It's all preliminary, and I would be the wrong person to even begin to try to answer that.

How are you working with other UM cluster presidents? I think we have a good collaborative relationship so far.
You've used some variation of the word "collaborate" a few times now.Collaborative cultures are attractive to me not just as a leader of the agency, but I do think it is actually a competitive advantage, believe it or not. I do think that collaboration is not just a warm and fuzzy HR concept. I think that it is an underappreciated skill set and mind-set.

What can you take from the experience of working with clients like GlaxoSmithKline and P&G and apply to UM? Because of our vision that media is so much more central and that we want our media to be accountable to our clients' business outcomes. To get to that kind of partnership with clients today I think you really need a relationship focus and the ability to move upstream in the conversation. I think that there are plenty of people here that have very deep client skills. I just think that we need to make it a little more uniform and a little bit more a part of the culture, so it's a little more front and center than what it has been.

How are technologies like addressability changing media agencies? It's a good question. I think that all digital technologies that have made more and more data and information about the customer available to us on the one hand are sort of daunting. But as a marketer I think it opens up a great deal of possibilities.

How does that massive amount of data that the media agencies now control shape the business? Data is only the beginning. I think the opportunity is to mine it for insights, the opportunity for deeper target understanding from which to create better strategies so we can track the outcomes more. I think it's changing the pace in which we have to respond.

UM Wins Global Account for ExxonMobil

3:43:56 AM

UM is delighted to announce it has been awarded the global media account for energy giant ExxonMobil, following an extremely competitive global pitch process that began last October.

ExxonMobil, which operates Esso, Mobil and ExxonMobil in the UK, worked with a roster of media agencies worldwide, including UM, OMD and MPG. Previously, UM was responsible for chemicals and lubricants.

This win means UM have not only consolidated their relationship with ExxonMobil, but expanded it to become the energy business' global media agency. The IPG agency will now also look after the media for fuel and corporate image advertising.

Global creative will be largely handled by Omnicom Group’s BBDO, who previously shared the task with McCann Erickson and EuroRSCG.

ExxonMobil, which currently supplies 10% of the UK's total oil and gas production, spent £8.9m across all media in UK. The majority was spent on press and TV between August 2009 and July 2010, according to The Nielsen Company.

Worldwide, the business spent between $120 and $300 on measured media in 2010. According to AdAge, executives close to the account predict a higher spend in the years to come.

Jacki Kelley, Global CEO UM, said:
"We're delighted at this outcome, which is a result of the most significant global team effort in a very long time. Our relationship with ExxonMobil is one of the longest in the ad business. Not only have we consolidated that, we have expanded it, and we look forward to working with the business in the months and years to come.”

UM Adds Smoke to MLA’s Beef Barbeque Site

3:43:56 AM

UM and client Meat & Livestock Australia have installed unique technology to a poster site which creates the effect of a smoking great Australian Beef barbeque. The campaign launches this week. The site has been unveiled in Sydney and will be complemented by roadside poster sites and bus shelters that will waft iconic summer barbeque scents to attract interest from pedestrians.

The campaign kicks off Meat & Livestock Australia’s summer campaign supporting Beef sales. “Our target for Beef is always grocery buyers but for this campaign we needed to have a separate strategy to target men,” said Hugo Cutrone, associate communications director at UM Sydney. “The winter season sees most cooking activity move to inside the home. This summer we are asking men to step up to the plate and reclaim the grill with Beef.”

Installation of the barbeque smoking supersite conforms to local council environment regulations by using theatrical smoke machines to generate the effect. The campaign runs to December 4.

Credits:

Client – Meat and Livestock Australia
Media agency – UM
Creative agency – BMF
Supersites installed in partnership with APN Outdoor & Ooh! Media.
Scented bus shelters installed in partnership with JC Decaux.

Google Rivals to Pool Unsold Ad Space

3:43:56 AM

Google Rivals to Pool Unsold Ad Space

Article

Stock Quotes

Comments (3)

MORE IN TECH »

Save

↓ More

smaller

Larger

By AMIR EFRATI

Three of Google Inc.'s top rivals announced a partnership Tuesday that is widely viewed as an effort to counter the Internet giant's growing influence in the sale of graphical advertisements online.

In a long-awaited move, Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL Inc., which each sell ad space on their own websites, said that early next year they will effectively pool much of their unsold ad space so that advertisers can easily buy ads across all sites.

The partnership will "offer the efficiency of buying premium display inventory at scale," the companies said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The deal could boost the value of the ads or at least get marketers to spend more dollars. It focuses on "Class 2" ad inventory, or left-over ad space on prominent sections of the companies' sites, which are visited by hundreds of millions of Internet users every month.

All three companies have been under pressure from Google, which has created a large marketplace for advertisers to buy ads across the Web as well as from Google's own YouTube video site.

Industry experts said that advertisers are flocking to Google's marketplace, called the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, which functions like an automated auction to match buyers with sellers of ads.

Thanks to Google and newer rivals such as the social network Facebook Inc., the value of certain ads on Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL has dropped in recent years, industry executives say. The share of revenue captured by those companies in the $12 billion U.S. display-ad market has also declined, according to research firm eMarketer.

Tuesday's deal is "big, it's meaningful, and its good for the industry," said David Cohen, an executive vice president at Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos. "We will have access to high-quality inventory at scale, which is something that we and our marketers have an increasing appetite for," he said.

The companies declined to comment on whether they have asked government antitrust lawyers to bless the deal. But Rik van der Kooi, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Advertising Business Group, said, "This is not at all reducing competition in any way, shape or form, and we will continue to compete as hard as we do today." Thus, he said, "I don't expect any issues on that side."

Mr. van der Kooi also said that he would welcome other Web companies joining the effort and that the deal is "not a response to anyone in particular."

The ad-buying alliance is a watered-down version of a plan hatched two years ago to combine ad inventory from the websites of Yahoo, Microsoft and News Corp., people familiar with the matter said. The companies discussed ways to create a joint venture to house and sell ad space in an effort to compete against Google, these people said. No deal was reached. News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203733504577026541402269860.html#ixzz1dE3iVbG9

By: Amir Efrati

Three of Google Inc.'s top rivals announced a partnership Tuesday that is widely viewed as an effort to counter the Internet giant's growing influence in the sale of graphical advertisements online.

In a long-awaited move, Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL Inc., which each sell ad space on their own websites, said that early next year they will effectively pool much of their unsold ad space so that advertisers can easily buy ads across all sites.

The partnership will "offer the efficiency of buying premium display inventory at scale," the companies said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The deal could boost the value of the ads or at least get marketers to spend more dollars. It focuses on "Class 2" ad inventory, or left-over ad space on prominent sections of the companies' sites, which are visited by hundreds of millions of Internet users every month.

All three companies have been under pressure from Google, which has created a large marketplace for advertisers to buy ads across the Web as well as from Google's own YouTube video site.

Industry experts said that advertisers are flocking to Google's marketplace, called the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, which functions like an automated auction to match buyers with sellers of ads.

Thanks to Google and newer rivals such as the social network Facebook Inc., the value of certain ads on Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL has dropped in recent years, industry executives say. The share of revenue captured by those companies in the $12 billion U.S. display-ad market has also declined, according to research firm eMarketer.

Tuesday's deal is "big, it's meaningful, and its good for the industry," said David Cohen, an executive vice president at Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos. "We will have access to high-quality inventory at scale, which is something that we and our marketers have an increasing appetite for," he said.

The companies declined to comment on whether they have asked government antitrust lawyers to bless the deal. But Rik van der Kooi, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Advertising Business Group, said, "This is not at all reducing competition in any way, shape or form, and we will continue to compete as hard as we do today." Thus, he said, "I don't expect any issues on that side."

Mr. van der Kooi also said that he would welcome other Web companies joining the effort and that the deal is "not a response to anyone in particular."

The ad-buying alliance is a watered-down version of a plan hatched two years ago to combine ad inventory from the websites of Yahoo, Microsoft and News Corp., people familiar with the matter said. The companies discussed ways to create a joint venture to house and sell ad space in an effort to compete against Google, these people said. No deal was reached. News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft Forge Partnership in Bid to Raise Online Ad Revenues

3:43:56 AM

Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft Forge Partnership in Bid to Raise Online Ad Revenues

Three Legacy Portals Create Marketplace For 'Premium' Ad Inventory

By: Jason Del Rey Published: November 08, 2011

Meet the newest ad exchange on the block. Aging portals AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft officially announced a long-rumored partnership today to pool their non-reserved display inventory in an effort to gain a bigger share of display ad dollars increasingly going to Facebook and Google.

Yahoo EVP-Americas Ross Levinsohn said the agreement "will help revolutionize the buying and selling of premium online ad inventory."

Starting in early 2012, the three companies say they will integrate their real-time bidding technologies to provide buyers access to scaled, premium inventory in one spot.

Though the partnership had been rumored for a while, some parties had been surprised by AOL's willingness to participate and open up its inventory to competitors' platforms after historically being unwilling to do so. But Advertising.com is the largest buyer of Yahoo inventory, according to Kurt Unkel, SVP, director at Vivaki Nerve Center, and he said it's quite possible that Yahoo would have turned off access to that inventory had AOL not participated.

"I think AOL was at the table simply because maybe that possibility was thrown on the table at the start," he said earlier this week.

AOL Chief Revenue Officer Ned Brody said that fear of losing preexisting access to inventory did not play a part in the decision to join up with the other two companies.

Mr. Brody said the hope is that the partnership will allow AOL to better scale its rich-media Devil ad units, which AOL is working to have adopted outside of its own media properties.

Quentin George, chief innovation officer for IPG Mediabrands, said this announcement is a good first step toward simplifying the buying of premium inventory.

"All of the holding companies have been very explicit in articulating how favorable it would be for us to have persistent access to that quality and scale of inventory," he said. "It just offers a really compelling level of concentration of quality inventory that just removes a lot of friction in the system."

Still, he said, all publishers need to do a better job of delineating between what inventory is sold directly, and which is sold on an auction basis through exchanges. "We still need to understand what inventory gets dynamically provisioned and what gets sold face to face."

"At the end of day, they need to be able to have more a sophisticated answer to what gets sold through which mechanism," he added. "Because in the past, the adage was simply that the more premium the content is, the more face-to-face it needs to get sold. I don't think that maxim holds true any more. "

Initially, the inventory can be procured through Microsoft's Advertising Exchange and Yahoo's Right Media Exchange, the companies said.

David Cohen, EVP, global digital officer at UM, said he thinks the agreement will result in consolidation of the partnership into a single platform in the future.

"I have to imagine that over time it will migrate to a single platform," he wrote in an email. "Marketers are looking for clean, well-lit environments that can scale. Would more publishers be good, sure, but the big three have tremendous scale when aggregated (especially as they turn off their inventory going to outside ad networks) and the partnership represents a very material opportunity right out of the gate."

The companies said that the partnership focuses exclusively on audience-based selling and should not affect direct sales by any of the companies' sales teams.

Three Legacy Portals Create Marketplace For 'Premium' Ad Inventory

By: Jason Del Rey

Meet the newest ad exchange on the block. Aging portals AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft officially announced a long-rumored partnership today to pool their non-reserved display inventory in an effort to gain a bigger share of display ad dollars increasingly going to Facebook and Google.

Yahoo EVP-Americas Ross Levinsohn said the agreement "will help revolutionize the buying and selling of premium online ad inventory."

Starting in early 2012, the three companies say they will integrate their real-time bidding technologies to provide buyers access to scaled, premium inventory in one spot.

Though the partnership had been rumored for a while, some parties had been surprised by AOL's willingness to participate and open up its inventory to competitors' platforms after historically being unwilling to do so. But Advertising.com is the largest buyer of Yahoo inventory, according to Kurt Unkel, SVP, director at Vivaki Nerve Center, and he said it's quite possible that Yahoo would have turned off access to that inventory had AOL not participated.

"I think AOL was at the table simply because maybe that possibility was thrown on the table at the start," he said earlier this week.
AOL Chief Revenue Officer Ned Brody said that fear of losing preexisting access to inventory did not play a part in the decision to join up with the other two companies.

Mr. Brody said the hope is that the partnership will allow AOL to better scale its rich-media Devil ad units, which AOL is working to have adopted outside of its own media properties.

Quentin George, chief innovation officer for IPG Mediabrands, said this announcement is a good first step toward simplifying the buying of premium inventory.

"All of the holding companies have been very explicit in articulating how favorable it would be for us to have persistent access to that quality and scale of inventory," he said. "It just offers a really compelling level of concentration of quality inventory that just removes a lot of friction in the system."

Still, he said, all publishers need to do a better job of delineating between what inventory is sold directly, and which is sold on an auction basis through exchanges. "We still need to understand what inventory gets dynamically provisioned and what gets sold face to face."

"At the end of day, they need to be able to have more a sophisticated answer to what gets sold through which mechanism," he added. "Because in the past, the adage was simply that the more premium the content is, the more face-to-face it needs to get sold. I don't think that maxim holds true any more. "
Initially, the inventory can be procured through Microsoft's Advertising Exchange and Yahoo's Right Media Exchange, the companies said.

David Cohen, EVP, global digital officer at UM, said he thinks the agreement will result in consolidation of the partnership into a single platform in the future.

"I have to imagine that over time it will migrate to a single platform," he wrote in an email. "Marketers are looking for clean, well-lit environments that can scale. Would more publishers be good, sure, but the big three have tremendous scale when aggregated (especially as they turn off their inventory going to outside ad networks) and the partnership represents a very material opportunity right out of the gate."

The companies said that the partnership focuses exclusively on audience-based selling and should not affect direct sales by any of the companies' sales teams.

Exxon Consolidates Global Ad Duties with Omnicom and Interpublic

3:43:56 AM

Exxon Consolidates Global Ad Duties with Omnicom and Interpublic

Lengthy Pitch Concludes with BBDO Getting Bulk of Creative, Universal McCann Netting Media

By: Alexandra Bruell, Maureen Morrison Published: November 03, 2011

After a year-long review, ExxonMobil has consolidated global advertising duties with Interpublic Group of Cos' Universal McCann for media, while global creative will largely be handled by Omnicom Group's BBDO, according to executives familiar with the matter.

Roster shop DDB, also an Omnicom firm, will hold onto below-the-line work for Exxon's fuel business, continuing to create signage for gas stations, among other things, executives said. As part of the consolidation, BBDO won the above-the-line fuels business, which accounts for all other advertising for fuels. BBDO will handle corporate advertising for Exxon as well as creative work that was previously handled by Interpublic's McCann Erickson and Havas' EuroRSCG.

The selection follows separate but simultaneous creative and media reviews that began last October.

In the final stage of the review, roster agencies included BBDO, DDB and McCann Erickson. Euro RSCG handled the company's corporate advertising and was part of the process early on but was cut from the review.

Media agencies who pitched along with Universal McCann were Omnicom's OMD and Havas' MPG. It's also understood that the initial creative search brought in Publicis, The Martin Agency and Lowe. Joanne Davis Consulting led the search process.

OMD declined to comment and Joanne Davis couldn't be reached for comment.

In 2010 the marketer spent between $120 and $300 million on measured media, according to executives familiar with the account. It's understood that the company intends to spend more in the years to come.

In lieu of the fact that companies often bundle creative and media within the same holding company to create efficiencies, Exxon reviewed media and creative separately. It was initially in an effort to produce a fresh perspective, vs. saving on cost across resources, according to knowledgeable executives. The review was also atypical in its length. Last October, Ad Age reported that it was expected to culminate early this year, but for over a year internal executives fought to hold onto their incumbents despite the company's mandate to consolidate global business, executives close to the review told Ad Age.

The decision marks the end of one of adland's longer-running relationships.

DDB has had Mobil since 1949, and McCann has been with Exxon since 1912, having also historically handled its Esso brand outside the U.S. McCann Erickson's relationship started with Exxon when Harrison King McCann joined Standard Oil as head of the advertising department. After the Supreme Court in 1911 ordered the breakup of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil empire, Mr. McCann left to open an agency -- H.K. McCann Co., which merged with Erickson Co. in 1930 -- to work for the newly separated companies. Eventually all the other oil clients except Jersey Standard (later Exxon) moved to other agencies.

After Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999, Exxon's agency, McCann, competed with Mobil's DDB for consolidated creative duties. In 2000, DDB was handed the global fuels account, while McCann got the lubricants business. Exxon later handed Havas' Euro RSCG its corporate ad account.

The company assigned UM the consolidated $40 million global media-buying and -planning account for its lubricants brands in 2002.

DDB has picked up pieces of business over the past year, including State Farm work, which it picked back up from DraftFCB, and PepsiCo's Sierra Mist, out of the Chicago office. The agency in October was cut from the Bud Light review, though executives familiar with the business estimated revenue on that account had dwindled to around $2 million by the end. DDB in July announced Peter McGuiness would helm the Chicago office, putting an executive team, including chief creative Ewan Paterson, into place to steer a turnaround. In February, Amir Kassaei was named global chief creative officer, replacing Bob Scarpelli, who stayed on at DDB as chairman.

For BBDO, snaring the consolidated creative duties for Exxon caps a year in which it turned in a strong performance both on the new business and awards circuit. Earlier this year it also won, along with WPP's Ogilvy, global creative duties for S.C. Johnson from DraftFCB.

The agency scored a significant win when its Chicago office, Energy BBDO, picked up sizable chunks of the SC Johnson business in July. Less than a week later, the agency picked up PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Lay's and SunChips brands account. BBDO in late 2010 was tapped to handle Arby's creative, which came almost exactly one year after BBDO lost its longtime Yum Brands' Pizza Hut account.

It's also good news for UM, which lost Microsoft early this year. And it's one of the first big global wins for Jacki Kelley under her title of global CEO. She was promoted from North American CEO in January.

The Exxon news comes as a blow to McCann. CEO Nick Brien has charted a turnaround for McCann Worldgroup, Interpublic's largest agency, and in October recast its leadership, naming Hank Summy president of McCann North America. On the account front, McCann was able to breathe a sigh of relief when it retained the lucrative U.S. Army account -- estimated at nearly $200 million per year in billings and as much as $15 million in revenue -- in March after a review. McCann in September lost its global Nescafe account to Publicis Worldwide, just two weeks after the Nescafe account in the U.K. and Ireland was moved to Publicis. Swedish retailer Ikea in August tapped McCann's New York office to reinvent its catalog, though the agency of record would still remain WPP's Ogilvy & Mather.

Nick Brien, CEO and Chairman, McCann Worldgroup, told Ad Age:"McCann Worldgroup remains a significant partner to ExxonMobil through MRM, Momentum and UM. We are proud of the enormous contributions McCann has made to this client and have great respect for the company and the people with whom we have been privileged to work."

Lengthy Pitch Concludes with BBDO Getting Bulk of Creative, Universal McCann Netting Media

By: Alexandra Bruell and Maureen Morrison

After a year-long review, ExxonMobil has consolidated global advertising duties with Interpublic Group of Cos' Universal McCann for media, while global creative will largely be handled by Omnicom Group's BBDO, according to executives familiar with the matter.

Roster shop DDB, also an Omnicom firm, will hold onto below-the-line work for Exxon's fuel business, continuing to create signage for gas stations, among other things, executives said. As part of the consolidation, BBDO won the above-the-line fuels business, which accounts for all other advertising for fuels. BBDO will handle corporate advertising for Exxon as well as creative work that was previously handled by Interpublic's McCann Erickson and Havas' EuroRSCG.

The selection follows separate but simultaneous creative and media reviews that began last October.

In the final stage of the review, roster agencies included BBDO, DDB and McCann Erickson. Euro RSCG handled the company's corporate advertising and was part of the process early on but was cut from the review.

Media agencies who pitched along with Universal McCann were Omnicom's OMD and Havas' MPG. It's also understood that the initial creative search brought in Publicis, The Martin Agency and Lowe. Joanne Davis Consulting led the search process.

OMD declined to comment and Joanne Davis couldn't be reached for comment.

In 2010 the marketer spent between $120 and $300 million on measured media, according to executives familiar with the account. It's understood that the company intends to spend more in the years to come.

In lieu of the fact that companies often bundle creative and media within the same holding company to create efficiencies, Exxon reviewed media and creative separately. It was initially in an effort to produce a fresh perspective, vs. saving on cost across resources, according to knowledgeable executives. The review was also atypical in its length. Last October, Ad Age reported that it was expected to culminate early this year, but for over a year internal executives fought to hold onto their incumbents despite the company's mandate to consolidate global business, executives close to the review told Ad Age.

The decision marks the end of one of adland's longer-running relationships.

DDB has had Mobil since 1949, and McCann has been with Exxon since 1912, having also historically handled its Esso brand outside the U.S. McCann Erickson's relationship started with Exxon when Harrison King McCann joined Standard Oil as head of the advertising department. After the Supreme Court in 1911 ordered the breakup of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil empire, Mr. McCann left to open an agency -- H.K. McCann Co., which merged with Erickson Co. in 1930 -- to work for the newly separated companies. Eventually all the other oil clients except Jersey Standard (later Exxon) moved to other agencies.

After Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999, Exxon's agency, McCann, competed with Mobil's DDB for consolidated creative duties. In 2000, DDB was handed the global fuels account, while McCann got the lubricants business. Exxon later handed Havas' Euro RSCG its corporate ad account.

The company assigned UM the consolidated $40 million global media-buying and -planning account for its lubricants brands in 2002.

DDB has picked up pieces of business over the past year, including State Farm work, which it picked back up from DraftFCB, and PepsiCo's Sierra Mist, out of the Chicago office. The agency in October was cut from the Bud Light review, though executives familiar with the business estimated revenue on that account had dwindled to around $2 million by the end. DDB in July announced Peter McGuiness would helm the Chicago office, putting an executive team, including chief creative Ewan Paterson, into place to steer a turnaround. In February, Amir Kassaei was named global chief creative officer, replacing Bob Scarpelli, who stayed on at DDB as chairman.

For BBDO, snaring the consolidated creative duties for Exxon caps a year in which it turned in a strong performance both on the new business and awards circuit. Earlier this year it also won, along with WPP's Ogilvy, global creative duties for S.C. Johnson from DraftFCB.

The agency scored a significant win when its Chicago office, Energy BBDO, picked up sizable chunks of the SC Johnson business in July. Less than a week later, the agency picked up PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Lay's and SunChips brands account. BBDO in late 2010 was tapped to handle Arby's creative, which came almost exactly one year after BBDO lost its longtime Yum Brands' Pizza Hut account.

It's also good news for UM, which lost Microsoft early this year. And it's one of the first big global wins for Jacki Kelley under her title of global CEO. She was promoted from North American CEO in January.

The Exxon news comes as a blow to McCann. CEO Nick Brien has charted a turnaround for McCann Worldgroup, Interpublic's largest agency, and in October recast its leadership, naming Hank Summy president of McCann North America. On the account front, McCann was able to breathe a sigh of relief when it retained the lucrative U.S. Army account -- estimated at nearly $200 million per year in billings and as much as $15 million in revenue -- in March after a review. McCann in September lost its global Nescafe account to Publicis Worldwide, just two weeks after the Nescafe account in the U.K. and Ireland was moved to Publicis. Swedish retailer Ikea in August tapped McCann's New York office to reinvent its catalog, though the agency of record would still remain WPP's Ogilvy & Mather.

Nick Brien, CEO and Chairman, McCann Worldgroup, told Ad Age:"McCann Worldgroup remains a significant partner to ExxonMobil through MRM, Momentum and UM. We are proud of the enormous contributions McCann has made to this client and have great respect for the company and the people with whom we have been privileged to work."

YouTube Tees Up Big Talent

3:43:56 AM

YouTube Tees Up Big Talent

Article

Comments (12)

Gower Announces Senior Hires at UM Melbourne

3:43:56 AM

Recently appointed managing director of UM Melbourne, Wendy Gower, has announced her first senior hires at the agency, naming Anna Kismet as director of digital and Monika Kuta as digital communications manager. Brielie-Jean Hudson will also join the agency as senior account manager, digital.

The new executives will focus on digital communications strategies and implementation and are the most recent appointments in a national build up of digital talent in UM’s offices under Australia CEO Mat Baxter and chief strategy officer Stefan Burford.

Kismet is currently senior director of digital business and senior digital planner at DDB Sydney, working on Telstra. She has focused on innovation and youth market initiatives and also worked across the full rage of Telstra consumer retail projects. She has been in charge of devising new digital strategies for Telstra particularly in social media strategy, presenting strategic thinking and creative concepts for national campaigns involving digital, experiential, outdoor and mobile applications.

“Anna will take our digital abilities to a new dimension,” said Gower. “She is a world-class talent, leader and team player and her passion for digital innovation will be a big factor for our clients and the agency team. I am looking forward to working with her.”

Prior to DDB Kismet was executive producer and client services director for Pusher.

Monika Kuta joins UM this week and was previously global media digital manager at beauty care company Coty Inc., leading all aspects of digital strategy for Coty’s prestige fragrances and cosmetics brands. Brielie-Jean Hudson has almost four years digital experience working in sales and on the agency side at both eMitch and Media Contacts.

“Anna, Monika and Brielie-Jean are enormously impressive individuals and will really accelerate our strategic and digital transformation in Melbourne,” said Baxter.

Kismet, Kuta and Hudson are the latest in the series of digital hires announced by UM in the past weeks. Other new executives have included Kristine Ballensky who joined UM as communications strategist, Zoe Scaman who has joined as associate strategy director and Lukas Temple who joined UM Brisbane as communications director, digital.

Universal McCann Hires Yin Woon Rani as N.A. President

3:43:56 AM

Universal McCann Hires Yin Woon Rani as N.A. President

Former Grey Exec Succeeds Jacki Kelley, Who Was Promoted to Global CEO

By: Alexandra Bruell Published: October 26, 2011

Universal McCann has hired Yin Woon Rani to serve as North American president of the Interpublic Group of Cos.-owned media agency.

The role at UM has been vacant since January, when Jacki Kelley was promoted from North American CEO to global CEO of UM. At the time, she succeeded Matt Seiler who became CEO of Mediabrands.

Ms. Rani will be responsible for all regional UM operations, including planning and buying across all channels, business development and oversight of all North American accounts. Prior to joining UM, Rani was running the GlaxoSmithKline consumer health-care team at WPP's Grey Worldwide.

When asked about hiring an executive without prior experience at a media agency, Ms. Kelley had this to say, via e-mail: "That's what everyone asked Matt when he hired me! We fundamentally believe that diversity of thought is required to support the level of transformation we aspire to create. We have some of the best media agency talent in the business to support her."

She added: "Yin has experience living our 3.0 vision which she demonstrated by orchestrating a complex yet successful business turnaround where she led an integrated, multi-disciplinary taskforce spanning across communications, finance, operations and product development for a P&G brand."

That experience could come in handy for UM going forward, which has had a relatively quiet year on the new business front, but is waiting for a decision on Exxon's lengthy global creative and media agency review.

By: Alexandra Bruell

Former Grey Exec Succeeds Jacki Kelley, Who Was Promoted to Global CEO

Universal McCann has hired Yin Woon Rani to serve as North American president of the Interpublic Group of Cos.-owned media agency.

The role at UM has been vacant since January, when Jacki Kelley was promoted from North American CEO to global CEO of UM. At the time, she succeeded Matt Seiler who became CEO of Mediabrands.

Ms. Rani will be responsible for all regional UM operations, including planning and buying across all channels, business development and oversight of all North American accounts. Prior to joining UM, Rani was running the GlaxoSmithKline consumer health-care team at WPP's Grey Worldwide.

When asked about hiring an executive without prior experience at a media agency, Ms. Kelley had this to say, via e-mail: "That's what everyone asked Matt when he hired me! We fundamentally believe that diversity of thought is required to support the level of transformation we aspire to create. We have some of the best media agency talent in the business to support her."

She added: "Yin has experience living our 3.0 vision which she demonstrated by orchestrating a complex yet successful business turnaround where she led an integrated, multi-disciplinary taskforce spanning across communications, finance, operations and product development for a P&G brand."

That experience could come in handy for UM going forward, which has had a relatively quiet year on the new business front, but is waiting for a decision on Exxon's lengthy global creative and media agency review.

Wave 5 gives a South African perspective on ‘socialisation of brands’

3:43:56 AM

Universal McCann (UM)'s Wave 5 international research release offers insight into the 'socialisation of brands' from a South African perspective.

These “pearls of wisdom” answer the question of whether people want a social relationship with brands or not.

The annual Wave 5 research is published to help brands create successful social media programmes and to understand the usage, behaviour, influence and motivation of social media users. Although the information is collated from an international database of respondents, UM can drill down to a South African level of insight.

Over the past five annual releases of the Wave research, there is an indication that South Africans are moving away from traditional brand spaces online, opting instead to engage more with brands in social spaces. The research reveals that 74% of consumers that joined a brand community, in the 16 to 34 age bracket, are “more likely to buy the brand” and 75% “thought more positively of the brand” when joining its online community.

Says Jonathan Allan-Barrett, head of digital at UM, “The optimal word here is engage. Engaging with consumers one on one has never been easier via social networks, the additional benefit for brands is that this conversation is visible to other consumers, and that conversation becomes the new word-of-mouth platform.”

It is of utmost importance to recognise that social interaction and the level of social activity varies between brand categories, and different needs and requirements are sought between categories. Computer software ranks high for people seeking up to date and current information, while people like to share information and content in the music and movie categories.

“The tsunami that is microblogging (Twitter) is rapidly changing the face of social interaction again and, combined with the power of smartphones, this platform has seen the biggest increases across all demographics, with nearly a 30% increase between Wave 4 and Wave 5,” says Jonathan. “Clearly, the fact that it doesn’t require an enormous amount time spent creating content, but still allows you to maintain a constant stream of news, updates and opinion has much appeal. No longer is it the domain of male 16 to 24 year olds. Nearly half of the microblogging universe [is comprised of] women, and the startling uptake of this technology in the 45 to 54 age bracket demonstrates how industry leaders are embracing the social mediums.”

“People do want relationships with brands, but they want it on their terms. Understanding the various social relationships of consumers across various brand categories is the key to communicating on social platforms,” he says.

McCann Restructures Communications Universe, Taps MPG's Nasi To Run UM As Benarroch Moves To Worldgroup

3:43:56 AM

McCann Restructures Communications Universe, Taps MPG's Nasi To Run UM As Benarroch Moves To Worldgroup

by Joe Mandese, 6 hours ago

Comment Recommend

inShare

TAGS

agency

In a partial restructuring of the communications departments of two related Interpublic shops, Joe Benarroch has been named vice president-group director of corporate affairs for the McCann Worldgroup, and Theresa Nasi has joined from Havas’ MPG to replace him as senior vice president-global communications at sister agency UM.

Nasi had been senior vice president-global network development at MPG, and has an extensive track record handling media agency communications and public relations. She previously was U.S. director of marketing communications at Omnicom’s OMD unit, and began her career in the media department of San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

Nasi reports to UM Global CEO Jacki Kelley.

Benarroch, meanwhile, will reunite with Worldgroup CEO Nick Brien, who originally brought him in to lead the communications team at Mediabrands when Brien created the Interpublic media services holding company unit.

Interpublic described Benarroch’s role as being similar to the one he played with Brien at Mediabrands, responsible for strategic communications both internally and externally for the organization.

By: Joe Mandese

In a partial restructuring of the communications departments of two related Interpublic shops, Joe Benarroch has been named vice president-group director of corporate affairs for the McCann Worldgroup, and Theresa Nasi has joined from Havas’ MPG to replace him as senior vice president-global communications at sister agency UM.

Nasi had been senior vice president-global network development at MPG, and has an extensive track record handling media agency communications and public relations. She previously was U.S. director of marketing communications at Omnicom’s OMD unit, and began her career in the media department of San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.
Nasi reports to UM Global CEO Jacki Kelley.

Benarroch, meanwhile, will reunite with Worldgroup CEO Nick Brien, who originally brought him in to lead the communications team at Mediabrands when Brien created the Interpublic media services holding company unit.

Interpublic described Benarroch’s role as being similar to the one he played with Brien at Mediabrands, responsible for strategic communications both internally and externally for the organization.

UM Client Xbox Signs Exclusive Promotional Deal with Disney UK

3:43:56 AM

UM London and Xbox have just announced the start of an exciting 8-month-long deal with Disney UK to support the November launch of the highly-anticipated new Xbox 360 title, Kinect™: Disneyland® Adventures.

The multi-platform promotional deal, planned and implemented by UM London and Disneymedia+ UK, will be activated across the breadth of Disney, leveraging the company’s unparalleled reach with kids and families. The campaign will include experiential events, presence on TV, digital and mobile platforms, as well as engagement through retail, social media, print and OOH, bringing the magic of the game to life.

Activities kick off this month with Xbox’s sponsorship of the Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy Autumn UK & Ireland tour and will continue throughout March and April 2012. This will feature experiential hubs in each venue equipped with Xbox Kinect stations – allowing audiences to connect and experience the game first-hand.

In addition, there will be Kinect™ Disneyland® Adventures themed celebrations at Disney Stores across the UK throughout November. The promotion is the first that Disneymedia+ has closed across so many of its live touchpoints.

The entire campaign will be supported through a microsite featuring interactive games, content from Disney On Ice as well as detailed information about Kinect for Xbox 360 and Kinect™ Disneyland® Adventures. To drive engagement with the website, hosted competitions will offer hundreds of prizes ranging from Disney Store vouchers to family holidays. Sponsorship activity will also occur across all Disney TV channels, together with print advertorials in Disney magazines.

Stephen McGill, Director of Xbox and Entertainment for Microsoft UK, said:
“We are thrilled to be working with Disney on this project. Kinect™: Disneyland® Adventures brings the magic of Disney straight into the living room and we are excited that Disneymedia+ has been able to showcase this through so many of their properties in such an integrated and innovative way.”

Rory Behrman, Ideation Director at UM London, said:
“We are pleased to be working with Xbox on such a high-profile campaign, and this deal encapsulates what UM’s Ideation team is all about – thinking beyond media. It’s not often you can open up a new retail channel for your client through the media deal you have delivered.”

Top 10 Digital Media Buyers (30 and Under)

3:43:56 AM

By: Katie Feola

Kristen Colonna, group account director

OMD, New York

The 30-year-old oversees PepsiCo Foods, which includes Frito-Lay and Quaker. On Colonna’s watch, her team won a silver Effie in the Media Innovation category for a Frito-Lay campaign in 2010. She was responsible for a $205 million budget this year—a number expected to go up to $250 million in 2012.

Doug Brodman, associate media director

MediaVest USA, New York

Brodman oversees MediaVest USA’s national broadcast and digital investment strategy for Procter & Gamble’s male grooming products. Called “The Rock” by higher-ups because of his core strengths, the 28-year-old led last year’s launch of Gillette’s ProGlide razor—which became P&G’s largest media product launch ever.

Nick George, digital media supervisor

Universal McCann, San Francisco

George, 26, started out as a Universal McCann media planner for Microsoft, then worked abroad for UM in Tokyo and Singapore. He now manages blue chip client Charles Schwab—and in his free time, runs UMSF’s in-office radio station.

Wade Rifkin, associate media director

Digitas, New York

The 28-year-old leads the American Express account. Under Rifkin, the shop took home a 2011 Clio for AmEx’s “Small Business Saturday” campaign, which encouraged consumers to visit local merchants. He also spearheads “Tie Thursdays,” when everyone on his floor dons neckwear—although according to reports, some colleagues are more reluctant than others

to participate.

Tiffany Bright, digital supervisor

Initiative, Los Angeles

Bright manages the

Dr Pepper Snapple Group account, which includes A&W Root Beer, 7Up, and Motts Apple Juice—and a budget of around $15 million. Based in Los Angeles, the 28-year-old is also a ThinkLA ambassador, encouraging other aspiring media professionals toward advertising.

Gabriel Cheng, associate media director

Ansible Mobile, San Francisco

Cheng, 26, leads mobile media efforts for IPG’s mobile marketing agency. He supervises a number of major accounts, including Johnson & Johnson brands and Intuit, home to TurboTax. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, where his school-selected roommate was the notoriously talentless American Idol contestant William Hung.

Jenn Cox, associate director

Starcom USA, Chicago

Cox leads digital planning for Wrigley’s gum brands—the company spent $160 million total in 2010 across all brands—including Juicy Fruit, Orbit, and 5 Gum. The 27-year-old was instrumental in 5 Gum’s sponsorship of Coachella’s 2011 live stream and its partnership with YouTube.

Donna Sharp, associate director

Starcom USA, Chicago

Sharp, 27, leads Wrigley’s digital planning for its confections, including Skittles and Starburst. She led “Starburst Unplugged,” partnering with MTV for an online campaign that garnered a Daytime Emmy Award. A musical campaign makes sense for Sharp, who’s a karaoke and show tune enthusiast.

Sejal Patel, digital media supervisor

Initiative, Los Angeles

Patel, 27, oversees strategic planning and buying for the Kia Motors America account—a client that spends north of $30 million on digital. She’s also an entrepreneur on the side, baking creative cakes for kids’ birthday parties.

Dana Friedman, digital media supervisor

Universal McCann, New York

The 27-year-old manages Universal McCann New York’s Verizon FiOS account. Friedman is a charter member of both IPG’s Media Lab Fellowship Summit and UM’s Free the Children Leadership Council.

With large budgets to work with for marquee brands, these innovators are hardly as green as their ages suggest

Perhaps more than any other agency department, media is a place where young hustlers—go-for-broke buyers and planners who have grown up playing across digital platforms—can make a mark. Below we look at 10 buyers 30 and under who are capitalizing on the best possible usages of the myriad media outlets available to get their clients’ messages to consumers in creative ways.

Kristen Colonna, group account director, OMD, New York. The 30-year-old oversees PepsiCo Foods, which includes Frito-Lay and Quaker. On Colonna’s watch, her team won a silver Effie in the Media Innovation category for a Frito-Lay campaign in 2010. She was responsible for a $205 million budget this year—a number expected to go up to $250 million in 2012.

Doug Brodman, associate media director, MediaVest USA, New York. Brodman oversees MediaVest USA’s national broadcast and digital investment strategy for Procter & Gamble’s male grooming products. Called “The Rock” by higher-ups because of his core strengths, the 28-year-old led last year’s launch of Gillette’s ProGlide razor—which became P&G’s largest media product launch ever.

Nick George, digital media supervisor, Universal McCann, San Francisco. George, 26, started out as a Universal McCann media planner for Microsoft, then worked abroad for UM in Tokyo and Singapore. He now manages blue chip client Charles Schwab—and in his free time, runs UMSF’s in-office radio station.

Wade Rifkin, associate media directorDigitas, New York. The 28-year-old leads the American Express account. Under Rifkin, the shop took home a 2011 Clio for AmEx’s “Small Business Saturday” campaign, which encouraged consumers to visit local merchants. He also spearheads “Tie Thursdays,” when everyone on his floor dons neckwear—although according to reports, some colleagues are more reluctant than othersto participate.

Tiffany Bright, digital supervisor, Initiative, Los Angeles. Bright manages theDr Pepper Snapple Group account, which includes A&W Root Beer, 7Up, and Motts Apple Juice—and a budget of around $15 million. Based in Los Angeles, the 28-year-old is also a ThinkLA ambassador, encouraging other aspiring media professionals toward advertising.

Gabriel Cheng, associate media director, Ansible Mobile, San Francisco. Cheng, 26, leads mobile media efforts for IPG’s mobile marketing agency. He supervises a number of major accounts, including Johnson & Johnson brands and Intuit, home to TurboTax. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, where his school-selected roommate was the notoriously talentless American Idol contestant William Hung.

Jenn Cox, associate director, Starcom USA, Chicago. Cox leads digital planning for Wrigley’s gum brands—the company spent $160 million total in 2010 across all brands—including Juicy Fruit, Orbit, and 5 Gum. The 27-year-old was instrumental in 5 Gum’s sponsorship of Coachella’s 2011 live stream and its partnership with YouTube.

Donna Sharp, associate director, Starcom USA, Chicago. Sharp, 27, leads Wrigley’s digital planning for its confections, including Skittles and Starburst. She led “Starburst Unplugged,” partnering with MTV for an online campaign that garnered a Daytime Emmy Award. A musical campaign makes sense for Sharp, who’s a karaoke and show tune enthusiast.

Sejal Patel, digital media supervisor, Initiative, Los Angeles. Patel, 27, oversees strategic planning and buying for the Kia Motors America account—a client that spends north of $30 million on digital. She’s also an entrepreneur on the side, baking creative cakes for kids’ birthday parties.

Dana Friedman, digital media supervisor, Universal McCann, New York. The 27-year-old manages Universal McCann New York’s Verizon FiOS account. Friedman is a charter member of both IPG’s Media Lab Fellowship Summit and UM’s Free the Children Leadership Council.

Yahoo Vexed by Weak Sales

3:43:56 AM

Yahoo Vexed by Weak Sales

Article

Video

Stock Quotes

Comments (10)

MORE IN TECH »

Save

↓ More

smaller

Larger

By AMIR EFRATI

As Yahoo Inc. shops itself to potential buyers, its core advertising business is weakening. That trend is evident through Craig Atkinson's ad agency.

Yahoo's core advertising business is weakening -- the company in some cases has cut prices 5% to 15% -- a complication as Yahoo shops itself to potential buyers. Amir Efrati has details on The News Hub.

Mr. Atkinson is president of ad giant Omnicom Media Group's PHD unit, which oversees annual ad spending of $4 billion to $5 billion for companies including Starbucks Corp. and Gap Inc. Over the past year, he said, the agency's ad spending on Yahoo properties is flat to slightly down.

And in the past few weeks, since Carol Bartz was fired as Yahoo chief executive, Yahoo's Americas-region chief Ross Levinsohn and others have been on a "barnstorming tour" to meet with him and his peers, he said. "They're saying, 'We're willing to do what we have to do to win the business,'" Mr. Atkinson said, adding that while his advertiser clients still view Yahoo as a way to reach and target "enormous audiences," it's no longer a "must-buy."

Earlier: Alibaba Casts Eye on Yahoo

Earlier: Yahoo Hears From Potential Bidders

Mr. Atkinson's experience is troublesome for Yahoo, which reports third-quarter results Tuesday. Following Ms. Bartz's firing, Yahoo's board has been looking at potentially selling off all or parts of the onetime highflying Internet company, people familiar with the matter have said.

One of the company's key assets is the heavy traffic to its Yahoo.com home page and its news, entertainment and other websites—and the strong online display-ad business those sites have sustained.

Any weakening in Yahoo's $4 billion annual ad business—a figure that excludes commission payments to Yahoo's business partners—may have implications for how attractive the company is to suitors. Yahoo's display-ad business, including graphical, interactive and video ads, generates 40% of the company's overall revenue but only grew 5% year over year in the last reported quarter—a sharp slowdown from double-digit growth rates in prior quarters.

Analysts expect Yahoo's display-ad sales to be flat or slightly higher than a year ago in the third quarter. By contrast, the overall U.S. online-ad industry has increased more than 20% so far this year.

Yahoo's Web-search partnership with Microsoft Corp. has been a drag on search-ad revenue, which accounts for one-third of overall revenue. And decline in the average amount of time people spend on Yahoo sites every month is now beginning to show up in the company's financial figures.

"The eroding ad business weakens the resolve of Yahoo's board to remain an independent company, increasing the chances of an outright sale," said Jordan Rohan an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. As long as Yahoo on Tuesday reports that quarterly revenue isn't more than 10% below the $1.2 billion to $1.26 billion range it previously projected for the quarter, potential buyers of the company "will be able to overlook it," he said.

A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company is in a "quiet period" before Tuesday's earnings and can't comment on sales and revenue.

Enlarge Image

Reuters

To reverse its fortunes, Yahoo has been bending over backwards to please its largest ad clients, according to ad executives. In recent weeks and months, the company in some cases has cut ad prices 5% to 15%, including for its Yahoo.com home page and Yahoo Mail log-in page, and included features such as custom animation, said ad executives. The home page commands the highest prices for ad units on Yahoo, running anywhere from $200,000 to $850,000 for a full day.

Yahoo also changed the look of the Yahoo! logo on its home page for the launch of Walt Disney Co.'s most recent Pirates of the Caribbean film earlier this year, something the company had never done before for an advertiser, a Yahoo spokeswoman said.

In addition, when Yahoo and ad agencies disagree on how many people viewed a particular ad on its sites, Yahoo has been willing to bill the agency based on the agency's numbers rather than its own—something it seldom did before, according to agency executives. "Historically Yahoo was a company of 'No's' and they are slowly becoming a company of 'Yes we can,' which is very refreshing," said David Cohen, an executive vice president at Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos.

Mr. Cohen, PHD's Mr. Atkinson and other advertisers said they are also encouraged by some other Yahoo moves. For instance, Yahoo has created an "agency development team" of more than 20 salespeople dedicated to each of the major ad agencies. Yahoo can now also propose large-scale display-ad campaigns on its websites within a week or two of being approached, down from four to six weeks previously.

Yahoo is also more proactive with its largest advertisers, agency executives said. In prior years, ad agency executives said, Yahoo billed itself as the best place to reach a wide audience and often waited on advertisers to call, a tactic that became less effective as Internet users began to spend less time on Yahoo sites, including Yahoo Mail, the company's biggest source of ad space.

Following an overhaul of its sales leadership that started last year, Yahoo has reached out to advertisers to work on large-scale campaigns surrounding "anchors," or annual events such as the Super Bowl and the Oscars, and "tent-poles," or less-frequent events such as the recent British royal wedding.

Such efforts have borne some fruit. Yahoo recently reached a deal with Procter & Gamble Co. for a display-ad campaign during the summer Olympics next year, worth tens of millions of dollars, said people familiar with the matter. Spokeswomen for Yahoo and P&G declined to comment about the deal.

Still, ad agency executives said Yahoo faces an uphill climb. Rishad Tobaccowala, chief strategy and innovation officer at VivaKi, an agency that oversees $7 billion to $10 billion in digital-ad spending for clients such as General Motors Co. and Coca-Cola Co., said the average rate for ads on Yahoo sites has fallen 10% to 15% annually over the past two to three years.

That trend is due partly to the growing availability of cheaper ways for advertisers to reach large audiences on the Web, thanks to technology from companies such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., which places ads on thousands of sites through its automated DoubleClick ad exchange.

Yahoo's ad prices have also been pressured by the growing amount of articles and videos on the Web, including "premium" content from media companies such as Walt Disney, Viacom Inc., and video site Hulu LLC, which is worth more than content generated by Yahoo. "Yahoo doesn't have the technology that Facebook and Google has, and it doesn't have the quality of content that other players have," said Mr. Tobaccowala, whose agency is part of ad giant Publicis Groupe SA. To remedy the content-quality gap, Yahoo has begun to form partnerships with leaders in various categories. Two weeks ago it announced the first such deal, which puts ABC News video content on Yahoo sites. The companies split revenue from ads sold against the content.

To better compete with technology rivals, Yahoo is teaming up with AOL and Microsoft to combine the supply, or inventory, of lower-priced ads that the companies sell on their respective sites into one marketplace where advertisers can buy it, people familiar with the plan said. The move theoretically could boost the ads' value. Spokeswomen for the companies previously stated they were working on partnerships but didn't elaborate.

Customers are supportive of the moves. "What you're seeing now is innovation to create more relevance for advertisers," said Adam Shlachter, director for digital in the U.S. for MEC, the global media-buying agency that is part of WPP PLC."We've heard a lot more from them [Yahoo] of late. There's more regular dialogue, lower prices and new opportunities," he said.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576637191238440646.html#ixzz1b96ivms8

By: Amir Efrati

As Yahoo Inc. shops itself to potential buyers, its core advertising business is weakening. That trend is evident through Craig Atkinson's ad agency.

Yahoo's core advertising business is weakening -- the company in some cases has cut prices 5% to 15% -- a complication as Yahoo shops itself to potential buyers. Amir Efrati has details on The News Hub.

Mr. Atkinson is president of ad giant Omnicom Media Group's PHD unit, which oversees annual ad spending of $4 billion to $5 billion for companies including Starbucks Corp. and Gap Inc. Over the past year, he said, the agency's ad spending on Yahoo properties is flat to slightly down.

And in the past few weeks, since Carol Bartz was fired as Yahoo chief executive, Yahoo's Americas-region chief Ross Levinsohn and others have been on a "barnstorming tour" to meet with him and his peers, he said. "They're saying, 'We're willing to do what we have to do to win the business,'" Mr. Atkinson said, adding that while his advertiser clients still view Yahoo as a way to reach and target "enormous audiences," it's no longer a "must-buy."

Mr. Atkinson's experience is troublesome for Yahoo, which reports third-quarter results Tuesday. Following Ms. Bartz's firing, Yahoo's board has been looking at potentially selling off all or parts of the onetime highflying Internet company, people familiar with the matter have said.

One of the company's key assets is the heavy traffic to its Yahoo.com home page and its news, entertainment and other websites—and the strong online display-ad business those sites have sustained.

Any weakening in Yahoo's $4 billion annual ad business—a figure that excludes commission payments to Yahoo's business partners—may have implications for how attractive the company is to suitors. Yahoo's display-ad business, including graphical, interactive and video ads, generates 40% of the company's overall revenue but only grew 5% year over year in the last reported quarter—a sharp slowdown from double-digit growth rates in prior quarters.

Analysts expect Yahoo's display-ad sales to be flat or slightly higher than a year ago in the third quarter. By contrast, the overall U.S. online-ad industry has increased more than 20% so far this year.

Yahoo's Web-search partnership with Microsoft Corp. has been a drag on search-ad revenue, which accounts for one-third of overall revenue. And decline in the average amount of time people spend on Yahoo sites every month is now beginning to show up in the company's financial figures.

"The eroding ad business weakens the resolve of Yahoo's board to remain an independent company, increasing the chances of an outright sale," said Jordan Rohan an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. As long as Yahoo on Tuesday reports that quarterly revenue isn't more than 10% below the $1.2 billion to $1.26 billion range it previously projected for the quarter, potential buyers of the company "will be able to overlook it," he said.

A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company is in a "quiet period" before Tuesday's earnings and can't comment on sales and revenue.

ReutersTo reverse its fortunes, Yahoo has been bending over backwards to please its largest ad clients, according to ad executives. In recent weeks and months, the company in some cases has cut ad prices 5% to 15%, including for its Yahoo.com home page and Yahoo Mail log-in page, and included features such as custom animation, said ad executives. The home page commands the highest prices for ad units on Yahoo, running anywhere from $200,000 to $850,000 for a full day.

Yahoo also changed the look of the Yahoo! logo on its home page for the launch of Walt Disney Co.'s most recent Pirates of the Caribbean film earlier this year, something the company had never done before for an advertiser, a Yahoo spokeswoman said.

In addition, when Yahoo and ad agencies disagree on how many people viewed a particular ad on its sites, Yahoo has been willing to bill the agency based on the agency's numbers rather than its own—something it seldom did before, according to agency executives. "Historically Yahoo was a company of 'No's' and they are slowly becoming a company of 'Yes we can,' which is very refreshing," said David Cohen, an executive vice president at Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos.

Mr. Cohen, PHD's Mr. Atkinson and other advertisers said they are also encouraged by some other Yahoo moves. For instance, Yahoo has created an "agency development team" of more than 20 salespeople dedicated to each of the major ad agencies. Yahoo can now also propose large-scale display-ad campaigns on its websites within a week or two of being approached, down from four to six weeks previously.

Yahoo is also more proactive with its largest advertisers, agency executives said. In prior years, ad agency executives said, Yahoo billed itself as the best place to reach a wide audience and often waited on advertisers to call, a tactic that became less effective as Internet users began to spend less time on Yahoo sites, including Yahoo Mail, the company's biggest source of ad space.

Following an overhaul of its sales leadership that started last year, Yahoo has reached out to advertisers to work on large-scale campaigns surrounding "anchors," or annual events such as the Super Bowl and the Oscars, and "tent-poles," or less-frequent events such as the recent British royal wedding.

Such efforts have borne some fruit. Yahoo recently reached a deal with Procter & Gamble Co. for a display-ad campaign during the summer Olympics next year, worth tens of millions of dollars, said people familiar with the matter. Spokeswomen for Yahoo and P&G declined to comment about the deal.

Still, ad agency executives said Yahoo faces an uphill climb. Rishad Tobaccowala, chief strategy and innovation officer at VivaKi, an agency that oversees $7 billion to $10 billion in digital-ad spending for clients such as General Motors Co. and Coca-Cola Co., said the average rate for ads on Yahoo sites has fallen 10% to 15% annually over the past two to three years.

That trend is due partly to the growing availability of cheaper ways for advertisers to reach large audiences on the Web, thanks to technology from companies such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., which places ads on thousands of sites through its automated DoubleClick ad exchange.

Yahoo's ad prices have also been pressured by the growing amount of articles and videos on the Web, including "premium" content from media companies such as Walt Disney, Viacom Inc., and video site Hulu LLC, which is worth more than content generated by Yahoo. "Yahoo doesn't have the technology that Facebook and Google has, and it doesn't have the quality of content that other players have," said Mr. Tobaccowala, whose agency is part of ad giant Publicis Groupe SA. To remedy the content-quality gap, Yahoo has begun to form partnerships with leaders in various categories. Two weeks ago it announced the first such deal, which puts ABC News video content on Yahoo sites. The companies split revenue from ads sold against the content.

To better compete with technology rivals, Yahoo is teaming up with AOL and Microsoft to combine the supply, or inventory, of lower-priced ads that the companies sell on their respective sites into one marketplace where advertisers can buy it, people familiar with the plan said. The move theoretically could boost the ads' value. Spokeswomen for the companies previously stated they were working on partnerships but didn't elaborate.

Customers are supportive of the moves. "What you're seeing now is innovation to create more relevance for advertisers," said Adam Shlachter, director for digital in the U.S. for MEC, the global media-buying agency that is part of WPP PLC."We've heard a lot more from them [Yahoo] of late. There's more regular dialogue, lower prices and new opportunities," he said.

UM Appointed by UTS:INSEARCH

3:43:56 AM

UM Sydney has been appointed by UTS:INSEARCH to develop and implement a wide-ranging media communications strategy.

UTS:INSEARCH is a premium pathway provider of academic programs for local and international students, enabling them to get into degree programs at the University of Technology Sydney. Many diplomas offer students second year entry into a UTS degree.

UTS:INSEARCH currently caters for around 4,500 students. Their Sydney campus and head office is in the CBD, with programs also offered in China and Vietnam. UM Sydney will be tasked with supporting the objective of expanding the brand awareness of UTS:INSEARCH and what they offer, with the aim of increasing the number of students studying English and academic pathway programs here and abroad. UTS:INSEARCH also has plans in place to extend their offshore operations to meet the increasing need for education in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The UTS:INSEARCH brief is highly specialised given the diverse base of local and international students. We're excited to get the opportunity to work with them on this brilliant initiative," said Mat Baxter, CEO of UM Australia.

UM recently launched its Big Boutique positioning with the promise of cross-functional teams built around individual clients needs. As part of this repositioning UM is announcing a raft of additional hires with a particular focus on bolstering its strategic resources. This product transformation is being spearheaded by Baxter and his newly appointed Chief Strategy Officer, Stefan Burford.

"I'm particularly pleased that the broad ranging scope of this assignment enables us to demonstrate our increasing abilities in brand strategy, digital CRM and community management," said Baxter. "This win reinforces how compelling clients are finding our Big Boutique offering," he said.

"UM clearly understands our opportunities. Their approach to building a team around our specific needs was impressive and we are looking forward to working with them" said Helen Kealy, marketing manager of UTS:INSEARCH.

UM Hires Zoe Scaman

3:43:56 AM

One of the Australian media industry’s most prolific bloggers and communications strategists Zoe Scaman is joining UM Sydney as associate strategy director.

Scaman joins UM on October 24 and will report to UM’s national chief strategy officer Stefan Burford. Scaman is currently communications strategist on the Coca-Cola account at Naked. Her previous agency experience has also been with The Population and Mediacom and she also worked for media agencies in the UK.

“Zoe is an incredible talent with a real passion for strategic thinking and digitally led ideas,” said Burford. “We are accelerating our digital capabilities across UM nationally and Zoe will have a major role to play for key clients on digital strategy and leadership.”

Scaman has been a prolific blogger for many years. She often commentates on media industry-specific issues and events across several social media forums, one of which has earned her about 800 followers.

She also writes for the media industry trade press.

UM Brisbane Appoints Lukas Temple as Digital Lead

3:43:56 AM

UM Brisbane is ramping up its digital leadership and management team with the appointment of Lukas Temple as the agency’s communications director, digital.

Temple’s appointment is part of a major acceleration of UM’s national digital resources outlined this week by national CEO Mat Baxter. Temple is previously Starcom Brisbane’s client business manager specialising in digital.

Debbie Stevens, managing director of UM Brisbane, said Temple’s previous experience in agencies, as well as in sales and working on the media owner side had given him broad experience that was very attractive. “Our digital work is reaching all touch points for our clients' products and services. Lukas’ background is ideal to further our digital leadership for the UM team and for clients,” said Stevens.

Prior to Starcom where he worked on assignments including SunCorp, Temple worked for the Adconion Media Group (AMG) and he was previously at ninemsn based in Sydney where his responsibilities included guidance and sales strategies to launch mobile marketing and advertising initiatives.

His appointment to UM Brisbane is effective immediately and he also joins the agency’s management team.

How Media Agency CEOs Would Change the TV Upfront

3:43:56 AM

By: Alexandra Bruell Published: October 05, 2011

Despite dwindling ratings, CPM increases and intense demand for TV ad time, the upfront proceeded in relatively smooth fashion. And yet, some players are renewing their calls for an updated approach to one of advertising's biggest markets.

It's hardly novel to hear a media buyer grumble about the upfront process, that time each spring when the TV networks sell the bulk of their ad inventory for the coming fall season, but the complaints do seem to be multiplying.

What changes should be made? Buying executives suggest moving the upfront to September from May, and call for less rigidity in the process -- letting buyers create more seamless packages, for instance, between two or more networks owned by the same media conglomerate.

Below, five agency chiefs point out the issues and offer solutions.

Below, five media agency chiefs pinpoint the issues and offer solutions:

Bill Koenigsberg

Bill Koenigsberg, CEO, Horizon Media

The upfront has four constituencies: programmers, advertisers, a sales arm and media agencies. The focus should be on what's in the clients' best interest here. To commit in May or June six to eight months out, in terms of clients already knowing what their marketing position is going to be and what their true fall year planning is going to be, is quite premature.

The programming landscape for network, TV and cable has become a year-long cycle. We no longer have a real premier season even though the networks talk about season premiers in mid-September, and a lot of these programs don't make it through a full season.

To move the upfront to a better business cycle for marketers, the ideal timing would be mid-September, but in order to do that you have to get alignment from many people. The sales arms of networks and the cable industry have pretty much said that they'll come to the table any time we want them to come to the table. The programming cycle would have to change where the new season would start in January, not in September, because pilots and development would have to move. If the sales arms are willing to do that, network programmers are willing to change cycle, and advertisers have a better picture in September than in May, that could change the paradigm.

One could argue the process isn't broken because 98% of the commitments stick. Basically, what's broken is that decisions are being made much more in a vacuum and with less business intelligence. There needs to be a collaboration of change.

Nigel Morris, CEO, Aegis Media Americas

Coming from the U.K., I had a lot of preconceptions about the upfront, and there seemed to be an anachronism in the way the media world was developing. Its problem is it doesn't actually recognize the critical thing around integration of the different media channels that's driving ROI for clients.

The upfront has a genuine role to play, but it's not necessarily in the long-term interest of the TV market to force monopolistic pricing in the short-term, and it's quite insular. TV platforms didn't make the most of the digital video and streaming products last year because they in essence tried to separate them from the TV assets. That was a mistake because they probably managed to maximize the yield against inventory in that year. We didn't really establish those streaming platforms as credible platforms in the market to take share, especially with Netflix being 63-64% of the streaming market with no ad support. However, with what may happen to Netflix, it might open up the market again.

I'm hoping that the TV networks either individually or in collaboration take a radical view about where that streaming market is going, and delivery and distribution of video content over the next three to four years. Design the upfront around that. Also, ultimately the more digitalized and more streaming the video market becomes, the more trade-able it'll become. What you've got developing alongside the upfront and conventional media markets are more electronically traded bidding markets. Decisions will be more data-driven than relationship-driven. The two markets are going to come together and merge as we go on.

Jacki Kelley

Jacki Kelley, global CEO, Univeral McCann

Having the opportunity to lock in guaranteed, advanced commitments to secure the best placement for our clients at lower pricing is a great thing. Of course, knowing that a percentage of the inventory sold is firm can be tricky, but possible to work around if necessary. We have three areas that we feel are "hot topics" that all folks involved with the upfront season face:

Improved metrics: We continue to use better metrics that align with our clients' business outcomes. The conversation needs to change to negotiate on these outcomes vs. simply price. With the investment in data, analytic talent and infrastructure, there can be a much richer conversation. For example, how about a cost per awareness? The idea of buying on engagement seems like a natural progression -- we know that people are multi-tasking with media as they are watching programs and commenting on the content in real time via social networks and portable devices, so quantifying that level of engagement and factoring it into the pricing for specific programming would be a leap forward for TV sellers.

Holistic approach: The overall upfront process needs to take on a more holistic approach to buying. As the world continues to change and become more mediated than ever, we are presented with several media opportunities that go beyond TV and yet, the upfront is still focused on TV negotiations. The scope should reflect the ever-evolving environment that we live and work.

Automation: There is an extreme amount of information being sent back and forth which is unnecessary for both sides. Better electronic automation would alleviate much of the "busywork" that both parties deal with each season.

Dave Ehlers, CEO, Optimedia

The issues with the upfront are well documented, but we do see three areas for improvement. We would like to see more flexibility as part of the process. This would help clients become more fluid and be able to make changes throughout the year as their business needs change. Right now, they have cancellation options and we have some flexibility to shift across quarters. However, all of that has time and dollar limitations.

In addition, it would be good to have the ability to move between networks within a mega-media company. We have been successful at doing this but it becomes a request vs. something guaranteed. Basically finding ways to increase flexibility into the buy would be beneficial. As more programs and marketing opportunities are released throughout the year, it would also be interesting to have money set aside to consider these opportunities.

Most clients do not want to set money aside, as unspent money tends to get swept. Or maybe there is a clause with the networks that we will commit $XX over the year but some of that would be flexible pending further programming announcements. Have the same sales force sell the digital online components that sell the broadcast. It would be helpful to plan an overall video strategy -- this varies significantly by network.

Bill Tucker

Bill Tucker, worldwide CEO, MediaVest

There was progress this past upfront that we need to continue to build momentum on: broadband digital components incorporated into all upfront discussions, more multicultural components and good movement towards a total market approach, as well as convergence of guarantees and ratings across linear and digital viewing. However, the upfront also has much room for improvement.

We want to buy audiences, not platforms, and discussions need to move in that direction. Networks need to sell across their inventory, packaged for targeted audiences. Today, the industry negotiates based on Nielsen demos such as women 25-54. A 25-year-old woman has very different behaviors from a 50-year-old woman, yet these generalized demographics are still put forth as the core of our negotiations. This needs to change.

Additionally, structures need to evolve -- one person, one conversation across platforms, vs. speaking with a different person or group about network, another for cable, and yet another for digital. Lastly, mobile must become part of the discussion this year, from both the perspective of ideas that scale across three screens and further convergence of guarantees and ratings.

By: Alexandra Bruell

Leaders Offer Up Thoughts on How to Modernize Process

Despite dwindling ratings, CPM increases and intense demand for TV ad time, the upfront proceeded in relatively smooth fashion. And yet, some players are renewing their calls for an updated approach to one of advertising's biggest markets.

It's hardly novel to hear a media buyer grumble about the upfront process, that time each spring when the TV networks sell the bulk of their ad inventory for the coming fall season, but the complaints do seem to be multiplying.

What changes should be made? Buying executives suggest moving the upfront to September from May, and call for less rigidity in the process -- letting buyers create more seamless packages, for instance, between two or more networks owned by the same media conglomerate.

Below, five media agency chiefs pinpoint the issues and offer solutions:

Bill Koenigsberg, CEO, Horizon Media
The upfront has four constituencies: programmers, advertisers, a sales arm and media agencies. The focus should be on what's in the clients' best interest here. To commit in May or June six to eight months out, in terms of clients already knowing what their marketing position is going to be and what their true fall year planning is going to be, is quite premature.The programming landscape for network, TV and cable has become a year-long cycle. We no longer have a real premier season even though the networks talk about season premiers in mid-September, and a lot of these programs don't make it through a full season.

To move the upfront to a better business cycle for marketers, the ideal timing would be mid-September, but in order to do that you have to get alignment from many people. The sales arms of networks and the cable industry have pretty much said that they'll come to the table any time we want them to come to the table. The programming cycle would have to change where the new season would start in January, not in September, because pilots and development would have to move. If the sales arms are willing to do that, network programmers are willing to change cycle, and advertisers have a better picture in September than in May, that could change the paradigm.

One could argue the process isn't broken because 98% of the commitments stick. Basically, what's broken is that decisions are being made much more in a vacuum and with less business intelligence. There needs to be a collaboration of change.

Nigel Morris, CEO, Aegis Media Americas
Coming from the U.K., I had a lot of preconceptions about the upfront, and there seemed to be an anachronism in the way the media world was developing. Its problem is it doesn't actually recognize the critical thing around integration of the different media channels that's driving ROI for clients.The upfront has a genuine role to play, but it's not necessarily in the long-term interest of the TV market to force monopolistic pricing in the short-term, and it's quite insular. TV platforms didn't make the most of the digital video and streaming products last year because they in essence tried to separate them from the TV assets. That was a mistake because they probably managed to maximize the yield against inventory in that year. We didn't really establish those streaming platforms as credible platforms in the market to take share, especially with Netflix being 63-64% of the streaming market with no ad support. However, with what may happen to Netflix, it might open up the market again.

I'm hoping that the TV networks either individually or in collaboration take a radical view about where that streaming market is going, and delivery and distribution of video content over the next three to four years. Design the upfront around that. Also, ultimately the more digitalized and more streaming the video market becomes, the more trade-able it'll become. What you've got developing alongside the upfront and conventional media markets are more electronically traded bidding markets. Decisions will be more data-driven than relationship-driven. The two markets are going to come together and merge as we go on.

Jacki Kelley, global CEO, Univeral McCann
Having the opportunity to lock in guaranteed, advanced commitments to secure the best placement for our clients at lower pricing is a great thing. Of course, knowing that a percentage of the inventory sold is firm can be tricky, but possible to work around if necessary. We have three areas that we feel are "hot topics" that all folks involved with the upfront season face:

Improved metrics: We continue to use better metrics that align with our clients' business outcomes. The conversation needs to change to negotiate on these outcomes vs. simply price. With the investment in data, analytic talent and infrastructure, there can be a much richer conversation. For example, how about a cost per awareness? The idea of buying on engagement seems like a natural progression -- we know that people are multi-tasking with media as they are watching programs and commenting on the content in real time via social networks and portable devices, so quantifying that level of engagement and factoring it into the pricing for specific programming would be a leap forward for TV sellers.

Holistic approach: The overall upfront process needs to take on a more holistic approach to buying. As the world continues to change and become more mediated than ever, we are presented with several media opportunities that go beyond TV and yet, the upfront is still focused on TV negotiations. The scope should reflect the ever-evolving environment that we live and work.

Automation: There is an extreme amount of information being sent back and forth which is unnecessary for both sides. Better electronic automation would alleviate much of the "busywork" that both parties deal with each season.

Dave Ehlers, CEO, Optimedia
The issues with the upfront are well documented, but we do see three areas for improvement. We would like to see more flexibility as part of the process. This would help clients become more fluid and be able to make changes throughout the year as their business needs change. Right now, they have cancellation options and we have some flexibility to shift across quarters. However, all of that has time and dollar limitations.In addition, it would be good to have the ability to move between networks within a mega-media company. We have been successful at doing this but it becomes a request vs. something guaranteed. Basically finding ways to increase flexibility into the buy would be beneficial. As more programs and marketing opportunities are released throughout the year, it would also be interesting to have money set aside to consider these opportunities.

Most clients do not want to set money aside, as unspent money tends to get swept. Or maybe there is a clause with the networks that we will commit $XX over the year but some of that would be flexible pending further programming announcements. Have the same sales force sell the digital online components that sell the broadcast. It would be helpful to plan an overall video strategy -- this varies significantly by network.

Bill Tucker, worldwide CEO, MediaVest
There was progress this past upfront that we need to continue to build momentum on: broadband digital components incorporated into all upfront discussions, more multicultural components and good movement towards a total market approach, as well as convergence of guarantees and ratings across linear and digital viewing. However, the upfront also has much room for improvement.We want to buy audiences, not platforms, and discussions need to move in that direction. Networks need to sell across their inventory, packaged for targeted audiences. Today, the industry negotiates based on Nielsen demos such as women 25-54. A 25-year-old woman has very different behaviors from a 50-year-old woman, yet these generalized demographics are still put forth as the core of our negotiations. This needs to change.

Additionally, structures need to evolve -- one person, one conversation across platforms, vs. speaking with a different person or group about network, another for cable, and yet another for digital. Lastly, mobile must become part of the discussion this year, from both the perspective of ideas that scale across three screens and further convergence of guarantees and ratings.

YouTube Goes Professional

3:43:56 AM

YouTube Goes Professional

Google Unit Nears Deals to Provide Content for 'Channels'

Article

Stock Quotes

Comments (2)

MORE IN TECH »

Save

↓ More

smaller

Larger

By AMIR EFRATI

Getty Images

Skateboarder Tony Hawk may provide original content for YouTube.

Google Inc.'s YouTube is going Hollywood.

The Internet company is finalizing deals with well-known personalities, such as skateboarder Tony Hawk, and major media companies to produce original content for its popular video website, as it seeks to become a next-generation cable provider that oversees dozens of free online "channels" with professional-grade shows, people familiar with the matter said.

YouTube, the world's largest video site, is putting up more than $100 million in cash advances to get some of the content produced, said the people. YouTube will recoup the funds from advertising revenue it sells against the content, later splitting ad revenue with the partners, these people said. YouTube hopes the new channels, which are expected to roll out sometime next year, will draw in big money from advertisers, they said.

So far, Google has reached agreements or is in late-stage talks with parties including pro-skater Mr. Hawk, as well as media companies such as Warner Bros. and News Corp.'s ShineReveille unit, which has been involved in TV shows such as "Ugly Betty," these people said. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.

Also among the expected YouTube partners: RTL Group's FremantleMedia Ltd., which produces "The X Factor"; BermanBraun, which has produced shows for SyFy and other cable channels; and IAC's Electus, which produced VH1's "Mob Wives."

Additional potential partners include Everyday Health Inc., which produces content with the likes of celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels; Iconic Entertainment LLC, started by former Sundance Channel chief Larry Aidem and former VH1 executive Michael Hirschorn; "CSI" creator Anthony Zuiker; and DECA, which creates online-video content for women.

Verso Entertainment, formed by National Basketball Association player Baron Davis and Cash Warren, may produce content for YouTube related to sports, said a person familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal may also produce news content for a YouTube channel, another person familiar with the matter said. Several other partners for the new initiative already create popular content on YouTube, people familiar with the matter said.

A YouTube spokesman said in a statement, "We don't comment on rumor or speculation, but we're always talking to content creators and curators of all kinds about building audiences on YouTube."

With its channels initiative, Google—which has been under pressure to turn YouTube into a profit center since buying the site for $1.6 billion in 2006—is aiming to position the site for the rise of televisions and cable set-top boxes that let people watch online video in their living rooms, said the people familiar with the matter. More people are also watching videos on their smartphones and tablets, pressuring traditional cable and satellite operators to make content available on smaller screens.

YouTube had more than 600 million unique visitors world-wide last month, according to comScore Inc., and it is expected to generate more than $1 billion in net revenue this year, up from more than $500 million last year, according to Citigroup Inc. analyst Mark Mahaney.

Google wants to convince big advertisers that it can create a safe environment to showcase their brands on a global scale, and to divert some of their $60 billion in annual broadcast and cable ad spending to YouTube. Some of Google's competitors privately say they are rooting for the YouTube initiative because it could bring new ad dollars to other Internet companies that show videos.

YouTube has had informal talks with some advertisers about sponsoring the original content, these people said. In some cases, YouTube may allow its partners to sell ads for their channels, said one person familiar with the matter.

Many brand advertisers were previously scared off by the large amount of user-generated, lower quality content on YouTube, said David Cohen, an executive vice president at Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos. But in recent years, YouTube has accumulated higher-quality video and its new channels strategy "is a clear signal of its commitment to creating immersive and engaging original content," he said.

YouTube also currently gets lower ad rates than Hulu LLC, which is owned by and carries content from Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, and News Corp.'s Fox networks. Hulu charges advertisers $25 or higher to show an ad 1,000 times on its site, Mr. Cohen said, while YouTube can command a fraction of that price for its best content.

But with YouTube's new channels initiative, Mr. Cohen said, "there is nothing preventing YouTube from getting Hulu-type ad rates assuming the final content is as engaging as we anticipate."

The effort doesn't mean YouTube will abandon the way it has made money to date: identifying popular user-generated videos and offering to share ad revenue with the creators. YouTube has 20,000 such content partners.

At the same time that Google invests in programming and upends the way entertainment is created, it has signaled it is willing to pay large sums to license it. People familiar with the matter have said Google has expressed interest in buying Hulu. The companies previously have declined to comment.

Other partners for the new channels initiative include longtime YouTube content producers Machinima Inc., which creates content about videogames and other topics for young men, and Maker Studios, known for comedy videos from personalities such as "KassemG." The channels initiative will pair well-known individuals such as Mr. Hawk with existing YouTube content partners to create new kinds of programming, said a person familiar with the matter.

Some partners will be in charge of producing multiple channels that fit into one of 20 or so categories such as food, comedy, health and news, these people said. YouTube executives are asking partners, who will retain ownership rights over the content, to produce unique shows that don't just mimic those on TV, they said.

Hollywood has been abuzz ever since YouTube began reaching out to potential partners earlier this year with promises of cash advances. YouTube received more than 150 pitches from content creators before settling on a few dozen with which to start, people familiar with the matter said. Most partners will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars or multimillion-dollar deals to produce several hours of content per month, these people said.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204612504576609101775893100.html#ixzz1ZqtEph5oBy AMIR EFRATI

By: Amir Efrati

Google Unit Nears Deals to Provide Content for 'Channels'

Google Inc.'s YouTube is going Hollywood.

The Internet company is finalizing deals with well-known personalities, such as skateboarder Tony Hawk, and major media companies to produce original content for its popular video website, as it seeks to become a next-generation cable provider that oversees dozens of free online "channels" with professional-grade shows, people familiar with the matter said.
YouTube, the world's largest video site, is putting up more than $100 million in cash advances to get some of the content produced, said the people. YouTube will recoup the funds from advertising revenue it sells against the content, later splitting ad revenue with the partners, these people said. YouTube hopes the new channels, which are expected to roll out sometime next year, will draw in big money from advertisers, they said.

So far, Google has reached agreements or is in late-stage talks with parties including pro-skater Mr. Hawk, as well as media companies such as Warner Bros. and News Corp.'s ShineReveille unit, which has been involved in TV shows such as "Ugly Betty," these people said. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.
Also among the expected YouTube partners: RTL Group's FremantleMedia Ltd., which produces "The X Factor"; BermanBraun, which has produced shows for SyFy and other cable channels; and IAC's Electus, which produced VH1's "Mob Wives."

Additional potential partners include Everyday Health Inc., which produces content with the likes of celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels; Iconic Entertainment LLC, started by former Sundance Channel chief Larry Aidem and former VH1 executive Michael Hirschorn; "CSI" creator Anthony Zuiker; and DECA, which creates online-video content for women.

Verso Entertainment, formed by National Basketball Association player Baron Davis and Cash Warren, may produce content for YouTube related to sports, said a person familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal may also produce news content for a YouTube channel, another person familiar with the matter said. Several other partners for the new initiative already create popular content on YouTube, people familiar with the matter said.

A YouTube spokesman said in a statement, "We don't comment on rumor or speculation, but we're always talking to content creators and curators of all kinds about building audiences on YouTube."

With its channels initiative, Google—which has been under pressure to turn YouTube into a profit center since buying the site for $1.6 billion in 2006—is aiming to position the site for the rise of televisions and cable set-top boxes that let people watch online video in their living rooms, said the people familiar with the matter. More people are also watching videos on their smartphones and tablets, pressuring traditional cable and satellite operators to make content available on smaller screens.

YouTube had more than 600 million unique visitors world-wide last month, according to comScore Inc., and it is expected to generate more than $1 billion in net revenue this year, up from more than $500 million last year, according to Citigroup Inc. analyst Mark Mahaney.

Google wants to convince big advertisers that it can create a safe environment to showcase their brands on a global scale, and to divert some of their $60 billion in annual broadcast and cable ad spending to YouTube. Some of Google's competitors privately say they are rooting for the YouTube initiative because it could bring new ad dollars to other Internet companies that show videos.

YouTube has had informal talks with some advertisers about sponsoring the original content, these people said. In some cases, YouTube may allow its partners to sell ads for their channels, said one person familiar with the matter.

Many brand advertisers were previously scared off by the large amount of user-generated, lower quality content on YouTube, said David Cohen, an executive vice president at Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos. But in recent years, YouTube has accumulated higher-quality video and its new channels strategy "is a clear signal of its commitment to creating immersive and engaging original content," he said.

YouTube also currently gets lower ad rates than Hulu LLC, which is owned by and carries content from Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, and News Corp.'s Fox networks. Hulu charges advertisers $25 or higher to show an ad 1,000 times on its site, Mr. Cohen said, while YouTube can command a fraction of that price for its best content. But with YouTube's new channels initiative, Mr. Cohen said, "there is nothing preventing YouTube from getting Hulu-type ad rates assuming the final content is as engaging as we anticipate."

The effort doesn't mean YouTube will abandon the way it has made money to date: identifying popular user-generated videos and offering to share ad revenue with the creators. YouTube has 20,000 such content partners.

At the same time that Google invests in programming and upends the way entertainment is created, it has signaled it is willing to pay large sums to license it. People familiar with the matter have said Google has expressed interest in buying Hulu. The companies previously have declined to comment.

Other partners for the new channels initiative include longtime YouTube content producers Machinima Inc., which creates content about videogames and other topics for young men, and Maker Studios, known for comedy videos from personalities such as "KassemG." The channels initiative will pair well-known individuals such as Mr. Hawk with existing YouTube content partners to create new kinds of programming, said a person familiar with the matter.

Some partners will be in charge of producing multiple channels that fit into one of 20 or so categories such as food, comedy, health and news, these people said. YouTube executives are asking partners, who will retain ownership rights over the content, to produce unique shows that don't just mimic those on TV, they said.

Hollywood has been abuzz ever since YouTube began reaching out to potential partners earlier this year with promises of cash advances. YouTube received more than 150 pitches from content creators before settling on a few dozen with which to start, people familiar with the matter said. Most partners will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars or multimillion-dollar deals to produce several hours of content per month, these people said.

The End of the Beginning or the Beginning of the End?

3:43:56 AM

The End of the Beginning or the Beginning of the End?

Posted: 10/3/11 11:51 AM ET

React

Inspiring

Greedy

Typical

Scary

Outrageous

Amazing

Innovative

Infuriating

Advertising , Advertising Week , Advertising Week 2011 , Advertisingweek , Digital Advertising , Future Of Advertising , Online Advertising , Business News

SHARE THIS STORY

Add to collections

Collect articles and browse other HuffPost members' collections.

Learn More >

Get Business Alerts

Submit this story

We digital folks typically like to think of ourselves as different, better and special -- and in some ways, we are. Sometimes however, it is better to be the same than different.

At an industry level, we have used the past year to rethink some of the fundamental building blocks of our business in order to better align digital with other marketing channels like print and television. Digital purists will likely disapprove -- how dare we apply a "broken model" to our sacred space! Marketing generalists will likely applaud the effort and welcome our attempt to create more meaningful comparisons across media types. Regardless of your perspective, we can be certain of one thing, and that is change. Unprecedented change that in my view signifies the maturation of the digital world as an established marketing channel for Brand advertisers. That evolution from adolescent to adult will undoubtedly come at a cost, and could signal even more significant change in the year to come.

As we buckle in for yet another Advertising Week in NYC, it is worthwhile to reflect on some of the significant shifts we have seen over the past year in digital marketing and think about what it means for the future. Is this the "end of the beginning", or is it the "beginning of the end"?

Arguably, the most meaningful industry effort of 2011 has been the "Making Measurement Make Sense" (3MS for short) initiative that was a collaboration primarily between the 4A's (American Association of Advertising Agencies), the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau). 3MS signaled an "ecosystem wide initiative to propose standards for metrics and advertising 'currency' facilitating cross-platform comparisons for Brand marketing". Initial recommendations from the effort have recently been released and as adopted will have a significant impact on the digital advertising business.

Without diving into the minutiae, the major recommendations from the project included:

A move from a "served" to a "viewable impression" standard

The introduction of a gross ratings point metric, providing reach and frequency reporting of viewable impressions

Implementation of a classification system and taxonomy for a variety of ad types

Defining, standardizing and accrediting metrics for view-through reporting and social activity

Establishing standards and vendor accreditation to improve methodology for online brand attitudinal studies

One would be surprised at the number of ads sold online that don't meet the 3MS threshold of "50% in the viewable area of the screen for a minimum of 1 second". Suffice it to say that we have seen some of the early data -- and it is eye opening. Publishers will need to radically rethink their go to market strategy (and pricing) when the industry moves in this direction. There will be fallout and market contraction for sure as marginal players will be unable to command the prices necessary to survive in this new landscape.

While 3MS has issued their initial findings, the next 12-18 months will be critical. A series of pilot programs will be rolled out across each of the recommendation dimensions listed above. Results will be collected and analyzed and will be used to optimize our go-forward approach. A governance structure has also been recommended which will be important for implementing the solutions developed through the 3MS initiative, while continuing standards setting activities into the future.

Adding to this excitement, we have seen over the past year an explosion of "mini-ecosystems" across the display, mobile, social, local and commerce platforms. Venture dollars are flowing and the number of players in the field is growing exponentially, inevitably leading to consolidation/contraction in the year ahead. Throw in growing privacy concerns, the growth of audience platforms, connectivity across screens and the growing importance of social marketing -- and we have ourselves a highly dynamic marketplace.

There is no doubt that it is an exciting time to be in this business that we call marketing and advertising. Some say we are in an advertising Renaissance and I firmly believe that to be true. As you make your way through the Ad Week panels, presentations and parties ask yourself, is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end (of marketing as we know it)?

Have a great week in NYC.

By: David Cohen

We digital folks typically like to think of ourselves as different, better and special -- and in some ways, we are. Sometimes however, it is better to be the same than different.
At an industry level, we have used the past year to rethink some of the fundamental building blocks of our business in order to better align digital with other marketing channels like print and television. Digital purists will likely disapprove -- how dare we apply a "broken model" to our sacred space! Marketing generalists will likely applaud the effort and welcome our attempt to create more meaningful comparisons across media types. Regardless of your perspective, we can be certain of one thing, and that is change. Unprecedented change that in my view signifies the maturation of the digital world as an established marketing channel for Brand advertisers. That evolution from adolescent to adult will undoubtedly come at a cost, and could signal even more significant change in the year to come.

As we buckle in for yet another Advertising Week in NYC, it is worthwhile to reflect on some of the significant shifts we have seen over the past year in digital marketing and think about what it means for the future. Is this the "end of the beginning", or is it the "beginning of the end"?
Arguably, the most meaningful industry effort of 2011 has been the "Making Measurement Make Sense" (3MS for short) initiative that was a collaboration primarily between the 4A's (American Association of Advertising Agencies), the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau). 3MS signaled an "ecosystem wide initiative to propose standards for metrics and advertising 'currency' facilitating cross-platform comparisons for Brand marketing". Initial recommendations from the effort have recently been released and as adopted will have a significant impact on the digital advertising business.

Without diving into the minutiae, the major recommendations from the project included:

A move from a "served" to a "viewable impression" standard
The introduction of a gross ratings point metric, providing reach and frequency reporting of viewable impressions
Implementation of a classification system and taxonomy for a variety of ad types
Defining, standardizing and accrediting metrics for view-through reporting and social activity
Establishing standards and vendor accreditation to improve methodology for online brand attitudinal studies

The first recommendation alone is sending shock waves across the industry. Back in 2009 I got a taste of the implication of moving to "viewable impressions" and wrote a post entitled "This Could Change Everything". Without being overly dramatic, it very well may.

One would be surprised at the number of ads sold online that don't meet the 3MS threshold of "50% in the viewable area of the screen for a minimum of 1 second". Suffice it to say that we have seen some of the early data -- and it is eye opening. Publishers will need to radically rethink their go to market strategy (and pricing) when the industry moves in this direction. There will be fallout and market contraction for sure as marginal players will be unable to command the prices necessary to survive in this new landscape.

While 3MS has issued their initial findings, the next 12-18 months will be critical. A series of pilot programs will be rolled out across each of the recommendation dimensions listed above. Results will be collected and analyzed and will be used to optimize our go-forward approach. A governance structure has also been recommended which will be important for implementing the solutions developed through the 3MS initiative, while continuing standards setting activities into the future.

Adding to this excitement, we have seen over the past year an explosion of "mini-ecosystems" across the display, mobile, social, local and commerce platforms. Venture dollars are flowing and the number of players in the field is growing exponentially, inevitably leading to consolidation/contraction in the year ahead. Throw in growing privacy concerns, the growth of audience platforms, connectivity across screens and the growing importance of social marketing -- and we have ourselves a highly dynamic marketplace.

There is no doubt that it is an exciting time to be in this business that we call marketing and advertising. Some say we are in an advertising Renaissance and I firmly believe that to be true. As you make your way through the Ad Week panels, presentations and parties ask yourself, is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end (of marketing as we know it)?

Have a great week in NYC.

UM Appoints Grivas to New Publisher Role

3:43:56 AM

UM Australia is investing in a new level of media-owner relations with the hiring of Maria Grivas as the agency’s digital implementation director. Grivas is currently Yahoo! 7’s sales strategy manager based in Sydney.

“We are creating this specialist role with the specific purpose of engaging more closely with online publishers during campaign development and implementation,” said UM Australia CEO Mat Baxter. “We are looking to ensure that the publishers are able to execute our strategies in the way they have been planned and with maximum effect.”

In her current role with Yahoo!7, Grivas has led go-to-market strategy for key advertising channels including behavioral targeting, video and mobile; developed a pipeline of advertiser-integrated opportunities and worked with some major clients including Emirates, Malaysian Airlines, Subaru, Tourism NSW and Visa. She headed a team of sales strategists and was a senior member of the Yahoo!7 management team.

“Maria's experience on the media owner side and specifically her expertise developing integrated campaigns with Yahoo!7 and SMG Red will prove enormously valuable to the agency," said Baxter.

Grivas is the latest in a series of senior digital hires announced by UM in the past weeks. Earlier this week UM Melbourne announced the appointments of Anna Kismet as director of digital and Monika Kuta as digital communications manager. Brielie-Jean Hudson will also join the agency as senior account manager, digital. Other new executives to UM have included Kristine Ballensky who has joined UM Sydney as communications strategist; Zoe Scaman who has joined as associate strategy director in Sydney and Lukas Temple who joined UM Brisbane as communications director, digital.

Baxter said more senior talent in digital communications would be appointed in the near future.

UM London Names Global Radio its ‘Most Valuable Partner’

3:43:56 AM

UM London is pleased to announce that Global Radio is the inaugural winner of its quarterly Most Valuable Partner (MVP) Award.

The MVP Award is one of four internal awards introduced this summer at UM London, designed to recognise and reward exceptional work across the agency. Specifically, the MVP Award celebrates and honours the very best in collaboration & innovation amongst media owners and other business partners.

Nominations come from across the whole agency and the winner is judged by the senior management team including CEO Andy Jones and Chief Strategy Officer Russell Place amongst others.

Global Radio scooped this quarter’s award for the transformational work it has helped deliver on Microsoft and other UM London clients over the past six months - including a first-of-a-kind technology partnership, which has recently been shortlisted for a Media Week Award.

Andy Corcoran, Head of Ideation at UM London, said:

“We had some extremely strong candidates for this first MVP Award, but Global Radio stood out as the partner that has most wholeheartedly embraced our ‘Yes,&,’ ethos – constantly challenging us and working with us to develop the most creative and innovative media solutions for our clients. Special praise should go to Tim Ferris, who epitomises everything that we look for in a valued partner - understanding, creativity, hard work, inspiration & a real ‘can do’ attitude.”

Stephen Miron, CEO of Global Radio, said:

“We are all genuinely blown away to have received this award – the first of its kind for Global. The relationship we have with UM is genuinely special & unique because of the collaboration, and from our perspective we appreciate more than words can express the agency’s continued support.”

UM London’s Diversity Unit becomes First UK Winner in Multi-Cultural Awards for client BET International

3:43:56 AM

UM London’s Diversity Unit (UMDU) has been awarded three first place prizes at this year’s Excellence in Multi-cultural Marketing Awards (EMMAs) – making it the first ever UK marketing agency to win at this prestigious global event.

The EMMAs, organised by US trade association NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications), were set up to recognise and celebrate creative, strategic and innovative approaches to ethnic-targeted marketing. UM’s Diversity Unit picked up the three wins and a second place for its work with client BET International. The first of these was in ‘Network/Industry Supplier’ category for an exclusive London event, An Inspirational Evening of Youth Engagement with Trey Songz, held earlier this year which focused on education and empowering urban youth in the Capital. The event aimed to build the profile of US R&B star Trey Songz and the Damilola Taylor Trust.

‘Getting to Know Wendy Williams’, a UMDU/BET International event, held in front of an invited celebrity audience at London’s Soho hotel, also picked up a prize in the ‘Experiential’ category, and BET International’s ‘Black Girls Rock’ campaign scooped top prize for ‘Print’. The Wendy Williams UK launch campaign secured second place in the ‘Network/Industry Supplier‘ category.

The EMMA awards will be presented at a Gala event at the 25th Annual NAMIC Conference at the Hilton New York early next month.

Glen Yearwood, MD of UM London’s Diversity Unit, said:

“We’re delighted that UMDU’s work has been recognised in this way on the international stage. Our unique understanding of cross-cultural marketing, and the specialist services we provide, have allowed us to generate meaningful brand awareness and publicity around specific stand-alone events for our client BET International. ”

Michael Armstrong, SVP and General Manager of BET International and Paramount Pictures Channels, said:

“Winning the NAMIC EMMA Awards is a huge honour and confirms the strength and reach of the BET brand internationally. It is also testament to the collective efforts and professionalism of the whole team in delivering high quality and focused campaigns that resonate with both US and UK audiences."

Phil Tattersall, Managing Partner for Client Services at UM London, said:

“As we await the 2011 Census results, we know that marketing to ethnically diverse audiences is about to become even more important in the UK. These award wins put UMDU in an excellent position to be able to lead the way in that field, and work with brands to ensure they are reaching people from all parts of society.”

Personalised Game Inlays for Xbox Forza Fanatics

3:43:56 AM

UM London has brokered an innovative new ad deal with Future Publishing, giving Future’s gaming magazine subscribers a real media treat in the form of personalised, McLaren F1-themed game inlays for the hotly-anticipated Xbox-exclusive title, Forza Motorsport 4.

To coincide with the launch of Forza Motorsport 4 on October 14^th, subscribers of OXM, Xbox 360, Edge and Gamesmaster will each receive a unique ‘number plated’ game inlay as part of the magazines’ October issues. Upon purchase of a copy of Forza Motorsport 4, the inlay can be inserted into the game’s casing to form a personalised cover.

Given that the in-game experience of driving some of the world’s most expensive and exotic cars is arguably the closest most of us will ever get to the ‘real thing’, by placing their names onto the car number plate on the game’s front cover, the Forza 4 subscriber inlays take desirability for supercar ownership to new levels whilst also providing a targeted call to action for all UK Forza fans.

Alex Hall, Product Marketing Manager for Xbox 360, said:

‘With these inlays, we will really drive talkability and desire to purchase at launch. I think this is a great way to reward fans of the franchise for their support. It also incentivises a wider gaming audience to go out and purchase a copy of the game themselves. ‘

Rory Behrman, Ideation Director at UM London, adds:

“We know the Xbox audience craves uniquely ownable content that can help them stand out from those less ‘in the know’. With the compelling content that we have created with Future, UM has been able to deliver another great innovative solution for the Xbox brand.”

Simon Maxwell, Group Publisher of Future’s Games portfolio, says:

“We love working with UM London and Xbox as they constantly challenge us to come up with the most imaginative, engaging and exciting solutions for their clients.

“There is a real collaborative approach between the creative and planning teams and Future – an approach that has enabled us to create truly unique executions which ensure their clients’ campaigns stand out from the crowd.”

Top advertising chief sees calm amid economic storm

3:43:56 AM

By: Paul Thomasch

The stubbornly bad jobs and housing markets in the United States coupled with Europe's debt crisis have created fear that the advertising market could be headed for a major pullback next year.

But Universal McCann Chief Executive Jacki Kelley is not easily scared. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, she said that advertising budgets can withstand mounting economic worries and are not destined to experience the deep, nerve-rattling cuts that marked the 2007-09 recession.

Her view has been fortified by the fact that thus far corporations are remaining calm, betting that the best way to jump-start sales is to keep their brands in front of consumers with TV commercials, billboards and digital campaigns. That's a reversal from the impulse to abandon marketing plans that characterized the last recession.

"Advertisers are a bit more cautious, but they are not panicking and they are certainly not pulling dollars out of the marketplace," Kelley said.

Kelly, who serves as the global head of an advertising agency that counts Exxon Mobil, General Motors, Sony and Microsoft among its clients, said she is seeing a cautiously optimistic outlook across industries. Universal McCann, the division of Interpublic Group (IPG.N), commonly known as UM, is based in New York but buys and plans global marketing campaigns from offices in 130 countries around the world.

Advertising finally stabilized over the last 18 months after draconian budget cuts starting in late 2007 and culminating in 2009, when U.S. ad spending dropped by 16 percent to $163 billion.

Now, however, there are worries that the ad market could be headed for another major pullback in 2012, thanks to mounting macro-economic woes. But Kelly said those concerns are overblown, pointing to a forecast from sister agency Magna calling for U.S. ad spending to rise 4.8 percent next year.

"Many advertisers will self-diagnose and say they overreacted last time," she said. "They are working hard to ensure they don't do so this time."

Kelley joined UM after stints at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Yahoo Inc and USA Today, three companies that depend on ad sales and suffered badly during the 2009 budget cuts. She was promoted to CEO of UM in January.

SPEND INTO IT

Advertising is often a leading indicator of an economic downturn and a lagging indicator of an economic recovery.

Those that can withstand the pressure and "spend into it, end up coming out of it stronger," Kelly said. "Intuitively, advertisers know that, though it can sometimes be hard for them to convince their organizations."

And it will only get harder, Kelley said, if consumer confidence continues to erode and automakers, telecoms or retailers see a significant drop in sales.

Absent that, however, she advises companies to stay as flexible as possible with their spending. "If you're unsure of the volatility of your spend, you really need to stick with mediums that allow you get in and out with a little more immediacy," she said.

That could mean more money flowing into media such as television, where commercials can be bought on a very short-term basis, or Internet search. Conversely, magazines, already-hurting, are likely to suffer more.

"When you get into these type of climates, the media that tend to be the most vulnerable -- which isn't because of their audience -- are the ones that require a longer lead time," she said. "If you are a monthly print publication, commitments happen three to four months out and you can't pull that."

For her part, Kelly is shaking things up at UM, moving the agency away from traditional client compensation agreements that typically pay agencies based on how many staffers worked on an account or how long they worked on the campaign. Instead, UM has instituted pay-for-performance client compensation deals, meaning that the agency has a financial stake in planning a successful campaign.

As a result, UM has invested heavily in data and analytics, and has contracts structured that pay it based on a host of different metrics, including sales, share price, brand preference and even Facebook "likes."

"We believe strongly that agencies should be compensated on the performance they deliver," said Kelley. "In any climate that's critical, and more so in this one."

UM auf der dmexco 2011 in Köln

3:43:56 AM

Auf der weltweit größten Marketingfachmesse am 21./22. September 2011 in Köln stellt
Universal McCann (UM) neue Trends in der Digitalisierung des Marketings vor.

Frankfurt, 06. September 2011 – Mit drei Keynotes und zwei Seminaren präsentiert
sich die Media- und Marketingagentur Universal McCann (UM) auf der diesjährigen
dmexco ganz im Sinne der Digitalisierung. Neben dem deutschen Management um
CEO Michael Dunke stellen auch internationale Köpfe der Agenturgruppe neue
Trends und Entwicklungen im Digital Marketing vor. Im Zentrum der Vorträge
stehen die Themen ‚Audience Management und Audience Analytics’‚ ‚Profilbasiertes
Targeting’, ‚Social Distribution’ und ‚Marketing Analytics’. Auch
Innovationen aus der Mediaplanung und der digitalen Markenführung finden in den
Präsentationen von Universal McCann ihren festen Platz.

Das Speaker-Programm von Universal McCann in der Übersicht:

Mittwoch, den 21. September 2011:

James Harris, Chief Digital Officer, Universal McCann, EMEA/G14
Thema: Intro der Opening Debate: „Brand Building at its Best“
Sprache: Englisch
Zeit: 10:45 – 11:45 Uhr
Ort: Debate Hall

Quentin George, Chief Digital Officer, Mediabrands, Global
Thema: The digital Shape of todays Marketing
Sprache: Englisch
Zeit: 10:45 – 11:30 Uhr
Ort: Congress Hall

Kerstin Clessienne, Director Digital / Strategy, Universal McCann, Frankfurt
Thema: SoLoMo: Social Media ist gekommen um zu bleiben. Kundendialog für
nachhaltige Marketingeffekte. Social. Local. Mobil.
Sprache: Deutsch
Zeit: 13:00 – 13:45 Uhr
Ort: Seminar 2

Donnerstag, den 22. September 2011:

Quentin George, Chief Digital Officer, Mediabrands, Global
Thema: Cadreon - Technologie- und Service-getriebenes Zielgruppenmanagement
Sprache: Englisch
Zeit: 15.00 – 15.45 Uhr
Ort: Seminar 4

Michael Dunke, Chief Executive Officer, Universal McCann, Deutschland
Thema: Spotlight Crossmedia Reality: Just a Fake or the universal Remedy?
Sprache: Englisch
Zeit: 16.00 – 16.45 Uhr
Ort: Debate Hall

Das aktuelle dmexco-Programm finden Sie unter http://conference.dmexcoimgdb.
de/Conference/Programm.html.
Universal

UM London Wins Media Agency of the Year At 2011 Marketing Week 'Blades Awards'

3:43:56 AM

UM London last night won the prestigious title of Media Agency of the Year at the 2011 Blades Awards, the first win of its kind for UM London.

In a star-studded ceremony held at London's Lancaster Hotel and hosted by Celebrity Juice's Keith Lemon, UM London also won 4 individual category awards, with its client Paul Davies at Microsoft winning client of the year.

The Blades Awards were launched in 2010 by Marketing Week, NMA (new media age), Creative Review and Design Week to celebrate best in class communications solutions across advertising, media, digital & design. The Blades are the only Awards that are judged solely by the UK's top marketing clients.

UM London won 4 category awards for its innovative Microsoft 'Bing Breaks' TV campaign, the spectacular Xbox Halo Reach launch, the Microsoft Office 2010 Absolute Radio campaign and its innovative mobile solution for the Xbox Kingmaker game launch.

McCann London, UM's sister agency, also won 2 category awards in Advertising both for their ground-breaking work on the Fable III: Kingmaker campaign for XBOX.

UM London client, Paul Davies of Microsoft, won the Client of the Year category ahead of John Lewis nominees to round off a hugely successful night for UM London and Microsoft.

Leading agencies Wieden & Kennedy and Adam & Eve won Agency of the Year in their respective digital and advertising categories.

Andy Jones, CEO UM London said:

"This is a hugely prestigious award for us as it's judged solely by advertisers. We are thrilled and proud to be named Agency of the Year."

UM London Wins Media Agency of the Year At 2011 Marketing Week 'Blades Awards'

3:43:56 AM

UM London last night won the prestigious title of Media Agency of the Year at the 2011 Blades Awards, the first win of its kind for UM London.

In a star-studded ceremony held at London's Lancaster Hotel and hosted by Celebrity Juice's Keith Lemon, UM London also won 4 individual category awards, with its client Paul Davies at Microsoft winning client of the year.

The Blades Awards were launched in 2010 by Marketing Week, NMA (new media age), Creative Review and Design Week to celebrate best in class communications solutions across advertising, media, digital & design. The Blades are the only Awards that are judged solely by the UK's top marketing clients.

UM London won 4 category awards for it's innovative Microsoft 'Bing Breaks' TV campaign, the spectacular Xbox Halo Reach launch, the Microsoft Office 2010 Absolute Radio campaign and it's innovative mobile solution for the Xbox Kingmaker game launch.

McCann London, UM's sister agency, also won 2 category awards in Advertising both for their ground-breaking work on the Fable III: Kingmaker campaign for XBOX.

UM London client, Paul Davies of Microsoft, won the Client of the Year category ahead of John Lewis nominees to round off a hugely successful night for UM London and Microsoft.

Leading agencies Wieden & Kennedy and Adam & Eve won Agency of the Year in their respective digital and advertising categories.

Andy Jones, CEO UM London said:

"This is a hugely prestigious award for us as it's judged solely by advertisers. We are thrilled and proud to be named Agency of the Year."

UM London Launches Exclusive Campaign for Totaljobs.com

3:43:56 AM

This week, UM London client Totaljobs kicks off an exciting multi-media campaign that aims to show 16-34 year olds that when it comes to finding a job, it’s not all about luck.

The campaign builds on the job search engine’s first ever national TV campaign which ran earlier this year – but this time goes bigger and bolder, with spots in flagship shows The X Factor, Million Pound Drop and Big Brother.

Alongside the TV activity, we’ll be running a national radio and Spotify airtime campaign, including an exclusive three-month sponsorship of the James O’Brien mid-morning show on LBC.

The sponsorship deal will feature three 5-minute ‘Brand A Views’ slots, which will see a Totaljobs representative being interviewed live on air, offering tips and advice on a variety of topical job-related themes. It’s the first time LBC has done any activity of this kind.

Sally Weavers, Managing Partner for Strategy at UM London, said:

“The live interview slots we’re running on LBC really capture the essence of this campaign – highlighting that Totaljobs is here to help people build a successful career for themselves, and that when there’s this kind of advice at hand, luck needn’t come into it.”

Caterina Masso, Senior Marketing Manager of Totaljobs.com, said:

“The campaign in January resonated with jobseekers immediately, helping to increase our market share dramatically and kick off 2011 with a bang. This is a result we’re keen to replicate with this next phase of advertisements.

The campaign has been so successful, as we’ve been able to take an integrated approach that draws on the ads for inspiration. This includes providing reams of advice on our website about the importance of being properly equipped to find employment - all of which will help to demonstrate that finding a job isn’t about luck.”

UM Names Soriano Digital Chief

3:43:56 AM

By: Steve McClellan

Universal McCann, the Interpublic Group media agency, has named Colleen Soriano to the role of senior vice president, U.S. director of digital communications, making her the top digital executive at the agency in the U.S.

In the role, Soriano is tasked with managing UM's digital media planning teams and leading strategy and implementation of all digital media initiatives across the U.S. She is also expected to strengthen the shop's digital offering by incorporating emerging trends that will add innovation and custom solutions to client initiatives.

Soriano replaces David Cohen, who was elevated to global digital officer at UM earlier this year. She reports to Cohen, who stated her "deep digital background, coupled with her experience in bringing integrated and holistic solutions to clients, made her experience ideal." UM hired Soriano away from WPP's MEC, where she served as senior partner of engagement planning, responsible for the creation and implementation of digital strategies and integrated planning.

At MEC she led digital accounts for clients such as Colgate-Palmolive, Campbell's Soup and Energizer Holdings.

While at MEC, in 2008, Soriano was recognized as a "Media All-Star" by Mediaweek. Earlier, she served as an account director at Razorfish, now a unit of the Publicis Groupe, and before that had stints at Bluefly and Organic.

UM London Helps Refuge Raise Awareness of Domestic Violence in the UK

3:43:56 AM

UM London has negotiated some high-profile digital and out-of-home space for third sector client Refuge, to help promote the charity's latest campaign against domestic violence.

Refuge, now in its 40th year, offers vital specialist services and emotional and practical support to women and children across the UK the country who are suffering abuse.

UM London has worked with the charity on a pro-bono basis for the past ten years, and this latest piece of work has provided the charity with media space worth well over £100k.

In conjunction with outdoor specialists IPM, UM has secured a network of 180 HD screens in city-centre pubs and bars across the UK for a 2-week campaign. The agency has also been working with Tribal FUSION, Global Radio, Collective Media and Glam Media to roll out a digital campaign directing people to the charity's latest app.

Alice Pott, Business Director at UM London, said:

"We're delighted to be able to put our planning and buying expertise to such a worthwhile cause, and to be able to work with our media owner partners to deliver additional media space for Refuge. The charity offers crucial support to women and children across the country, and we will get behind it any way we can - including doing a 10k run later this year!"

Kat Perry, Account Manager at IPM, said:

“Refuge is such an important charity to ipm and we are always finding new ways of supporting them in the fight against domestic violence in the UK. The socialite bar screens we booked in collaboration with Clear Channel offer the perfect synergy with this campaign, which is all about seeing whether a partner’s behaviour is “caring or controlling” in social situations.”

UM Accelerates its Digital Capabilities

3:43:56 AM

UM Australia is accelerating its capabilities in all aspects of digital communications and this week announces the hiring of Kristine Ballensky, formerly a digital strategist on Intel in Chicago, as a communications strategist at UM Sydney.

Mat Baxter, CEO of UM Australia, said the agency’s proven record in driving business results for clients particularly through digital communications brought new opportunities for the agency to invest in world class talent. “We have a new model for resourcing our teams and clients with digital talent and we are acting to bring those additional resources to UM in the near term,” said Baxter.

Baxter said the arrival of Stefan Burford as UM Australia’s chief strategy officer was the catalyst for the planned increases in digital talent. Burford started work at UM in mid September. “Much of our new talent in digital communications development will focus in the strategy work that Stefan oversees, so he becomes a important architect in placing and utilizing the new talent we are bringing to UM,” said Baxter.

Ballensky previously worked for OMD in Chicago and was focused on digital strategy for high-tech company Intel for more than two years before moving to Australia and joining UM.

At UM, Ballensky will work on clients including Sony, Lego, MasterCard and Lindt. Baxter said new additions to UM staff would be announced in the near future.

UM London Client FRijj Launches New Incredible Campaign

3:43:56 AM

UM London is about to embark on a major multi-media campaign for client FRijj, to launch its exciting new flavour range known as ‘FRijj the Incredible’.

The new range, which includes weird and wonderful flavours such as ‘sticky toffee pudding’, hit the shelves last month – and with it came three campaign characters to represent each flavour.

The new range underwent a soft launch on Facebook, in a campaign managed by UM London’s specialist social media wing EI@UM. This Facebook page will now form the hub of the main campaign, which kicks off on 5th September.

Feeding into the Facebook activity will be some highly targeted digital advertising through Spotify, YouTube and MSN. This will be backed up with a national OOH campaign across the UK.

The highlight of the campaign, though, will be a bespoke app – a ‘pet translator’ that brings the new FRijj characters to life in a unique way. Created in collaboration with Grey, this app will tie in with geo-targetted mobile advertising to alert customers when they are close by to a FRijj the Incredible vendor.

Jo Bailey, Brand Manager at FRijj, said:

“Our Facebook campaign with EI@UM has got off to a flying start, gaining 2,000 additional 'Likes', so we can’t wait to launch the next wave of activity. The geo-targetted mobile ads are a first for FRijj, so we’re excited to see what results they yield.”

Alice Pott, Business Director, at UM London, said:

“Now that our central Facebook hub is fully established, we’re ready to launch FRijj the Incredible with a bang – and the advertising we have planned will certainly do that. In keeping with the fun and cheeky feel to the brand, we’ve focussed on bringing the FRijj the Incredible characters to life through engaging content distributed on mobiles and online.”

UM Taps Pelham As EVP To Oversee MasterCard, Media Spend $500M Worldwide

3:43:56 AM

Interpublic's Universal McCann has hired Barbara Pelham as executive vice president and global managing partner for the shop's MasterCard account, one of the agency's key clients.

MasterCard consolidated its media assignment -- with estimated spending of more than $500 million worldwide -- with UM late last year. The move ended a decade-long relationship with GSD&M, the Omnicom agency, whose media arm, Idea City had handled media duties on the U.S. portion of the account. UM already handled media chores outside the U.S.

Previously, Pelham was executive group director at OgilvyOne, part of the WPP Group. Earlier, she ran the Bayer Healthcare account at sibling agency Ogilvy Healthworld and led a consolidation of other portions of the client's account under WPP.

In her new role at UM, Pelham will oversee MasterCard's media efforts and be responsible for collaborating with the other IPG shops that handle portions of the client's business, including lead creative agency McCann Erickson, digital shop RG/A, public relations firm Cohn & Wolfe, and Octagon, which handles sports marketing and partnerships for MasterCard.

Pelham replaces Matt Kasindorf, who had been working overtime handling MasterCard and several other major global accounts. Now he will now be able to devote additional time to others, including Brown-Forman, ExxonMobil and Dyson.

In an internal memo, Jacki Kelley, worldwide CEO of UM, told staffers: "Barbara's experience is exciting not only for UM but for IPG as she has managed complex global clients across WPP's network. I am confident there is much we will learn from Barbara and, together with our IPG counterparts, can create a new approach to collaboration."

Pelham, who reports to Kelley, starts her new job in September.

Two Effie Awards for UM Australia

3:43:56 AM

UM Australia was the only media agency to win metal at this year’s Effie Awards, the country’s premier forum recognising communications effectiveness.

At the awards ceremony held on August 25, UM went into the awards event with three finalists and emerged with two Bronze Effies for campaigns in the Food and Other Consumer Goods categories.

UM’s awards were for Unilever, the Chasing Magnum Gold campaign, and for the Australia Kinects campaign for Microsoft Xbox.

Mat Baxter, CEO of UM Australia said it was significant that UM was the only media agency to be recognised in this year’s Effies. “The Effies are particularly important because they recognise the effectiveness of work completed by agencies on behalf of clients and have very stringent judging criteria.”

The Australian Effie Awards are organised by The Communications Council.

Dairy Crest Launch First New Kids’ Cheese Snack in Over a Decade

3:43:56 AM

UM London client Dairy Crest is about to embark on a £3m multi-media campaign to announce the arrival of Chedds – a brand new kids’ snack from the popular cheese brand Cathedral City.

A range of three kids' cheese snacking products - described as the perfect lunch box snacks for kids aged 6-10 - launched earlier this month.

UK consumers will be introduced to the snack through an exciting ‘back to school’ TV campaign will kick off on August 29th, targeting mums of kids aged 6-10. Produced by VCCP, the ads will introduce the character ‘Monty’ the mouse to UK consumers.

An online Cartoon Network partnership will dovetail this TV activity, marketing the start of a 3-month digital campaign to make ‘Monty’ famous. Going far beyond standard display advertising, it will involve a bespoke ‘Hunt for Monty’ mechanic similar to a treasure hunt, as well as a themed microsite housing a branded game.

Kamal Korpal, Broadcast Account Director at UM London, said:

"This is the first major launch in kids’ snacking since 1990, so we wanted to make a big splash with the campaign. Our TV activity, will consist of key spots in fun and mutual interest environments maximising the opportunities for mums with kids 6-10 to see the new creative. The campaign will reach 87% of UK mums by the end of the burst."

Gemma Baggaley, Group Brand Manager at Cathedral City, said:

"We are very excited about the Chedds launch campaign. Chedds is Dairy Crest's first major launch into kids snacking category and this £3m integrated media campaign is designed to maximise awareness and trial from Back-to -School."

ZUJI and UM Create Marketing First

3:43:56 AM

UM Sydney and technology provider MediaMind have combined to deliver online travel agent ZUJI the most advanced targeted and immediate travel offers in the history of Australian travel.

The partnership provides two benefits; firstly it allows Australians looking for flights, hotels and holidays to automatically and immediately see the best travel offers the moment they become available. Secondly, once a customer has shown an interest in a particular destination or travel component (flight, hotel, holiday), ZUJI’s smart online advertising technology is able to automatically offer the customer the best price, based on what they’ve shown an interest in, across 95% of all Australian websites.

“Bringing the MediaMind technology to ZUJI enables us to serve the most relevant messages for consumers providing real time pricing and offers” said Daniel Cutrone, communication manager at Universal McCann. “It is another step to making ZUJI a faster and a more efficient one-stop environment for travelers.”

Managing director of ZUJI Australia James Gaskell said: “As an online company, we’re reliant on tech-savvy customers. They want the best offer fast and they don’t want to waste time being sold something they’re not interested in. We’re here to let our customers be in control of their own travel and this technology helps us do this.”

The implementation of this technology follows ZUJI’s moves earlier this year on Twitter to adopt promoted tweets, becoming the first Australian brand to use the promoted tweets platform.

ZUJI is increasingly adopting cutting edge technologies to increase their marketing efficiencies and grow the business. UM is at the forefront of delivering this technology and ensuring it aligns with media strategy.

UM won the tender on advertising servicing for “Kyivmiskbud”

3:43:56 AM

UM won the tender on advertising servicing for "Kyivmiskbud"

Communication agency UM (ADV Group Ukraine) got the right for complex advertising servicing of “Kyivmiskbud” in 2011 after winning the tender. All in all there were 6 participants in this tender that finished in June, 2011.

As the main communication partner, UM will coordinate all the activities concerning company’s promotion. Those activities include media planning, media placement, coordination of creative materials on strategy developing (positioning), brand book and creative communications.

“UM agency offered the most effective plan of maximal target audience coverage and made the most optimal price offer. We like team’s involvement into our marketing problems and systematic approach to the communication planning. We are confident that team’s professionalism will be helpful in coordinating and realizing communication that will correspond to client’s ambitions as leader of real estate market”, commented UM’s victory vice-president of “Kyivmiskbud” Arkadii Bondarev.

Universal McCann focuses on training talent

3:43:56 AM

By: EUGENE MAHALINGAM

IT is almost a given that the media industry has a relatively high turnover when it comes to talents.

But media agency Universal McCann (UM) is looking to make itself “the place” for talent growth potential, says chief executive officer Prashant Kumar.

“We are rolling out a whole lot of talent initiatives. UM is already seen as the school for the Malaysian media industry. A whole lot of talents look at us as a place for strategic thinking to learn creativity and ideation.

“It's a very young place. The average age here is 26 years old,” he enthuses.

Prashant is a bit more serious when detailing the importance of talent training: “With our product offering and vision, it's difficult to find natural talent that would be able to deliver from day one.
The staff of Universal McCann learning how to make cupcakes at one of their “Insperience” events.

“(So) it's important for us to groom the right kind of people and be able to deliver the needed quality.”

One such initiative to train and retain its talents is UM's “greenhouse” training programme.

“The programme has a few pillars. We have Friday training sessions where we address different areas of learning for our people. We also have quarterly “hothouses” where we focus on certain areas of expertise.

“For instance, our last hothouse was spent (a full day) learning about digital campaign planning, says Prashant.

Vigorous training sessions aside, the agency ensures its people know how to have fun.

On a regular basis, UM conducts an initiative called the “Insperience,” which is a combination of the words “inspiring” and “experience.”

“We have the Insperience every two months. This is an occasion where the company goes out and does something together that is different from our day-to-day jobs.”

Prashant says the agency's last Insperience had the entire office attending a culinary school to learn how to make cupcakes!

“Once, we had an intra-futsal tournament with cheerleaders complete with pom-poms. Another time, we learnt how to perform Bollywood dancing.

“We do a lot of these things to keep the creative tentacles working and to get our people to know each other as individuals rather than just as colleagues.”

Starting out with just 28 people, its staff strength has practically tripled in the past three years to 92 currently. Prashant says the agency will have about 100 people by year-end.

Since starting operations in July 2008, UM has been blazing a trail in the local media scene. Business growth has been quite stellar, with annual billings growth of more than 40%.

According to RECMA, a research company that publishes evaluations on the worldwide media agency industry. UM is the only media agency in Malaysia to be rated “A+” for two years in a row in 2009 and 2010.
Prashant: ‘The percentage of our digital billings growth is three times the industry average.’

Prashant is optimistic about sustainable growth going forward for the agency.

“We've grown 3.5 times in the last three years. Obviously achieving over 40% growth over the next few years will be difficult but we will continue to grow well.”

He adds however that much would depend on the outlook of the Malaysian economy which, at the moment, he is naturally quite optimistic about.

“I believe that we have the right fundamentals in Malaysia and that the industry will do well in the next few years. I just hope Western countries won't put a spanner in the works!

“But generally sentiments are looking positive in the next few years.”

According to Nielsen, advertising expenditure (adex) grew 15% to RM5.02bil in the first six months of 2011 versus RM4.38bil a year earlier, with newspapers continuing to command the lion's share of the total ad spend.

Newspaper adex accounted for 41% of total ad spend in the first half of 2011, followed by free-to-air TV and pay-TV, at 28% and 22% respectively.

Prashant, in an earlier interview with StarBizWeek, has said he was optimistic about adex in 2011 surpassing that of 2010, which hit RM9.6bil.

According to Prashant, UM's total billings are worth over RM300mil currently. This year, it won the media businesses for Carrefour and Munchy's.

Last month, UM bagged the Agency of the Year award at the Malaysian Media Awards, clinching four gold, two silver and two bronze accolades at the prestigious event.

Digital work for UM has been on a steep rise, Prashant says.

“The percentage of our digital billings growth is three times the industry average. Digital is already becoming the third largest media for us, after TV and newspapers.

“Within the digital space, about 30% of the online traffic is coming through mobile phones and we also see social media becoming increasingly important in a brand's decision journey,” he says.

And what of traditional media? Prashant feels that this segment is still very popular today, adding that it is in a process of “reinventing itself” to adapt to the times.

“There is no traditional media today any more. If you look at (the leading English daily) The Star, it can be seen as a very traditional media as newspapers have been around for a few hundred years.

“But The Star has reinvented itself in terms of what they do with the newspaper, what they do on ground, online, on mobile or on the iPad.”

He adds that The Star is a “cross-platform entity.”

“The so-called “traditional media” has been reinventing itself to keep up with the times,” Prashant says, adding that traditional media segments such as TV has also been evolving.

Citing Glee, the popular American musical comedy-drama TV series, he says that television today is more than just a 30-minute or 60-minute episodic show.

“If you take Glee, for instance, it's no longer about the show that you watch on your TV screen. It's about the buzz that goes on around it on the online space, mobile space, it's the coffee table conversations that you have with your friends, the multiple Youtube videos that get uploaded and so on.

“It's beyond what you see on TV. What happens on the (TV) screen is merely the trigger point.”

The rise of the millennial Malay segment

According to Prashant, a growing segment of consumers comprising affluent, contemporary Malays will, if it has not already, begin to reshape the way marketers chart their marketing strategies.

“In terms of consumer segments, there's one phenomenon that is totally transforming the way most mass marketers look at consumers and that is the rise of what we call millennial Malays.

“This is a segment that is very contemporary, exposed and confident. Many of them have been educated (or have travelled abroad or are extremely global in their outlook. It's a new generation of Malays.”

Prashant believes that this segment of consumers will “define the future of Malaysia.”

“The changes that we have seen in the last few years in various arenas of Malaysian life have been actually triggered by these millennial Malays.

“If Malaysia has to walk into the knowledge and creative economy that the ETP (economic transformation programme) envisions it to be (then the) millennial Malays will be the ones that will be at the heart of effecting that transformation.”

Prashant asserts that no mass marketer today can afford to ignore this segment.

“In the past, if you wanted to target the affluent, you went to Chinese and if you wanted to target the mass, you went to the Malays. But now you have this new segment that combines the best of both worlds.”

The Devil and AOL's Display Bounceback

3:43:56 AM

By: Mike Shields

Digital buyers love Project Devil ads. AOL’s pulling in hefty CPMs for the oversized ad units, helping provide a boost to the company’s so-so Q2 earnings announcement yesterday. The problem is, the Devil is hard to find.
The idea behind Devil has been to create more scarcity and more impactful ads. The oversized, magazine-like ads are front and center, and no other ads can be found on that page. Since rolling out the ad treatment last December, insiders say that the number of impressions sold has doubled, and average engagement rates are four times higher than the industry standard. And Devil ads have attracted a who’s who of top brands, including Hellman’s, Toyota, Nissan, Macy’s, BMW and others. It has 11 Devil campaigns currently running, according to CEO Tim Armstrong. After starting with just a few participating sites, all AOL sites are now “Devil-enabled,” said a spokesperson.

Given that one of the core drivers behind Devil is restraint, it make sense that AOL wouldn’t plaster the ads all over the Web. But in various laps around AOL’s sites yesterday, the ads were awfully hard to find -- particularly on AOL’s homepage, tech blogs like Engadget and Joystik, and even HuffPo. That's a bit odd, considering that buyers say that Devil ads can command CPMs in the neighborhood of $40. TechCrunch says Devil ads start at a whopping $67.

That's helping AOL's ad business. Domestic display ad revenue jumped 16 percent to $128 million in the second quarter. Yet coupled with that good news was some bad. Despite spending the past two years pouring resources and cash into a content-focused business, ad revenue for AOL’s own sites dipped by 3 percent overall. Meanwhile, Advertising.com showed some surprising resiliency, as revenue soared by 29 percent.

Armstrong, speaking on its earnings call, seemed to hint Devil should be rolled out in many more places than it is currently.

"Project Devil can be operational at a higher scale," he said. "Project Devil is successful for us, but it’s not a feature as a full product, and I want the company to run Project Devil as a full product and continue to scale our operations behind it."

There's also another factor at play. Not every AOL property is looking to incorporate Devil ads. "They don't fit in with our design," said Tim Stevens, editor in chief at Engadget.

Thus, right now Devil ads make up a small percentage of AOL’s ads, say insiders. You won’t see ads on every AOL property every day even. So it’s to credit the strategy for turning around the portal’s revenue strategy. But buyers see so much potential, and they hope AOL starts moving faster.

"It’s definitely been a successful approach to upleveling the display market," said David Cohen, UM’s global digital head. "I honestly don’t know why we don’t see more of it. I do think it is contributing to their growth."

Cohen said he realizes that AOL can't simply turn on Devil across its network in a day; implementing and entirely new ad format requires site redesign. The company has only owned HuffPo since February, and it has recently dumped a bunch of sites.

"You can’t flip the switch on these things," Cohen said. "But I’d like to see larger pieces of real estate."

More real estate is coming to AOL's Advertising.com business, as the company is in the midst of implementing Devil ads across hundreds of sites as part of an effort to premium-ize that network. But in the meantime AOL will focus on its owned-and-operated properties and its sales operations, which are in flux following Jeff Levick's exit last month. Unlike Yahoo, which has struggled with basic coverage, AOL seems to have more than enough boots on the ground to push Devil.

"I don’t have a bad thing to say about their sales force," Cohen said. "We are probably over-covered. We spend a disproportionate amount of our business because of it."

UM London Wins £2m BISSELL Business

3:43:56 AM

UM London has been awarded the £2m UK media planning and buying business for the world’s No.1 brand in carpet washing and vacuum appliances BISSELL.

BISSELL, a family-owned corporation, has been responsible for developing some of the world’s best cleaning tools over the last 134 years, including vacuums, carpet sweepers and deep cleaners.

To kick off the activity, UM and BISSELL have developed a £1.1m TV campaign to start in September. Targeting families and pet owners, it will be the company’s first TV activity in over a decade. Cramer-Krasselt will be responsible for designing the TV ads.

Alistair Roberts, Managing Director at BISSELL, said:

“Our long term success at Bissell has been down to a highly innovative approach and a ‘challenger’ approach to the market. We wanted to work with an agency with a similar approach – one that would match our ambition and understand our needs. UM London fit the bill on every level.”

Phil Tattersall, Managing Partner for Client Services, UM London, said:

“We’re very excited to be working with BISSELL, and to be getting the brand back on UK television. Innovation lies at the heart of the BISSELL business, and we’ll certainly be taking that on board with our approach to planning and buying their media.”

The win comes after a healthy bout of new business success for UM London, who have recently picked up the UK media planning and buying business for Statoil, as well as a number of other smaller clients.

UM London has been awarded the £2m UK media planning and buying business for the world’s No.1 brand in carpet washing and vacuum appliances BISSELL.

BISSELL, a family-owned corporation, has been responsible for developing some of the world’s best cleaning tools over the last 134 years, including vacuums, carpet sweepers and deep cleaners.

To kick off the activity, UM and BISSELL have developed a £1.1m TV campaign to start in September. Targeting families and pet owners, it will be the company’s first TV activity in over a decade. Cramer-Krasselt will be responsible for designing the TV ads.

Alistair Roberts, Managing Director at BISSELL, said:

“Our long term success at Bissell has been down to a highly innovative approach and a ‘challenger’ approach to the market. We wanted to work with an agency with a similar approach – one that would match our ambition and understand our needs. UM London fit the bill on every level.”

Phil Tattersall, Managing Partner for Client Services, UM London, said:

“We’re very excited to be working with BISSELL, and to be getting the brand back on UK television. Innovation lies at the heart of the BISSELL business, and we’ll certainly be taking that on board with our approach to planning and buying their media.”

The win comes after a healthy bout of new business success for UM London, who have recently picked up the UK media planning and buying business for Statoil, as well as a number of other smaller clients.

The Internet Turns Consumers Into Savvier Shoppers

3:43:56 AM

By: Cynthia Clark

Consumer reviews have revolutionized the way we make choices: Rather than take a leap of faith before spending our money, we painstakingly read other people's experiences, eager to learn from their mistakes rather than risk following in their footsteps and down the hill of buyers' remorse.

This phenomenon has become such a routine in our lives that we barely even stop to think about it. Instead, we just scroll through pages of reviews and click on photos, keen to learn everything we can.

Mobile phone data plans also mean that we don't have to be at home, or even at an Internet café, to do our research. Instead, the whole Web is conveniently carried in our pockets, there to be accessed every time our stomachs rumble in hunger, or we spot a must-have item in a shop window.

According to "The Long and Winding Road: The Gamesmanship of Shopping," a survey of just under 2,500 people by Yahoo! and Universal McCann, today's shoppers are less impulsive - 55 percent said they take their time to do research before making a purchase decision, with the Internet being the most trusted source of information.

Furthermore, almost half of the respondents said they were willing to give advice, "motivated by a feeling of solidarity" with their fellow consumers and the standout performance of a brand, the survey found.

It's not surprising that new modes of communication have created a savvier consumer. Before the Web the pool of reviews was limited to family and friends; today that pool has become practically bottomless. Even beginner Internet users can type the name of a product in a search engine and access information that can aide them in their decision making.

But people are not only looking for reviews. Penny-pinching consumers want to find good deals and are willing to shop around. After all, unless you need a product urgently, why buy it from a store if you can get it cheaper online and delivered right to your home? Of course, it helps that research can be done from the comfort of one's own home, eliminating the need to go from one store to another to compare prices. In fact, according to the study, the proliferation of both coupon and price comparison sites has led "to a new consumer mind-set where it's 'cool' to find great deals." A whopping 82 percent of respondents said finding a bargain contributed towards a "feeling of winning." And even if you end up with the first product you saw, shopping around gives a feeling of satisfaction that you made an informed choice.

The Internet has also helped consumers keep up appearances, with the survey finding that almost half of shoppers use more coupons than they had in the past because online tools have turned coupon-clipping from being solely associated with being thrifty into something for tech-savvy and smart shoppers. This is something that many of us aspire to, because, after all, it's our hard-earned cash that we are spending.

Universal McCann Unit Customizes Big Ideas

3:43:56 AM

by: Steve McClellan

Interpublic Group's Universal McCann has been striving for years to transform the way it does business with media owners. Now, the New York-based shop believes it has hit upon the right formula.

A little over year ago, UM hired Michael Siegenthaler, a branded content specialist who was then working at Microsoft, to run a new unit called the MOR (media owner relationship) Group. He oversaw a team of four staffers, whose mission was to penetrate media company bureaucracies beyond the normal buyer-seller contact point. The main idea: forge deeper relationships that would produce "big ideas," usually consisting of tailor-made content for individual clients.

The MORs group has evolved into what is now called the North America Custom Division (NACD), with Siegenthaler running it as executive vice president, UM content and experiences.

The group has expanded to a team of 20, spread around UM offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit, as well the New York office of J3, the unit that services the agency's Johnson & Johnson business.

How did MORs become NACD? "The name didn't really match the job description, which was really around custom," explains Siegenthaler. But he stresses that in order to create custom content that is truly unique to individual clients, the relationship with media companies did have to change.

"We are reaching out to the media community with a framework and a path that we want to go down, rather than the old model which was, here's a bunch of demographics and a few psychographics -- now just guess," he said. In order to ensure that the custom team is giving the right guidance to the media companies, he adds, it works closely with UM's strategy and audience insights teams. "We have to understand their audiences enough to effectively collaborate with them to bring ideas to life."

The effort has resonated with clients, who increasingly are looking for break-out work that goes beyond impressions. About 75% of UM's roster has used the services of the division for some work, according to Siegenthaler. In addition to J&J, clients include BMW, Sony Pictures, Chrysler, MasterCard and Charles Schwab.

For Sony Pictures, for example, the unit teamed with TNT during its NBA All-Star Weekend coverage in March to showcase a new film, "Battle: Los Angeles." While March is considered a "depressed" time to launch an action film, the NBA game and surrounding content would give the film a huge promotional "pop" according to the UM research.

One problem: official NBA sponsorships were sold out. But with help from TNT (and its relationship with the NBA) a workaround campaign was implemented. Ads throughout the weekend meshed footage of the film with NBA action shots. Spots ran in-stadium, outdoors and on TNT throughout its ancillary All-Star Weekend programming.

Success varies by media company, Siegenthaler said. "The ones we work with best have an infrastructure where sales is aligned with marketing, which is aligned with content creators and producers -- all looking at it with the same common purpose and through a lens of 'what can we do?' versus 'we can't do that'."

Why More Media Companies and Agencies Should Guarantee Ad Results

3:43:56 AM

It's About Creativity, Not Just Pleasing Penny-Pinching Procurement Officers

By: Jacki Kelley

Ladies' Home Journal publisher Meredith this week said it will promise some of its biggest advertisers that major ad campaigns in its magazines will achieve certain sales results. It's time to see more of this -- and not only to please the procurement officers squeezing major marketers' budgets.

It's true, of course, that clients want to see the real results of their ad spending. And emphasizing analytics can seem like just another way for agencies to push media partners' prices lower.

But from our standpoint, sophisticated technology and advanced analytic infrastructures also help inspire more creativity. Knowing which portions of our investments work can give us all the freedom to take greater risks.

The bottom line is that chief marketing officers should be able to experiment as much as their colleagues in the corporate suite do. Chief financial officers and chief operating officers' significant improvements in forecasting and financial controls have allowed them to assume more risk -- backed by plans that allow them to react appropriately in much quicker time frames. Chief investment officers have gone from being cost centers to strategic weapons, with research and development teams equipping their organizations to be smarter and more efficient. Each of these disciplines has become more flexible and quantitatively accountable. We can do the same. When we do, we will free ourselves to be more creative than ever before.

If we want to experience a creative renaissance and give our client partners the confidence to experiment, agencies and media owners must be willing to measure more and be willing to be compensated based on performance.

For some, I realize this may appear downright crazy. And if you lack the measurement tools, the confidence in your ability to deliver, or the trust of your partners, then it may be a crazy ask. But for those of us with the right structure in place, we will be able to deliver and earn more value, not less.

There are some -- OK, many -- that fear change. However, if there was no fear, we would not be pushing hard enough. Rather than letting fear stop us, it should inspire us to experiment with new approaches that prove which advertising is most profitable, so we can be more creative in our efforts.

In the end, everything we do must be aligned against the business outcomes that matter: sales and share. To set creativity free, we must all transform in both mindset and practice. Here are my suggestions:

Partner up. A partnership is not a contract; it is a commitment to re-create the future. It is about resource sharing, building new systems and customizing your approach -- one partner at a time. Find a partner you trust and push each other beyond your comfort zones. Most important, learn from the pain points along the way, and soon enough you will watch traditional benchmarks fade away.
Embrace precision. Plan, execute and measure, measure, measure. Ensure that your strategies and analytics will lead directly to desired business outcomes. Stay focused (note: shiny objects can be distracting). Embrace the precision and accountability that clients and procurement partners demand.
Be open-minded. Invest in new mindsets, not just new talent. Encourage a new breed of thinkers who are unafraid and who will thrive in situations where results matter. Business transformation should harness the brilliance of the curious mind. Allow a new mindset to drive us to the one thing we have been asking for all along: accountability.
Be creative. Find new ways to work with media owners. Find new ways to get brands in front of people. Encourage your clients to partner with each other on marketing efforts. Bring media owners together to bring big ideas to life. Collaborate and invent.

What we do is not an illusion. We are not magicians; we are curious business people in a dynamic industry. Our hard work requires deep insights, hard analysis and creative thought. Great marketing gets actionable results. Appreciate the work and stand behind it. With fear comes the certainty that you are trying something different -- and that is transformative.

Meredith Guarantees Top Advertisers Sales Gains

3:43:56 AM

Publisher Promises Free Space if Marketers Don't Meet Pre-arranged ROI Goal

By: Nat Ives

Meredith, the publisher of large-circulation magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies' Home Journal, is beginning to guarantee some of its biggest advertisers that major ad campaigns in Meredith titles will actually increase their sales by a certain amount.

If a guaranteed campaign doesn't make cash registers ring as much as Meredith promises, the company will make the advertiser whole -- most likely by providing ad space for free until it has delivered the return on investment that it pledged.

Many details will be hammered out on a case by case basis, but the program is the latest step toward greater accountability for media sellers and more assurance for marketers scrutinizing every dollar they spend.

"We've been hearing over and over again, and stronger in the past few years, that clients are demanding ROI," said Tom Harty, president of Meredith's National Media Group, which houses the company's magazines. "They're being challenged by their CEOs and their procurement officers to prove that they're generating sales."

Time Inc. recently began guaranteeing Starcom MediaVest clients making big enough ad buys that a certain number of people will recall their ad campaigns or respond in some way, whether by buying the product, visiting its website, calling an 800 number or telling a friend about it. Some independent magazines promise qualifying advertisers that they will generate more reader recall or response than most of the other titles the advertisers use.

But most magazines, like most media sellers and ad buyers, rely on measures less directly linked with actual ad performance. "The medium of magazines has used proxies for proof of performance like a circulation statement," said Britta Ware, VP-research solutions at Meredith's National Media Group. "And an ad agency and a procurement officer has used price as a proxy for value."

No magazines seem to have specifically guaranteed sales lift before now. "We are defending print a little bit," Mr. Harty said.

Ad buyers and marketers might appreciate the move. "As an agency, we are really focused on changing our own compensation to be tied to performance," said Jacki Kelley, global CEO at Universal McCann. "So to see a media company do the same is really encouraging."

"Most media owners are not excited to do that, for a lot of reasons," Ms. Kelley added. "They don't control enough of the overall program. But the analytics are getting better. I'm really encouraged by Meredith's willingness to push on that with us."

Meredith prepared for the guarantee program by looking back at past ad campaigns, comparing consumer purchase data from Nielsen's National Consumer Panel between a group of households that subscribes to Meredith magazines and a comparable group that doesn't. Big campaigns in categories such as beauty, household goods, over-the-counter drugs and food increased their sales an average of 10%, Meredith said.

"The numbers were very compelling and will be great information as we go into 2012 print negotiations," said L'Oreal USA CMO Marc Speichert. "We would love to see the same analysis done by our other publishers."

The guarantees going forward will use a similar research design to evaluate sales lift. Meredith is restricting the program, which it's calling the Meredith Engagement Dividend, to 10 corporate clients that meet certain requirements such as typically spending over $5 million annually with the company's magazines. Meredith's three biggest magazine advertisers are Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Kraft Foods, according to Kantar Media.

"We are creating limited inventory because we're stepping up to risk," said Richard Porter, president-media sales at the national media group. "We're asking for No. 1 share of their print spend and an increase in their overall spend."

Participants must also commit to a minimum level of advertising over 12 months and across several Meredith titles.

Does reputation matter more than the ability to reach a target audience?

3:43:56 AM

Questions that have been raised about the impact of negative sentiment on the reach of media channels following the closure of the News of the World after claims of phone-hacking and corruption.

"Yes," said Naomi Troni, Global chief marketing officer, Euro RSCG Worldwide.

A few years ago, I might have said no. In culture, entertainment, even in news, society was hurtling toward lowest common-denominator everything.

Virtually nothing was deemed sufficiently shocking or salacious to deserve global censure. If it made money and grabbed attention, it was gold. Now people are turning to a view that maybe there are limits to what’s acceptable and that making money isn’t enough.

Reputation has become a fundamental driver of profitable growth. Businesses are embracing their new role as contributors to the social good, and consumers are judging their brand and media partners based on their values and social actions.

As the incendiary Glenn Beck, in the US, and now the News of the World have discovered, consumers and corporations are drawing a line beyond which only the most foolhardy will go. Rupert Murdoch didn’t casually decide to shut a title that’s been a British institution since 1843. He recognised that, some times, reach is trumped by right.

"Yes," said Sean Summers, Marketing Director, UK & Ireland, R Twining and Company.

The ability of a media channel to effectively reach a target audience is very much dependent on the level of trust that this audience has in it.

In a world of hyper-connectivity and where the volume of available information has become unmanageable, consumers rely on media channels to help them filter and organise it.This relation ship works only if consumers feel that the information received comes from a reliable source. Once they start second guessing the channel, they move on.

This isn’t different from the trust that consumers put in us brands.Every time they make a purchasing decision, they renew that underlying trust that what we are offering is safe, good quality and comes at a decent cost.

They also buy into what these brands represent.It’s not just about what brands sell, but also how they do things. Brands that don’t reflect consumers’ values have no role to play in their lives.

As the NotW now knows, there aren’t second chances once you break that trust-it’s game over.

"Yes," said Chris Lawson,Content sales and marketing director, GNM

At a time when our audiences increasingly vote with their feet in deciding with which brands and media channels they want to participate, media owners still have control of their brand values and brand behaviour.

Reputation matters because it represents your point of view on the world and values. It’s why people come to trust you and it gives your media channel or brand credibility. In today’s digital world, if you break that trust your legitimacy crumbles, more swiftly than ever.Whereas if you nurture your reputation, your influence will grow and so will engagement and reach.

The phone-hacking story has shown that if a message is important or reson ates with audiences it will gather a mo mentum of its own; they will quickly work out what their trusted sources are. Reputation is at the heart of this.

The Guardian’s values, which we talk about transparently on our website, are ultimately how our readers and our advertisers judge us as a media choice. We should not lose sight of that.

"Yes," said Mark Middlemas, Managing partner, business development, UM London

Ultimately, the two go hand-in-hand. If a channel develops a bad reputation, chances are that much of its audience will move their loyalty elsewhere.

Any media channel is made up of a number of media brands, all of which should adhere to the same branding practices as every other business.

A strong, positive brand reputation means you are doing lots of things right.As a result, your target audience appreciates your efforts, wants to experience more of you, and will encourage others to do the same.

If a particular channel is tarnished by a ‘rogue’ media brand, that can and often will present problems for the whole channel. In the context of the press, for example, unethical behaviour by one newspaper could lead people to question the integrity of all the others.

This is why we are hearing calls for a new regulatory body, which could help to restore people’s faith in the press.

Nova launches “Renovate Your Life” campaign with Australian mobile first

3:43:56 AM

Nova FM will launch the most recent installment of their 'Live Life Nova' campaign using the latest near field communication (NFC) technology for mobile phones.

NFC technology will be employed in an outdoor campaign in Sydney and Melbourne with JCDecaux. It is the first time this technology has been used in advertising within Australia.

The media aspect of the campaign, developed by Nova's media agency UM, enables consumers with NFC capable phones to simply tap their phones against the outdoor panels to immediately start listening to Nova.

Currently, NFC is most widely deployed in payment cards like MasterCard Pay Pass and Cabcharge Fastcard where consumers need only tap their card against a reader instead of having to swipe it and enter a PIN.

NFC technology involves two systems communicating with one another to either transfer information or perform an action (such as a credit card transaction). When installed in a mobile phone, NFC allows for consumers to pay for goods, initiate a content download or transfer information with a simple touch or tap.

Ashley Brown, National Head of Digital Communications at UM said this of the campaign, "We are really excited to be trialling this cutting edge technology with Nova. It creates a direct connection between their outdoor media and the digital world. Unlike QR codes or Bluetooth, NFC allows for hassle free and instantaneous communication and information transfer between a brand and a consumer." He went on to say that "Whilst penetration of NFC enabled handsets is currently quite low we are very interested in testing it because it has enormous future potential for advertisers".

JCDecaux in conjunction with 'Tapit', an NFC specialist agency based in Sydney, have collaborated to create specially designed sites that allow for this unique interaction. JCDecaux CEO Steve O’Connor said:

"More and more web search is being conducted from mobiles so Tapit is ideally suited to facilitate a fast and convenient online connection for advertisers. With a large proportion of JCDecaux signage being located in high traffic pedestrian areas and in key commercial districts it is an ideal way to employ this type of technology.

Nova is the first to use this NFC in Australia and, as far as we can tell, only the second advertiser globally. I suspect that this technology will significantly change the way advertisers consider the role that JCDecaux can play in driving web traffic and promoting calls to action."

Tony Thomas, Group Marketing Director at DMG said: "Nova’s goal has always been to showcase our on-air product to as many potential listeners as possible. UM are always looking for new media innovations to help us with this and we're proud to be leading the way with such an exciting innovation. Now, if you walk past a Nova poster, and have an NFC enabled phone, you can immediately tune into Nova with a simple tap of your phone," he said.

MasterCard Brings 'Priceless' to a Pricey Place

3:43:56 AM

By Stuart Elliot

MasterCard Worldwide is expanding its efforts to bring its long-running “Priceless” advertising campaign to life.

For several years, MasterCard has been augmenting the campaign’s brand-burnishing efforts with tactical advertising that offers cardholders what are deemed “priceless” experiences through sweepstakes and other promotions.

Now, those initiatives are going to be joined by offers of special experiences in major cities around the world, to be called Priceless Cities.

The first city MasterCard has selected for the new effort is New York. Details are to be shared with reporters on Thursday afternoon at a news conference at Yankee Stadium.

The centerpiece of the initiative is a new section of the MasterCard Web site, mastercard.com/pricelessny. There will also be a considerable presence in the social media for Priceless Cities, on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The Priceless Cities effort will be the subject of a big advertising and marketing campaign, to be handled by five agencies including McCann Erickson Worldwide, the creator of the original “Priceless” ads.

The introduction of Priceless Cities comes as local marketing is being revitalized by a flood of companies offering so-called geo-targeted discounts, deals and special offers.

Many of the deals and discounts have social media elements, as evidenced by the offerings of new companies like Groupon and LivingSocial.

Executives at MasterCard Worldwide, based in Purchase, N.Y., say the primary difference between those efforts and Priceless Cities is that the MasterCard initiative is not centered on percent-off deals or coupons.

Rather, they say, the idea behind Priceless Cities is to present consumers with experiences that they will perceive as one of a kind, unique or unusual.

Examples of the initial Priceless Cities offerings include a “safari sleepover” at the Bronx Zoo, “V.I.P. treatment” at the Red Rooster Harlem restaurant run by the chef Marcus Samuelsson and access to a new section of Yankee Stadium known as Batter’s Eye View – which includes a MasterCard Batter’s Eye Café.

Priceless Cities is intended to be “a real evolution of our brand promise,” Cheryl Guerin, senior vice president and group head for United States marketing at MasterCard Worldwide, said in a phone interview on Thursday before the news conference, which is to take place at the MasterCard café.

The offers are being aimed at “consumer passion points,” Ms. Guerin said, in areas like “sports, theater, entertainment, travel, shopping.”

The goal is to “put a little more ‘Priceless’ in their lives,” she added.

The new initiative is intended to establish “functional differentiation” between MasterCard and its competitors, Ms. Guerin said, by “delivering tangible benefits” for holding and using MasterCard credit cards.

At the same time, she added, MasterCard will continue its efforts at “emotional differentiation” with image-burnishing “Priceless” ads.

As part of the Priceless Cities initiative, MasterCard will “spend a significant amount of time engaging with consumers socially,” Ms. Guerin said. In addition to the presence on Facebook and Twitter, there will be “social stunts throughout New York,” she added, like placing the kinds of seats found in Yankee Stadium “all around the city.”

People who “sit in the seats and check in at Facebook Places” will be entered into a sweepstakes “to win experiences” from Priceless Cities, Ms. Guerin said.

New York is being chosen as the first city for the initiative for several reasons, she added, among them its concentration of holders of World and World Elite MasterCards and the huge numbers of tourists who visit New York each year.

Plans call for additional American cities to be added to the effort this year, Ms. Guerin said, and then cities around the world in 2012. She declined to identify which cities would join the initiative after New York.

The campaign to publicize Priceless Cities will include television, radio, print, online, transit and outdoor advertising, Ms. Guerin said. She declined to discuss the budget.

The agencies working on the campaign, in addition to McCann Erickson, include three shops that, like McCann Erickson, belong to the Interpublic Group of Companies. They are Octagon, for sponsorships and partnerships; R/GA, for digital work; and Universal McCann, the media agency.

The fifth agency involved, handling public relations, is Taylor.

Social mediacrats favour brands

3:43:56 AM

You cannot go on Facebook without stumbling across a number of brands, but when people are communicating with each other on a social network, is this what they want? Or do they find the brand an unwanted intruder?

Relax. Global research by Universal McCann says yes, they want to engage with brands. Its report, “The Socialisation of Brands”, finds that almost three-quarters of global users think more positively of the brands they encounter online, and 71% are more likely to buy them. The South African young adult market (16-24 year-olds) is even more positive.

But international brands have to be alert to the variations between different markets because there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Latin American consumers want to be associated with something, Asians want peer recommendation and those in the Middle East want to join communities of like-minded people.

Once people have joined these communities they expect to be engaged by the brands, but on their own terms. The level of engagement depends on the category of the brand- and it’s essential that marketers know the differences. And while younger people are still the biggest users, the uptake of those aged 25-34 has risen from 52% to 70% in three years.

The research also shows that the growing number of people connecting online is driven by mobile phones, especially Smarphones. Other factors impacting on the numbers are third party apps which make it easier to use social media on various mobile phones; and flat rate data charges which make it more affordable.

The study makes it clear that brands need to create social media experiences that work, and for this they need to know who is connecting and how, why and where are they are connecting. And brand successes in one market are not necessarily transferable to another.

XBOX Announces TV Partnership With T4's Ibiza Rocks 2011

3:43:56 AM

UM London has orchestrated an exclusive partnership between Xbox and T4 around the highly anticipated Ibiza Rocks 2011 series, presented by Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac.

Launching on 30th July 2011, the Xbox-sponsored show will see dedicated TV content across six episodes on T4 and C4 channels throughout the summer, and will include performances from top Ibiza Rocks talent including Plan B, Katy B and BRIT awards winner Tinie Tempah.

Phil Cresswell, Ideation Director at UM London, said:

“Partnering with T4 for Ibiza Rocks is a fantastic way for us to reach out to Xbox 360’s ‘hyper-social’ audience through dedicated TV shows, product placement and integrated titles within an exciting entertainment environment.”

Stephen McGill, Director of Xbox and Entertainment for Microsoft’s Retail Sales and Marketing Division, UK said:

“Ibiza Rocks is a long standing sponsorship for Xbox and we are excited to be working in partnership with Channel 4 to help bring a little piece of Ibiza to T4 viewers in the UK. This is a great fit for Xbox 360 and demonstrates another example of adding value to traditional TV sponsorships by providing viewers with exclusive content and the Xbox brand with unique product placement opportunities.”

Click here to readt the story on Digital Spy.

The series will take the form of a music and lifestyle show including viewer competitions and branded Ibiza Rocks and Kinect for Xbox 360 titles. It will also air on 4OD and extended versions will feature on Channel 4’s late night strand Music on 4.

Phil Cresswell, Ideation Director at UM London, said:

“Partnering with T4 for Ibiza Rocks is a fantastic way for us to reach out to Xbox 360’s ‘hyper-social’ audience through dedicated TV shows, product placement and integrated titles within an exciting entertainment environment.”

Stephen McGill, Director of Xbox and Entertainment for Microsoft’s Retail Sales and Marketing Division, UK said:

“Ibiza Rocks is a long standing sponsorship for Xbox and we are excited to be working in partnership with Channel 4 to help bring a little piece of Ibiza to T4 viewers in the UK. This is a great fit for Xbox 360 and demonstrates another example of adding value to traditional TV sponsorships by providing viewers with exclusive content and the Xbox brand with unique product placement opportunities.”

Click here to read the story on Digital Spy.

Universal McCann wins agency of the year award

3:43:56 AM

PETALING JAYA: Advertising agency Universal McCann and Dutch Lady have won the agency and the advertiser of the year awards respectively at the seventh Malaysian Media Awards (MMA) - an event that honoured the finest media planners and strategists last Friday.

Universal McCann bagged four gold, two silver and two bronze awards in the MMA organised by the Media Specialists Association.

In a statement yesterday, Universal McCann and Mediabrands chief executive officer Prashant Kumar said integrated communications and digital media is currently the most critical medium of the marketing industry today.

“Integrated and digital categories were the most fiercely fought out categories with 100 plus entries. The tough competition tells us that we need to keep raising the game,” he said.
Representatives from Mindshare posing with the gold award for best use of branded content category.

The other agencies that followed Universal McCann was Mindshare with two gold, three silver and four bronze awards.

In third place on medal tally was Vizeum Media Services followed by Carat Media Services.

Media Specialists Association president Ranga Somanathan noted that the awards were about recognition and it has delivered strong business results for clients via excellent strategy, solution and execution.

“The awards allow us the opportunity to pause. Pause, to review, reflect, recognise and hopefully realise our potential.”

Vizeum Malaysia chief executive officer Andy Miller chairman of the MMA organising committee said that media planners had achieved a high degree of status at a time when there is an ever increasing amount of award show options being put into place by everyone.

“Our success is generated by the very transparent nature of our awards and the trust our industry has in how we are open to all and our judging is unbiased.

“To this effect, we even invited the Malaysian Advertisers Association and Association of Accredited Advertising Agents members to join our judging panel this year,” he said.

This year’s awards saw twelve categories as last year, namely the best use of television, newspapers, magazines, radio, digital (online/interactive/mobile), digital search, sponsorship, out of home media, point of sale, branded content on TV, small budget (under RM100,000) excluding digital and integrated media campaign.

The review and short-listing process saw about 40 judges across media specialists, creative agencies, media owners and advertisers pour through over 300 entries to arrive at the finalists and winners.

UM London Wins Innovation Category at Thinkbox Awards

3:43:56 AM

UM London triumphed at yesterday’s Thinkbox TV Planning Awards, receiving top prize in the Innovation category for its highly celebrated campaign Bing Breaks.

Recognised as the most prestigious in the TV industry, the Thinkbox Awards celebrate the most forward-thinking and effective TV campaigns of the past year and recognise the brilliant thinking behind them.

The 'Bing Break' linked together a series of adverts during a traditional TV ad break to demonstrate the functionality of Microsoft’s search engine Bing. The judges recognised the originality of the idea as well as the extraordinary effort that was involved in pulling the ad break together.

Richard Oliver, Managing Partner for Investment, UM London, said:
“The Bing Break is a great of example of how effective planning and great collaboration can yield exceptional results. A total of 10 clients, 4 competitor media agencies, 9 creative agencies, 1 innovative TV station and 7 planners/buyers were involved – it’s fantastic that their efforts have been recognised in this way.”

Last week UM London was highly commended at the NMA Effectiveness Awards for its Xbox Kingmaker campaign. The agency has also been shortlisted in six categories at this year’s Blades Awards, run by Pitch.

Ideation Director Phil Cresswell in M&M ezine

3:43:56 AM

This month, UM London’s Phil Cresswell features in M&M Global’s June Ezine, which focuses on the theme of Branded Content.

As Ideation Director, Phil is responsible for branded content and sponsorship deals across a wide range of UM London clients – and has recently brokered a number of ground-breaking product placement deals for Xbox.

In this month’s M&M Ezine, he talks to reporter Josh Colley about the various platforms available when it comes to branded content, and the importance of keeping the consumer at front of mind when considering how to implement it.

Download and read the PDF by clicking here.

UM’s Wave 5 Social looks at ‘socialisation of brands’

3:43:56 AM

In a world where social media dominates most of our lives, advertising brands need to know how to respond timeously to this ever changing world. To understand the why and how of consumer social media behaviour, research into this dynamic world becomes key. Universal McCann (UM) releases Wave 5 'The Socialisation of Brands'.

In response to the craving for research, Wave 5 places UM at the forefront of understanding the motivations and drives of the modern exhibitionist and how marketers can utilise this knowledge in ongoing interaction between brands and their advocates who will spread the word, whether good or bad.

Says Laiza Zikalala, general manager at UM, “It is our belief at UM that brands should first concern themselves with why people engage in social media, and their motivations, before they try to understand the platform themselves. People are the network and the platforms, whatever form they may take, are merely the channels through which this network communicates.”

Consumers engage socially online to meet certain needs. Promote themselves, share experiences, have fun, explore and sometimes just to wile the time away. Different forms of media platforms fulfil each of these experiences ranging from micro-blogging to video sites. Message boards can be used to seek opinion, change opinions and learn something new while video sites are used for entertainment.

Content sharing such as photos and video continue to grow but at a slower pace than seen in past Wave research, but with social networking sites incorporating content sharing capability especially via mobile, means that users are sharing at a much faster pace in real time.

“Over the past 12 months, the research shows a 10% growth in social network managers, 1.5-billion visits to social networks per day, 47% of people joining brand communities and 30% accessing social media via mobile, and these numbers will continue to grow,” says Laiza.

Research for Wave 6 is already in field and will be released later this year.

How Can Companies Help Women Reach the Top?

3:43:56 AM

By Patricia Sellers

This morning at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival in France, Interpublic Group (IPG) recruited Martha Stewart, CNN's (TWX) Soledad O'Brien, and Coca-Cola (KO) SVP Wendy Clark, among other prominent women, to answer that question. My job there? Summarize their insights and share a few of my own.

All in all, there were plenty -- and way beyond the well-worn platitudes. It's worth sharing the three takeaways I talked about in my closing remarks:

1. Get a sponsor. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, the expert on corporate diversity who opened today's program, observed that women are typically way too honest when faced with career opportunities. Indeed, we all know women who have turned down promotions because they're not sure they want the bigger responsibility. Fine to think it -- just don't say it, Hewlett chides. "If you have ambivalence, share it with a mentor rather than your boss," she says. Better yet, get a sponsor -- an advocate inside your organization who has your back and looks for ways to advance you when your foot is off the gas.

2. Get a grip on the talent pipeline. At Coca-Cola, as at most companies, about half the employees bubbling up through the talent pipeline are female -- but too many women eventually leak out. One of the problems, according to Clark (who is a fast-rising star in the marketing group), is senior management's methods of assessing those up-and-comers. Coke identifies its promising talent as "Ready future" or "Ready now" -- but has a poor track record of moving "Ready future" women into the "Ready now" box. This is a problem at many companies, Clark says, adding, "Ready future' is a salve that makes organizations feel good."

3. Get the men on board. "The first thing we have to do is get the men on our side," said Lynn de Souza, chairman and CEO of Lintas Media Group, an IPG unit. De Souza is based in India, where women, she noted, are generally seen as inferior to men. A women's leadership council where she is a member changed its name to "Equal and Opposite" -- a message targeted point-blank at men, who the group often engage. "It's not about diversity; it's about inclusion," de Souza says.

Indeed, the key step may be to make sure that the guys -- still in charge most places - -understand how women view power. For women, power is more about influence than control, more horizontal than ladder-like. And when it comes to building businesses, it's about creating the companies we want to work for.

Romanian Advertising Campaign Brings McCann Erickson Cannes Lions Medals

3:43:56 AM

A Romanian advertising campaign has brought communication group McCann Erickson two grand prix awards, two gold medals and two bronze medals at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity. The campaign called ‘American Rom’, created for Kandia Dulce, was awarded for the Best New Product Launch/Re-Launch or Multi-Product Promotion at Retail section as well as at the Traffic&Brand Building section. The advertising campaign was created for the chocolate bar Rom.

It got two gold medals in the section Food and Non-Alcoholic Drinks and the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) section. The two bronze medals came at the PR category, in the sections Best Launch or Re-launch and Consumer Goods.

The communication group has also been nominated in the media section, for Best Use of Integrated Media, with the awarding ceremony scheduled for tonight. McCann Erickson includes the agencies McCann Erikson, MRM Worldwide, McCann PR, Momentum, Universal McCann.

Appealing Media Acquired by YuMe

3:43:56 AM

Appealing Media, a mobile video advertising business based in Sheffield, has been acquired by US company YuMe.

Appealing Media's customers include ESPN, IPC Media, Bauer Media, and Universal McCann.

"As smartphone and tablet adoption takes off, the mobile video market will grow considerably both in complexity and reach. And the advertising on these platforms needs to be relevant and smart, especially for premium brands," said Michael Mathieu, chief executive of YuMe.

"We are excited to open our first office in the UK and welcome the executive team of Appealing Media to YuMe."

Appealing Media's founder and chief executive Owen Hanks added: "Mobile video is clearly a growth market and by joining YuMe we are increasing our offering for the UK market considerably – both to other publishers but also to other platforms such as online and TV.

"We are committed to simplifying these complex cross platform campaigns for brands across Europe."

Cannes POV: Don Draper Has Been Replaced by Your UX Designer

3:43:56 AM

By Marc Ruxin

Creators of new media platforms, and those who understand user experience and media behavior, are your new creative department.

For those unfamiliar with the nuances and evolution of the advertising business, educated primarily through the wonderful fiction of "Mad Men," conventional wisdom would signal that much of the power in the ecosystem revolves around charming and dapper creative types. And for much of the history of modern advertising, that would be broadly accurate.

In advertising's early years, there were only a few channels to create for, literally and figuratively, so the media buying and planning was fairly straightforward, and executives focused on a brands budget and producing exceptional creative content to spend that budget.

For a more accurate and slightly more up-to-date picture of the role of creative directors and the advertising business, Doug Pray's "Art & Copy" tells a more realistic tale. Instead of Mr. Draper and Sterling, viewers get Hal Riney, Lee Clow and Jeff Goodby, ruminating about the old days where you could literally buy unskippable exposure on television and thoughtful spots could demonstrably move product and inspire loyalty and curiosity.

Fast-forward to today, where consumer preference and attention extends infinitely and across multiple devices and the definition of content has been wildly expanded. While it's nothing to panic about, and it is quite possible to navigate, it does spark the need for a new type of creative department.

It's a creative team that can manufacture content in an age where news feeds, social games, Pandora, daily deals, photo sharing, on demand or time-shifted video competes with live television, magazines, movies and radio.

Therefore, we must acknowledge the innovators and entrepreneurs who create these new platforms where people now spend an increasing amount of their time: 150 million tweets a day, 32 minutes per visit and 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook, 40 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, 300 million global players of Zynga games, 200 million Daily Deal subscribers and XBox Live and Netflix have as many subscribers as Comcast.

In this new arena, relevance is critical. These new companies and platforms, created daily throughout the world, are constantly shifting consumer attention. The trick is to understand how to harness and effectively utilize these new content environments. And just like that, the creators of these platforms and the product innovators who design user interfaces and anticipate peoples' usage habits magically become a new type of creative department.

Advertisers do not need to rely on Don Draper alone to sell you a big idea; they need Farmville to allow General Mills to sell 310 million Cascadian Farm organic blueberries as a natural part of game play. Not surprisingly, these new types of creative execution trigger vastly better brand recall and purchase intent than a traditional Cascadian Farms banner ad.

When Demand Media allows advertisers to create or sponsor query-specific custom content to accompany articles that sit on the end of long-tail organic search queries like "How to apply a smokey eye makeup," what appropriately follows is a video from L'Oreal that provides clear and helpful instruction and demonstration. When Bing wanted to get consumers using the product instead of just seeing the ad version of it, they created a module in partnership with the Huffington Post that pulled headline data into a Bing search box that was part of the page and reflected additional relevant video and text search results at the end of the article.

On Facebook and Twitter, when a brand wants to sample a new product, it leverages peer influence to help, let's say, Starbucks give away a new coffee product, or help Ben and Jerry's sample a new ice cream flavor. Pandora allows a brand to create stations and playlists that understand and harvest the actual tastes of their audiences.

Each of these examples represents the new creative paradigm. Each idea represents a new algorithm, which harnesses intent and layers on custom ingenuity, and another part anticipates and integrates an authentic and mutually beneficial way for brands to enhance content experiences.

It is a new world: Brands + Skillfully Placed Media Investments + The Right Platforms + The Right Partner + The Right Offer = Creative Success

We live in an age where channels, screens and new behaviors are complemented by the emerging companies and innovators within the mobile, social, local, data, online video and music spaces. These now become new versions of yesterday's creative departments. In this paradigm, brands and agencies can easily become the marketing VCs helping to provide the early fuel that will allow and enable these companies to have the right tools for the future. Those who anticipate consumer behavior by looking at nascent trends, and help pick and experiment with these companies are best poised to succeed.

If the clever integration of brands into new platforms is the key to the consumer's heart, then the new creative director is a social psychologist and a programmer that can create the next paradigm. And in the end, consumers will win.

Today, more than ever, consumers have all the power. Brands that recognize and appreciate this point and find ways to reward and activate influencers with experiences that augment these new behaviors will win the hearts, minds and wallets of this savvy, time-shifted, cross-platform consumer.

Marc Ruxin is chief innovation officer, Universal McCann

http://www.fastcompany.com/1761355/cannes-pov-marc-ruxin-chief-innovation-officer-universal-mccann

Bloomberg TV Pushes for a Wider Audience

3:43:56 AM

By Tanzina Vega

BLOOMBERG has begun a major marketing effort for its television operation in a bid to persuade business executives to see the company as more than just a maker of the terminals that are popular on trading floors.

Bloomberg Television has started advertisements for itself, including on double-decker buses and in print.

“We want to be the most influential business television station there is,” said Trevor Fellows, the head of advertising sales for the Bloomberg Media Group. The goal, he said, is to reach beyond the traders and brokers who are now the Bloomberg Television’s core audience and draw in chief executives and other business leaders —“some of the most important people in the world,” as Mr. Fellows described them.

The new campaign highlights the channel, its lineup of morning programming, its business anchors and what they describe as an objective editorial tone. “Television has become the home for radical opinions,” Mr. Fellows said. “We’re fiercely independent, fiercely rational.”

The company is hoping to attract more than an expanded pool of viewers, too. “Advertisers like that notion of rationality,” Mr. Fellows said, “particularly as we go into a political cycle.”

The Bloomberg Media Group has spent the last few years honing its products and revamping its television shows in an attempt to knock over one of its most formidable competitors, CNBC.

“We think the opportunity is definitely there,” Mr. Fellows said. “A lot of the anecdotal feedback indicated that people are ready for things to be done differently than the way CNBC does them.”

Mr. Fellows conceded that there was a time when Bloomberg Television was “a pretty ugly channel to watch.” But newly remodeled studios and the overall marketing effort are aimed at getting people to watch it anew.

The campaign features ads with slogans like, “Business news like your coffee: hot, strong, no sugar.” The effort is geographically centered on New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with a major focus on financial institutions in Manhattan. Advertising will be placed in the Wall Street subway station and it will be wrapped around double-decker tour buses. The company has also worked with some restaurants in the city, which will tune their TVs to the Bloomberg station.

The morning shows and hosts featured in the campaign include “In the Loop With Betty Liu,” “InBusiness With Margaret Brennan” and “Inside Track With Deirdre Bolton and Erik Schatzker.”

“The basic idea is that you are ready to go,” Peter Nicholson, the chief creative officer at the agency JWT, part of WPP, said of the campaign’s focus on morning news. Creating a campaign for a media company, he said, is different than promoting a packaged good. “Because they are a media company they have media channels to deliver it through,” Mr. Nicholson said. “You don’t have to invent anything. You’re just shining a light on it. The content is the power.”

Concentrating on the anchors is something the campaign creators said they hope would further distinguish their content. “They’re not newbies at this,” Mr. Nicholson said referring to Bloomberg’s anchors. “It doesn’t come across as boring or amateur.”

Some of the anchors also will be heading to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to promote the new campaign.

Over the last two years, Bloomberg’s marketing team has doubled to more than 40 employees and on June 16, the company announced it had hired Andrew Morse, formerly of ABC News Digital, to lead its television operation in the United States. During that time, the company also expanded its coverage of law, government, sports and energy, and it hired a chief marketing officer, Maureen McGuire.

Bloomberg does not release figures about the size of its audience and does not have a partnership with Nielsen, the ratings company.

Mr. Fellows attributed the company’s absence on Nielsen to a combination of factors, including cost and Nielsen’s inability to measure the core audience sought by Bloomberg.

“Until there’s a measurement system that can accurately capture this very elusive audience of decision makers, it’s not for us yet,” Mr. Fellows said. According to Nielsen, this year CNBC has had an estimated average audience of 217,000 viewers from 6 a.m. to noon, the time slot the new Bloomberg campaign will focus on.

Mr. Fellows said the company had been measuring its audience through set-top box data statistics through a partnership with Google TV, but he declined to share exact figures.

Chauncey Wesley, a media buyer at Universal McCann, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, said the company was in negotiations with Bloomberg to buy advertising time during the morning time slot.

“We appreciate this marketing push that they are doing,” said Mr. Wesley, whose clients include BMW, MasterCard and Charles Schwab. “Being aligned with that content is important for our clients.”

Nelson Leung, a vice president at MPG, part of Havas, said he was glad Bloomberg was marketing itself beyond its famed terminals. “When you create a brand from a television standpoint, talent and personality really is going to be the backbone for what you stand for,” he said.

Chris Roush, a business journalism professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the campaign takes a strong competitive stance against CNBC. “I see them competing against CNBC more directly than they ever have before, and the people who watch CNBC are not just the hard-core Wall Street people,” Mr. Roush said. “They are the people in Mississippi who have $100,000 in their 401(k) accounts and want to know what to do with it.”

BMW, L'Oreal tackle shake-up in "path to purchase" model

3:43:56 AM

Paul McIntyre

The German car maker and French beauty brand fronted Cannes delegates yesterday with some unsettling news for media owners and sage advice for marketing colleagues.

BMW and L’Oreal’s customer pathway to purchase cycle, once underpinned by big mainstream media awareness raising efforts, was being transformed by producing thousands of narrowly targeted online articles, “how to” online videos and, in BMW's case, “really useful” apps. Most of the online publishing initiatives relied heavily on organic and paid search tactics to get their branded information to people researching those product categories.

Using content creators and aggregators like Demand Media and Say Media, L’Oreal and BMW are lessening their reliance on mainstream media – although they stress they’re not eliminating traditional advertising forms altogether – to keep up with the changing sources of influence in consumer purchasing decisions.

L’Oreal’s chief marketing officer for North America, Marc Speichert, said consumers had already “gone” to online when trying to inform their choices in categories like electronics, books and video games and the “next battleground” was in beauty, footwear and home décor -°‐ 35% of beauty product buyers were now researching online before they purchased certain products and the figure was rising. Grocery and household goods, he said, were less affected at this stage by consumer online "evaluation".

Driving consideration and awareness in mass media was where L’Oreal traditionally spent most of its advertising efforts, Speichert said, but the cosmetics giant had identified a “big opportunity” in the “evaluation phase” of beauty products, which meant people were increasingly researching online before they decided on the products to buy. “The new model is more complex,” he said. L’Oreal’s old “push” mass media approach, designed to create brand awareness and purchase consideration with consumers, had now splintered. Mass media was, in part, giving way to L'Oreal's online branded publishing efforts, which included detailed fashion advice for specific body shapes, bridal makeup for different skin colours and even the right colours for eyelid types such as monolids -°©‐ an Asian characteristic.

All of these brand funded online "publishing" initiatives were designed to rank highly in online search queries. Speichert said L'Oreal was abandoning its more simple mass media "pathway to purchase funnel", used by most consumer goods marketers, in favour of a four stage approach -°©‐ it still used traditional media but marketing investment was moving more heavily into online publishing to influence consideration, evaluation, purchase and consumer advocacy.

The session, presented by UM, included research the media agency conducted with US trade publication, Advertising Age, of marketing executives -°©‐ 51% of which said they were already investing bigger marketing budgets to become online content publishers. Another 25%, UM said, were already shifting their marketing budgets to “riskier” initiatives outside traditional advertising and 32% said they would start doing so in the next 12 months. A third of marketers, however, said they were not interested in the idea of more risk. Established media players will be happy about that.

Cannes Lions: The changing role of the ‘tech team’

3:43:56 AM

As the communication industry is evolving, ideas come from anywhere, and over the last few years, this has also impacted the way key segments of the industry work. To understand this better, UM and Advertising Age worked on a research ‘Entrepreneurs are the new creative department, and vice-versa’. The research was unveiled on the first day of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2011. Presenting the research, Brian Monahan, CEO, IPG Lab, explained the changing thought process of the communication industry.

This was followed by a discussion hosted by Marc Ruxin, EVP, Emerging Technologies, UM with Marc Speichert, CMO, L’Oreal USA and Trudy Hardy, Manager, BMW Marketing, Communications and Consumer Events, BMW NA. The other co-presenters of the panel were Joanne Bradford, CRO, Demand Media and Troy Young, President, Say Media.

The panel suggested that rapid acceleration in technologies is constantly reinventing and reimagining new businesses, evolved models and team structures overnight - creating significant impacts and transformations in the industry. The new art of creativity is being driven by ideas, products and solutions realised by these businesses, as they grow and adapt to the changing landscape. Both Marc Speichert and Trudy Hardy stated that marketers such as them are embracing this wave of entrepreneurialism by evolving their processes to develop new products and services in much quicker time frames.

Some of the key findings of the research included that 25 per cent of marketers reported that they are willing to use media dollars to make investments in start-ups. The majority (57 per cent) said their organisation is ready to shift budgets in to riskier activities in the next year. Those activities include, but are not limited to, becoming a publisher and building marketing technology solutions.

The survey also showed that to embrace this new reality of new technologies and start-ups, 64 per cent of marketers believe they should have a ‘proactive response’ by educating their teams and empowering them to be curious. Another 31 per cent say it should be ‘reactive’ in nature, this way they can see how they are best utilised before embracing the product. 25 per cent of respondents say they would consider using media or ad dollars to make new media venture investments while half say ‘maybe, as business demands require’.

Over two-thirds indicated that their advertising/marketing teams see the impact of technology and start-ups as a positive thing for their business. Only 4 per cent say it’s a negative thing. Over 77 per cent of respondents say they are open to making an investment in their brands to become content publishers with the prominence of Twitter, Facebook and blogs. This is comprised of 51 per cent, who say they are already making the investment while another 25 per cent say they want to, but are uncertain of the exact skill sets needed.

The various aspects of the research were discussed at the panel, as it deliberated on the new kinds of players that the communication industry was witnessing.

Universal McCann releases WAVE 5 Social Media Research

3:43:56 AM

The missing piece to the puzzle of social media engagement has been found in UM’s Wave 5 research titled 'The Socialisation of Brands'. To help brands create successful social media programmes the understanding of usage, behaviour, influence and motivation of social media users is demonstrated.

To coin the phrase “the world is becoming a smaller place” is aptly demonstrated in the research which shows that over 50% of the active South African internet universe claims to have joined a brand community.

Says Laiza Zikalala, general manager at UM, “South Africa is one of the few countries that have in essence skipped the deskbound internet era, and are moving swiftly into the mobile era of social media on the go.” Marketers understand the need of interaction between brands and consumers, but why does a person tweet, follow or update a status?

The social media tracker has retained the same methodology between Wave 1 and Wave 5, enabling accurate comparison and trending of the data sets. The sample has however increased to a robust 37 600 internet users in 54 countries and takes into account the various social platforms of blogs, video sites, instant messengers and social networks.

“There is huge demand for more social and interactive relationships with brands,” says Laiza. “Social networks are becoming powerful hubs of interconnected communities but it is not just people that are connecting in the social media space, brands are embracing these platforms in a big way.”

Advertising Agencies Woo Technology Firms at Cannes, FT Says

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Agencies Woo Technology Firms at Cannes, FT Says

By Mathew Carr

Advertising agencies are seeking to team with technology firms at the Cannes Lions advertising festival as marketing budgets recover, allowing more experimentation, the Financial Times said.

About half of marketers are shifting more spending into “riskier activities” over the next year, according to a survey conducted by Universal McCann, the Interpublic Group of Companies Inc.-owned agency, with Advertising Age magazine. About a quarter may use part of their media budget to make venture investments in start-ups, the survey found.

The Cannes Lions advertising festival starts tomorrow in Cannes, France.

Industry Reaction: DG Buys MediaMind

3:43:56 AM

Yesterday, online ad technology firm MediaMind was acquired by DG (formerly DG Fastchannel) for $414 million. Read more coverage.

We asked a selection of ad industry participants their views on the following question:

"What are the implications of yesterday's acquisition of Mediamind by DG?"

Atul Patel, CEO, OneScreen

"DG's acquisition of MediaMind shows the clear path to the convergence between traditional broadcast and online advertising and content businesses. Companies that streamline and scale digital media with real technology will drive future consolidation."

Bill Day, CEO, Tremor Video

"The MediaMind acquisition is a strong indicator of the digital video channel's emergence. People talk about 40 percent year-over-year growth, but they don't know where that growth will come from. The only way we're going to get there is through technologies that can scale, and that's what this acquisition is about.

This acquisition is another positive indicator of the importance of digital media within the overall advertising ecosystem. When a multinational corporation with a long history of powerful advertising distribution makes such a large investment in a new channel, it shows traditional advertisers are serious about moving their budgets into digital. MediaMind has been an innovator and pioneer in this business, and the acquisition validates many tenants of digital marketing, including the importance of strong ad creative and the necessity of consumer choice when it comes to engagement. Multiplatform consumption will continue to change the media business, and companies with strong technology solutions will rule the day."

Dave Morgan, CEO, Simulmedia

"DG buying Mediamind makes a lot of sense to me. DG manages a lot of the "plumbing" in the delivery of ad creatives in TV. Mediamind is a leader in the delivery of rich media creatives online. Everyone expects that the online and TV ad worlds are going to get a lot closer over the next few years, so it sounds like DG wants to put more of its future destiny in its control today and its spending $400+ million to do it."

Will Margiloff, CEO, IgnitionOne

"The Digital Marketplace is full of feature companies. This combination brings together two platforms that may make for an interesting cross channel product with a heavy focus on Rich Media and Video Ads. Good scale, great Global footprint. The combination puts them on a much bigger stage in terms of larger technology solutions. This definitely adds more fuel to the fire about the technology consolidation wave that's happening in the industry. Recent acquisitions prove out the point that marketers are clamoring for more powerful, centralized solutions. The days of running multiple technologies across your site for various solutions and none of them learn from each other is coming to an end. Google and AdMeld, DG and MediaMind are just the beginning. If you are one feature on the technology landscape slide, then you should get the 'For Sale' sign out and quick."

Mitchell Weinstein, VP, Director of Ad Operations, Universal McCann

"MediaMind's recent branding change and realignment to focus on full service ad serving, reflects a growing need in the industry. The business of serving digital media has become incredibly complicated (overly complicated in many cases). Ad serving companies need to become more full service, instead of focusing on a single aspect of media such as Rich, Video, or Mobile. Whoever can do this, and convince advertisers that they can do it well, seeks to gain a lot of business. DG is betting that MediaMind, combined with its other holdings, will meet this need."

Darren Herman, Chief Digital Media Officer, The Media Kitchen, kbs+p

"Let me start by saying that prior to 9AM yesterday morning, I was a MediaMind shareholder. It was actually one of the larger positions in my portfolio. Waking up to a 38% premium was certainly a sweet way to wake up.

DG Fastchannel came out of left field for me, probably because I wasn't overly aware of them. However, now I am and I think it was a smart move for DG - at least for what I know of them by reading their website. They now have Unicast and Eyeblaster under the same umbrella, access to a growing trading platform (built on top of AppNexus and possibly others) which could service Springboard and their other agencies, and a robust ad serving solution which will service the entire DG network. For $414MM in cash, I believe they received a lot.

3 months ending gross profit was $17MM (March '11), so that times four is around $68MM (not accounting for seasonality). That's around 6x, which is undervalued, IMHO.

I couldn't be happier for Gal, Andrew, and the rest of the MediaMind team and look forward to what the future holds. As an agency who uses the MediaMind platform to service my clients, I'm interested in hearing what might change."

Alan Pearlstein, CEO, Cross Pixel Media

"We've seen two notable purchases of independent companies in recent days, both pointing to a land grab on the part of the acquirers in what are undisputedly growing segments. Google acquired AdMeld for its mature publisher relationships as they assert their dominance in display - especially automated display - as they have in search. And DG Fast Channel acquired MediaMind for its agency and advertiser relationships, particularly outside the U.S. It's important to remember that DG Fast Channel already owns Unicast, so the MediaMind acquisition is complementary and efficiency-gaining, much like the AdMeld acquisition is for Google is nearly one year after their Invite Media purchase. Both acquired companies have great technology, but many others in our space do too. Terry Kawaja's logo slide is depicting an ecosystem in which there are many pieces, some of which MIGHT fit together. Both AdMeld and MediaMind enjoyed core technology differentiation in their segments that we're all aware of. But, in both cases, the core differentiation that their acquirers sought was the relationships. There's a clear lesson there for many in our business who churn more clients and partners than they should. These multi-billion dollar companies who have built their fortunes on technology and machine learning are buying relationships."

By John Ebbert

Admen and Marketers to Woo Geeks at Cannes

3:43:56 AM

By Tim Bradshaw, Digital Media Correspondent

For advertisers and agencies attending the annual marketing industry shindig in Cannes next week, there is a new must-have accessory: an internet start-up.

As attendance and entries to the Cannes Lions awards hits an all-time high – with 9,000 expected, up from 8,000 last year – confidence is returning to the media industry, freeing up advertising budgets for more “experimental” campaigns.

More than half of marketers are shifting more spending into “riskier activities” over the next year, according to a survey conducted by Universal McCann, the Interpublic-owned media agency, in partnership with Advertising Age magazine.

About a quarter would be prepared to use part of their media budget to make venture investments in start-ups, the survey found.

Brands and agencies – eager to position themselves as innovators in front of an audience of thousands of their peers at Cannes – are keeping the geeks close by.

BMW, the carmaker, and kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners, a New York agency, are set to share a stage with Dennis Crowley, chief executive of Foursquare, the fast-growing smartphone-location service. Hill & Knowlton, the WPP-owned PR agency, will be hosting a session with mobile games creator Rovio on “what brands can learn from Angry Birds”, the popular game it devised.

Cannes remains in thrall to the big hitters of the technology world. Facebook is sending to the show Carolyn Everson, one of its most senior sales executives, while Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman, will be crowned “media person of the year”. Even Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who played Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, is making an appearance.

But aware of the speed with which fresh internet heavyweights can be minted, brands are increasingly cosying up to smaller tech companies too.

“Every start-up is one big brand or media buy away from becoming a big company,” said Marc Ruxin, chief innovation officer at Universal McCann. “A lot of it is the vanity of a brand being able to say they are in an emerging space and did the first thing with platform XYZ.”

But there can be meaningful returns too. “These [internet] platforms are in fact global,” Mr Ruxin said. “It’s important for [advertisers] to understand what that means and that consumer appetite for deeper engagement is better than on TV.”

Traditional media companies are fighting for Cannes’ attention with the star power that only TV and movies can supply. Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s chief, is hosting a session with chat-show host Piers Morgan and acclaimed screenwriters Aaron Sorkin and David Simon. Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP chief executive, will be interviewing Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of film studio Dreamworks, and James Murdoch, News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer.

Nonetheless, when marketing chiefs visit California these days, they are more likely to make a pilgrimage to Silicon Valley than Hollywood.

“Everyone is realising how important it is to identify the right companies,” said Marc Speichert, chief marketing officer at L’Oreal USA. The cosmetics group recently struck an exclusive partnership with Demand Media’s eHow websites.

AOL Goes to Cannes - and Brings an 'Agency-Only' App With It

3:43:56 AM

A day after AOL (NYSE: AOL) held a gala presentation for analysts in New York’s Soho, execs are now descending on France for the week-long Cannes Lions Festival, the annual gathering of ad agency awards shows and networking. In addition to getting in front of agencies in person, AOL hopes to stay attached to executives at the four major ad holding companies with a non-consumer iPhone/iPad app designed especially for them.

As AOL has fully launched its Project Devil and Pictela ad units, which promise a larger, interactive canvas for more premium branding campaigns, the company sees Cannes as a perfect spot to make its direct pitch to the agencies that determine what and where billions of ad dollars get spent.

“This is AOL’s first major appearance at Cannes and we had been thinking of ways start a conversation with agency execs there, aside from the usual networking that goes on,” said Erin Clift, AOL’s VP of global sales development in an interview with paidContent. “I can’t remember last time I saw an agency exec who didn’t have an iPad, iPhone in front of them. This app will enable us to push information about what we think is important to them from AOL.”

Among the apps features are:

—AOL press releases and research tied to Cannes
—AOL’s activations with each agency within the holding co – so business reviews for each agency within the holding co, partnership information on what we are doing with each holding co, etc.
—Regular insights on key agency audiences (per their clients) – after Cannes we will push new information on a monthly basis on key insights we have that pertain to their clients, and audiences that matter to them
—City’s Best functionality for Cannes – the best of things to do, places to go at Cannes, restaurants, etc.
—Full Cannes schedule
—Photos from Cannes events within an hour or two

While the app is Apple-based, it won’t be found in the iTunes App Store. And it won’t be available on Android, since Google (NSDQ: GOOG) does not allow “closed apps” in its App Marketplace. AOL has been sending e-mails out to the individual agencies—IPG, Omnicom, Publicis Group and WPP Group only—telling them that they can receive a download via text.

“The week of Cannes is a whirlwind of meetings, meals and gatherings,” said David Cohen, EVP, global digital officer, Universal-McCann, in an e-mail. “Keeping it all straight is a real challenge and the AOL app has the potential to significantly simplify knowing where to be and when. In addition to overall calendaring help, the app will curate news relative to our agency and holding company ensuring we are on top of all the latest announcements. In addition, once Cannes has finished the app has the potential to be an ongoing conduit into all of the AOL developments, both public and specific to our needs in the marketplace. Our companies are already working in lockstep on many strategic initiatives, but this application definitely has the potential to draw our organizations even closer. It is a wonderful idea, and I know we are all looking forward to using it in Cannes and beyond.”

AOL hopes to keep the conversation going after the festival by morphing the app into a more general news and insights offering for agencies.

“We see this as part of an ongoing partnership—we don’t need to wait for a business review or coordinate schedules for a meeting,” Clift says.

While the use of an iPhone/iPad app as a business tool hasn’t gotten much attention, given Blackberry-maker RIM’s weakness, it’s conceivable that Apple’s products could be taken much more seriously as an “enterprise” item, not just a consumer one. As for AOL, well, it’s something different—and at the very least, it’s cheaper and probably more meaningful than just inviting every exec to dinner and lunch.

Pandora Begins Trading on NY Stock Exchange

3:43:56 AM

by Kent Bernhard, Jr.

Pandora's share prices increased at the last minute before its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange. But the company will have to overcome plenty of obstacles if it's to have Rolling Stones-like staying power.

dora Music was the hit of the day on Wall Street, having boosted its share prices to $16 a pop at the last minute before going public on the New York Stock Exchange this morning and then adding to that.

But it was a more modest hit than some recent tech IPOs. Instead of doubling its IPO, it posted a respectable gain as it started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol P. The stock unofficially closed at about $17.42, up about 8.8 percent from its initial price this morning.

The online music service has grown revenue and users at an enviable clip since Tim Westergren, now the company’s chief strategy officer, founded it as Savage Beast in 2000. But Pandora faces plenty of competition in both the online and offline world. It isn’t profitable and doesn’t expect to be before the end of next year. And Pandora will have to figure out how to generate more money per user to make it a great long-term investment.

A little over 14 million Pandora shares hit the market—about 9 percent of the company—initially priced at $16 a share, above the range the company set last week of $10 to $12. By late afternoon, Pandora was worth about $2.93 billion.

Bigger run-ups have not been unusual in the past few months for Internet companies going public. On its first day on the market, LinkedIn's share price more than doubled, from an initial offering of $45 to $93.09. Today, LinkedIn was trading at $74.01 per share.

Pandora had about $51 million in revenue in the first three months of this year, $29.5 million more than the company’s $21.5 million for the same period in 2010. Most of that money, $43.6 million, came from advertising to users who choose their personalized Internet “radio” stations and refine the music they like through Pandora's tools. The company uses algorithms to predict new music a user might like and refines that playlist by giving users the option to click a thumbs-up or thumbs-down sign on songs and artists.

The service has proved hugely popular, drawing 94 million users, 34 million of them considered active.

“I love it. It’s been brilliant. It’s been brilliant since it came out,” said Chris Watson, chief marketing officer of search optimization company Everspark Interactive. The personalization of Pandora is what makes it different, and will make it successful, he said. “There’s just nothing like Pandora.”

But in an odd way, that’s part of a problem for the company. Its licensing deals with record companies require Pandora to pay the record companies more for each user.

The company isn’t profitable now, and doesn’t expect to be before 2012. To turn a profit, Pandora will have find a way to wring more money from advertisers for all the ears it attracts.

“It’s a very interesting service. Can’t argue with it as a consumer,” Ira Cohen of of Signal Hill, a boutique investment bank based in New York, told Portfolio.com. But, he added, Pandora is in a race for advertising dollars, and not just with other Internet companies.

Radio and television, other Internet services like Last.FM and Spotify, and now Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook are all either offering music or will be soon. And Pandora has to find a way to boost revenue past its cost in that competitive landscape.

“It’s clearly going to come from revenue growth,” Cohen said. “It’s certainly not going to be in cutting cost, it’s going to be in driving more advertising.”

To do that, Watson said, Pandora may need to become more of a leader not just in delivering music, but in bringing change to the Internet advertising model. The company, he pointed out, could perhaps structure deals so it charged more to advertisers to be associated with popular songs or artists.

“Ultimately I think Pandora needs to dictate the pace and the vision of the entire industry,” he said.

In some ways, the company is positioned to do that, especially if it is incorporated into cars, where people often listen to music, Marc Ruxin, chief innovation officer at New York advertising firm Universal McCann.

It's a pretty simple formula.

“The good news is they’re pretty much the ubiquitous Internet radio,” Ruxin told Portfolio.com. “The more reach they get, the more media they’ll be able to sell. When you have Pandora as a radio choice in a car…I think there’s real room to grow.”

But after a little more than a decade in business, the attraction of millions of listeners, and now an IPO, Pandora still has work to do, said Michael Hussey, CEO of social search company PeekYou.

“It’s a great service. I don’t see it going away,” he said. But so far, “It doesn’t pass the mom test. When my mom signs up for something I know it’s here to stay.”

The leadership of the company reflects that adult, long-term approach. While Westergren founded Pandora, he has since moved into the role of chief evangelist for the company, leaving the running of the service to chief executive officer Joe Kennedy, a veteran businessman who grew up in New Jersey, graduated from Princeton, and received an MBA from Harvard. He went to work for the now-defunct Saturn brand of General Motors shortly after its launch in the 1980s, and was later chief operating officer of E-Loan.

"There were two wildly different motives that caused me to join Pandora. The first thing was that I fell in love with the company,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle in a 2010 interview. “The other part was rational thinking. With digitization, everything is possible in music. The challenge has become connecting listeners with music they want to hear. Pandora was poised to capitalize on this opportunity."

Why to Embrace Media Chaos

3:43:56 AM

by Mike Barrett

Many agencies kick off a client pitch from a perspective that assumes that the client needs serious help and must be saved from the media clutter in our society. Instead, it’s better to flip that idea and ride the ups and downs of media chaos.

Whether people realize it or not, they are more interested and engaged in media than in anything else. And more than ever. People spend more time with media than they do with any other aspect of their life, in a non-stop and intensive manner. Because people are choosing to live with media as a constant component included in every activity, they are essentially leading mediated lives.

Think about the last time you stood in a line. The inevitable reaction to a line is to take out your phone and begin browsing. People browse through Facebook, check email, text with friends, shop online, play games on their PSP, and listen to music. Lines seem to move more quickly these days! Kids don’t just go to school anymore; they surf the Web while they attend class. Laws have been created based on the fact that we can’t bear to put our phones away while driving. The point is that there is almost no part of life that is unmediated. Media has become the lens through which we engage almost everything. From friends to entertainment, to managing a household and even work, media is enhancing and enriching almost every aspect of people’s lives.

Many people point to this media-run life as though it is the symptom of some sort of problem and causing us to feel suffocated in the clutter. However, this behavior can be seen as the beginning of a solution – media is becoming the operating system through which people manage their lives. Keeping track of friends, managing schedules, staying on top of what’s happening right now are all things happening through media because media is the most effective way to manage them. The challenge for marketers in this world is the same as it has always been: capturing and directing people’s attention. There are three key things marketers must do to capture attention in the mediated life in order to stand out:

Creative media: Nearly all of the media that people are exposed to is standardized. We use the same ad formats, content formats, and channel strategies. Relying on standard media to communicate makes breaking through this clutter very difficult, given that people are spending approximately ten hours per day with media. It’s somewhat akin to putting a brick in a wall and hoping that someone notices your brick. The good news is that people are hardwired to notice what’s different. Make your brick a different color or shape, and people will notice. This is essentially what custom media does. It plays with the format and the content of standard media to create a new type of media experience, one that is much more noticeable and engaging.

Rapid-response media: Expectations are rising for what happens in media. If Stephen Colbert can mention something on his show half-jokingly, have his audience amplify it on Reddit, and have that turn into the Rally to Restore Sanity, then why can’t your brand? If we know that young adults are leaving a trail of digital breadcrumbs behind them (i.e., what I search for, who my friends are, what I like, what my status updates are), then we need to take that information into consideration when we want to communicate with them to get a response.

Persistent experiences: People are loyal to content, not to channels. They don’t care whether The Daily Show comes in through their TV, tablet or smartphone. They frequently engage with the same content simultaneously on several channels – for example, watching football on TV, managing a fantasy team on their tablet and texting with friends about it on their phone. This behavior represents an opportunity for brands to engage with people by offering something that enhances the experience of the media they are already using. Whether it’s a sponsored player analyst for determining who you should start on your fantasy team (per our example above) that runs during pregame or a game that can be played with friends while watching Glee, it is critical to create experiences in media that are additive and complimentary to the content people are already consuming.

Burford Joins UM as Chief Strategy Officer

3:43:56 AM

One of Australia’s most highly regarded media strategists, Stefan Burford, is joining UM as chief strategy officer to lead the agency's strategy team as a part of new senior management developments at UM and parent company Mediabrands Australia.

Henry Tajer, executive chairman of Mediabrands Australia, said the new appointments had the dual purposes of resourcing UM with the best talent in the industry and to further focus Mediabrands’ senior management on coordinating and leveraging its capabilities for the maximum benefit of clients.

Tajer announced that Travis Johnson, managing director of UM Sydney and Daniel Isaac, UM chief strategy officer, have been appointed commercial directors for Mediabrands NSW and Victoria respectively. “Daniel and Travis are two of our most experienced and effective executives with proven success records,” said Tajer. “They have already delivered significant value to Mediabrands businesses and have led many clients into broader communications areas that have deepened our business relationships and positively impacted their business results.” The Isaac and Johnson appointments are effective July 1st 2011.

Wendy Gower, group director at UM has been appointed general manager of UM Sydney and replaces Johnson. Burford will take over from Isaac as chief strategy officer of UM at a date to be confirmed.

Tajer added that both he and UM CEO Mat Baxter were very excited that Stefan Burford was joining the agency.

Baxter said, “I had the privilege to work alongside Stefan at MediaCom and he's without a doubt the best strategist I've worked with. It's probably not a big surprise that I'm thrilled we've got someone with such enormous talent to come and lead UM's strategic product."

Burford is currently group strategy director at MediaCom and previously worked for Mediaedge:CIA in London. In 2010, he was named B&T's young achiever of the year and Campaign Asia magazine's media planner of the year for Australia and New Zealand.

In addition to UM, Mediabrands Australia also houses media communications agency Initiative and specialist businesses including MagnaGlobal (investment intelligence), Reprise Media (SEM, SEO and social media), Orion (barter) and Ensemble (branded entertainment). New entities will be added to the Mediabrands portfolio in the near and longer term.

Coca-Cola awards UM Korea "Agency of the Year"

3:43:56 AM

We're excited to share some amazing news with all of you. Coca-Cola has named UM Korea "2010 Agency of the Year". The news comes from a Coca-Cola Regional Media Team Meeting held earlier this week, where the company recognized its different markets for excellence in business and communications.

This year was the first time Coca-Cola presented an "Agency of the Year" award in its Media Oscars category. UM Korea won out over all other regional media agencies! In 2009, Coca-Cola recognized UM Korea with a "2008 Most Effective Productivity" award.

On the win, Jacki Kelley, CEO, UM, said, "This is wonderful news. The best praise always comes from our clients, and when they are as progressive as Coke, it is even more fulfilling!"

Initiative and UM Embrace New World Order

3:43:56 AM

What do Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and the UK have in common?

The answer is that these countries are now regarded by Interpublic (IPG) as a distinct economic cluster and the company has restructured its media network offerings as a consequence. IPG, in short, has done away with EMEA and in comes the new cluster called G14, a quasi-official-sounding name designed, presumably, to chime in with inter-governmental economic clubs like the G7, the G8+5 and the G10.

But with no more EMEA, where does this leave the Middle East and North Africa? According to the new IPG world order, G14 will sit alongside the North America region (the US and Canada) and, last (and possibly least), World Markets – all other markets from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. The cluster-inspired restructure affects IPG’s umbrella operation, Mediabrands, and its operational media networks, Initiative and UM. And it has been accompanied by senior management appointments.

Yet you’d be excused for thinking the MENA region had been relegated to Third World status, propping up as it does North America and the supercharged G14 with the help of other stragglers, dropouts and failed states. But that’s not the case, says the man in charge of the World Markets cluster.

Mauricio Sabogal moved from his role as worldwide managing director of Initiative to become president of World Markets at the end of March, with his new role straddling both Initiative and UM. In Dubai recently with Andrea Suarez, the former president of Latin America at UM and now chief operating officer, World Markets, Sabogal was keen to dismiss any thoughts of Third World status. He was by no means alone. Also in town were 45 other people from countries as diverse as Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Colombia and Malaysia who had gathered for a meeting of the new cluster.

“World Markets can be viewed as a public school with a lot of students at different levels, while G14 is more like a private school where the students have to undergo an evolution,” says Sabogal. “That’s why we have to focus on 14 markets. It doesn’t mean that they are better than all the other markets. We have offices here that are bigger than offices in the G14. But he situation is that we have to recognize that the industry is moving to other markets first. And we have to react to that.”

Leading Initiative’s North America cluster is Tim Spengler, while Eric Bader is president of the G14 cluster for Initiative. All three cluster bosses have differing goals, but Sabogal is clear about his main task. “There is more availability of data and tools in the US, Australia and some other markets,” says Sabogal. “They are at a different level in terms of data and in terms of use of tools. So while Eric and Tim have the mission to put those countries on a level of sophistication that they discern, we have to move to consistency. I have 53 units that are at differing levels of sophistication.

“Consistency for me is an obsession. Why? Because consistency means evolution in product, evolution in terms of talent, it means strategy for new business, it means strategy for growth. What is happening now is that we are fighting with really good soldiers locally, but we are not fighting with the right strategy all together. We have good operations, but what we need now is to provide those operations with a strategy that allows them to move as an army. For example, our offices in Cairo, Dubai, or Lebanon have to make sure – as we say in South America – that the hamburger tastes the same wherever you are.”

There will be concentration on a number of areas, including digital, integrated buying and branded content, with the Dubai office of Initiative recently launching a branded content division, while other moves are in the offing.

And then there’s Magna, which is also part of Mediabrands and is present in the region but is not included in the new clusters. So what’s going to happen to Magna? “It’s possible that what could happen to Magna here is that we re-launch under a different name to be in line with what’s happening worldwide,” says Sabogal. “But it’s something that we have to refine and is not decided yet.”

IPG’s new cluster system has not been without its critics, however. Initiative’s marketing material talks of the “world’s most effective network of people,” but rival agencies have not been slow to argue that the cluster structure almost guarantees that Iniative will struggle to deliver on this. For example, Bader, they point out, will continue to be based in New York and will attempt to administer events in time zones to the east and to the west of him, while also keeping on the fragmented remains of the old EMEA secretariat in London.

Sabogal will face similar issues. But only time will tell whether the new clusters are a success and are here to stay.

Agency+ Technology Innovators = The New Creative

3:43:56 AM

For a more accurate and slightly more up-to-date picture of the role of creative directors and the advertising business, Doug Pray's "Art & Copy" tells a more realistic tale. Instead of Mr. Draper and Sterling, readers get Hal Riney, Lee Clow and Jeff Goodby, ruminating about the old days where you could literally buy unskippable exposure on television and thoughtful spots could demonstrably move product and inspire loyalty and curiosity.

Fast-forward to today, where consumer preference and attention extends infinitely and across multiple devices and the definition of content has been wildly expanded in new directions. While it's nothing to panic about, and it is quite possible to navigate, it does spark the need for a new type of creative department.

Therefore, we must acknowledge the innovators and entrepreneurs who create these new platforms where people now spend an increasing amount of their time: 150 million tweets a day, 32 minutes per visit and 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook, 40 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, 300 million global players of Zynga games, 200 million Daily Deal subscribers and XBOX Live and Netflix have as many subscribers as Comcast.

On Facebook and Twitter, when a brand wants to sample a new product, they leverage peer influence to help a brand like Starbucks give away a new coffee product, or help Ben and Jerry's sample a new ice cream flavor. Pandora allows a brand to create stations and playlists that by understanding and harvesting the actual tastes of their audiences.

It is a new world: Brands + Skillfully Placed Media Investments + The Right Platforms + The Right Offer = Creative Success

In this paradigm, brands and agencies can easily become the marketing VCs helping to provide the early fuel that will allow and enable these companies to have the right tools for the future. Those who anticipate consumer behavior by looking at nascent trends, and help pick and experiment with these companies are best poised to succeed.

Champions League Final a Victory for Advertisers & London

3:43:56 AM

With an estimated 400 million people tuning in globally to the UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley this weekend, it wasn’t only FC Barcelona who walked away victorious.

The UK’s commercial TV operators certainly got their tactics right too. ITV, fronted by brummie Adrian Chiles, came out around £8m better off, as major brands such as Google, Xbox, MacDonalds, Lynx, Heineken & others invested millions of pounds in advertising their products during the sporting ‘mega event' – each paying up to £200,000 for a 30 sec slot, according to industry sources. Sky Media, fronted by Soccer Saturday’s Jeff Stelling, also raked in about£2m in advertising revenue.

UM London clients were out in force on the night. Xbox saw the match as the perfect opportunity to debut the trailer for their game Gears of War 3, which aired directly after the final whistle.

‘We know the Xbox audience demands entertainment from the advertising they consume, and it doesn’t get more entertaining that watching Manchester United take on Barcelona in the biggest football match of the year,’ said Rory Behrman, Ideation Director at UM London.

As one of the four key sponsors of the tournament, MasterCard also had a strong advertising presence both in the run-up to the game through above-the-line, digital and experiential activity, and during the match itself. Paul Meulendijk, Head of Sponsorship at MasterCard Europe, told Marketing magazine how he saw the final as a ‘huge opportunity to target consumers across the globe,’ adding that it was the ‘crème de la crème’ of advertising.

London also won out as over 110,000 football fans descended on the capital. A MasterCard study, written by Professor Simon Chadwick, illustrated the huge financial benefit to the city of hosting Europe’s equivalent of the US Superbowl. Saturday’s Champions League Final was expected to generate a record £320m for the global economy, including a £50m windfall for London through additional spending in bars, restaurants & at the stadium.

Estimated cost of 30 second TV spot in the Final: £200,000
Estimated winners earnings: £109m
Estimated Global TV audience: 400million
Winning the 2011 Champions League – Priceless!

Yahoo, UM: Web is Killing Impulse Shopping

3:43:56 AM

By Les Luchter

Impulse shopping buys are dying out as a result of tools such as social networks, the mobile Web and coupon sites, according to research from Yahoo and UM, the Interpublic media agency. Instead of buying on impulse, the research found, shoppers have switched to a mindset that is "analogous to playing a game."

Titled "The Long and Winding Road: Gamesmanship of Shopping," the study found that consumers are now involved in a complex process of discovering, evaluating and socializing -- all part of an ongoing hunt to get the best possible deal.

Most (66%) of the 2.485 consumers interviewed, UM and Yahoo said, are aided in this quest by search engines, consumer portals, online articles and reviews, brand sites and retailer sites.

This turns shopping into a collaborative process involving other "players," rather than an individual task -- and into an "intriguing path of discovery" rather than a "chore."

While an increased reliance on trusted Internet sources has led to less impulsive purchasing, the time taken to make decisions on non-impulse purchases has shortened considerably. Consumers use their "vast networks" combined with Internet-friendly devices to "help make the right decisions quickly."

Specific study results included:

55% of shoppers are less impulsive due to the Internet, and 17% are more impulsive.
69% trust the Internet the most for information on products and services, compared with 43% who trust magazines and 35% who trust TV.
69% seek more deals and coupons online.
61% use "evaluate" tools, such as deal collection emails and coupon sites, throughout the shopping process. And 49% use "socialize" tools, such as conversations with friends and family and consumer-generated media. But researchers note they rely much more on consumer reviews than on social media.
68% are aware of more brands before they buy something, and 72% feel the Internet makes it easier to figure out which brands to consider.
59% believe they have an advantage over marketers and retailers because the Internet allows them to seek others' opinions

How Do You See Who Tracks Your Ad?

3:43:56 AM

By Media Life Staff

When selecting web sites to include on a plan for an online campaign, the buyer's paramount concern is whether the visitors to those sites are the audience the client needs to target.

If your client is a seed company, for example, and the target is gardeners, the sites that go onto the plan ought to reach gardeners and not, say, ski enthusiasts.

The problem is that while a particular site may indeed deliver gardeners, it also may deliver a whole slew of ski enthusiasts and for that matter bird watchers, rare book collectors and those people who comb beaches with metal detectors looking for loose change in the sand.

That's because so much online content these days is passed along by readers through all sorts of different channels, and the process has accelerated with the rise of Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.

So say the campaign delivers 2 million impressions. The buyer's quandary is to parse out how many of those impressions were generated by the target visitor and how many were wasted on people with no interest in the client's products.

But can you do it, and if so, how?

The answer is yes, to some degree one can calculate the reach of a campaign using existing tools, though as yet there's no way to get a truly precise calculation.

That is, in sum, the answer to the question posed in this week's edition of Media Life's new feature, Ask a Media Life expert.

The question:

"How can communications teams measure 'impressions' these days when any story gets reposted to numerous web site and tweeted and retweeted exponentially. Is there any reliable (or semi-reliable) formula for calculating the reach of mainstream media or blog post? How do you really measure an audience for an ad? How realistic is the representation of who the site says is seeing their ad?"

To address this question, we turned to the following authorities on the subject: Heather O'Shea, research supervisor at Universal McCann; Dave Martin, senior vice president of media at the marketing agency Ignited; and Katie Delahaye Paine, chief executive officer at custom research measurement firm KDPaine & Partners.

But before giving you their answers we'd like to invite readers to submit questions they'd like to see answered by Media Life experts. We'd also like to invite readers who are interested to join our panel of experts.

To submit a question or volunteer to become a Media Life expert, follow this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W6MK92H.

And if you'd like to weigh in on this question with your own opinion, you can do so in the comment box at the bottom of this story

Now onto our experts.

Heather O'Shea, research supervisor at Universal McCann (http://www.umww.com)

It seems like there are two main questions here:

How can you measure the true reach of a story?

There are no precise methods to measure the total audience that is exposed to a story. We are only able to capture those that click on the link to the original post. This is why it is important to harness social listening tools to get a feel of how often and where the story is being retweeted or reblogged. It’s possible to estimate total audience based on how many persons read each of the retweets or reblogs, though it will not take into account duplication, which is why this technique is flawed.

However, one innovative way to overcome this issue is to include a compelling video as the meat of the story. Therefore, if the video is tagged you’ll be able to track unduplicated exposure from wherever the video is being viewed.

How do you really measure the audience for an ad?

Typically the publisher will report ad server estimates of the ad audience. These numbers tend to be inflated because they do not take into account several important issues: cookie deletion, multiple computer use (e.g., seeing the ad from home PC and then later from work PC) and bots/spiders.

The best way to measure an unduplicated audience for an ad is to use a ratings system that takes these concerns into account. ComScore, Quantcast and Nielsen all have such an offering in place or soon to be in place. The way that these services work is that they tag the advertising so that they can receive the same cookie-based data that the ad servers report but then they use either clickstream data (Quantcast) or proprietary panel data (comScore, Nielsen) to calibrate the unique visitors estimate to take into account the over-inflation issues.

As a result, these audience estimates are much more accurate than ad server audience numbers.

UM London wins at 2011 Marketing Week Engage Awards

3:43:56 AM

UM London walked away with more prizes to their name at last night’s Marketing Week Engage Awards – as over 1000 marketers gathered in London to celebrate the most successful marketing campaigns of the past year.

A silver award was awarded to UM London in the ‘Best use of Media’ category, for the agency’s stand-out launch campaign for Xbox Halo Reach. The epic campaign, which has already gained awards recognition this year, involved painting three giant murals on the side of Westfield London to herald the arrival of the latest Halo video game.

Xbox also picked up a bronze award for app-based campaign ‘Kingmaker’. UM and creative agency McCann Erickson designed and launched the Kingmaker game in order to create anticipation around the impending launch of Fable III.

Earlier this week, Kingmaker won the ‘Digital Innovation’ category at Microsoft's Global Marketing Excellence awards.

Russell Place, Chief Strategy Officer at UM London, said:

‘This is the first year UM London has entered the Marketing Week Engage Awards, so to walk away with these wins is a fantastic achievement. The Westfield mural campaign for Xbox was epic in every sense of the word, and it clearly hit home with the judges.’

60% of Viewers Can't Watch Without Toying with Their Phones

3:43:56 AM

By Chris Gayomali

A new study conducted by IPG Media Lab and ad platform YuMe takes a look at the media consumption habits of 48 TV watchers from the Los Angeles area – a small sample, for sure – but it could give us a glimpse of our potential futures.

The findings demonstrate that 60% of the TV watchers toyed with their cell phones while in front of the tube, though it isn't indicated what type of phones were actually used. Another 33% sat in front of the TV with their laptops flipped open, while 12% utilized the time to “do work.”

A meager 6% chose to watch TV the old fashioned way--distraction free.

Naturally, most of the multi-tasking took place during TV commercials, which probably doesn't bode too well for advertisers, not even accounting for other things like DVR.

However, and as Business Insider rightly points out, advertisers would be wise to leverage consumer ad experiences across different platforms simultaneously. For instance, have a sponsor create a high-engagement app that allows users to play against, I don't know, the Jeopardy! contestants from home. You could even flash a scoreboard on screen! (Someone please do this.)

So are we headed towards a multi-tasking era of hyper-efficiency? Or are we nearing a day when we'll have perfected the art of leisure? In either case, the high percentage of phone fiddlers answers one of my pressing questions: How did those awful Jamster ringtones do so well?

Consumers Buy Less Impulsively Online

3:43:56 AM

Consumers are turning to the Internet to evaluate their options, collaborate with peers, and to get the best possible deal, according to "The Long and Winding Road: The Gamesmanship of Shopping," a recent study conducted by Yahoo!

The research shows the shopping process as "more fun" that resembles a "game" for consumers with the ability to discover, evaluate, and discuss information prior to making purchasing decisions.

The study surveyed about 2,500 consumers and found that 55 percent are less impulsive when shopping online. "We used to hear consumers talk about that this is overwhelming, now it's controlled chaos," says Edwin Wong, director of market research at Yahoo!. "They are using the Internet much more smartly not to make those impulse buys and to really help them open their minds in terms of what kind of brands they are going to consider."

Eighty-two percent of shoppers in the survey said "finding a great deal" on a product most contributed to a "win." In addition, 60 percent said the "competitive" aspect of shopping and knowing they got a better price than other shoppers contributed to making them feel like winners. "Online shopping is not a chore anymore," observes Karen Ring, vice president and research director at Universal McCann. "There is a certain level of fun and gamesmanship to the whole process."

Ring says consumers are using the Internet to research both small- and large-ticketed items to "minimize risk" when making a purchase. "There are so many other places you can go online to look," she says. "It's so easy now to have so much information in such a short amount of time—when you are sitting in front of the computer or even on your mobile phone—so your purchases are much more thoughtful. You are so well-armed now with so much information."

While the "paradox of choice" suggests consumers might be overwhelmed with increased information and choices, Ring offers an alternative explanation. "There are so many products to choose from now [that] we actually think the Web can help, even though it is a complex process and there are so many things out there," she maintains. "The Web can help [reduce] this feeling of being overwhelmed and [help consumers] figure out what to get."

Although the Internet makes things considerably faster, consumers are not more willing to make quick purchases, Wong says. "Impulse and speed are not correlated how they used to be," he explains. "We are much smarter with the Internet, so when you end up saying, 'Hey, I am gong to make that choice and purchase,' you know exactly what you are buying."

Wong and Ring encourage marketers to reevaluate their strategies to reflect the gamesmanship of online shopping. "I think the whole space is about to change," Wong says. "As the consumer begins to master this platform and it becomes second nature, it's not about trust anymore. It's about how to make this an interesting game for the consumer."

"Just doing an online video or putting up a banner is just now not going to cut through the clutter and it's not going to reach the people you need to reach," Ring adds.

When it Comes to Ad Avoidance, the DVR Is Not the Problem

3:43:56 AM

The advertising industry has long been concerned about new technology that aids ad avoidance. While much attention has been focused on the impact of DVRs, new research from the IPG Media Lab and YuMe shows the real threat to attention is the smart phone and other increasingly ubiquitous distraction media.

The study quantified some long-suspected but never quantified aspects of media behavior. Distraction media was ubiquitous, with 94% of TV and 73% of online video viewers using some type of companion/distraction media. While companion media included everything from laptops, video games and crossword puzzles to physical mail and musical instruments, the smartphone proved to be the true "disruptor" in regards to video attention levels. Of all of the companion media used, the smartphone accounted for 60% of TV and 46% of online video distractions.

Some common video patterns were observed:

Participants watched content, but turned to companion media during advertising.
Participants multitasked with companion media at all times.
Participants displayed relatively consistent viewing, but exhibited low emotional or intellectual engagement.

The study, conducted this spring at the IPG Media Lab in Los Angeles, tracked 48 adult participants. The participants reflected the general population of regular consumers of online video. Participants watched 30 minutes of TV video in the Lab's living room and 30 minutes of video on a desktop PC in an office scenario. Participants were contacted ahead of time to make sure that their video content preferences were available to them (e.g. shows pre-recorded on the DVR and bookmarked to favorite video websites). Participants were also instructed to bring and use whatever devices or distractions they normally use when they are watching video.

Using the biometric tool Affectiva, participants' "face-towards-screen" was calculated frame by frame. Affectiva was also used to monitor emotional and intellectual engagement. All content was time-stamped to correlate attention to the content on display at that moment.

It was found that simply turning one's head to ignore video ads had far greater impact than DVR fast-forwarding is assumed to have. Magna Global estimates that 35% of U.S. households have DVRs and 10% of their total TV consumption is time shifted, within which 65% of ads are fast forwarded, meaning 35% x 10% x 65% = 2% of total TV ad impressions are avoided through fast forwarding. Our study found that 63% of TV impressions were avoided simply by not paying attention to the screen.

Content watched online had slightly higher attention levels than content watched on TV (60% vs. 52%). TV attention levels had three times the drop-off of video when the programming went to commercial break. As a result, online video ads received 18% more attention than TV video ads (55% vs. 37%).

Attention levels were also correlated with advertising recall. Ads that had both aided and unaided recall had higher attention levels than unremembered ads. Online video ads had an even higher advantage than TV video ads for ad recall. Online ads had 1.8 times aided and 1.5 times unaided recall as TV video ads.

Both genders paid relatively equal attention to online and TV video content and ads. However, women were more likely to recall the ads to which they were exposed. Ad attention dropped off the longer an ad was on screen.

When participants did use the DVR to fast forward TV ads, nearly half of them paid full attention to the screen during that process. Fast-forwarded ads had 12% more attention levels than non-fast-forwarded ads. Despite the advantage of eyes on screen, fast-forwarded ads had much lower recall than non-fast-forwarded ads.

As overall time spent watching TV and online video continues to grow, the steady creep of ubiquitous connectivity is profoundly changing video viewing behavior. The challenge is not moving one's thumb to push fast-forward, but rather moving one's head to look at their smartphone. Online video, with a less predictable cadence and an active user experience, does a significantly better job at holding attention. While distraction media is a threat to the value of video advertising, it also represents an opportunity to deliver a deeper companion experience to the on-screen content and ads. The consumers have the tools; it's up to the industry to give them compelling content.

More Shoppers Trust the Internet Than TV

3:43:56 AM

Shopping is no longer a chore. It's a scavenger hunt where the win is defined as consumers finding deals that feel specially tailored for them or when they feel they've somehow out smarted their fellow shopper. These new dimensions have opened new paths and resulted in more opportunities for marketers to message and connect with their consumers.

When it comes to shopping, "Winning!" is the word of the day, and not just because Charlie Sheen says so.

Yahoo and Universal McCann worked together on a three-part study featuring a Comprehensive Online Quantitative Survey of nearly 2,500 people who have purchased or intend to purchase electronics, automobile, personal care, retailers, finance and OTC medicine. In addition, interviews with marketers in each category and 45 tech-savvy consumers across the U.S. were conducted.

The study found that with the maturation of the internet as a communication and content platform, usage is universal and has fundamentally shifted how consumers make purchases. Getting a great product at the right price is only one part of the equation to a satisfying buying experience. There's a renewed energy and passion for shopping, and consumers are having fun.

We call this new dynamic "Gamesmanship of Shopping." And every marketer, from retailer to packaged goods company, in every category, from pharmaceutical to finance, can benefit from understanding the consumer mindset and what it means for them.

Consumers' path to purchase has fundamentally changed ... again. The internet is no longer viewed as an overwhelming information source, but rather a platform of controlled chaos. This path is important as ever with nearly 4 in 5 consumers open to switching brands before a purchase. Consumers are also no longer confined to heading to a brick-and-mortar location to get the goods they need nor are they confined by cables to computers. Thanks to the mobile Internet and the rise of the social media, consumers can get up-to-the-minute connection to content and communities to help with purchases. All in all, when it comes to shopping, consumers have upped their game and the internet is a key driver in this behavioral shift.

Better Informed: The Internet has become the first stop on the path to purchase. The Internet has earned a level of trust greater than traditional print or television outlets. Increasing familiarity with search and digital articles has enabled consumers to act as their own filters, picking and choosing which sources to rely on and which to ignore. When it comes to media, the Internet comes out on top as 2 in 3 people stated they trust the Internet for researching their purchases followed by 43% for magazines and 35% for TV.

Savvy and Social: With all of these new research tools at their disposal, consumers have become much more price conscious, and their price savvy is a key component to "winning." Their game plan includes searching for online coupons, sharing discount codes and snapping up group-buying offers. But winning isn't only about landing the best deal; it's also about having the best teammates. Thanks to social media, 49% of consumers give advice to others, motivated by a feeling of solidarity with other shoppers. What's surprising is that consumers aren't just pulling in friends, family but also strangers to help them play -- and win -- the shopping game.

Less Impulsive Competitors: All of these factors have led consumers to be less impulsive with their purchases. In fact, 55% of our category buyers say they are less impulsive because of the internet. They're committed to thoroughly researching products and reading reviews from consumers and experts. Consumers are also committed to finding the best price with the feeling of winning directly related to finding the best price. (Indeed, in our study of 2,500 shoppers 60% said getting a better price on an item than other people made them feel like a winner.)

As consumers play their new retail game, it's up to us to define our role. We could cast ourselves as opponents, trying to stay one step ahead of the latest technology and information, blocking access to the information consumers are seeking about product and price. Or we could play the role of coach, becoming a trusted adviser who will guide consumers on their path to winning.

Obviously, we recommend the latter, though playing this role will require a new perspective when it comes to consumers, their game and the media they use. As a marketer/coach, you must:

Inform Intelligently. Become a part of the conversation. Use brand authority to become an indispensable resource on a topic. Leverage credible media to aid consumers. Focus less on friendship, and more on trust.
Connect Emotionally. Consumers are playing the shopping game for emotional satisfaction, and your presence in it doesn't have to be purely rational. Look for approaches that delight on an emotional level.
Reward Effectively. Devise reward systems that make the consumer feel special. Tailor deals to their expressed interests, and encourage viral sharing.

We do not like to use the phrase "win-win" too often. It has become trite, overused and generally untrue. But in the case of the gamesmanship of shopping, we feel it is absolutely appropriate.

Army Seeks Recruits in Social Media

3:43:56 AM

By Stuart Elliott

WHEN ads for the Army used the theme “Today’s Army wants to join you,” a joker rewrote it this way: “Today’s Army wants to join you. At your place.” These days, the Army is getting social — if not quite that sociable — as potential recruits increasingly spend time with social media like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.

The next phase of the Army’s recruitment ad campaign keeps a theme, “Army strong,” that was introduced in 2006 and adds a focus on the Army uniform as a “symbol of strength” as well as symbolic of qualities like commitment, achievement and leadership.

The direction of the campaign is typified in a line recited in commercials by the voice-over announcer, the actor Gary Sinise, who talks about the significance of the uniform before concluding, “Try it on at goarmy.com.”

The recital of the Web address underlines the concentration on digital media for the campaign, although there are traditional elements like television spots.

“We’re working hard to increase our social media,” said Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, because “we fully recognize that young people TiVo over commercials or are multitasking on their smartphones when the commercials come on.” General Freakley is commanding general of both the Army Accessions Command, which oversees recruitment, and Fort Knox, Ky.

“Since the late ’80s, 9 percent of the population is propensed toward military service,” General Freakley said, compared with about a third in the 1970s. As a result, he added, “we have to reach out in forms like we’re discussing to get them to want to know more, to join us in social media and extend the dialog.”

The campaign continues previous elements like video clips, blogs and a microsite, armystrongstories.com, that are intended to connect would-be soldiers “with real soldiers,” General Freakley said.

At this time of year, potential recruits — men and women ages 17 to 24 — are also spending time at the movies, which has led the Army to its first sponsorship deal with a Hollywood film. The film, “X-Men: First Class,” will be released on June 3 by 20th Century Fox.

On the Army Facebook page (facebook.com/goarmy), visitors are invited to “view exclusive content from the upcoming movie” as well as watch a trailer for the film and a commercial that promotes the Army by comparing the experience to becoming an X-man.

The movie “is about young people who are ordinary doing extraordinary things,” General Freakley said. “Ordinary people come in the Army and do extraordinary things every day.”

That said, he took note of the differences between the two: “Soldiering is real. ‘X-Men’ is for Hollywood.”

Clifford E. Marks, who helped broker the sponsorship in his capacity as president for sales and marketing at National CineMedia in New York, said the deal represented “the big screen and the small screen working together” in that the promotional content can also be watched on Web sites that are part of a National CineMedia network like rottentomatoes.com and traileraddict.com.

The Army is also running the commercials featuring the voice of Mr. Sinise in National CineMedia movie theaters, which include those owned by AMC, Cinemark and Regal.

Mr. Marks brought the sponsorship proposal to Universal McCann, one of seven agencies working on the Army account that belong to the McCann Worldgroup unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies. The others include McCann Erickson Worldwide, MRM Worldwide and Weber Shandwick.

(Four other agencies working on the assignment are independent, among them Gravity Media and Carol H. Williams Advertising.)

The agencies were hired by the Army in late 2005 and rehired on March 31 for an additional year with four one-year renewal options.

“There’s a lot of ways to talk about the kind of strength we mean when we say ‘Army strong,’ ” said Craig Marcus, executive vice president and executive creative director at McCann Erickson Worldwide.

“The human truth is, we all react when we see a soldier wearing a uniform,” Mr. Marcus said. “It means a lot to us, and it means a lot to them.”

“With symbol of strength, it’s about all these other things” that the uniform stands for, he said, including “a key, a passport, an all-access pass, a family tree, a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, the power of the team, how people like you, yet different from you, are all moving in the same direction.”

Jason Culbertson, creative director at MRM, said the digital aspects of the campaign “allow people to have a direct line of communication with those who wear the uniform,” and such dialog helps potential recruits “understand what it means to be in the Army, to be ‘Army strong.’ ”

As more of the campaign appears in social and other digital media, the spending for ads in major media has declined, according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP, to $41.8 million last year from $168.7 million in 2007.

Those at the Army Accessions Command “are novices at using Twitter,” General Freakley said, in that only a bit more than 3,030 Twitter users follow the command’s account at @GoArmy. (The main Army account, with the handle @USArmy, has more than 74,270 followers.)

Describing rappelling and other activities that recruits go through in boot camp, the general said: “It’s exciting stuff. Would I love to have those young people tweeting about that.”

Why can’t they? Well, “in the first three weeks of basic training, we take away your smartphone,” General Freakley said. “You don’t even get mail from home.”

Those policies may one day be changed, he said, in that “as digital natives join us” in larger numbers, “we’ll get the balance of that right.”

Are Web Shoppers More Discerning?

3:43:56 AM

Not only have consumers embraced a new way of shopping, but there has been a sea change in the ways in which consumers think about shopping, according to new research conducted by Yahoo and Universal McCann.

Although consumers are not checking online to see if they can score their Peanut M&Ms for a better price, those kinds of purchases are, apparently, the only variety whose prices consumers do not digitally compare around the retail universe.

According to Lauren Weinberg, Yahoo's senior director of strategic insights and research, the shift has been in the making for more than 10 years, but the trend accelerated over the past two years.

"The past couple of years have been even more complicated," she said. "There are more channels for influencing consumers. Social and mobile have really changed the shopping landscape."

The results of the study, which examined consumer behavior in the digital universe, are notable because of what they reveal about consumers' attitudes towards the information they discover online. The old paradigm was that consumers passively received information from advertising, made purchasing decisions based largely on that passive receipt of information and, if marketers did their jobs correctly, became loyal customers who were less likely to shop comparatively and more likely to make a beeline toward their preferred brands.

The research suggests that although there now are more ways to communicate with consumers, that communication is much more complicated. Consumers no longer receive information; they actively seek it out. Consumers are also fully participating in the conversation and generating content that, in turn, drives other consumers into the conversation. Fifty-five percent of consumers polled for the research said that the Internet has made them less impulsive shoppers. And those consumers look to other consumers for useful product information and hints about the best deals available in virtually all categories. In other words, not only are people reading the reviews on shopping sites, they are taking those reviews seriously, especially when the sites are well known and established.

"Consumers have gotten savvy," said Weinberg. "It comes down to where they are reading those reviews. On a site like Amazon, that's trusted, consumers are going to trust what they are reading."

One of the biggest changes in consumer behavior reflected in the research is the shift in mediums that attract the highest degree of consumer trust. According to the study, 69 percent of shoppers trust the Internet. That is compared to 43 percent who trust magazine advertising and 35 percent who trust television advertising.

According to Weinberg, consumers make use of social web sites more after they make purchases than before. She said that the research suggests that people "aren't going to Facebook to see what to buy." She said that once consumers have made a purchase, they are more likely to share how they feel about the product, especially if those feelings are positive, on social networking sites. "It's more after market than a driver of the behavior," she said.

Ultimately, Weinberg said, the Internet has empowered consumers in ways both expected and unexpected. She suggested that the wealth of product information and reviews has dovetailed with an extended economic downturn to make consumers even more interested in locating the best deal on the products and services in which they are interested. "It's become a kind of gamesmanship, sort of like a competition," she said. "The stigma associated with bargain hunting has diminished. Getting a good price is something that people now brag about."

Weinberg said that the research suggests that marketers need to completely rethink the way in which they reach consumers through advertising. "Advertising needs to be more integrated in the overall process," she said. "Marketers can no longer depend solely on mass messaging from TV."

New Tools for Picking Hits

3:43:56 AM

TV Advertisers Consult Formulas That Weigh Social-Media Buzz, Economic Data
By EMILY STEEL

The animated series "South Park" on Viacom Inc.'s Comedy Central ranks 211 by number of TV viewers but, according to one ad firm's reckoning, it's really No. 4. The reason: the show generated the highest number of video views online—more than 10 times as many as the average number for other TV shows.

As they enter their yearly negotiations with TV networks over billions of dollars of ad commitments for the coming season, advertisers are tapping new types of data, ranging from social-media buzz to economic statistics, to evaluate TV shows.

These new benchmarks go beyond traditional measures of how many people are tuning into a show. Instead, they seek to give advertisers a more sophisticated indicator of a program or network's impact on its audience.

Research teams on Madison Avenue have developed elaborate models that monitor conversations across online social networks and video sites to predict which shows will be hits. They also track how buying ad time during a particular show affects sales or how people perceive a brand.

Advertisers are seeking out these new tools partly because of this year's buoyant ad market and the substantial price increases expected for commercial time in the coming season. Marketers say that's forcing them to be choosier about where to invest their ad budgets. The new benchmarks are serving as a guide and negotiating tool, ad buyers say.

"It will be a sellers' market. For us, being able to come to the table with a threshold of what programs at what cost will drive our clients' business is extremely helpful," says Michael Haggerty, director of marketing accountability and research at Universal McCann, a media-buying firm owned by Interpublic Group of Cos., whose clients include Johnson & Johnson, Mastercard Inc., Sony Corp. and L'Oreal SA.

Publicis Groupe SA ad-buying firm Optimedia US compiles a list that ranks the size of television audiences across TV, the Web and on mobile devices. This year, the firm stepped up the social-media component of its rankings, because mentions of programs on Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. increasingly spur people to watch them, says Optimedia US Chief Executive Antony Young.

As illustrated by the "South Park" case, some rankings on this year's Optimedia list contrasted sharply with the ratings figures from Nielsen Co. Both firms ranked Fox Broadcasting's singing competition "American Idol" No. 1. But Nielsen ranked the Fox musical "Glee" 55 by number of viewers, while Optimedia, taking note of the online activity the series generated, ranked it No. 2

Fox is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.

It remains to be seen how effective the new tools will be in picking hits and whether they will replace more conventional audience-measurement data over the long term. They haven't led to any new pricing models for ads, but marketers are increasingly using them to help with allocating ad spending.

Publicis's Starcom Worldwide is working with start-up Networked Insights, which measures the impact of a show on social-media sites to forecast the show's ad value. After TV networks made glitzy presentations to showcase their lineups to ad buyers last week, Networked Insights forecast which shows would be hits.

According to the firm, Fox is leading among the major networks, generating positive buzz about shows such as "The X-Factor." NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, is second, with its dramas "Awake" and "Grim" and the comedy "Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea." On Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, the firm flags newcomers including "Pan Am" and "Charlie's Angels," and on CBS Corp.'s CBS, "Person of Interest" and "2 Broke Girls," among others.

The new data "add more value to the billions of dollars we're investing in this marketplace," says Brandon Starkoff, a senior vice president at Starcom Worldwide.

Based on early buzz about the shows, many of which have promotional clips on network websites, Networked Insights also flags potential misses, including Fox's animated "Napoleon Dynamite," based on the 2004 film, and "A Gifted Man" on CBS, because Internet users think the material is dated and unoriginal.

Another possible miss, it says, is "Work It!" from ABC, about unemployed car salesmen who decide they live in a women's world and start dressing as women to get jobs.

"These are the same type of studies that would only see 'Cheers' as a bar in Boston or 'Everybody Loves Raymond' as being about a guy that lived across the street from his parents," said a spokesman for CBS. "If people worried about these kind of studies, many hit shows would never make it to air."

Other major networks couldn't be reached for comment.

At Universal McCann, analytics teams have created statistical models that pull in a range of TV viewership, company sales and broader economic data to determine how much commercial time marketers need to buy, and at what price, in order to meet specific sales goals or change the way that people think about the brand.

The agency's ad-buying teams are using those tools for the first time in this year's upfront negotiations to determine how much ad space to buy across various TV networks and other media, based on the ad rates.

"It allows us to say, 'If TV is going to be very expensive, how much can we re-allocate dollars to a different version of video to get the best price in the market?' " says Universal McCann's Mr. Haggerty.

Some new-fangled research techniques still sound a bit far-fetched, ad buyers say. TV networks, including Fox and Disney's ESPN, have pushed biometric research that tracks the emotional connection viewers have to a show by measuring variables like viewer's brain waves and eye movements.

The technology involves attaching sensors to a viewer's head to capture their brain waves or a camera to monitor their eye movements. The sales team from Fox recently sent an email to ad buyers that touts such research for its ability to measure the emotional impact of a show.

But some ad buyers are skeptical. "I can't tell if it is supposed to be tongue in cheek or not," says David Campanelli, director of national TV for Horizon Media, an independent ad-buying firm. "This stuff is way far away from actually being implemented in any measurement or guarantees."

New Data Helps Buyers Predict Hits

3:43:56 AM

By Lindsay Rubino -- Broadcasting & Cable

Advertisers are looking to new sources of data for their yearly negotiations, reported The Wall Street Journal.

For example, Comedy Central's South Park ranks 211 by number of TV viewers, according to Nielsen, but 4 according to

Optimedia US's 'Content Power Ratings,' which includes the numbers of video views online. Advertisers are looking to these new numbers, which include social media and economic statistics, to negotiate their upcoming ad commitments.

Research teams have begun monitoring conversations online social networks as well as the impact an ad has during a particular show. The use of this data reflects advertisers' new insight on how to invest their budgets.

"It will be a sellers' market. For us, being able to come to the table with a threshold of what programs at what cost will drive our clients' business is extremely helpful," says Michael Haggerty, director of marketing accountability and research at Universal McCann, a media-buying firm owned by Interpublic Group of Cos., which has recently begun using social media in their rankings.

While the new data has yet to prove its value, marketers have used them in this year's ad spending. Networked Insights, a start-up company working with Publicis's Starcom Worldwide, measures the how presence in social media affects the show's advertising value. The firm states that Fox is leading with its social media talk about upcoming X Factor, with NBC's Awake and Grimm following.

The new data "add more value to the billions of dollars we're investing in this marketplace," says Brandon Starkoff, a senior vice president at Starcom Worldwide.

Game On - for The Navy, UM and Ensemble

3:43:56 AM

Media agency UM and branded entertainment company Ensemble have added a new dimension to recruitment for the Royal Australian Navy by launching a live event where console gamers battle their skills against each other during a midnight game off.

The new format, launched in Sydney last week, drew 400 gamers after the event was promoted on radio using the theme “Operation: Game On”. The Sydney event was located at Hoyts Cinema Complex at the Entertainment Quarter.

“The primary focus for this event was to position the Navy as modern, relevant and cool for our target audience of 16-25 year olds; to demonstrate the core value of Navy, which is teamwork, and to engage potential recruits to find out more about a Navy career,” said Katherine Humphries, client service manager at UM. Both UM and Ensemble are part of the Mediabrands Australia group of businesses.

Twenty Navy personnel were on site to show off their skills and offer encouragement to the local gamers using Xbox consoles and games, including 3D content, that focused on demonstrating where games meet reality. Radio station Nova broadcast live from the event including interviews with some of the gamers.

“This event offered the Navy carefully targeted consumer engagement which will help us position the Navy online as exciting, modern and based on teamwork as well as translating into some quality leads for Defence Force Recruiting,” said Lauren Rago, Navy marketing manager. “The multi-player game formats and the cutting edge video and audio sensory experiences gave gamers a bit of a feel for what a career in the Navy would be about – exciting, grounded in teamwork, modern and relevant,” she added.

Following the event, participants were emailed a link to their photos so they could tag themselves on Facebook and see other links to action on the day. In addition, a highlights video was created for the Defence Jobs website where gamers are encouraged to check out the footage and photos from the evening and further information on jobs within the Navy.”

http://www.youtube.com/user/DefenceJobsAustralia#p/u/0/7fi0yU1JFkQ

http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/navy/gameon/

Comedy Block, Music Buoy NBC's Prime-Time Hopes

3:43:56 AM

By Sam Schechner

NBC's new creative chief is hoping music, "big ideas" and more laughs can revitalize his network's ailing prime-time hours.

Bob Greenblatt, NBC's entertainment chairman, plans to kick off television's yearly "upfront" week Monday morning by unveiling his first new lineup of programs to advertisers.

NBC's 12 new scripted shows for the coming TV season include a drama about a cop who protects the world from Grimm's fairy-tale creatures, a show set among 1960s Playboy bunnies and a new comedy block on Wednesday nights.

The slate is Mr. Greenblatt's first big chance to put his stamp on NBC, having come aboard just over three months ago when cable giant Comcast Corp. took control of network parent NBCUniversal. It also offers a window into what colleagues describe as Mr. Greenblatt's hands-on creative style.

Emblematic of Mr. Greenblatt's sensibility are midseason shows he brought to the network after he joined it in January, when NBC had already commissioned dozens of scripts.

"Smash," which will premiere on Mondays next year, is a musical set behind the scenes at a Broadway show, based on an idea from Steven Spielberg. "The Firm," based on a John Grisham thriller, will air Sundays. And "Awake," which doesn't yet have a time slot, is a brain-twister set in two alternate realities: one in which the protagonist's wife dies in an accident, and the other in which his son dies.

"We've got to excite this audience again. I think the way you do it is with big ideas," Mr. Greenblatt said in an interview.

Mr. Greenblatt spent seven years running programming at CBS Corp.'s Showtime cable channel, developing series like "Weeds" and "Dexter." But he hasn't been top programmer at a broadcast network before, and has his work cut out for him at NBC.

A show about 1960s Playboy bunnies is on NBC's fall schedule.

The network has long ranked No. 4 in TV ratings. This season through May 8, an average of 7.1 million people have watched NBC's prime-time shows, down 15% from a year earlier, according to Nielsen Co.

"They need a hit. They need a couple of hits. Maybe they need three hits," said Jackie Kulesza, a senior vice president and ad buyer at Publicis Groupe SA's Starcom. "We want to see NBC succeed. But they need some strong programming."

Comcast's approach has been, in part, to boost NBC's programming budget. In a May 4 conference call to discuss earnings, NBCUniversal Chief Executive Steve Burke said he expected to increase spending on NBC's prime-time lineup this year by about $200 million from 2010.

Mr. Greenblatt also plans to replace some NBC executives, and bring in others in new roles after the upfront season, said people familiar with the matter.

That has raised anxiety among some NBC staffers. "A lot of people are feeling like they're auditioning for their jobs," said a person familiar with the thinking of rank-and-file NBC executives.

For the time being, Mr. Greenblatt's schedule is built in large part from ideas he inherited from NBC's former chiefs. For that reason, executives at rival studios, as well as Hollywood agents, said it may be difficult to judge his performance based on the network's new lineup.

"Bob's trying to make the best of the stuff that was already there," said an agent who had dealings with NBC this pilot season. "It's triage."

Triage can be difficult. In scheduling meetings, NBC executives wrestled over a decision to delay the return of singing competition "The Voice," NBC's only new hit, until spring, when it will air on Monday nights.

Mr. Burke had urged a faster return of the series, said people briefed on the meetings. But Mr. Greenblatt didn't want to burn out a valuable new asset too quickly—and wanted to use it to launch "Smash" in the spring.

"The temptation is to take the shiniest bulb and put it out there," Mr. Greenblatt said in the interview. "But we thought, 'Let's take the long view.'"

In its first three episodes, "The Voice" has averaged 11.8 million viewers, according to NBC, winning among viewers between 18 and 49 years old each Tuesday night it has aired.

" 'The Voice' is killing it for them right now, in a good way," said Dani Benowitz, head of investment at Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann, whose clients include Johnson & Johnson, Mastercard Inc., Sony Corp. and L'Oréal SA. "They can build off of that."

Despite coming in late, Mr. Greenblatt has been deeply involved in the creative process on shows NBC had already been developing, outside studio executives and NBC staffers said.

NBC ordered the pilot of "The Playboy Club," for instance, before Mr. Greenblatt came on board, but he was immersed in its casting, some of those people said.

"I really have gotten fully invested in all of these things," Mr. Greenblatt said. Ted Harbert, the new chairman of NBC Broadcasting, in charge of some business functions like ad sales, added: "He made good scripts better."

Mr. Greenblatt's Wednesday comedy block is also a major initiative for a network that has traditionally had its biggest laughs, from "Friends" to "The Office," on Thursdays. The new block includes "Up All Night," starring Christina Applegate and Will Arnett.

"It's really important to grow the number of comedies we have, and to transport them off Thursday night," Mr. Greenblatt said. "We made that a priority."

—Jessica E. Vascellaro and Emily Steel contributed to this article.

WAVE5 - the first social media audience study in Ukraine

3:43:56 AM

Kiev, 20 May 2011. Communications Agency UM presented WAVE5 - the first social media audience study in Ukraine.

In 2011 UM Ukraine joined WAVE, which is the largest and the most long-termed research of social media users in the world. From this report you will learn about both main Ukrainian and global trends of social media usage.

About the research: Wave, tracking of social media, is conducted by UM annually starting from 2006. There were 15 countries that took part in the first research wave, this year there are 55 participants. Methodology is online poll of active Internet users (who use the web once for two days and more frequently) who are 16-54 years old, who are representative to active Internet population of the country.

Wave.5 – the socialization of brands

Trend 1: Versatility of social networks

Social media are becoming more and more popular from year to year: the new types and forms appear, the amount of users constantly grows worldwide. That seems not to be a surprise because each social media platform responds various needs of Internet users. Though the research showed, that the most versatile platform are social networks, that realize almost all the users’ needs.

Trend 2: New social media engine – mobile Internet

In last few years social media platforms actively develop mobile applications. Though the usage of mobile Internet in Ukraine hasn’t reached the level of such countries as China or Russia yet, the researches of Ukrainians’ media consumption show that we are overtaking them very fastly. One more interesting trend detected with the help of Wave.5 is a positive connection between the amount of smartphone owners and mobile Internet users. Those people who have a smartphone also use social media more actively.

Trend 3: Interaction with the brand shifts to the social online space

Social media are not only possibilities for Internet users to realize their social needs but also a huge potential for brands in communication with the consumers. As the global Wave results show, people visit official brands’ and companies’ web-sites more rarely from year to year. Instead of this, the interaction with the brands activates in social media. Global data shows the growth of amount of those people who become online fans of this or that company or brand, which can also be noticed in Ukraine.

Trend 4: Presence in Ukrainian social media space gives a local brand huge advantage

How tangible are the benefits that a brand reaps from having social community and from interaction with the consumers in that field? Our data shows that 74% of people who have joined such community are more likely to buy this or that product or service, 75% will recommend it to the others, 69% of them became more loyal to the brand. Besides, it was a pleasure for us to learn that this advantage for the brands in Ukraine is much higher than average level in Europe.

Wave 5 – The socialization of brands is a storehouse of information about the motives and behavior of the consumers of this or that product category. It contains answers to many questions you are interested in that cannot be covered by this report.

If you want to know how to build the communication in new social media space and what it means for your business, contact us!

Kiev, 20 May 2011. Communications Agency UM presented WAVE5 - the first social media audience study in Ukraine.

In 2011 UM Ukraine joined WAVE, which is the largest and the most long-termed research of social media users in the world. From this report you will learn about both main Ukrainian and global trends of social media usage.

About the research: Wave, tracking of social media, is conducted by UM annually starting from 2006. There were 15 countries that took part in the first research wave, this year there are 55 participants. Methodology is online poll of active Internet users (who use the web once for two days and more frequently) who are 16-54 years old, who are representative to active Internet population of the country.

Wave.5 – the socialization of brands

Trend 1: Versatility of social networksSocial media are becoming more and more popular from year to year: the new types and forms appear, the amount of users constantly grows worldwide. That seems not to be a surprise because each social media platform responds various needs of Internet users. Though the research showed, that the most versatile platform are social networks, that realize almost all the users’ needs.

Trend 2: New social media engine – mobile Internet In last few years social media platforms actively develop mobile applications. Though the usage of mobile Internet in Ukraine hasn’t reached the level of such countries as China or Russia yet, the researches of Ukrainians’ media consumption show that we are overtaking them very fastly. One more interesting trend detected with the help of Wave.5 is a positive connection between the amount of smartphone owners and mobile Internet users. Those people who have a smartphone also use social media more actively.

Trend 3: Interaction with the brand shifts to the social online spaceSocial media are not only possibilities for Internet users to realize their social needs but also a huge potential for brands in communication with the consumers. As the global Wave results show, people visit official brands’ and companies’ web-sites more rarely from year to year. Instead of this, the interaction with the brands activates in social media. Global data shows the growth of amount of those people who become online fans of this or that company or brand, which can also be noticed in Ukraine.

Trend 4: Presence in Ukrainian social media space gives a local brand huge advantageHow tangible are the benefits that a brand reaps from having social community and from interaction with the consumers in that field? Our data shows that 74% of people who have joined such community are more likely to buy this or that product or service, 75% will recommend it to the others, 69% of them became more loyal to the brand. Besides, it was a pleasure for us to learn that this advantage for the brands in Ukraine is much higher than average level in Europe.

Wave 5 – The socialization of brands is a storehouse of information about the motives and behavior of the consumers of this or that product category. It contains answers to many questions you are interested in that cannot be covered by this report.

If you want to know how to build the communication in new social media space and what it means for your business, contact us!

IUM Sweden Awarded at Festival of Media

3:43:56 AM

Congratulations to IUM Sweden for their win at the 2011 Festival of Media Awards. IUM received a Highly Commended award in the Best Event/Activation category for their Radiotjanst 'Choirilla' campaign. The awards, which took place this week in Montreux, Switzerland, celebrated the best in media thinking, creativity and innovation from around the world.

Demand Builds for TV Ad Time

3:43:56 AM

Forecasters See Solid 'Upfront' Market for Commercial Sales, Although NFL Dispute Hangs Over Talks

By Sam Schechner and Emily Steel

As rising gasoline prices and stubbornly high unemployment hold back the U.S. economy, one marketplace still appears to be as hot as ever: TV advertising.

For the second consecutive year, marketers are poised to spend more money in advance on commercials for the coming TV season than they did a year earlier, driven in part by unusually high prices for last-minute commercials this spring, according to both buyers and sellers of TV advertising. As a result, the cost of advance commercials, sold in an annual marketplace dubbed the "upfront," is expected to rise sharply.

But there is uncertainty on the horizon, too. The entire TV business is holding its breath over whether some or all of next season's National Football League games will be canceled, potentially throwing billions of ad dollars up in the air.

Networks such as CBS, with its popular drama 'NCIS,' featuring Pauley Perrette and Mark Harmon, hope to see ad commitments rise for fall.Madison Avenue prices—and the NFL lockout—are likely to be a big topic on Wall Street in coming weeks, as a host of media companies report earnings. Investors will be listening for clues, and negotiating bluster, ahead of the upfront. Viacom Inc. and Discovery Communications Inc. both report earnings for the first calendar quarter on Thursday, followed in early May by CBS Corp., Comcast Corp., Time Warner Inc., News Corp., Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

Ad spending snapped back last year, following 2009's brutal ad recession. The four biggest broadcast networks saw their upfront commitments last year grow 15% to $7.37 billion, according to BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research, while cable networks saw their advance tally rise 19% to $8 billion, according to the Cable Television Advertising Bureau, a trade group. Prices for commercials, which are set per 1,000 viewers, grew 9% or slightly more for the most popular broadcast and cable networks, buyers and TV executives said.

Last week Barclays Capital projected 7% to 8% growth in dollars for broadcast networks during the coming upfront, and 15% in upfront growth for cable networks. Rates per 1,000 viewers on some broadcast networks could grow by 10% or slightly more, the bank said.

Growth in the upfront is "going to be real, and it's going to be robust," said Geri Wang, president of sales and marketing at Disney's ABC network.

The high hopes stem partly from TV's relative strength among ad-supported media. Publicis Groupe SA's ZenithOptimedia predicts that U.S. ad spending on all forms of TV will grow 5.1% in 2011, outpacing overall U.S. advertising growth of 2.5%. The largest ad-spending gains will flow to the Internet, which is expected to register a 13% rise; spending cuts are expected for newspapers, business publications and consumer magazines, ZenithOptimedia says.

But growth in the upfront is expected to be even sharper in part because of the unusually heated market last fall and this spring for ads sold close to when they air, known as "scatter." Those high prices are likely to prompt advertisers to move some money from their scatter budgets into the upfront this year to avoid paying premium prices for commercial time.

So far this season, TV executives say scatter prices at times have hit 30% to 40% above the rates in last year's upfront, although some buyers say recent economic concerns have cooled off the market slightly.

"It's leveled off, but it's still very hot," said Marianne Gambelli, president of network ad sales for Comcast's NBC.

To be sure, the negotiating dance between ad buyers and sellers is just beginning. CBS Corp. Chief executive Leslie Moonves said at an investor conference last month that he "would be very surprised" if CBS sold much of its advertising at rate increases below double-digit percentages.

Ad buyers say increased ad rates could push clients to move more money online. "If pricing gets too high, we will look to other places," says Dani Benowitz, head of investment at Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann, whose clients include Johnson & Johnson, Mastercard Inc., Sony Corp. and L'Oréal SA.

Ad buyers also say they expect to shift more dollars to cable networks, such as Comcast's USA, Time Warner's TNT, and Disney and Hearst Corp.'s History Channel, which are attracting sizable audiences with more original programming.

Ads on cable networks' entertainment programs are generally cheaper per 1,000 viewers than those on broadcast networks, making it an attractive buy for some advertisers.

Higher prices for TV commercials are, paradoxically, partly the result of shrinking audiences for big broadcast networks, as viewers scatter across the dial. Amid that fragmentation, marketers have a harder time reaching consumers, and still view TV ads as an efficient way to reach large audiences. That has kept demand high, even as lower ratings make viewers scarce, driving up ad rates.

Meanwhile, the potential that even some NFL games may be canceled in the ongoing lockout could distort the entire marketplace. Traditional NFL advertisers may choose to reserve more space than usual in prime-time shows sold in the upfront, looking to hedge their bets, buyers say.

That could drive prices up for networks. On the flip side, some TV executives worry they'll be faced with advertisers that want to back out of those additional upfront commitments if the games then go on as planned, leaving them with blank holes to fill in prime-time.

"We are hopeful there will be a resolution" to the labor impasse, said Toby Byrne, president of sales for Fox Broadcasting, which like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp. He added: "In a perfect world, it would be solved in the next three weeks."

Media Agencies Make Mark as Content Creators

3:43:56 AM

Thirty-second ads? Long-form reality TV? Just a few years ago, media shops would be the last place you'd think such projects would originate from.
But as silos are slowly coming down within agency walls, traditionally defined roles are changing. So if a media agency has a great creative idea for a TV commercial, and the talent and tools to pull it off, some clients are going for it. Ditto for other big, outta-the-box ideas.

"It really doesn't matter to us where the idea comes from or who champions that idea," said Joe Kuester, senior brand manager for consumer-goods marketer Kimberly-Clark, which teamed with Mindshare Entertainment on a series of Whoopi Goldberg-starring webisodes to promote its Poise brand. "If it's the strongest idea and we believe it meets the brand strategies and is aligned with consumer insights, that's what we are going to execute against."

Late last year, MEC Entertainment, working with client Ikea, developed and produced a remodeling program for A&E called "Fix this Kitchen."
The program, now renewed for a second run, combined celebrity chefs with a kitchen-makeover concept. The broader campaign included in-store appearances by the celebrity chefs, book signings, point-of-sale materials and a targeted direct-mail campaign. According to a Latitude Research study, 60% more people agreed that "Ikea offers high-quality materials" after seeing the show and two out of three viewers said they planed to visit Ikea when considering a kitchen renovation. The program also helped drive a 33% increase in Ikea's online "Kitchen Planning" tool.

The blurry line between ad and content was on full display when Omnicom Group's PHD struck a deal with MTV on behalf of the American Legacy Foundation's "Truth" anti-smoking campaign. The media shop worked with the network to devise "Zombieville," a gruesome take of MTV's "Real World" with beheadings and teens being eaten alive. The 60- to 90-second segments led out of commercial pods directly into the real "Real World," while providing messages about how deadly smoking can be.

You've heard of e-commerce. Now meet T-commerce, as in tablets from the likes of Apple, Dell and HP, among others. And on Wired's new "Test and Play" iPad app, launching with the pub's May edition, it's sponsored by MasterCard.
The application enables readers to check out recommended products from the editors of Wired's iPad edition through an interactive "buy now" component linking to Amazon.com, and MasterCard has an exclusive sponsorship for several months. An ad touts "Powered by MasterCard" at both ends of the app (Wired's iPad edition and the Amazon purchase point), although consumers are free to use whatever credit card they want to make a purchase.

To promote Intel's Core computer processors and boost its image as a leader in smart thinking and design, OMD's Greenroom Entertainment teamed with Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Media and Google to create a digital/experiential program called Intel IdeaJam. Earlier this month, Mr. Kutcher kicked off the first IdeaJam at Katalyst offices in Los Angeles, telling an audience of nearly 50 Hollywood content producers that Intel wanted to create "an arena for collaboration." Those convened were tasked with creating six pieces of innovative digital content in 48 hours.

Other events focusing on education, music and other topics will be held at Intel and Google offices; pre-promoted in social media; and streamed on the web. Intel is spending nearly $2 million to promote the campaign on Google and YouTube. "For each IdeaJam, we will have a stated problem and an end result that will help to solve that problem," said Laurie Koehler, consumer-campaigns-activation manager in the Americas marketing group at Intel.

It was a subject as taboo as erectile dysfunction before the days of Viagra, yet one in three women suffers from some degree of light bladder leakage. We wanted to "spark a conversation," said David Lang, who heads Mindshare's entertainment division. The creative idea? "If one in three women had this issue, maybe one in three great women in history might have had it, too," he said. Mindshare produced six comedic webisodes with Ms. Goldberg portraying historical characters such as the Mona Lisa and Cleopatra, and placed a TV spot featuring Ms Goldberg in the 2010 pre-Oscars program. By the end of the year, the project had generated 1.5 billion media impressions via the webisodes, the Oscars TV spot, and reams of press coverage and blog commentary. And 2010 was the biggest sales year for the 19-year-old brand.

UM London Bolsters Outdoor Reputation at 2011 Clear Channel Planning Awards

3:43:56 AM

UM London bolstered its strong outdoor planning reputation by winning two awards at last night’s 2011 Clear Channel Outdoor Planning Awards.

It won the Best Use of Continuity category for its long-term strategic work on fashion retailer client H&M, and was also awarded a Highly Commended prize in the Best Use of Multi-Formats category for its hugely successful outdoor strategy for Cadbury Biscuits.

The event took place at a packed Circus bar in the heart of Covent Garden, where judges and agencies mingled to hear the results.

Amongst the esteemed panel of judges were Mike Baker, Chief Executive at the Outdoor Media Centre, Danielle Crook, Director of Brand at Vodafone, Roisin Donnelly, Corporate Marketing Director at Procter & Gamble and a host of senior media agency personnel.

Russell Place, Chief Strategy Officer at UM London said,
“We're very happy to receive this kind of acknowledgement for our work in the outdoor sector. Our work with H&M over the last ten years has helped them to genuinely own the high street fashion agenda, and our 'Continuity' win shows that this has been recognised across the industry.”

UM Bows New Business, Compensation Model

3:43:56 AM

By Noreen O'Leary

Media agency UM is overhauling the way it works with clients, with a stronger focus on analytics, custom content and portfolio management. As a result, the IPG Mediabrands unit is introducing new pay-per-performance compensation agreements emphasizing client business growth.

In announcing the broader data and analytics strategy, called Media 3.0, UM said it signed a deal with The Nielsen Co. to deliver custom analytics for better understanding of media consumption. UM will also be working with 11 other data partners. The new operational model was developed in large part with McKinsey & Co.

In implementing the change, the company restructured its global management team.

Guy Beach, chief operating officer of UM North America, becomes global chief operating officer. Previously Beach had been global managing partner of J3, UM's dedicated Johnson & Johnson unit. Kristi Argyilan, previously global managing partner, becomes lead of transformation. David Cohen, U.S. director of digital communications, steps up as lead of global digital.

Jacki Kelly, global CEO of UM, has been a proponent of real-time performance metrics for clients and wants to put it in the center of UM’s planning process. "Clients should demand greater accountability on their media investments. As their partner we will demonstrate the business value that media creates and maximize business outcomes," Kelly said.

UM works for clients like Coca-Cola, Mastercard, J&J, L’Oreal and Chrysler. The company also works for Microsoft and created the media strategy behind the launch of the company's Bing search engine.

Earlier this month, Sony said it renewed its contract with UM for media planning and buying across six divisions in North America for three years.

UM's Curious Minds Develop Method To Make Client Results A Little Less Surprising

3:43:56 AM

What would you do if you wanted to create a media agency designed not for the traditional world of reach & frequency media planning and buying, but an era in which changes in technology and consumer behavior are reshaping faster than anyone can plan? That's what the team inside Interpublic's Universal McCann unit began doing a couple of years ago, and the result is quietly being rolled out now - initially to some of its biggest and most progressive clients - account like Johnson & Johnson, Schwab and Wells Fargo - with others likely to follow over the next year. The new model is based less on conventional media planning and buying, and more on things like Wall Street's and the travel industry's sophisticated "yield" optimization systems that utilize powerful models tied to some new, exclusive Nielsen data, including Nielsen's joint-venture panel with Facebook.
The new approach, which agency insiders have dubbed "UM 3.0," has quietly been integrated over the past few months with some of the agency's leading clients, and will, they say, greatly differentiate it from other leading media services agencies, including sister Interpublic shop Initiative.

The cornerstone of the makeover is an extremely sophisticated modeling system that incorporates many of the elements of the kind of econometric modeling systems that have helped transform the way marketers measure the ROI of their marketing mix over the past couple of decades, but instead of being purely regression based, it has been adapted to work on-on-the-fly, with more predictive modeling built in. Equally significantly, the system incorporates much more discrete media channels than traditional marketing modeling systems look at, with the ability to get as granular as the effects of a specific TV show or magazine buy on a media plan, and the contribution it makes to the marketing goals.

UM executives don't have a fancy new term to describe the new media operating system, but generally refer to it as their "data ecosystem."

"The problem with relying only on econometric modeling is that is that you usually get stuck at the channel level," explains Hari Abhyankar, senior vice president-business insights & analytics at UM, who helped design and build UM's new system in conjunction with Nielsen. "Those models are good at inferring relationships between advertising and sales but they have some drawbacks."

The main drawbacks, he says, are that regression models are generally looking back at past results and inferring future consumer behavior based on what worked in the past. Another major drawback is that those models were too broad to look at the discrete effects of specific media buys. The new system developed between UM and Nielsen, he says, enables UM's team to "observe rather than infer" in real-time, and to analyze the impact of extremely discrete media buys - even the daily contribution that TV advertising budgets are having on a marketer's sales for "one show vs. another."

The new system, which includes a two-year exclusive partnership with Nielsen, was alluded to two weeks ago by Mediabrands CFO Jeff Lupinacci during an Interpublic briefing with Wall Street security analysts. While he did not elaborate on who it worked, Lupinacci said the system would enable Interpublic's agencies to "align" their compensation with their client's business outcomes.

While the new Nielsen data will ultimately be shared with other Interpublic agencies, including Initiative, UM executives said the model was developed exclusively for them, and UM CEO Jacki Kelley said the compensation model was developed for UM by big management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which typically works directly with Fortune 500 marketers to structure how they work with their ad agencies and other service providers.

Kelley tells MediaDailyNews that the new "pay-for-performance" compensation model also is being rolled out on a client-by-client basis, in conjunction with the new data and modeling systems, which will enable the agency to measure its real-time performance on client's brands, based on specific KPIs, or "key performance indicators."

She said the new compensation model was developed by McKinsey after looking at a wide range of other industries, including the oil drilling business, but is unique to UM.

She says the new compensation model only works because UM has reliable data to predict and measure its performance against.

"If you have the data and the structure to tie it to much more meaningful values, we should be compensated on it," she explains, adding that in many cases, UM will be hedging its compensation based on future outcomes for its clients, which is radically different from the standard compensation models utilized by Madison Avenue media shops, which generally are tied to some form of cost-plus fee arrangements based on the number of full-time employees allocated to their clients' businesses.

"We will hedge based on our ability to influence the business outcome," she confirms, adding that the new compensation model may not be right for all clients, and that some clients may want to minimize the degree of financial risk UM takes on their business, but that the agency is prepared to take those risks because it is so confident in the quality of the data, its modeling systems, and the ability to reliably project its clients' business outcomes.

"It's definitely a mash-up," she says. "It's like everything in life. It's about balance, and not all clients will want to work this way. It's not for every brand."

UM's Abhyankar says the data ecosystem is still a work in progress, and while new Nielsen databases and data integration strategies are the core of it, he says UM is bolting on other data and its own proprietary insights to fill in the gaps.

Without going into specifics, he says the system is the most highly integrated approach to Nielsen's disparate array of both media measurement and consumer purchase tracking data to date. Among other things, he says it includes Nielsen's traditional media measurement panels, its consumer purchasing data panels, its "single-source" database with Catalina Marketing, and its new, humongous social media tracking panel with Facebook, a company that Interpublic owns a minority stake in.

Nielsen and Facebook have said very little to date about their joint-venture to turn some of Facebook's half billion users into a panel for measuring marketing and media. The deal, announced more than a year ago, simply said the two companies would collaborate.

During a presentation at MediaPost's 2010 Outfront Conference, Nielsen Online chief John Burbank said the panel was still in its seminal stages, but that it potentially could be as big as all of Facebook's user base, though it would depend on who actually opted in to the Nielsen joint venture.

Asked what he anticipated that opt-in rate ultimately would be, Burbank demurred, noting that it would remain a "trade secret for a very, very long time."

Along with the new data, panels and modeling systems, UM executives say they've begun to restructure their organization to emphasize the kind of talent and experience that is more akin to the way other industries like Wall Street and travel operate, than traditional media services shops.

UM's Kelley says the agency has been recruiting executives who are, "former consultants, former peer point managers, and data jockeys," as well as a number of people from "media owners."

While the bulk of the agency's organization will continue to be comprised of media planners and buyers, she says they are developing new skills and are evolving to make the traditional part of their business "smarter and more automated" and to also have their results measured against specific client performance objectives that may have little to do with traditional media plans and measures like, "CPMs."

Kelley says the transformation is consistent with the vision laid out by former UM chief, Matt Seiler, who is now CEO of Mediabrands, and the motto he coined when he joined the organization from Omnicom: "Curious Minds For Surprising Results."

But with better and more predictive data, planning systems and expert talent, she says, those results increasingly will become less of a surprise.

Cohen to UM Global Digital Head, Stresses Metrics

3:43:56 AM

Longtime UM digital maven David Cohen has been upped to global digital officer at the Interpublic media agency. He replaces Heidi Browning, who left the position three months ago to join Pandora as senior vice president of sales and planning. Cohen will report directly to Jacki Kelley, UM's global CEO since January. Cohen, who has been in the Internet advertising field since 1996, joined what was then Universal McCann exactly 10 years ago to start its digital media group. He has served as UM's U.S. director of digital communications for the past five years. Both internal and external candidates are being considered to fill his previous position, Cohen said.

Cohen's ascension comes a few weeks after Interpublic's Mediabrands unit, which consists of UM and Initiative, moved both agencies' global operations from a traditional structure of five major geographic regions to "clusters": North America, G14 and world markets. G14 consists of clients' "priority markets," like the U.K., China and India, while World Markets includes countries like Greece and South Korea, plus the entire Mideast.

His goal is to "have best-in-class digital capabilities on the ground in all of our markets." His mantra: "become much more performance-metric focused."

"We are awash in a sea of information and data," he says, "so UM needs to "inject all that info and draw insights" -- something he said agencies did not do in the past.

Indeed, UM as a whole is moving toward a data ecosystem with a performance metric and analytics focus; Cohen's digital team will play a leading role. To reach that goal, UM is looking to partner content providers and technology players, as well as research companies (like Nielsen).

As for specific digital areas, while UM's global digital team will continue to focus on planning and buying, search, mobile and social, Cohen said he also foresees "explosive growth" in a new area: "technology in the living room." That is, addressable television technologies providing the "ability to interact with programming" and to add interactive advertising messages and social media layers.

It means "working very closely with our traditional media counterparts," he says. Cohen termed the erosion of lines between traditional and digital an "organizational challenge," saying "there is no sacred ground. We're all kind of learning together. The key to success is collaboration."

Finding the 'Sweet Spot' for Ads in Your Favorite TV Show

3:43:56 AM

What if each and every show on TV, be it "Modern Family," "Survivor" or "Biggest Loser," had a "sweet spot" for advertisers -- a particular moment where commercials running in the program were more effective and received better by the audiences watching them?

Analyzing second-by-second viewing data provided by TiVo, Interpublic Group's Magna Global says it believes the highest-rated commercial pods often occur adjacent to particular moments in sitcoms, dramas and reality programs, bolstering the idea that running a commercial helter-skelter across a TV network's schedule can actually reduce the power of the spot.

It's no secret in the ad business that the first and last ads in a commerical break are often the most-watched -- after all, they air closest to the TV show that drew viewers to the boob tube in the first place. Yet the Magna Global study suggests attention to commercials parallels attention paid to the programs they interrupt, where viewers eager to see the start, conclusion or other specific parts of a show will give more consideration to the ads placed alongside those segments.

"This type of measure isn't currency yet, which is kind of why we've been pushing pod measurement as a way to get more details like this," said Brian Hughes, VP- director of audience analysis at Magna Global. "It helps us buy smarter."

Among the findings of Magna Global's study:

*Attention paid to the ads accompanying initial segments of many CBS procedurals -- including "CSI: Miami," "NCIS" and "Criminal Minds" -- is more substantial than that accorded ad breaks alongside other parts of the programs. Mr. Hughes suggested CBS's programming is heavily consumed by homes with digital video recorders, where viewers may want to sample the opening segment of the show. That's often where a crime is committed (and, oftentimes, comes with gore or violence) and viewers are likely trying to see if they like the set-up or if they've seen the episode in the past, said Mr. Hughes.

The trend can't be extended to all procedural dramas. Magna Global found viewers of NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" paid the most attention during the last ad break in the show.
*Heavy attention is paid to different moments in different sitcoms. Viewers of ABC's "Modern Family" and NBC's "30 Rock" paid the most attention during the last ad breaks in the programs (which often come before quick, funny segments that run alongside credits), while viewers of CBS's "Big Bang Theory" paid the most attention to the first ad break in the half-hour comedy.

"It has to do with the way the shows are sort of pulled" or broken up by advertising, said Mr. Hughes. "It depends on whether it's a family comedy or an ensemble cast."
*Viewers pay the most attention to the last ad break of many serial dramas. The highest-rated ad breaks in "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives" on ABC, "Gossip Girl" and "90210" on CW and "Parenthood" on NBC were always the last one, Magna Global found. Interestingly, these are the ad breaks that precede segments in which networks tantalize viewers by offering scenes from the next episode.

"People are really sort of attuned to that moment where they see what the set up [for next week] or the cliffhanger is going to be," said Mr. Hughes.

The Magna study has its limitations. TiVo reaches only a portion of the U.S. populace, and households with DVRs tend to view television differently than those without.
Magna believes DVR users can be more important for advertisers to understand and reach than viewers watching at specific day-and-date appointments, Mr. Hughes said. DVR users tend to focus more intently on the show they've recorded, and may not multitask. "It's a very important audience to understand, even though this isn't necessarily representative of the total," he said.

Lodestar UM Celebrates Success at the Media Abbey

3:43:56 AM

We bring you great news from Lodestar UM in India. The agency won nine Golds this year at Media Abby, an event which recognizes India's most innovative media agencies. The Media Abby awards took place Friday evening at the Zuri resort, also the venue for advertising festival GoaFest 2011. Shashi Sinha, CEO of Lodestar UM presided over the awards ceremony, and he was congratulated for a job well done. Lodestar UM received one gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze!

Nandini Dias, Chief Operating Officer at Lodestar UM, commented on Lodestar UM's success: "We have been doing differentiated work on Amul year after year. Last year, we were awarded the Best Media Strategy in the Consumer Category for our tie-up with the Netherlands team on new packaging, depending on our media sponsorships. This year, too, we have broken all sorts of norms with the work we did with Star Plus for 'MasterChef' - and recall that 'MasterChef' was an international formatted show."

UM Keeps Sony Business for Another 3 Years

3:43:56 AM

Sony has renewed its contract with Universal McCann to handle media planning and buying across six divisions in North America, the agency said today (April 6).

The new contract runs three years and covers Sony Corp. of America, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Electronics, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Network Entertainment and Sony of Canada. Media spending across those divisions exceeded $800 million last year, according to Nielsen.

The renewal came without a pitch. The business is split between the agency’s offices in Los Angeles and New York.

UM, a unit of Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands, has worked on Sony since 2002. The agency also was part of a McCann Worldgroup team that retained the $150 million U.S. Army account last week.

Media Analyse 2010

3:43:56 AM

Die Ergebnisse der Media Analyse 2010

Die Veröffentlichung der Media Analyse – die wichtigste Währung der Mediaplanung – wurde auch dieses Jahr mit Spannung erwartet. Erstmals wurden auf Basis des Gesamtjahres 2010 auch jene regionalen Gratistitel ausgewiesen, die bisher in der Regioprint erhoben wurden. Somit sind erstmalig die wichtigsten Printmedien Österreichs in einem Datenbestand vereint.

Neben den bereits erwähnten regionalen Gratistiteln, sind die Freitag-Beilage der Kronen Zeitung Live sowie das Weekend Magazin, Skip und Top Times neu hinzugekommen.

Die Ergebnisse im Detail:

Print

Die Ergebnisse der Media Analyse 2010 zeigen vor allem eines. Tageszeitungen setzen ihren generellen leichten Abwärtstrend fort, diesmal aber deutlicher als im Jahr davor. 73,7% der ÖsterreicherINNen ab 14 Jahren lesen täglich zumindest eine Tageszeitung. Bei den 14-19 Jährigen sinkt dieser Wert von 2009 auf 2010 deutlich von 64,0% auf 59,5%.

Tageszeitungen

Mit einem signifikanten Leserverlust auf nationaler Basis gibt die Kronen Zeitung auch ihre Vormachtstellung in Wien ab und liegt nun in diesem Bundesland mit 35,6% hinter Heute, die ihre Reichweite auf 37,6% steigern konnte. Weitere Tageszeitungen, die Verluste hinnehmen müssen, die Kärntner Tageszeitung und die Tiroler Tageszeitung. Bei den anderen Zeitungen liegen die Verluste innerhalb der Schwankungsbreite.

Supplements

Mit 21,9% Reichweite wird erstmals auf Basis eines ganzen Jahres die Freitag-Beilage der Kronen Zeitung Live ausgewiesen. Leichte Verluste muss das TV-Supplement Tele hinnehmen.

Illustrierte / Magazine

Auch bei den Magazinen zeigen sich diesmal verstärkt Einbußen bei den Reichweiten. Dies signifikant bei den Wochenmagazinen E-Media, Ganze Woche, News. Einen geringeren Verlust verzeichnet TV-Media (13,6%). Neu hinzugekommen ist das Gratismagazin Weekend, das auf Anhieb eine Reichweite von 14,2% verzeichnen kann.

Einen leichten Aufwärtstrend bei den allgemeinen Magazinen können Gusto (8,9%) und der Top Gewinn (1,7%) verzeichnen. Der Gewinn hingegen verliert und hält nun bei einer Reichweite von 4,1%.

Signifikante Verluste der Leserschaft weist das Mitgliedermagazin Auto Touring auf, das nun bei einer Reichweite von 22,6% liegt. Im Bereich Wohnen büßt H.O.M.E. ebenfalls signifikant an Reichweite ein und steht nun bei 1,0%. Einen signifikanten Zugewinn verzeichnet hingegen Besser Wohnen mit einer derzeitigen Reichweite von 3,1%. Auch das Sportmagazin (4,8%) darf sich über eine positive Entwicklung freuen. Ein weiterer Verlierer bei den allgemeinen Magazinen ist Unsere Generation (3,9%).

Im Bereich der Frauenmagazine sind es vor allem Eltern (2,4%), Flair (0,6%) aber auch Maxima (3,3%), für die teils signifikante Leserschaftsverluste ausgewiesen werden.

Die erstmals in der Media Analyse aus Basis eines ganzen Jahres ausgewiesenen regionalen RMA-Gratismedien erreichen österreichweit eine Gesamtreichweite von 53,5%. Spitzenreiter der Regionaltitel in den Bundesländern ist mit einer Reichweite von 80,5% in Vorarlberg die Wann & Wo-Kombi. Den zweiten Spitzenwert innerhalb eines Bundeslandes erzielen die Bezirksblätter Burgenland mit 75,6% Reichweite.

Weitere Medien

Nach wie vor beliebt ist der Kinobesuch, auch die Reichweiten im Bereich Outdoor weisen ein hohes Niveau auf und zeigen sich darüber hinaus sehr stabil. Beim Internetkonsum der ÖsterreicherInnen ist der Horizont noch nicht erreicht.

Kino

Das Filmangebot des jeweiligen Jahres ist dafür verantwortlich, ob Kino-Reichweiten steigen oder fallen. Und das Jahr 2010 brachte mit Rapunzel, Alice im Wunderland, Harry Potter und Shrek Filme auf die Leinwand, die ein breites Publikum ansprachen und somit für entsprechende Reichweiten sorgten. Dies spiegelt sich auch in MA-Werten wider. 20,0% der Bevölkerung gaben an, in den letzten 3 Wochen ein Kino besucht zu haben – bei den 14-19jährigen beträgt dieser Wert 52,5%.

Outdoor

Auch bei den Outdoor-Werbeformen Plakate/Litfaßsäulen und City Lights sind konstante Reichweiten zu verzeichnen. Bei den Plakaten gaben 83,1% der ÖsterreicherInnen an, diesen Werbeträger in der letzten Woche passiert zu haben. Für City Lights beträgt dieser Wert immerhin 45,8%.

Infoscreen kann mit einer wöchentlichen Reichweite von 18,2% noch weiter zulegen und auch für Channel M, das Screen-Netzwerk in McDonald´s-Filialen, zeigt sich eine positive Tendenz. Die Reichweite in den letzten 7 Tagen liegt nun bei 10,0%.

Internet

Das Medium Internet kann wiederum deutlich zulegen. Mit einer wöchentlichen Reichweite von 66,2% hat Internet im Vergleich zur Media Analyse 2009 fast 4% zugelegt. Die tägliche Nutzung liegt nun bei 49,5%. Die Zugewinne verteilen sich auf alle Altersgruppen, wobei die Gruppe der 14-19 Jährigen mit 79,3% den höchsten Wert der täglichen Nutzung verzeichnen kann.

Die Media Analyse 2010 basiert auf 16.053 CAPI/CASI Interviews und ist repräsentativ für die Grundgesamtheit von 7.100.000 Personen ab 14 Jahren in 3.598.250 Privathaushalten.

McCann keeps $20 Million US Army Contract

3:43:56 AM

After an extensive review, the U.S. Army is re-upping with Interpublic Group of Cos.' McCann Worldgroup, which has been the lead ad agency on the account since 2005. The account is estimated at nearly $200 million per year in billings -- and as much as $15 million in revenue.

The other contenders that pitched the Army in a final round are understood to be McCann sibling DraftFCB and WPP agencies Grey and Y&R.

That McCann managed to hang onto the lucrative business comes as a major relief for the agency, which under CEO Nick Brien has been engaged in a wholesale turnaround effort. Those moves encompass everything from trying to stem the loss of clients and being more aggressive on the new-business front to training staff across McCann Worldgroup to get up to speed on digital.

How important the business is not only to McCann, but to parent Interpublic? The team working on the U.S. Army account numbers some 300 people from seven Interpublic shops as well as independent shops. The Interpublic agencies include McCann Erickson, Universal McCann, MRM Worldwide, Momentum, Weber Shandwick, Casanova Pendrill and NAS Recruitment Communications.

The new Army advertising contract begins April 7. The term of the contract is -- as it has been in the past -- for one year, with four one-year option periods. According to the request-for-proposals document the Army sent out last summer, McCann will handle all advertising, direct marketing and public relations for the Army. It will also be tasked to help support all recruitment and retention programs for the government unit.

Representatives for the Army could not immediately be reached for comment.

In a statement, Mr. Brien said: "We are extraordinarily proud of introducing and advancing the 'Army Strong' campaign platform. ... Our approach going forward will continue to be collaborative, innovative and performance-driven."

"Pure Michigan" Wins Silver!

3:43:56 AM

Congratulations to the UM Detroit office for their "Pure Michigan" campaign, which won a silver ARF Ogilvy award last night.

Microsoft San Francisco wins Gold at the ARF Ogilvy Awards!

3:43:56 AM

Congratulations to the Microsoft San Fran team for winning the GOLD award for their case study on the Microsoft Cloud campaign at the ARF Ogilvy Awards last evening! The case study focused on how fast and structured early research planning enhanced Microsoft's marketing communication of its Cloud Services, and the ongoing measurement and optimization to help continue business success in this rapidly developing market.

How to harness the 'Sheen Effect' for your brand

3:43:56 AM

Scott Donaton, president, CEO, Ensemble

Top tips

·    Entertainment is one of the most important parts of people's everyday lives. It is a direct route to an emotional connection.

·    Be sure to define ahead of time what success means to you. Know what you want coming in, and you'll know what you get coming out.

·    A lot of entertainment properties are open to creative collaboration and creative input from the brand. Find a partnership that works for you.

iMedia Connection: What would you say was the need that Ensemble was created to fill?

Donaton: A lot of Mediabrands' clients and potential clients were asking questions about the content space -- some of them were active in it, some wanted to be -- and were turning to us for capabilities and a point of view. Ensemble was created to extend the reach of our media assets and give brands a chance to explore this space more deeply.

iMedia Connection: You help brands create content with entertainment partners- what's your general philosophy on such partnerships?

Donaton: Sometimes brands come in and ask, "Should we have a content strategy?" My answer to that is, absolutely not, what you should have is a marketing strategy, and we can talk about content in the context of advancing your marketing strategy. I've never liked the idea of someone creating a content strategy separated from everything else they're doing.

iMedia Connection: So what do you start with?

Donaton: With brands, we always start with the basic questions -- What is your business challenge? Who is your target audience? What is the essence of the brand? What are the other things you're doing in your marketing mix, and how can we use entertainment and content to more deeply engage consumers? That's where brands start -- from a sense of, how do we build a more emotional connection to our consumers at a time when people can choose what content they're going to interact with and what they're not in every form. The new technologies have put the end user in charge of the information flow- brands realize that it's no longer enough to interrupt the conversation. Rather, how do you get invited in? We get in by harnessing the power of storytelling and entertainment.

iMedia Connection: Entertainment can be powerful.

Donaton: During my time at Entertainment Weekly, we did studies that revealed how important entertainment is in people's lives. Some dismiss entertainment as fluff, but in truth, it's the number one thing people turn to in dealing with stress in everyday life. Most brands understand that entertainment helps them connect with the consumer on a much more deeper level.

iMedia Connection: How do you keep track of the constantly shifting entertainment landscape?

Donaton: We maintain relationships with literally several hundred content creators, from production companies and talent to studios to talent agencies. We keep track of which companies are better with which genres, reaching which audiences... Sometimes, but not often, brands may come to us with a sense of who they want to work with. But we dig deeper. If a client wants to work with Conan O'Brien, we ask, "What is it about Conan? Is it a sensibility, is it the audience?" And what's the story that we want to tell the audience? From there, we can decide whether Conan is the right fit, or whether it makes sense to develop something new to achieve those goals. Often, creation is better than integration. Most of the time, though, the process starts more open ended, and our job is to find the talent and company that fits the brand's audience, and once we get the sign off, to initiate the discussions with both parties.

iMedia Connection: How does the talent or entertainment property usually respond?

Donaton: There's been a great sea-change recently. It used to be that the entertainment companies would be like, "Yes, if the brand wants to play, that's great, they can write a check and stay out of the creative process." But now they're realizing that brands can be great partners. A lot of entertainment talent and properties are building their business models by leaving space for potential brand partners.

iMedia Connection: So in essence, brands get to use that creative talent for their own storytelling.

Donaton: I usually tell brands, if you do this right, you basically have access to the world's largest creative department. You have all of these storytellers who you can tell -- here is the audience we want to talk to, here's the role we think we play in their lives -- and partnering with the talent helps take your brand up to another level. You both basically want the same thing -- what's the right story to tell these audiences, to engage them, and to keep them entertained?

iMedia Connection: Do you find that content created with the obvious stamp of a corporate brand turns off consumers?

Donaton: I don't think that's so much an issue anymore. There have been a lot of studies on this. When I wrote the book "Madison & Vine" back in 2004, there was a sense that if you weren't straight with consumers, if you created something they didn't like, there might be a backlash just because a brand was involved. That kind of thought is gone. What brands have to keep in mind is the consumer attitude, which is, "If I'm going to give you my time, give me something in exchange that's valuable." But the mere fact of a brand's involvement, I don't think, is a turn-off anymore.

iMedia Connection: What mistakes do you wish brands would stop making?

Donaton: A lot of brands still see the content creation partnership as a cool one-off tactic, but they need to take a long term view of how this fits into their overall marketing strategy. They need to define their own measures of success. Are they trying to raise awareness, move product, change attitudes and perceptions? Know what you want coming in, and then you'll know what you got coming out.

UM Taps Fox's Colvin as L.A. Digital Lead

3:43:56 AM

Interpublic’s Universal McCann has taped Gregg Colvin as senior vice president-digital director of communications, and effectively, the digital lead for the media shop’s Los Angeles office. Colvin, who joined UM from Fox Digital Media, where he was head of business operations and development for various initiatives, will work heavily with UM’s Sony team, including Karen Hunt and Elyse Hoelzer, which handles every Sony division (Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Television, Sony Electronics, Sony Corporate of America, Sony Music).

Geomentum Refines Focus Under Sean Finnegan

3:43:56 AM

Local is so hot right now, and nobody is more local than Geomentum, the hyper-specific targeting unit of Mediabrands that parent company Interpublic Group launched in 2009. By combining consumer data, often down to the household level, with detailed local media analysis, Geomentum claims to bring digital accuracy to analog advertising.

In December, former president and chief digital officer at Starcom MediaVest Group Sean Finnegan took over as CEO of Geomentum. At barely 18 months old, Geomentum isn't quite in need of a course correction, said Mr. Finnegan. But he is putting his stamp on it, namely, making this "unit" of Mediabrands act more like a full-service, client facing agency.

"I think the vision going out was that it was purely about the technology and being able to deliver a hyper-local type consultancy approach," he said. "I'm refocusing our efforts in the area of client service, insights and technology to be more of an organic benefit to our client base."

That client base, which accounts for about $2 billion in spending by IPG clients annually, is heavy with retailers looking to goose profits in specific stores. Geomentum is cagey about discussing client specifics, but a blind case study it shared with ClickZ shows how the agency works.

A technology and software company that's become known as a consumer and entertainment brand was looking to expand its retail stores into new markets. While the brand's products scored high marks for recognition, its status as a retailer lagged behind.

Geomentum was asked to raise in-store conversions by 40 percent by going after the brand's target consumer, tech-savvy music lovers with higher-than-average household incomes. The goal was to figure out where they lived in relation to the store, and what it would take to get them in.

Geomentum's process is twofold: First it gleans consumer data from loyalty cards, shopper surveys and purchase behavior tied to Zip codes, creating a map of consumer habits that can be specific down to the household level. It then combines that data with proprietary insights into the efficacy of various media in those areas. The resulting analysis should predict which media and message are best suited to motivate consumers in any region.

In the case of the technology retail client, Geomentum determined that the target consumer lived within a 30-minute drive of the store and was best reached through a combination of SEM, streaming radio ads and Sunday circulars. The creative was also highly specific to different consumers; for example, the SEM plan included different landing pages for fathers and recent graduates, with special offers for each. Streaming radio ads were customized by Zip code.

The result was a 69 percent lift in sales. Geomentum also claimed that its campaign delivered 10 times greater performance than the client's previous DMA-level media buy.

Of course, the success of such an approach is dependent on the quality and quantity of data, both on consumers and the media. For Geomentum, much of the work going forward consists of obtaining and analyzing that data, which can be difficult in a shifting media market. But Finnegan claims the agency is "ahead of schedule and without a lot of competition in this market."

Finnegan said Geomentum, based in Chicago, is also working to automate much of the process, which due to the analog nature of much of it, is still being done on paper. "Time may slow up the process," he said, "but it doesn't slow up the results."

IPG Taps Matt Seiler to Head Media Services Unit

3:43:56 AM

Advertising giant Interpublic Group of Cos. has named Matt Seiler as chief executive of Mediabrands, a unit that oversees the ad holding company's media-buying businesses and some of its digital companies.

Mr. Seiler, previously chief executive of Interpublic's media-buying firm UM, assumes a post that had been vacant since April.

For Interpublic, leadership at its Mediabrands division is a critical role since it has been an area of strength for the New York ad conglomerate, helping to offset weakness at other parts of the company.

The fourth-largest ad company in the world by revenue, Interpublic had been considering several internal candidates for the top Mediabrands role. It chose the 48-year-old Seiler in part because of his experience in rebuilding UM by winning a slew of new business from companies including L'Oreal SA, MasterCard Inc. and Chrysler Group LLC.

Still, UM faces some challenges. It is currently defending its Microsoft Corp. business, which was recently placed on review.

Seiler's role at UM will be filled by Jacki Kelley, 44, a former executive from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. who joined UM in 2009 to run UM's North American operations.

Write to Suzanne Vranica at suzanne.vranica@wsj.com

UM Malaysia Scores 'Perfect 10' in Search

3:43:56 AM

Universal McCann Malaysia started the New Year on a celebratory note by achieving a significant milestone with its top 10 clients embracing search marketing in their mix.

Prashant Kumar, CEO of Mediabrands Malaysia, which houses UM, Initiative, Rally, and Reprise, equates this achievement to a futurists’ dream where search marketing, the default go-to place for research, information, comparisons, and advocacy, will soon become market of clients’ overall marketing plans.

In 2009, UM emerged as the first Google Advertising Professional (GAP) qualified media agency in Malaysia, and launched ‘Project Mandate’, a comprehensive Test-Learn-Deploy program for its clients to experiment with search marketing and establish its role in the marketing mix. UM successfully moved most of its clients, including Johnson&Johnson, Telekom Malaysia, Proton, RHB Bank, Cerebos, Coca-Cola, and Mastercard, to invest substantially on search marketing a year after ‘Project Mandate’ was launched.

“Our search marketing billings tripled in the past year that accounted for a substantial part of our total digital billings,” Prashant tells ADOI. “This success defines our integrated strategy to encourage the use of search marketing in the total marketing mix.”

This year, UM formally introduced Reprise, Mediabrands’ global search offering. Reprise is headed by Ullas Sahadevan.

“Search marketing is a natural inclusion in our media planning. Consumers repeatedly use search engines for their purchase intentions, making them well-defined prospects.”

Stay up-to-date with our Curious Communications newsletter!

3:43:56 AM

Our Curious Communications keep our clients, partners, media owners, intermediaries, journalists and other contacts up-to-date with all the latest news from UM London; sign up using the form below to receive regular updates!

Local and Social Media Record Massive Gains during Queensland Floods

3:43:56 AM

couriermail.com.au jumps from 500,000 unique browsers to almost 1.6million

Queensland Police fans jump from 7,000 to 160,000

Brisbane, January 31, 2011: People’s flight to local news and social media in times of crisis has been underlined by a study this week of media consumption and advertising impact during January’s Queensland floods. Media agency UM developed the study, which shows some major shifts in viewers and followers of popular news franchises both offline and online.
Total capital cities FreeTV viewing grew by 20%1 between January 11th to 15th compared to January 4th to 8th. Subscription TV was down 4% for the same period. Brisbane Free TV viewing was up a huge 45%, where Nine’s Sunday News on January 16th grew by 26%2 versus Seven’s Sunday News which experienced an 8% decline.
“Nine’s decision to drop Two and a half Men and CSI for a few days definitely paid off and they were rewarded with huge increases in viewing as well as some loving from the public,” said Natalie Harvey, client service director at UM Brisbane.
After wheeling out all of its Queensland native hosts and having them report at a local level, Nine’s News properties have seen significant gains. “Nine was not the number one network in 2010 but they have set themselves up for a better year, especially in the News department,” said Harvey.
Nine News currently has more than 45,000 Facebook fans, up from around 14,000 before the Brisbane Floods. The Today Show now has more than 13,000 Facebook fans, up from around 9,000 although it still has quite a job to do to catch Sunrise which has 113,000 fans.
“But it wasn’t just the media that grew in major online popularity,” said Harvey. “The Queensland Police Service now has more than 160,000 fans - up from 7,000 on Christmas Day - and its social media team must be praised for its immediacy in informing the public of road closures, health alerts and upcoming press conferences.”
Brisbane local news sites went into overdrive. couriermail.com.au jumped from about 500,000 unique browsers to nearly 1.6million3 per week. Page impressions went from just over 10 million to more than 40 million3. Similar results were seen by brisbanetimes.com.au. Regional mastheads also generated huge traffic increases to their online homes. APN’s sites jumped 295% during the last week in December and saw another increase two weeks later.
Proving that newspapers are not defeated, the Toowoomba Chronicle increased its print run during the crisis and The Courier Mail printed an afternoon edition and also increased its print run. The Courier Mail also proved that it can evolve by updating iPad apps regularly so those without power could still access latest information.

More proof that many people have two screens running, viewers took to Twitter and Facebook to voice their praise and criticism of the coverage:

Choc_Bomb: Channel 9 has live flood coverage while 7 has a river drowning ordeal on I shouldn’t be alive. No respect of tact. Or programming plan. Shame.
Julie McCudden: well done sunrise you have been amazing in giving us the the coverage from the flood. We can’t do alot but we are praying for everyone thats involved we love you xxx
Michelle Green: (to Ten News QLD Page) Thank you so much. My brother and I were stuck in NSW and were able to watch what was going on up here. I was also able to share with family in the US and Holland thanks to you links. Keep up the good work.
Msstraight180: I'm not normally a fan of channel 9 but your coverage has been great. Disappointingly channel7 has failed on this occasion. #qldfloods
bgosford: RT @BiteTheDust: @abcmarkscott remote areas cant get ABC24 and channel two has a cooking show whil 9 has flood coverage. #remotefail

But how did this affect advertisers and media owners from a revenue point of view? From UM’s discussions with media executives, local media took a major hit with a large numbers of national and local businesses cancelling advertising activity. However, the reductions started in early December when the first of the floods emerged and many Queensland businesses could not get stock to their outlets.
“In the week of the Brisbane floods local media experienced a huge amount of cancellations due to stock issues, flooding of premises and advertisers admitting that consumers don’t really care about what ads they are seeing in-between flood updates,” said Harvey. “Newspapers, TV and Radio seem to have been the hardest hit.
“This was somewhat alleviated with an upswing of finance and insurance advertising attempting to assure their customers that they would be looked after as well as other business announcing they were open with business as usual,” said Harvey.

Radiotest 2010

3:43:56 AM

Die aktuellen Ergebnisse des Radiotest für das 2. Halbjahr 2010

Auch ein weiteres Mal bestätigt der heute erscheinende Radiotest die Beliebtheit des Mediums Radio. 81,7% der Österreicher ab 10 Jahren hören täglich Radio und das im Durchschnitt 201 Minuten lang. Die tägliche Nutzungszeit ist im Vergleich zum 1.Halbjahr 2010 wieder angestiegen, bei den 14-49jährigen Wienern zeigt sich aber eine anhaltende Tendenz zum kürzeren Radiohören.

Mit großen Überraschungen kann der Radiotest auch diesmal nicht aufwarten. Der Trend zu den privaten Sendern hält aber weiterhin an.

Die Gewinner bei den Privaten sind diesmal Kronehit, Radio Energy in Wien und Salzburg, die Antenne in der Steiermark und in Kärnten sowie Life Radio Tirol.

Reichweiten und Marktanteile nationaler Sender

Tagesreichweiten und Marktanteile der nationalen Senderangebote bewegen sich weitestgehend auf stabilem Niveau, wobei die Privatsender stetig zulegen können. 69,6% aller Österreicher ab 10 Jahren nutzen täglich zumindest einen ORF-Sender und bereits 26,4% schalten einen privaten inländischen Radiosender ein.

Das Verhältnis der Marktanteile zwischen ORF und Privatradio liegt bei den Österreichern ab 10 Jahren aktuell bei 76:22 und zeigt sich sehr stabil.

Nach wie vor bleibt Ö3 der Sender mit der höchsten Reichweite und weist Werte von 37,1% bei Personen ab 10 Jahren und 47,1% in der Altersgruppe 14-49 Jahre auf. Er bewegt sich damit auf relativ konstantem Niveau.

Die RMS Top Kombi darf sich vor allem über deutliche Zuwächse in der Kernzielgruppe der 14-49jährigen freuen. Mit einem Plus von 1,8% im Vergleich zum 2. Halbjahr 2009 bei der Tagesreichweite hält sie nun bei 33,4% und einem Marktanteil von 29%. Sowohl diese Zugewinne in der jüngeren Altersgruppe als auch bei Personen ab 10 Jahren sind statistisch signifikant.

Auch FM4 kann sein mittlerweile wieder stabiles Niveau sowohl bei der Tagesreichweite (3,7% bei E 10+) als auch bei den Marktanteilen (2% bei E 10+) halten.

Auch im aktuellen Halbjahr des Radiotest setzt Kronehit seinen Aufwärtstrend fort. Mit signifikanten Zugewinnen in der Kernzielgruppe 14-49 Jahre liegt Kronehit derzeit bei 13,1% Tagesreichweite und erhöht somit seine Reichweite bei den Jungen um 1,1% im Vergleich zum 2. Halbjahr des Vorjahres. Bei den Personen ab 10 Jahren liegt die Reichweite bei 8,8% und bringt ein Plus von 0,6%. Die Marktanteile bleiben in beiden Zielgruppen konstant.

Weitere Ergebnisse aus den Bundesländern

In Wien darf sich Ö3 über Gewinne bei den Tagesreichweiten und den Marktanteilen freuen. Der Radiotest weist für Ö3 Reichweiten von 29,6% (E 10+) und 35,4% (E 14-49) aus. In der Kernzielgruppe der 14-49jährigen bedeutet das einen Reichweitenzuwachs von 1,7% sowie eine Erhöhung des Marktanteils um 3% auf 41%. Die privaten Gewinner in Wien sind Kronehit mit einem Reichweitengewinn von 2,3% auf 11,8% bei den 14-49jährigen, Radio Energy, das derzeit bei 12,5% (E, 14-49) Tagesreichweite hält und Superfly (2,7% bei E 14-49).

Die RMS Top Kombi verliert hingegen bei der Tagesreichweite und dem Marktanteil und liegt aktuell bei 32,0% in der jungen Zielgruppe (E, 14-49). Hier sind es vor allem die Sender 88,6 (7,1% Tagesreichweite bei E 14-49) und Radio Arabella (4,4% Tagesreichweite bei E 14-49), die deutliche Verluste in Wien einfahren.

Radio Arabella in Niederösterreich kann aber sowohl bei den über 10jährigen als auch in der Kernzielgruppe zulegen und überholt 88,6, das bei den 14-49jährigen an Reichweite verliert.

In der Steiermark sind es die Sender Kronehit mit einem satten Plus von 3% (11,8% bei E 14-49) und die Antenne Steiermark mit 2,9% Zuwachs (23,0% bei E 14-49), die sich über deutliche und teils signifikante Gewinne freuen dürfen und der RMS Top somit zu 37,1% Tagesreichweite bei den 14-49jährigen Personen (+5,1%) verhelfen. Einbußen bei den Jungen muss hingegen Ö3 mit einem Minus von 3,6% (47,6% Tagesreichweite) hinnehmen. Einen Zugewinn von 1,8% auf 35,3% (E 10+) im Vergleich zum 2.Halbjahr 2009 kann hingegen der regionale ORF Sender verzeichnen.

Der Gewinner in Kärnten ist eindeutig die Antenne Kärnten, die ihre Reichweite bei den über 10jährigen sogar signifikant um 4,1% auf nunmehr 16,6% ausbauen kann (22,2% bei E 14-49). Dieser Reichweitenzuwachs der privaten Antenne ging teilweise zu Lasten von Ö3, das 2,1% seiner Tagesreichweite einbüßen musste und derzeit bei 38,5% (E 10+) steht.

Der Lokalsender Lounge FM in Oberösterreich weist in seinem Verbreitungsgebiet einen deutlichen Rückgang seiner Reichweite bei Personen ab 10 Jahren von 3,0% (2.Halbjahr 2009) auf 1,9% und in der Kernzielgruppe 14-49 Jahre von 4,8% (2.Halbjahr 2009) auf 2,6% auf.

Seine Reichweite ausbauen konnte auch Radio Energy in Salzburg. In seinem lokalen Verbreitungsgebiet darf er sich über eine Verdoppelung seiner Hörerschaft bei Personen ab 10 Jahren freuen. Die Tagesreichweite stieg im Verbreitungsgebiet von 3,1% im 2.Halbjahr 2009 auf 7,1% im 2.Halbjahr 2010.

Auch Life Radio in Tirol kann mit signifikanten Reichweitengewinnen aufwarten. Der Sender weist einen Anstieg seiner Tagesreichweite um 2,7% von 6,4% (im 2.Halbjahr 2009) auf 9,1% in der Altersgruppe 14-49 Jahre auf.

Über die Studie

Der Radiotest wird hierzulande bereits seit 1993 durchgeführt – damals noch im alleinigen Auftrag des ORF. Seit 2001 wird auch ein Großteil der privaten Sender von der Studie erfasst. Der Radiotest erscheint halbjährlich rollierend, was bedeutet, dass zwei Mal im Jahr immer der Datenbestand eines ganzen Jahres veröffentlicht wird.

Mittels CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews) werden jährlich rund 28.000 Personen befragt, die repräsentativ für alle Österreicher ab 10 Jahren sind. Der Radiotest wird das ganze Jahr über durchgeführt, mit tagesgleichverteilten Interviews in allen österreichischen Bundesländern.

Definitionen Radiotest

Tagesreichweite

Personen, die gestern zumindest eine Viertelstunde lang Radio bzw. einen bestimmten Sender gehört haben.

Marktanteil

Der Marktanteil eines Senders bzw. Werbeverbunds gibt an, wie groß der prozentuelle Anteil der Hördauer des Senders bzw. Werbeverbunds an der gesamten Hördauer ist.

UM picks up £20m South African Tourism

3:43:56 AM

South African Tourism has appointed Universal McCann to its estimated £20 million global media account.

@font-face { font-family: "Calibri"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

South African Tourism: keen to build on last year's World Cup

The agency will be responsible for planning and buying media across international markets to support campaigns to promote tourism to the country.

Mindshare was the previous incumbent on the account, which has moved to UM after a statutory pitch process.

UM's Johannesburg office will take the lead on the account but other offices, including UM London, will co-ordinate the business at a local level. The agency's contract runs for a three-year period.

Industry sources suggested that activity is likely to include outdoor and cinema work and that the UK spend could reach around £5 million, up from the current £2 million spend recorded by Nielsen.

Ogilvy has handled global creative and marketing activity for the tourist board since 2006, when its group of agencies landed a brief to work across all markets, with a primary focus on Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.

South African Tourism is keen to build tourist numbers on the back of the 2010 World Cup, which contributed to a 25 per cent rise in visitors in June when more than one million people travelled to the country.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk

Coca-Cola hands Universal McCann EMEA seach account

3:43:56 AM

Universal McCann has picked up the Coca-Cola paid search account for EMEA.

The agency won the account following a competitive pitch. The EMEA and GB search account is currently handled by AKQA Media. It is unclear if AKQA's relationship with Coca-Cola will be affected.

Universal McCann has worked with the soft drinks giant since 1957 and currently handles work in 57 markets across the world, including North America, Korea, Hong Kong Spain and Turkey. However, the agency has never worked with Coca-Cola on its search account previously.

Coca-Cola currently uses a number of agencies on its advertising roster including Glue Isobar, Iris Worldwide, Fallon, Vizeum and Mother.

Earlier this month, Coca-Cola GB launched a Christmas campaign, rewarding responsible drivers with a "Bogof" offer on its Coca-Cola and Diet Coke brands, in a bid to keep the roads safe.

Created by Iris, the "designated driver" campaign, now in its third year, is run in conjunction with the Department for Transport.

Coca-Cola and Universal McCann were unavailable for comment.

Effective IPad Ads Are Clean, Simple and Provoke Emotion, Study Shows

3:43:56 AM

When it comes to ads on the iPad, a couple things are imperative: the ads can't be frustrating and they need to evoke some emotion from the user.

That's according to a study conducted by Time Inc., Interpublic Groups of Cos.' Universal McCann and biometrics and neuroscience marketing company EmSense. Mike Haggerty, senior VP and director-marketing accountability research at UM, and Betsy Frank, chief research and insights officer at Time Warner's Time Inc., discussed the study's findings at Ad Age's Media Evolved conference in New York.

The study marked the first time that biometrics research has been conducted on advertising within iPad magazine apps, providing scientific evidence of how users engage and respond to ads. A key finding is that engagement on the iPad is complex and consists of three elements: visual attention, defined as an ad's power to grab a reader's attention and make the user spend more time on the ad; accessibility, which measures whether an ad offers easy entry points to stay on the ad or go deeper; and propulsion, or the ability to move from page one of an ad through to the interactive elements and features.

The study was conducted on 180 iPad owners in Chicago and San Francisco, using a combination of EEG readings on emotion and cognition, as well as eye tracking, surveys and one-on-one interviews, to reveal emotional, cognitive and visual responses to ads embedded in several Time Inc. publications including People and Sports Illustrated.

Mr. Haggerty said that high-scoring ads in the study had a clean look -- they weren't repurposed internet ads and they didn't have a lot of text. He added that when emotion and cognition measured high, the user was drawn into the ad. High emotion and low cognition were preferable readings -- meaning, the ad produced positive emotions without prompting the user to think too much. Negative emotion and high cognition indicated the user was frustrated.

Confusing interactive features or superfluous buttons generally elicited frustration in the user, ending in what Mr. Haggerty called a lack of propulsion, or a wasted opportunity to connect a user to a brand.

"Too many buttons adds frustration, which has a negative cognitive effect. Keep the consumer in mind as you create touch points because they represent a call to action. Make sure the consumer understands benefits of going deeper into ads. Create easily displayed video and buttons that inform next step," said Ms. Frank.

Mr. Haggerty said of the study's results and the implications for brands: "We see opportunity for convergence of creative and media. We should think in ways that are fundamentally different and develop the best practices and guidelines to make iPad advertising that is effective."

Congratulations to the UM London team!

3:43:56 AM

We are delighted to announce that the UM London team won Gold at Campaign for their Bing Breaks campaign, an innovative television advertisting idea where every ad in a channel's breaks were set up by a Bing ad. Congratulations to everyone who contributed.

UM Newsletter abonnieren

3:43:56 AM

Etwa zehnmal im Jahr verschicken wir per Email Newsletter an unsere Kunden und Agenturpartner. Die Newsletter behandeln aktuelle Themen aus den Bereichen Medien, Kommunikation und Werbung. Wenn Sie diese Newsletter erhalten wollen: melden Sie sich hier rasch und unbürokratisch an.

Word of Mouth Marketing Association Announces 2010 WOMMY Award Winners

3:43:56 AM

@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Calibri"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0in; }ul { margin-bottom: 0in; }

The 2010 WOMMY Awards recognize the best and most innovative word of mouth marketing campaigns implemented in the past year.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) announced the winners of the 2010 WOMMY Awards at the 5th annual WOMMA Summit conference in Las Vegas, Nov. 17-19. The WOMMYs celebrate the people, agencies, and brands behind the most innovative and effective word-of-mouth marketing campaigns implemented within the past year.

The categories and winners for the 2010 WOMMY Awards include:

Grand Prix Award: Voted best overall campaign by WOMMA Summit 2010 attendees at the WOMMY Awards Luncheon on Nov. 18.

Best Buy | Crispin Porter & Bogusky

Introduction Award - Best word of mouth communication program to introduce new products/services.

Gold: Beneteau |QUARTIER D'ETE
Silver: The Marmarati | We Are Social
Bronze: Judaism | Likeable Media (WOMMA Governing Member)

Momentum Award - Best word of mouth program to juice existing products/services.

Silver: Eloqua | Eloqua
Bronze: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter | Zocalo Group (WOMMA Governing Member)
Honorable Mention: My FICO Forums | Access Communications

Experiential Award - Best word of mouth program as the result of great customer experience.

Gold: Random House | Affinitive
Silver: Bushes Best | Empower Media Marketing
Bronze: Time Warner | Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (WOMMA Governing Member)

Social Media Award - Best use of social media as a communication medium.

Gold: Best Buy | Crispin Porter & Bogusky
Silver: Ford | Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (WOMMA Governing Member)
Bronze: Greenpeace | Wanda Digital

Innovation Award - Best use of word of mouth insights to invent a new product or service.

Gold: The Marmarati | We Are Social
Bronze: Spiceworks | Spiceworks

Research Award - Best strategic thinking to measure the impact/success of word of mouth.

Gold: Sony | Universal McCann
Silver: Coke | Escalate
Bronze: Nokia | 1000heads
Honorable Mention: LG | Spring Research

The 2010 WOMMY Award winners were selected based upon the following criteria: a clearly identified business problem; a well-articulated insight into the problem; a creative solution; and results that relate back to the business problem.

“The cases demonstrate the best strategic and creative ideas applied to real business problems,” said David Rabjohns, CEO and founder of MotiveQuest LLC and Chair of the 2010 WOMMY Awards.

During the WOMMY Awards Luncheon at WOMMA Summit, attendees will cast ballots to determine the Grand Prix winner of the WOMMYs. The award will then be presented to the winner after the Luncheon.

The case studies from the top award winners will be published in the “WOM Works” research book, available for sale through WOMMA.

About WOMMA
WOMMA, http://WOMMA.org, is the leading trade association in the marketing and advertising industries that focuses on word of mouth, consumer-generated and social media platforms -- or marketing techniques that include buzz, viral, community, and influencer marketing, as well as brand blogging. The organization is committed to developing and maintaining appropriate ethical standards for marketers and advertisers engaging in such marketing practices, identifying meaningful measurement standards for such marketing practices, and defining “best practices” for the industry.

Founded in 2004, WOMMA currently has approximately 300 members. They include marketers and brands that use word-of-mouth marketing to reinforce their core customers and to reach out to new consumers, agencies that deliver word-of-mouth services and technologies, researchers that track the word-of-mouth experience and offline and online practitioners.

ZUJI Appoints UM Sydney

3:43:56 AM

Asia Pacific online travel agency ZUJI has appointed UM Sydney in preparation for the brand’s 2011 activities.

ZUJI aggregates travel opportunities from more than 400 airlines, 60,000 hotels, thousands of car hire companies, activities locations, attractions and travel insurance companies to provide travelers with complete online travel packages. As well as Australia ZUJI operates sites in New Zealand, Hong Kong, India, and Singapore and is ultimately owned by Travelocity, one of the world’s largest travel companies.

“This is a highly dynamic industry that is accelerating with online capabilities that are highly user friendly to our customers,” said James Gaskell, managing director of ZUJI Australia. “UM has an impressive track record and skill sets in building online brands in all forms of media. They are a great fit for the ambitions we have for the ZUJI business.”

Travis Johnson, managing director of UM Sydney, said: “ZUJI is a very distinct brand with huge opportunities. We are developing a fully integrated approach to 2011 and looking for new opportunities to make ZUJI a much more sought after and influential brand in this sector.”

UM China wins Most Cooperative Agency!

3:43:56 AM

UM China has some great news to share: Shanghai Media Group (SMG) recently presented UM China's buying team with an award for the Most Cooperative Agency. UM's trading team -- including Jacky and TP Team, Dennis Xia and Negotiations Team as well as Lisa Wei -- were all on hand to receive the award on behalf of UM colleagues.

In addition, UM clients Founder and BASF were presented with prestigious awards.

UM retains US $50ml L'Oreal media account in Australia

3:43:56 AM

L'Oreal has reportedly reappointed IPG's Universal McCann (UM) to its US$50 million consolidated media buying and planning account in Australia, following a review initiated in August.

UM’s appointment by L’Oreal Australia follows a review process and shortlist believed to have also included Carat and Mindshare – which recently picked up L’Oreal’s media business in China. Prior to the appointment, the account was split between UM and Publicis-owned Zenith Optimedia.

UM was recently reappointed to the Nihon L'Oreal account in Japan, and in the US, L'Oreal recently consolidated its US$700 million consumer division with UM.

July 2010 saw Maxus scoop L'Oreal's media business in India, while Mindshare retained Hong Kong end-2009. A review and pitch process is still ongoing in Thailand.

L'Oreal makes media pick in China

3:43:56 AM

Cosmetics giant L'Oreal has awarded its $1 billion-plus media planning and buying account in China to WPP Group's Mindshare after a consolidation review, the client has confirmed.

The review was a shootout between the two incumbents, Mindshare, which handled about 25 percent of the business, and Publicis Groupe's Optimedia.

The win is huge for Mindshare, and more than makes up for its loss of the $450 million Unilever account in China earlier this year. According to CTR Market Research, which tracks ad spending in China, the cosmetics/toiletries category drove the market's 17 percent growth in the first half of 2010. Total spending in China rose to $41 billion in the first half, per CTR.

During the same period, L'Oreal, one of the biggest ad spenders in China, was up 31 percent to $550 million, which followed a 65 percent increase in spending there by the client in 2009 to just over $1 billion.

Commenting on the win, Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, Mindshare Asia-Pacific, said, "This appointment is a reflection of the hard work, commitment and dedication of the entire Mindshare China team."

The win is the third major piece of business that GroupM has picked up from L'Oreal this year. In July, Mindshare sister shop Maxus won L'Oreal's media account in India, while Mindshare picked up its Mexico business a few months ago, while in a separate review it retained Hong Kong.

Zenith Optimedia continues to service the client's $100 million-plus account in the UK. In the U.S., L'Oreal consolidated media chores for its $710 million assignment with Interpublic's Universal McCann earlier this year, after a review that pitted UM against the other incumbent, ZO.

Wave 5- The socialisation of brands

3:43:56 AM

전 세계 SNS 유저들의 이용 행태 조사 – Wave 5; The socialisation of brands

글로벌 미디어 대행사 UM (煎 유니버셜 맥켄)은 전 세계 53개국 37,600 명을 대상으로 실시한 유저들의 SNS(Social Network Sevice)의 이용 행태를 파악하기 위한 ‘Wave 5 – The Socialisation of brands’를 발표했다.

‘Wave’는 UM에서 2006년부터 해마다 전세계적으로 실시하는 서베이로써, 전 세계 인터넷 유저들이 어떤 유형의 SNS를 어떻게 즐기고 무슨 활동들을 하고 있는지 등의 SNS 이용 행태 분석에 초점을 맞추고 있으며, 이를 통해 마케터들은 SNS를 사용하는 소비자들에게 어떻게 다가가야 할지를 보여주고 있다.

이번 조사를 통해 확인된 내용 중 Social Media에서 일어난 가장 중요한 변화는 유저들이 모바일을 통해서 SNS에 접속을 하여 다양한 활동을 한다라는 것이고, 특히 사회 경제적 지위가 높은 남성들이 스마트폰을 통해 주로 이용하고 있다는 사실을 확인하였다. 이는 젊은 세대들의 전유물이라고 알려졌던 Social Media에 대한 통념을 깰 수 있을 것으로 보인다.

이번 조사 결과 중 브랜드 커뮤니티에 관하여 주목할 내용은 전체 응답자의 47%에 해당하는 유저들이 SNS를 통해 브랜드 커뮤니티를 방문하고 있으며, 30%에 달하는 유저들이 핸드폰 등의 모바일 기기를 통해서 Social Media에 접속하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 브랜드 커뮤니티를 가입한 유저들의 72%는 해당 브랜드에 대한 호감도가 높아져 긍정적으로 생각하게 되고, 71%가 이로 인해 브랜드 구매 의향이 높아지게 됐다고 응답하였으며 63%에 해당하는 응답자들이 자신의 지인들에게 해당 브랜드 커뮤니티에 가입할 것을 추천하고 있다고 응답하였다.

이렇게 브랜드 커뮤니티를 방문하는 이들의 가장 큰 목적은 한국과 해외 유저들 모두 신제품에 대한 뉴스나 브랜드에 대한 더욱 더 자세한 정보를 얻기 위해서 브랜드 커뮤니티를 방문하는 것으로 나타났다. 그 다음으로는 브랜드에 관한 자신의 의견을 남들과 공유하거나 브랜드와 관련된 무료 컨텐츠를 얻기 위해서라고 응답한 이들이 뒤를 이었다. 이와 반면에 재미를 위해서 브랜드 커뮤니티를 방문하는 이들의 비중은 한국 시장에서는 가장 낮은 것으로 나타났다. 이를 통해 마케터들은 브랜드 커뮤니티를 운영함에 있어서 다른 무엇보다도 신제품 관련 뉴스나 다양한 정보를 제공하여 방문자들의 니즈를 충족시킬 수 있도록 최선을 다해야 할 것으로 보인다.

한편 한국 유저들이 자주 이용하는 SNS의 타입은 검색 엔진(포털 사이트)인 것으로 나타났는데, 검색 엔진을 통해서 최신 트렌드를 확인하고 지식을 공유하며 다양한 분야에 대한 탐색 및 지식 습득을 위해 사용하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이와 함께 지인 또는 직업과 관련된 커뮤니케이션은 주로 메신저를 통해서 하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이런 SNS 이용 형태는 Twitter나 Facebook과 같은 Social Networks와 Message Board의 이용도가 높은 해외의 추세와는 다른 것으로 나타나는데 이는 포털 사이트에 대한 의존도가 높은 한국 매체 환경에 기인한 것으로 판단된다.

이는 마케터들에게 브랜드 커뮤니티를 활용함에 있어서 그들의 타겟(소비자)들이 어떤 SNS를 활용하고 어떤 Social Media를 이용하는지 그리고 브랜드 특성과 타겟의 Needs를 파악하여 그들을 최고로 만족시킬 수 있는 플랫폼을 선택하여 접근할 것을 제시하고 있다.

* 유니버설 맥켄 : IPG(NYSE) 산하 글로벌 미디어 대행사로 130여개국 151개 사무실에서 3,600여명의 직원이 일하고 있다. 국내에서 10위권에 랭크되어 있는 진정한 의미의 유일한 global media specialist company 이며, 코카콜라, 마이크로소프트, 모토로라, 로레알, 한국존슨, 디아지오 외에 다수의 광고주들이 있다.

Wave5 - UM präsentiert die weltweit größte Social Media Studie

3:43:56 AM

5. Welle der weltweit größten Social Media Studie soeben erschienen - „WAVE 5 – The Socialisation of Brands“

Die seit 2006 durchgeführte Studie umfasst mittlerweile 53 Länder weltweit und zeigt, dass Social Media nicht nur ein Hype, sondern vielmehr ein dynamischer Kommunikationskanal ist, der sich längst in der täglichen Medianutzung etabliert hat. Stand in den vorhergehenden Wellen der Studie noch die Nutzung von Social Media im Vordergrund, beschäftigt sich WAVE 5 nun verstärkt mit dem Eintritt von Marken in das Social Web, mit dem Ziel, erfolgreiche Social Media Strategien für Unternehmen und Marken zu entwickeln.

Mitglieder von Social Communities wollen mit Marken interagieren. Viele Marken und Unternehmen lassen immer noch die Tatsache außer Acht, dass beinahe jeder zweite Internetnutzer Mitglied einer Markencommunity ist.

Online Netzwerke überholen Face-to-Face Kontakte. Durchschnittlich hat ein Internetnutzer Verbindung zu 52 Personen innerhalb eines Online- Netzwerkes. Das sind mehr Personen, als wir für gewöhnlich über Face to Face, Email oder Telefon kontaktieren. Für Marken ist es daher wichtig zu wissen, wo und warum verschiedene Konsumentengruppen interagieren. So können Marken Inhalte kommunizieren und Communities aufbauen, zu denen Menschen gehören wollen und ihrerseits zu Markenbotschaftern werden.

Flat-Rate und Gratis Smartphones als Social Media Treiber. Die fünfte Erhebung der Studie zeigt einen deutlichen Zusammenhang zwischen Smartphone-Besitz und Social Media Nutzung. Global bedeutet das, dass 90% der Smartphone-Besitzer ihr Handy aktiv für Social Media nutzen.

Social Networks - einflussreiche Kommunikationsdrehscheiben. Online Communities werden verstärkt genutzt, um sich über Marken und Produkte zu informieren und Empfehlungen über diese von anderen Community Mitgliedern zu erhalten. Dabei ist das „Trust“ Element ausschlaggebend – „Wenn eine mir bekannte Person bereits Fan einer Marke ist, sinkt die Hemmschwelle, mich mit dieser Marke zu beschäftigen“, so Mathias Mayer, Social Media Analyst bei Universal McCann Wien, „Ich sehe sofort einen persönlichen Anknüpfungspunkt, wo ich mich über das Produkt individuell informieren kann“.

Social Media verändert die Art, wie Menschen miteinander kommunizieren. Und bietet Unternehmen eine große Chance, in den direkten Dialog mit Konsumenten zu treten. Mit dem – selbstverständlich auch österreich-spezifisch zählbaren – Datenbestand von WAVE 5 bieten wir ein einzigartiges Analyse-Instrument, das genau diesen Weg ebnet.

Eine globale Zusammenfassung der Studie „WAVE 5 – The Socialisation of Brands“ sowie eine Übersicht der Österreich-Ergebnisse ist ab sofort kostenfrei zu beziehen. Ansprechpartner – auch für konkrete Anfragen:

Mag. Mathias Mayer – Universal McCann: mathias.mayer@umww.com

Andreas Ban – Fastbridge: andreas.ban@fastbridge.at

Grey Moscow "освежили" кампанию нового "Клинского"

3:43:56 AM

В телеэфире вовсю идет рекламная кампания САН ИнБев "Открывай! Освежайся!" по запуску нового нефильтрованного пива Клинское Fresh

Рекламная кампания, разработана агентством Grey Moscow. В агентстве рассказывают, что здесь постарались уйти от стандартного рекламного микса - традиционных роликов, классических принтов и радиоспотов. Вместо этого были разработаны нестандартные вариации - спонсорские заставки, интегрирование в спецпроекты, нестандартная наружная реклама, Интернет-игры. Рекламный слоган кампании: "Открывай! Освежайся!". Креативная идея - невероятная комбинация легкости и насыщенности пива Клинское Fresh.

Рекламное сообщение адресовано молодым людям от 18 до 24 лет - оптимистам, с прекрасным чувством юмора, но также рассчитано и на более старшую аудиторию - 25-29.

Эльдар Джинчарадзе, креативный директор Grey Moscow: "Мы постарались отойти от классических рекламных приемов, которые, на наш взгляд, меньше воздействуют на эту целевую группу, и использовать нестандартные решения. Они не раздражают и способны вызывать больше положительных эмоций по отношению к бренду".

Рекламная кампания проходит в Москве, Сибири, Западном регионе и на Урале. Медиа планирование кампании осуществляло агентство Universal McCann. В столице задействован ряд каналов коммуникации: TV - спонсорство телевизионных программ (Comedy Battle с Павлом Волей (ТНТ), рубрика "Кино" (СТС); Пресса: реклама в журналах Time Out, Discovery, Афиша, Большой город, Отдохни!, Антенна; Наружная реклама: форматы (6х3), сити-формат, нестандартные наружные конструкции 6х3, нестандартные перетяжки, суперсайт; Транспорт: стикеры в метро; вставки в промо-боксы; POS-материалы: нестандартный шелфбаннер; Реклама в Интернете: баннеры, промо-страницы с промо-игрой.

Подробности на Sostav.ru

Реалити шоу "В моем мире" от Windows 7

3:43:56 AM

Компания Microsoft, совместно с агентствами UM и Advance Digital запустили проект на портале Mail.ru для бренда Windows. В рамках продвижения новой ОС Microsoft 7 был разработан спецпроект в социальной сети «Мой Мир». Цель проекта - продвижение бренда путем коммуникации с целевой аудиторией «лицом к лицу» в период начала учебного года в естественной для молодежи digital –среде.

Проект призван показать молодежи, как при помощи современного компьютера c ОС Windows 7 можно улучшить качество своей жизни: больше успевать, реализовывать проекты, общаться с друзьями, претворять свои мечты в жизнь.

Для проекта на конкурсной основе были отобраны реальные представители целевой аудитории, приславшие свои анкеты. Используя удобные приложения и функции нового Windows 7, молодые люди делятся своими мыслями и успехами в блогах социальной сети «Мой Мир», где выкладывают также свои фото и видео.

Илья — молодой, амбициозный музыкант. Его мечта — стать знаменитым, вывести свою группу на большую сцену и создать домашнюю звукозаписывающую студию. Недавно Илья участвовал в презентации нового продукта от Microsoft — Microsoft Office 2010, где познакомился с новым пакетом программного обеспечения и испробовал его возможности при общении с друзьями в блогах. Илья встречался с известными продюсерами, которые дали ему ряд ценных советов и теперь он рассказывает читателям своего блога о том, как удается воплотить новые идеи Группа Ильи уже записала первый трек и приглашает всех желающих на концерты.

Олег — спортсмен: ни дня без экстрима, острых ощущений и своих многочисленных друзей. В свои 22 года Олег поставил перед собой цель заработать миллион за 365 дней. Обратный отсчет дней Олег решил начать на этом проекте. С Excel 2010 Олег планирует доходы и расходы.. Еще одна задача Олега на ближайшее будущее – найти свою вторую половину. Девушки – welcome on board!
Арина – молодой журналист газеты «Комсомольская правда». Она мечтает стать автором ярких интервью со знаменитостями и работать на ТВ. У Арины много идей, которые ей предстоит реализовать вместе с ноутбуком с установленной операционной системой Windows 7 Домашняя Расширенная, чтобы в любой ситуации записать свои идеи и мысли. Арина изучает опыт будущих коллег по журналистике и еще …мечтает влюбиться!

Арина – молодой журналист газеты «Комсомольская правда». Она мечтает стать автором ярких интервью со знаменитостями и работать на ТВ. У Арины много идей, которые ей предстоит реализовать вместе с ноутбуком с установленной операционной системой Windows 7 Домашняя Расширенная, чтобы в любой ситуации записать свои идеи и мысли. Арина изучает опыт будущих коллег по журналистике и еще …мечтает влюбиться!

Саше всего 18 лет, она начинающий архитектор и фотограф. Мечта Саши — участие в крупных профессиональных выставках. Путь к мечте она начинает вместе с нетбуком и операционной системой Windows 7 Домашняя Расширенная. Саша активно пользуется бесплатными дополнениями к Windows, например, Фотоальбом Windows Live, и рассказывает участникам блога как создать фотопанораму. Осваивать мастерство Саше помогает фотограф Владимир Соколов. Еще Саша предлагает всем желающим снятся НЮ.

Проект уже привлек постоянных читателей, которые ежедневно оставляют десятки комментариев.

Подробности на Adindex.ru

To Advertisers, Twitter's a Fledgling

3:43:56 AM

Twitter Inc.'s foray into advertising is receiving mixed reviews among marketers, underscoring the challenges of turning the popular micro-blogging service into a highly profitable enterprise.

Twitter's foray into advertising is receiving mixed reviews among marketers, underscoring the challenges of turning the popular micro-blogging service into a highly profitable enterprise. Amir Efrati discusses on Digits.

The popularity of Twitter has fueled expectations that marketers could use the service to target relevant ads to consumers interested in real-time information about breaking events and other topics. Since launching its much-anticipated advertising products in April, Twitter has signed on more than 30 big-name brands, including Coca-Cola Co., Virgin America and Starbucks Corp., to test them.

Some marketers say that early results are promising but that advertising on Twitter remains an experiment. Other marketers, including PepsiCo Inc.'s beverage brands and Best Buy Co., who tested out Twitter's new advertising products—some without cost—haven't made new ad buys. Marketers say they definitely aren't ruling out advertising on Twitter in the future, but that it's still early days and they are figuring out what works.

"The jury is out" on whether Twitter can become a home for brand advertisers, said David Cohen, an executive vice president at Universal McCann, a media-buying agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos.

Twitter offers "Promoted Tweets," where marketers pay to have their messages listed as the first result when a user conducts a search on Twitter.com; the site handled about 130 million searches in August, according to comScore Inc. The company soon will experiment with ads that target users based on the content in their tweets, or messages.

Marketers who tried out Twitter's new advertising product at launch didn't pay for the initial tests, according to two digital-ad executives. Now, Twitter is selling Promoted Tweets for upwards of $100,000.

While some marketers aren't convinced about Twitter, Virgin America says it drove ticket sales to Toronto.

Marketers say they want more targeting options and better metrics to track the impact of their ad campaigns.

They also question whether consumers pay attention to paid ads on social-networking-type sites, however. Some see more benefit in using the sites' free options, such as creating Twitter accounts and interacting with users.

"It is a totally new and different kind of ad format. There is a lot we still have to learn and think about," says Shiv Singh, head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages, which tested Twitter's ads this summer but has yet to make any further Twitter buys.

For Twitter, a four-year-old service, much is riding on its efforts to woo Madison Avenue in its first serious attempt to generate revenue. The San Francisco start-up was valued at about $1 billion during a recent financing, according to people familiar with the matter. Twitter executives say their ad push has just begun and they are under no pressure to show revenue growth anytime soon, so long as users continue to flock to the service.

Twitter executives say the ad products have exceeded expectations. Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo said that on average 5% of Twitter users who saw a Promoted Tweet interacted with it, a rate that is "an order of magnitude greater" than most online ad campaigns.

Nearly 80% of the companies who tried Twitter's Promoted Tweets or a similar ad product known as Promoted Trends made a second buy, a Twitter spokesman said.

When a Twitter campaign is a hit with users, it has the ability to make a big impact as people share the message with their friends, some marketers say. Airline Virgin America promoted the launch of its new service to Toronto in April by offering special discounts to Twitter users. The promotion drove the airline's fifth-highest sales day to date, says Jill Fletcher, Virgin America's social-media communications manager.

In recent weeks, Twitter began rolling out a redesign of its website designed to give advertisers a better platform to showcase photos or videos, said Evan Williams, Twitter's chief executive.

Each day Twitter users post more than 90 million messages, called tweets, nearly triple the number posted per day in January. About 375,000 new users are signing up every day, and there are now more than 160 million registered users around the world.

As part of its efforts to woo marketers in New York, Chicago and elsewhere, Twitter in recent months hired experienced advertising executives from Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., among other companies.

Ad spending on social networking-type services remains a small fraction of the total online ad market. Marketers this year are expected to spend about $1.7 billion on social networks—just 6.7% of the total $25.1 billion market, according to research firm eMarketer Inc.

Lambassador campaign wins Gold!

3:43:56 AM

UM Australia's "Lambassador" campaign for Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has been awarded Gold at the annual Spikes Awards, the most prestigious awards forum in Asia Pacific. UM Australia was also awarded a Bronze for the "Light's On Now" Skin Cancer campaign for The Federal Government.

Sales of lamb went up 27% as a result of the campaign and lamb was voted Australia's National Dish from a poll in The Daily Telegraph. The campaign has become destination viewing for audiences on and after each Australia Day when it is launched. It was so heavily reported by the media generally that we attracted $6 million of audited exposure for a budget of $800,000.

UM would like to acknowledge the strength of the partnership with MLA that supports breakthrough work like this, as well as the creative skills and professionalism of creative agency BMF and Hausmann PR who are great partners. At UM we'd like to make special mention of Travis Johnson, Hugo Cutrone, Lauren Cassar, Maura Tuohy, Natalie Harvey, Briar Rowsell and Andrew Murray. Also, a major part of making this campaign a success was the help received from the UM global network, in particular thanks to Scott Laine from our New York office who organized celebrities like Donald Trump.

Gold and Bronze at SPIKES ASIA for UM Australia

3:43:56 AM

The big news overnight is that UM Australia’s “Lambassador” campaign for Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has been awarded Gold at the annual Spikes Awards, the most prestigious awards forum in Asia Pacific. UM Australia was also awarded a Bronze for the “Light’s On Now” Skin Cancer campaign for The Federal Government.

Both awards are great and for MLA another important milestone for the Sam Kekovich campaign that started in 2005 and has since gone from strength to absolute strength. In previous years Sam’s rants for Lamb have been a feature of summertime TV viewing, urging Australia’s national audience to eat more lamb.

This year Sam went global – well New York actually. He was anointed as Australia’s Lambassador and the new TVCs saw him addressing the United Nations (sort of) and Sam also discussed the virtues of eating lamb with a Tanzanian diplomat and even Donald Trump (himself).

It was great fun, but was it effective? Well yes if you know that year on year sales of lamb went up 27% as a result of the campaign and lamb was voted Australia’s National Dish from a poll in The Daily Telegraph. The campaign has become destination viewing for audiences on and after each Australia Day when it is launched. It was so heavily reported by the media generally that we attracted $6 million of audited exposure for a budget of $800,000.

UM would like to acknowledge the strength of the partnership with MLA that supports breakthrough work like this, as well as the creative skills and professionalism of creative agency BMF and Hausmann PR who are great partners. At UM we’d like to make special mention of Travis Johnson, Hugo Cutrone, Lauren Cassar, Maura Tuohy, Natalie Harvey, Briar Rowsell and Andrew Murray. Also, a major part of making this campaign a success was the help received from the UM global network, in particular thanks to Scott Laine from our New York office who organized celebrities like Donald Trump.

AWM's 2010 Mediaweek 50

3:43:56 AM

Jacki Kelly: president, North America, UM

OVERSIGHT: Oversees all operations for UM in North America. IMPACT: Working closely with global CEO Matt Seiler, Kelly hired Michael Siegenthaler from Microsoft to run team of media-owner experts to foster strategic partnership with media owners. Established UM Canada as a standalone agency; strengthening U.S. offices. TRACTION: Coming off Wells Fargo, Ethan Allen and Mastercard U.S. wins, Kelly will continue to shape and expand UM’s postion in the media-owner space and institutionalize Seiler’s vision for UM. 2009 RANK: New
--

Universal McCann retains £4m H&M media account

3:43:56 AM

Interpublic agency Universal McCann has kept hold of its longstanding H&M media account after a review, launched in July, tested the incumbent's hold on the £4m business.

H&M: Fashion Against Aids summer festival campaign

The fashion retailer retained its incumbent UK and Ireland agency after a final shootout against Aegis' Vizeum and Publicis agency ZenithOptimedia.

Andy Jones, the UM chief executive, said: "We are incredibly proud of the work we've done in collaboration with H&M and look forward to building upon that going forward. H&M is a flagship client for UM and we truly value their business."

The review followed a separate review late last year for H&M's outdoor media account which moved from Interpublic's IPM specialist and into WPP's Kinetic.

UM has handled the media planning and buying business for the Swedish retailer since September 2001 and last defended the contract in 2004.

H&M also launched its first online shop last week. The retail giant has announced a new designer collaboration with Lanvin, the luxury French fashion label, which will create a range to hit shops in December.

H&M launched a festival range this summer from which 25% of sales were donated to youth HIV/Aids awareness projects. It is part of the store's Fashion Against Aids campaign, now in its third year, which has raised over £2.7m for charity.

Jacki Kelly, AWN's 2010 Mediaweek 50

3:43:56 AM

39. Jacki Kelley: president, North America, UM

Oversees all operations for UM in North America. IMPACT: Working closely with global CEO Matt Seiler, Kelly hired Michael Siegenthaler from Microsoft to run team of media-owner experts to foster strategic partnership with media owners. Established UM Canada as a standalone agency; strengthening U.S. offices. TRACTION: Coming off Wells Fargo, Ethan Allen and Mastercard U.S. wins, Kelly will continue to shape and expand UM’s postion in the media-owner space and institutionalize Seiler’s vision for UM.

Neue UM Website ist live

3:43:56 AM

Sie sehen es ja - die UM Wien hat eine neue Website. Öfter mal vorbeischauen lohnt sich - die curious media facts auf der Startseite werden wöchentlich aktualisiert!

UM Wien gewinnt Media Award für Eristoff

3:43:56 AM

UM Wien gewinnt auch 2010 den Mediaaward in der Kategorie "Kreative Mediastrategie" unter € 200.000. Mit der Kampagne für Eristoff "Wolf Targeting" gelingt es den Erfolg von 2009 zu wiederholen.

Herausforderung: Die wahrgenommene Premiumness und Relevanz von ERISTOFF Vodka in der jungen, lebenslustigen Zielgruppe zu stärken und die dominante Position als Marktführer auszubauen.

Frage: Wie kann Eristoffs "mysteriöse" Herkunftswelt in einer für die Zielgruppe relevanten Erlebniswelt vermittelt werden?

UM Philippines Wins AOY Excellence Award for Media Creativity

3:43:56 AM

Manila, September 15, 2010 - Having the curiosity™ to create innovative media solutions paved the way for UM Philippines to win the Best in Media Creativity Award at this year’s Agency of the Year ceremony. This recognition marks UM’s latest triumph, which involved breakthrough campaigns for two of its biggest clients: Globe and Clean & Clear (J&J).

UM’s integrated campaign for Globe helped the company advocate its key brand messages and connect with Filipinos worldwide. In celebration of Labor Day 2009, Globe staged a highly successful job fair, which served as the launch pad for a government-supported employment hotline. “Wowowee”, a mid-day show with strong ties to Overseas Filipino Workers, effectively maximized special coverage of the event.

Another reflection of UM’s curiosity was the Clean & Clear “Outshine” digital campaign. The campaign encouraged teenagers to flock to the Clean & Clear Multiply site to determine who will star with celebrity/DJ Andi 9 in her upcoming music video. The results of the campaign were striking, with the Multiply site increasing its activity by more than 1,000%.

“The Media Excellence Award for Media Creativity was an important win for us. It was a strong recognition of our top quality and innovative service offering to our clients. Winning the award is proof of UM’s passion to create new and innovative ways to deliver our clients’ brand messages,” said Dino Laurena, Managing Director, UM.

###

About UM:

UM (www.umww.com) is a global marketing communications agency that represents the world’s leading marketers and strategic thinkers for many highly regarded clients including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Sony, MasterCard, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal and Chrysler. As part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, UM has 151 offices in 130 countries and employs 3,600 creative thinkers and doers. With the mantra, “Yes &,” UM offers a full spectrum of media services and is able to tap into a number of exclusive partner agencies so they deliver the most surprising results to clients. They recently were awarded “Media Agency of the Year” by Adweek/Mediaweek and named to the 2009 “A-list” by Advertising Age.

Lisa Wei appointed to be COO of UM China

3:43:56 AM

By Marie Green on Aug 30, 2010 filed under Media, China

Wei will report to Simon Woodward who joined the Mediabrands agency as China CEO in April.

She will be based in Beijing and responsible for managing trading for UM, looking after the day-to-day operations of the Beijing office and contribute towards developing UM's business throughout China.

Wei has 23 years media experience including a short stint in her latest position as CEO of OMG’s buying operation in China which she took up in May this year.

Prior to joining OMG, Wei resigned from Mindshare in January after working there since 1997. During her tenure she held various senior executive posts at Mindshare and GroupM's office in China, including partner for the Exchange in Beijing. Prior to joining Mindshare, Wei also worked for Ogilvy Group in Taiwan.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with Lisa again,” said Woodward. “Her skills, knowledge, status and experience in the China market are second to none. She has a fantastic reputation with media owners and clients in China, and when combined with her leadership, we expect to vigorously move our business and service to a whole new level.”

On her appointment, Wei said, “UM’s values and business ethics are unique in the market. The company has a clear opportunity to approach business in a distinctive and engaging manner in China. I look forward to new challenges and success with the UM team.”

MasterCard доверил Universal McCann американский бюджет

3:43:56 AM

Эккаунт перекочевал из GSD&M Idea City без проведения тендера

MasterCard без проведения тендера переместил свой американский медиа-эккаунт в Universal McCann (UM), входящее в состав рекламно-коммуникационного холдинга Interpublic Group (IPG).

До этого момента на протяжении 15 дет обслуживанием бюджета занималось GSD&M Idea City (Omnicom Group). Именно это агентство координировало запуск иконической кампании «Priceless».

Очевидно, что на перемещение эккаунта руководство MasterCard подтолкнуло стремление консолидировать продвижение под крышей одного холдинга: UM и прежде принадлежали медиа-обязанности на рынках за пределами США, креатив для глобальных кампаний создавало McCann Erickson, а R/GA (также IPG) координировало цифровую активность.

MasterCard входит в сотню крупнейших рекламодателей США, в прошлом году его американский бюджет, по данным Nielsen, составил $165 млн.

Автор: Степан Трифонов для Adindex.ru

Universal McCann ties up global MasterCard account

3:43:56 AM

MasterCard has consolidated its $340m (£220m) global media planning and buying account into Interpublic Group's Universal McCann.

The account was previously at Omnicom's GSD&M/Idea City, Texas, and is the final piece of the worldwide Mastercard media jigsaw for Universal McCann.

MasterCard, in a statement, said it had "enjoyed a great partnership and success with GSD&M/Idea City" where the account had sat for more than 10 years. The credit card giant said it was "extremely proud" of the work it had done in partnership with the agency.

It said: "At this time, we have decided to consolidate our media-planning and buying responsibilities with our global agency of record to create greater efficiencies and consistency around the globe."

In July MasterCard launched a campaign to remind holidaymakers it can provide moments that money can't buy while on holiday. The creative work consisted of five executions.

Press ads appeared in national and global press, while airport travel routes such as the UK’s Heathrow and Stansted Express hosted train card panels.

Airports featured a range of digital screens above check-in and on the airport concourse, and online banners ran over travel and trip advice sites as well as booking confirmation pages.

Recent television activity from the brand includes a television campaign featuring Welsh songstress Bonnie Tyler promoting the World MasterCard.

In the TV spot, created by McCann Erickson, Tyler serenades a MasterCard customer with her hit single 'Total Eclipse of the Heart', as a way of saying thank you for using the World MasterCard.

Over the past few months Universal MCann has also picked up the global accounts for high-end fashion brand Burberry and Danish shoe manufacturer Ecco.

MasterCard Consolidates Media at Universal McCann

3:43:56 AM

Shift of $343 Million U.S. Budget Aligns Business at IPG

Posted by Michael Bush and Rupal Parekh

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- MasterCard is ending its 15-year relationship with the agency that helped it launch its "Priceless" campaign, Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City, and consolidating its U.S. media-planning and buying business with Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann.

MasterCard ranked No. 93 in Ad Age's 100 Leading National Advertisers report, tallying $343 million in U.S. ad spending.

UM was already managing MasterCard's media business outside the U.S. The move unites MasterCard's creative, media, PR and digital accounts under the Interpublic umbrella, with McCann Erickson Worldwide handling creative, R/GA managing digital, Weber Shandwick running PR duties and Octagon handling sports marketing and partnerships.

A GSD&M Idea City representative declined to comment. In a statement, MasterCard said it has "enjoyed a great partnership and success with GSD&M/Idea City for more than 10 years and we are extremely proud of the work we have done together. At this time, we have decided to consolidate our media-planning and -buying responsibilities with our global agency of record, Universal McCann, to create greater efficiencies and consistency around the globe."

In a June interview, Alfredo Gangotena, named global CMO of MasterCard only two months earlier, addressed with Ad Age the issue of his agency partners delivering the global "Priceless" message while also addressing specific, regional financial issues.

"You can have a global message, but it needs to be delivered locally," he said. "Something new that we are starting to do is that in a given geography, for example an emerging market like Eastern Europe, we have three or four of the local agencies compete to deliver the best advertising for a given situation. The benefit is to stimulate competition and get better insights and better production. The second advantage is that if a film works in one country, it may also work in its neighbor, so we reduce production costs."

This is the second major consolidation to benefit UM this year. In late April, L'Oreal consolidated its $700 million U.S. media-buying account with the agency.

In early August, MasterCard reported an increase in revenue of 7% to $1.4 billion for the second quarter of 2010 and an income of $458 million.

MasterCard Taps UM for U.S. Media

3:43:56 AM

Chores have been handled by GSD&M

- Steve McClellan

MasterCard is shifting its U.S. media account to Interpublic Group's Universal McCann without a review, the client has confirmed.

The client spent $165 million on ads last year, down 25 percent from 2008, according to Nielsen. From January to June of this year, MasterCard spent $40 million on ads, per Nielsen.

The shift ends a 15-year relationship between the client and Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City, Austin, Texas, which helped it launch the iconic "Priceless" campaign.

GSD&M declined to comment, but sources said the client informed the agency of its decision on Tuesday. A source indicated that the client was interested in having both creative (handled by McCann Erickson) and media under one roof. UM also handles media chores for the client outside the U.S.

UM referred calls to the client.

In a statement, the client said: "MasterCard has consolidated its media duties with Universal McCann. MasterCard has enjoyed a great partnership and success with GSD&M Idea City for more than 10 years and we are extremely proud of the work we have done together. At this time, we have decided to consolidate our media planning and buying responsibilities with...Universal McCann to create greater efficiencies and consistency around the globe."

Mastercard taps UM for US media

3:43:56 AM

MasterCard conslidates media at Universal McCann

3:43:56 AM

MasterCard is ending its 15-year relationship with the agency that helped it launch its "Priceless" campaign, Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City, and consolidating its U.S. media-planning and buying business with Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann.

MasterCard ranked No. 93 in Ad Age's 100 Leading National Advertisers report, tallying $343 million in U.S. ad spending.

This is the second major consolidation to benefit UM this year. In late April, L'Oreal consolidated its $700 million U.S. media-buying account with the agency.

In early August, MasterCard reported an increase in revenue of 7% to $1.4 billion for the second quarter of 2010 and an income of $458 million.

Universal McCann captures Ecco's £30m global media

3:43:56 AM

Ecco, the Danish footwear manufacturer, has appointed Universal McCann to handle its estimated £30 million global media planning and buying account.

The Interpublic network won the business after a final pitch against MediaCom.

Creativebrief handled the review process, which had seen OMD exit at an earlier stage. UM's sister agency Initiative was the incumbent on the UK account.

UM will work for Ecco, which produces children's shoes, outdoor and sports footwear, across Europe and in the US and China.

The retailer has recently launched stores in Oxford, Guildford and Manchester, and is thought to be planning a major brand push in the autumn.

The company was founded in 1963 in Bredebro, Denmark and is owned by the Toosbuy family.

Patrick Ryan, the new-business director at Universal McCann, said: "Ecco is a very unique brand that knows exactly what it is and where it wants to go. It has impressive expansion goals globally and UM is hugely excited to be chosen as its global strategic and media partner."

The Ecco win follows UM's capture of the international planning and buying brief for Burberry in April.

The network landed the business after a six-month pitch process that culminated in a head-to-head battle with WPP's Mindshare.

Mat Baxter Appointed CEO of UM Australia

3:43:56 AM

Henry Tajer Plans Expansion of Mediabrands

Mat Baxter has been appointed CEO of UM in what is seen as a major step in the acceleration of growth plans for IPG's Mediabrands in Australia. Henry Tajer, current UM CEO, will pass the reigns to Baxter on December 1st and concentrate full time on his role as Executive Chairman of Mediabrands. He will focus on further growth and expansion of Mediabrands' local footprint.

Baxter is currently Chief Strategy Officer of MediaCom Australia and former founding partner and CEO Asia Pacific of Naked Communications. He is one of the industry’s most highly regarded strategists and commentators.

“Mediabrands is a way for us to provide clients with a full array of resources in communications planning, implementation and measurement,” said Tajer. “To do this well our key companies need the highest calibre of leadership and talent. Mat's decision to join UM as CEO is testament to the strength of our vision and a huge endorsement for UM and Mediabrands’ plans for the future.”

Mediabrands is one of Australia’s fastest growing media groups. As well as media agencies UM and Initiative, the group also includes social media and search specialist Reprise Media, Ensemble (branded entertainment), Orion (barter trading), Magna (investment intelligence) and Mediabrands Analytics. Recently social media expert Marie Sornin was appointed to lead a new division of Mediabrands concentrating on social media.

“I'm enormously excited about joining UM,” said Baxter. “UM was one of the few agencies I genuinely feared competing with in my previous roles. They've got a hugely impressive track record and an even more impressive client list. They're undoubtedly Australia's most creative communications agency. I'm absolutely thrilled to be their new CEO.”

Tajer said that Baxter’s experience and clear vision for how media can be leveraged for clients was a key fit for UM Australia. Baxter’s arrival at UM will be the second time he and Tajer have worked together – the pair met at Zenith Media about eight years ago. Baxter commented; “UM is an agency with great momentum. It has amazingly strong client relationships and is renowned as one of the best collaborators with media owners. I hope to build on that success even more and carve out a position for us at the very top of the media agency table."

With Baxter’s appointment, Tajer will focus on broadening Mediabrands’ Australian operations. In addition to existing communications skills, the group will develop greater capabilities for clients in social media platforms and other communications channels.

"Mat's arrival frees me up to take a more holistic approach to growing our local business. Now I will have the time I need to dedicate to the development of Mediabrands here in Australia," said Tajer.

Jeep начал использовать новую методику в рекламе

3:43:56 AM

Jeep стали первой компанией, опробовавшей современную технологию CPE

В США фирма ScanScout и рекламное агентство Universal McCann подписали договор с компанией Jeep на апробацию новой технологии в онлайновой рекламе под названием CPE или cost-per-engagement. CPE - это рекламная система которая принципиально отличается от CTR и CPI, при ее использовании рекламодатель платит только тогда, когда пользователь напрямую взаимодействует с рекламным блоком на сайте - играет в игру, участвует в опросе и тому подобное.

Как сообащет mediapost.com, Universal McCann дополнит рекламные ролик Jeep различными интерактивныvb элементами и разместит их в сети. Агентство планирует отслеживать частоту и объем поисковых запросов, шумиху вокруг ролика и затраченное на его просмотр время, таким образом будет отслеживаться успешность кампании.

В свою очередь, ScanScout будет получать деньги лишь в том случае, если пользователи заинтересуются рекламным объявлением. Это может происходить, когда время внимания, обращенного на рекламу, составляет не менее 3-х секунд или когда пользователь кликает по объявлению мышкой.

Интерактивные элементы перенаправляют заинтересованных лиц на официальный сайт компании или начинают транслировать видео-рекламу. Рекламный ролик для Jeep будет запущен на этой неделе.

Автор: Анна Туснолобова для Sostav.ru

Universal McCann запускает социальное подразделение

3:43:56 AM

Новая структура Rally@UM была запущена в США и Индии, но в скором времени должна обрести офисы на всех ключевых рынках мира

Агентство Universal McCann, входящее в состав рекламно-коммуникационного холдинга Interpublic Group (IPG), объявило о запуске Rally@UM, нового подразделения, предназначенного для работы в социальных сетях.

Изначально Rally@UM стартовало с офисов в США и Индии, однако в будущем структура должна обрести глобальное покрытие с открытием офисов в Европе, Африке, Азии, Латинской Америке и на Ближнем Востоке. Среди услуг, которые будет представлять Rally@UM в первое время — отслеживание контактов в социальных медиа, измерение эффективности кампаний и поиск инсайтов, стратегия, активация, CRM и консалтинг по вопросам активности брендов в социальных сетях.

По словам представителей Universal McCann, создание Rally@UM было необходимо агентству для полного обеспечения потребностей клиентов. «Мы не можем по праву называть себя медиа-агентством полного цикла без углубления в социальные медиа, — прокомментировал ситуацию Мэтт Сейлер (Matt Seiler), глобальный шеф Universal McCann, — социальные медиа меняют мир маркетинга, и UM меняется вместе с ним».

Автор: Степан Трифонов для Adindex.ru

Rally@UM Arrives as Agency’s Social Media “Boutique”

3:43:56 AM

NEW YORK (July 19, 2010) – UM today announced the launch of Rally@UM, a boutique-style social media agency backed by the power and resources of UM. Through Rally, UM will now be able to provide its clients with connected and measurable social media solutions that build community, engage customers, and unlock the relationship between paid, owned earned media.

“The creation of Rally is a giant step forward for UM and its clients,” said Heidi Browning, who leads the Rally team as part of her duties as UM’s Executive Vice President and Global Digital Officer. “Social media tends to be siloed in companies and/or fragmented across many agencies, leaving marketers wondering how it impacts their marketing mix and business outcomes. We view social media as the central nervous system, coordinating and connecting important functions of an organization. Rally’s team of dedicated social marketing experts complements UM’s media and analytics prowess to create value for consumers, cultivate customer relationships and drive business results for our clients.”

Rally@UM offers flexible solutions to fit client needs, including Listening, Insights & Measurement; Strategy & Ideation; Community Activation and Consumer Relationship Management (CRM); and Social Organizational Consulting. Insights & Measurement consists of social media monitoring, earned media reporting, and conversation mining, which helps extract deeper insights into the brand discussions already taking place in the social media world. Strategy & Ideation develops and sustains social media strategies for clients and includes content and communications planning, among other services. Community Activation and CRM provides full service community development and management to execute social media strategy. Social Organizational Consulting helps clients to develop the proper organizational models, processes, and best practices.

UM created Rally to alleviate some of the confusion that exists about what social media means and how it can best be used. Many marketers understand its importance, but few have been able to give social media the level of focus and resources required to get the most out of the still-emerging medium. Rally@UM does just that, while also delivering specific metrics to show return on investment (ROI).

“UM’s ‘Yes &’ philosophy practically made Rally@UM a necessity, not just something that sounded good in principal,” said Matt Seiler, Global CEO, UM. “We couldn’t properly call ourselves a ‘full service media agency’ without delving more deeply into social media. Social media is changing the marketing world and UM is adapting accordingly.”

The launch of Rally allows UM’s clients to explore below the surface of the social media world, which in turn aids in future communications planning and creative optimization. Allowing marketers to connect with consumers in such an intimate way provides a two-way dialogue between brands and consumers, and UM is now able to aggressively enter and track that powerful channel.

###

About UM:

UM (www.umww.com ) is a global marketing communications agency that represents the world’s leading marketers and strategic thinkers for many highly regarded clients including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Sony, MasterCard, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal and Chrysler. As part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, UM has 151 offices in 130 countries and employs 3,600 creative thinkers and doers. With the mantra, “Yes &,” UM offers a full spectrum of media services and is able to tap into a number of exclusive partner agencies so they deliver the most surprising results to clients. They recently were awarded “Media Agency of the Year” by Adweek/Mediaweek and named to the 2009 “A-list” by Advertising Age.

CONTACT:

Melanie Mitchem
UM
Telephone: 212.883.4714
melanie.mitchem@umww.com
www.umww.com

UM Rallies Around Social Media

3:43:56 AM

The global initiative will be extended to more markets in short order

- Steve McClellan

IPG's Universal McCann has launched a social media practice called Rally@UM. It's led by Heidi Browning, UM's San Francisco-based evp and global digital officer.

An agency rep said the practice has already kicked off in India. Plans for expansion into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America are in the works.

To start in the U.S., Rally@UM will have three full-time staffers divided between San Francisco and New York. Services include monitoring social media conversations, insights and measurement, strategy and activation, customer relationship management and social organization consulting.

UM said it was creating Rally to help clients optimize the budding array of marketing opportunities presented by social media channels.

"We couldn't properly call ourselves a 'full-service media agency' without delving more deeply into social media," said Matt Seiler, UM's global CEO. "Social media is changing the marketing world and UM is adapting accordingly."

The move is partly an attempt to better integrate social media services with more traditional offerings for UM to clients, added Browning.

"Social media tends to be siloed in companies and/or fragmented across many agencies, leaving marketers wondering how it impacts their marketing mix and business outcomes," she said. "We view social media as the central nervous system, coordinating and connecting important functions of an organization."

Social Media Draws a Crowd

3:43:56 AM

Start-Ups and Established Agencies Look to Carve a Niche in Online Action

By SUZANNE VRANICA

As more and more advertising dollars flow into social media, some Madison Avenue firms are seeking to grab a piece of the action. But it will be a tough fight as the space is overrun with companies seeking to own the segment, from start-ups to public-relations firms.

Universal McCann, the media-buying firm owned by Interpublic Group of Cos., is bolstering its social-media offering by launching a practice this week called Rally. The division will help marketers develop campaigns, track online chatter about their brands and measure how those campaigns perform. Headed by Heidi Browning, a former MySpace executive, Rally will house several new social-media hires. MySpace, like The Wall Street Journal, is owned by News Corp.

Publicis Groupe's digital umbrella organization, Vivaki, says it also will open a social-media consulting practice by the end of the year. The new group will pool Publicis' social-media tools and experts and use them to beef up the social-media practices that many of Publicis' agencies have already established. Rishad Tobaccowala, chief strategy officer at Vivaki, says he is willing to use his mergers-and-acquisitions budget to bolster the practice if needed.

The push to form a more formidable presence in social-media advertising is being fueled by the increasing number of marketers who are eager to figure out how they can use sites such as Facebook Inc., which has almost 500 million users, and Twitter, with more than 120 million registered users, as a marketing weapon.

Ad spending on social networks world-wide is expected to rise 14% this year to $2.5 billion, according to research firm eMarketer. Although social media represents only a fraction of the $55 billion online-ad market, it is one of the fastest-growing segments.

Some corporations have taken a hands-on role in crafting their efforts: PepsiCo Inc.'s Gatorade, for example, recently created its "Mission Control Center," which is set up like a broadcast-television control room and is charged with monitoring the sports drink around the clock across social-media networks.

But as marketers look to make bigger commitments, they are increasingly seeking experts to navigate the burgeoning space.

Earlier this year, Chrysler Group LLC tapped New Media Strategies, a unit of publisher Meredith Corp., to handle its social-media tasks. In March Kraft Foods Inc. hired 360i, a digital ad agency owned by Japan's largest ad company, Dentsu Inc. The agency has been tasked with monitoring the social-media sites for some of its brands such as Oreo and Jell-O. It also develops campaigns. The agency recently created the "World's Fan of the Week" promotion that appears on Oreo's Facebook page.

Microsoft Corp. is currently searching for a social-media firm to handle duties for its Xbox videogame system, work that is now handled by several of Xbox's agencies, according to people familiar with the matter. Asset-management firm State Street Corp. also has begun looking at firms. A spokeswoman for Microsoft declined to comment.

"We have talked to some PR firms that appear to have established valid expertise over the years, and we are also interested in the new social-media firms that are bubbling up," says Hannah Grove, State Street's head of global marketing.

Creative ad agencies, digital ad firms, social-media boutiques, public-relations outfits and publishing companies are all clambering to offer advice, all claiming to be best suited to handle the task.

The Facebook page for Kraft Food's Oreo cookies is being monitored by 360i, a Japan-based digital ad agency

"You can't walk out your house without bumping into a social-media expert today, says Sean Corcoran, an analyst at Forrester Research. "The reality is the space is still very much a Wild West."

Analysts say many marketers are more interested in hiring smaller firms that have expertise in the field. Last year Domino's Pizza Inc. hired New Media Strategies, a word-of-mouth marketing firm, as its agency of record for social media.

"A lot of companies right now that specialize in PR or advertising are trying to do this on the side and the thing we liked in NMS is they specialize in social media," said Chris Brandon, a spokesman for the pizza chain.

Analysts and ad executives say the space won't be dominated by small competitors for long because advertising holding companies and bigger public-relations firms will likely ramp up acquiring the smaller boutique firms, much like they have done with other digital areas such as search advertising.

"I do think this is the year for consolidation in social media," says Ms. Browning, president of Universal McCann's Rally unit.

Write to Suzanne Vranica at suzanne.vranica@wsj.com

Japan Tourism Authority appoints McCann and UM

3:43:56 AM

Japan Tourism Authority appoints McCann and UM in for tourism drive in Australia

By Kenny Lim

MELBOURNE – The Japan Tourism Authority has named McCann Erickson and UM in Melbourne and Tokyo as its communications partner agencies for the launch of an upcoming campaign.

The campaign, to be launched in October, would aim to heighten Japan's appeal as a tourist destination to Australians.

The tourism drive would carry a strong digital component to familiarise Australians with Japan's cultural attractions and the opportunities for a unique vacation experience.

Both IPG agencies will partner to showcase various facets of Japan tourism including its cutting-edge fashion and food, to its leading destinations and ski resorts.

On the account win, UM Melbourne managing director Peter Butler, said: "Strong digital strategy and clear experiential concepts to impress consumers were the keys to this win."

He added: "While there is a good level of awareness of Japan among Australian travellers, the campaign later this year will heighten people's interest in a Japan holiday and accelerate visitor numbers."

UM, MRM Win Wells Fargo Digital

3:43:56 AM

The bank spends about $35 million annually on digital efforts

- Steve McClellan

Interpublic Group's Universal McCann and MRM have been selected by Wells Fargo to handle digital media and creative duties respectively after a review, according to sources. The agencies teamed up for the winning pitch, sources said.

The client spends approximately $35 million a year on digital media, according to sources. The pitch was handled out of San Francisco, where the client is based.

Previously, digital chores were handled by a number of unidentified agencies. Sources said much of the client's previous work was done on a project-by-project basis.

Omnicom's OMD, which works on traditional media chores for the client, participated in the pitch, per sources. OMD continues to handle offline media planning and buying duties for the client, which were not part of the review. The client's expenditures on traditional media totaled $140 million last year, down from $180 million in 2008, according to Nielsen.

The agencies either didn't return calls or referred questions to the client. A Wells Fargo rep indicated that the parties had not yet signed a service contract: "While I can confirm we are in contract negotiations, we decline to provide further information about this contract," the rep said.

Wells Fargo has $1.2 trillion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance services. It operates community banks in 39 states.

For UM, it's the second piece of new business disclosed this week. Earlier, it won media chores furniture company Ethan Allen.

UM Wins Ethan Allen

3:43:56 AM

Client likely to spend $30 mil.-plus this year on ads

- Steve McClellan

Interpublic Group's Universal McCann has won media planning and buying duties for furniture maker Ethan Allen after a review, the client has confirmed.

The company spent $23 million on measured media in 2009, down from $34 million in '08, according to Nielsen. Sources indicated that spending on the account would climb back up to $30 million or more this year.

The incumbent was WPP's MediaCom. Other contenders were not immediately identified.

The UM win followed by several months a separate creative review that was won by sister agency McCann Erickson.

UM declined to comment and referred calls to the client. MediaCom had no immediate comment. A client rep confirmed that UM had won the business but declined to elaborate.

The company markets products through its Web site and a network of approximately 285 design centers in the U.S. and abroad.

Закулисье "Каннских Львов"

3:43:56 AM

Российские судьи Cannes Lions рассказали, как проходила их работа на фестивале
Напряженность после "Каннских Львов" сошла на нет спустя несколько недель после фестиваля, однако, впечатления от него по-прежнему свежи в памяти, как у участников, так и у членов жюри.

Sostav.ru обратился к трем россиянам, которым выпала честь судить работы в нескольких категориях фестиваля, с просьбой рассказать, как прошел для них фестиваль, и что им особенно запомнилось в работе судейских коллегий.

Напомним, что в категории Media Lions одним из судей был генеральный директор агентства UM (Universal McCann) Дмитрий Насальский. Ирина Васенина, CEO Группы Progression, председатель комитета маркетинговых услуг АКАР, была одним из членов жюри категории Promo&Activation. А творческий директор брендингового агентства Depot WPF судил в категории Design Lions.

Полную версию интервью можно найти на сайте Sostav.ru

Автор: Глеб Кузнецов

UM Malaysia Triumphs At The Malaysian Media Awards 2010

3:43:56 AM

UM Malaysia was awarded the coveted Grand Prix at the Malaysian Media Awards, winning seven out of a total of 12 Golds and an additional three silvers and three bronzes. The Agency of the Year award was given based on the highest accumulated points scored from all categories.

UM MALAYSIA TRIUMPHS AT THE MALAYSIAN MEDIA AWARDS 2010

3:43:56 AM

UM Voted Agency of the Year, winning seven out of a total of 12 Golds

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — June 28, 2010 – UM Malaysia was awarded the coveted Grand Prix at the Malaysian Media Awards, winning seven out of a total of 12 Golds and an additional three silvers and three bronzes. The Agency of the Year award was given based on the highest accumulated points scored from all categories.

UM Malaysia won the Grand Prix award, along with its client Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), for work on TM titled TM Finds Love Again. TM clinched the Advertiser of the Year award.

The Gold prizes were awarded to UM for Best Use of Television, Best Use of Newspapers, Best Use of Magazines, Best Use of Digital (online/interactive/mobile), Best Use of Sponsorship, Best Use of Branded Content on TV and Best Integrated Media Campaign.

The Malaysian Media Awards were a night to remember. The “UM Red Devils”, as they are referred to in the industry, were welcomed by 700 industry people armed with Vuvuzuelas and pom-poms as the new leader in media excellence.

Prashant Kumar, CEO of UM Malaysia, commented: “This is a terrific recognition for our team. We are especially happy that we won Best Use of Integrated Gold, Best Use of Branded Content Gold and Best Use of Digital Gold - all areas that signify the strength of our offering as truly integrated, digitally-infused and blurring the line between content and media.”

Alicia Boey, VP, Group Marketing, Telekom Malaysia simply said ““UM is the best agency that we have ever worked with.”

The Malaysian Media Awards are organized every year by the Media Specialists Association and is the only media innovation award given out locally. There were a total of 250+ entries across 12 categories.

About UM:

UM (www.umww.com) is a global marketing communications agency that represents the world’s leading marketers and strategic thinkers for many highly regarded clients including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Sony, MasterCard, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, and Chrysler. As part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, UM has 151 offices in 130 countries and employs 3,600 creative thinkers and doers. With the mantra, “Yes &,” UM offers a full spectrum of media services and is able to tap into a number of exclusive partner agencies so they deliver the most surprising results to clients. They recently were awarded “Media Agency of the Year” by Adweek/Mediaweek and named to the 2009 “A-list” by Advertising Age.

For more information, please contact:

Genevieve Loriant Telephone: +65 8186 7187

Prashant Kumar Telephone: +603 7966 6128

Universal McCann sweeps Malaysian Media Awards, takes the Grand Prix

3:43:56 AM

The highlights of the Malaysian Media Awards 2010 were for Advertiser of the year – an advertiser with the most number of awards, won by Telekom Malaysia . The Grand Prix Award – highest points for a single entry went to Universal McCann. The Agency of the year award – total accumulated points for all winning entries from the agency, was taken by Universal McCan .

The kickoff between Brazil and Portugal this evening signalled the final whistle for the 2010 Malaysian Media Awards, held at the One World Hotel. The awards, organised by the Media Specialists Association for the 6th time were spread between the 12 categories contested, and this year saw Universal McCann bag the most number of awards.

Carat Malaysia made history at the awards by emerging as the winner of the new Digital Search category. They have now set the benchmark for other agencies who will vie for this category in years to come.

"This year's award sees a convergence of digital and football. On the digital front, we have seen a renewed passion amongst agencies, publishers and advertisers in ‘winning in the digital space’. As a result we saw for the first time in our history the highest number of entries in the digital category. Close to a whopping 50% increase versus year ago. Not to forget that, for the first time, we took the entire submission & short-listing process online, thus making the awards judging process even more authentic and transparent. While the winners this year will go back to their desks with renewed vigor and passion to raise the bar, the rest will seek inspiration and challenge themselves to scale new heights, reach for the stars and come out winners in the next edition of Malaysia Media Awards!", commented Ranga Somanathan, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group and President of the Media Specialists Association.

Principal Awards

Grand Prix
Agency	Universal McCann
Brand	TM
Title	TM Finds Love Again
Client	Telekom Malaysia
Agency of the Year
Agency	Universal McCann
Advertiser of the Year
Advertiser	Telekom Malaysia

Medal Tally

Agency	Grand Prix	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Universal McCann	1	7	3	3
Mindshare Malaysia		2	4	3
Vizeum Media Services		2	1	2
Carat Media Services		1	2	1
OMD Malaysia		-	1	2
Posterscope		-	1	-
Maxus Malaysia		-	-	1

View the full results of the Malaysian Media Awards 2010, click here >>

Media Agencies Make Mark as Content Curators

3:43:56 AM

Thirty-second ads? Long-form reality TV? Just a few years ago, media shops would be the last place you'd think such projects would originate from.
But as silos are slowly coming down within agency walls, traditionally defined roles are changing. So if a media agency has a great creative idea for a TV commercial, and the talent and tools to pull it off, some clients are going for it. Ditto for other big, outta-the-box ideas.
"It really doesn't matter to us where the idea comes from or who champions that idea," said Joe Kuester, senior brand manager for consumer-goods marketer Kimberly-Clark, which teamed with Mindshare Entertainment on a series of Whoopi Goldberg-starring webisodes to promote its Poise brand. "If it's the strongest idea and we believe it meets the brand strategies and is aligned with consumer insights, that's what we are going to execute against."
IKEA'S 'FIX THIS KITCHEN'
Late last year, MEC Entertainment, working with client Ikea, developed and produced a remodeling program for A&E called "Fix this Kitchen."
The program, now renewed for a second run, combined celebrity chefs with a kitchen-makeover concept. The broader campaign included in-store appearances by the celebrity chefs, book signings, point-of-sale materials and a targeted direct-mail campaign. According to a Latitude Research study, 60% more people agreed that "Ikea offers high-quality materials" after seeing the show and two out of three viewers said they planed to visit Ikea when considering a kitchen renovation. The program also helped drive a 33% increase in Ikea's online "Kitchen Planning" tool.
AMERICAN LEGACY'S 'ZOMBIEVILLE'
The blurry line between ad and content was on full display when Omnicom Group's PHD struck a deal with MTV on behalf of the American Legacy Foundation's "Truth" anti-smoking campaign. The media shop worked with the network to devise "Zombieville," a gruesome take of MTV's "Real World" with beheadings and teens being eaten alive. The 60- to 90-second segments led out of commercial pods directly into the real "Real World," while providing messages about how deadly smoking can be.
T-COMMERCE, BROUGHT TO YOU BY MASTERCARD
You've heard of e-commerce. Now meet T-commerce, as in tablets from the likes of Apple, Dell and HP, among others. And on Wired's new "Test and Play" iPad app, launching with the pub's May edition, it's sponsored by MasterCard.
The application enables readers to check out recommended products from the editors of Wired's iPad edition through an interactive "buy now" component linking to Amazon.com, and MasterCard has an exclusive sponsorship for several months. An ad touts "Powered by MasterCard" at both ends of the app (Wired's iPad edition and the Amazon purchase point), although consumers are free to use whatever credit card they want to make a purchase.
INTEL'S 'IDEAJAM'
To promote Intel's Core computer processors and boost its image as a leader in smart thinking and design, OMD's Greenroom Entertainment teamed with Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Media and Google to create a digital/experiential program called Intel IdeaJam. Earlier this month, Mr. Kutcher kicked off the first IdeaJam at Katalyst offices in Los Angeles, telling an audience of nearly 50 Hollywood content producers that Intel wanted to create "an arena for collaboration." Those convened were tasked with creating six pieces of innovative digital content in 48 hours.
Other events focusing on education, music and other topics will be held at Intel and Google offices; pre-promoted in social media; and streamed on the web. Intel is spending nearly $2 million to promote the campaign on Google and YouTube. "For each IdeaJam, we will have a stated problem and an end result that will help to solve that problem," said Laurie Koehler, consumer-campaigns-activation manager in the Americas marketing group at Intel.
POISE GREAT WOMEN IN HISTORY
It was a subject as taboo as erectile dysfunction before the days of Viagra, yet one in three women suffers from some degree of light bladder leakage. We wanted to "spark a conversation," said David Lang, who heads Mindshare's entertainment division. The creative idea? "If one in three women had this issue, maybe one in three great women in history might have had it, too," he said. Mindshare produced six comedic webisodes with Ms. Goldberg portraying historical characters such as the Mona Lisa and Cleopatra, and placed a TV spot featuring Ms Goldberg in the 2010 pre-Oscars program. By the end of the year, the project had generated 1.5 billion media impressions via the webisodes, the Oscars TV spot, and reams of press coverage and blog commentary. And 2010 was the biggest sales year for the 19-year-old brand.

Lodestar UM Wins Big!

3:43:56 AM

Lodestar UM won big in this year's Goafest Media Abby Awards Ceremony!! They scored a total of nine awards, most of which were related to the excellent work they did with the Tata Nano brand and their many campaigns. This is an excellent demonstration of how far we can take our media ventures and the recognition we receive for our work. Goafest is India's biggest and best marketing and advertising festival and a tribute to the brightest, most remarkable minds in the business.

McCann Worldgroup wins Korean Ministry of Health communications business

3:43:56 AM

Media

by Anita Davis

SEOUL - The Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare has aligned its communications business under McCann Worldgroup Korea following a competitive pitch, contracting McCann Erickson, Universal McCann and MRM Worldwide with its creative, media and digital account in the market.

According to the network, McCann pitched against Cheil Worldwide and five other local competitors. McCann entered the process through a collaboration between McCann Healthcare, Universal McCann, McCann Erickson, Momentum and Weber Shandwick, with support from MRM.

The network is charged with launching four public-service campaigns on the topics of ‘anti-smoking’, ‘moderate drinking’, ‘obesity prevention’ and ‘love for life’.

Separately in the market, the network won the digital and creative account for sports-equipment brand Head, which is looking to fully re-launch in Korea.

McCann said they faced BBDO in the review.

Head, under the Korean licensee Kolon Sports, has charged the network with overseeing the creative and digital aspects of its sports equipment and apparel lines and incorporate a digital experience into its branding.

Universal McCann Launches Canadian Operation

3:43:56 AM

By Jeff Beer

The move comes as a result of UM’s Chrysler account win in December, which represented a conflict with General Motors at IPG’s other Canadian office, M2 Universal.

"[The new office] is something we’d been mulling over the last 12 months or so, but the Chrysler win was the catalyst in actually making something happen," said Hugh Dow, chairman of Mediabrands Canada. "It’s become very clear that we are really working with two different types of businesses–the global international business [like Chrysler] and the local Canadian business [like GM]. They involve different processes, systems, knowledge, people and contacts. So it was something we had already started to develop, but as the Chrysler thing became real, we realized this was the time to do it. So it was really the trigger that caused us to create two separate companies."

Universal McCann was able to convince its other global automotive client, BMW, that the agency could keep it sufficiently separate from the Chrysler account, using its work for both Johnson & Johnson and L’Oréal as an example.

Peter Mears, former director of global accounts for PHD London, has been named president of UM Canada.

Mears worked in Toronto from 2001 to 2004 with HYPN/PHD Canada, and also with PHD in the U.S.

"When you think about it, Peter is the ideal person to lead a global international company because he’s worked in Toronto, New York and London," said Dow. "I can’t think of having better credentials than that."

The new office will bring over some M2 Universal staff as a result of client moves. UM Canada’s client list includes Sony, Microsoft, Labatt, MasterCard and the Chrysler business.

J3, the dedicated Johnson & Johnson media unit, will continue as a separate entity at UM Canada.

M2 Universal will focus on the Canadian client base, including GM, Royal Bank, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Wendy’s and CBC.

The two offices will share some backroom staff, particularly in the financial side of the business.

Opening a UM-branded office in Toronto brings a brand on a hot streak to the Canadian market. In January, Universal McCann was named Advertising Age’s "Comeback Agency of the Year" thanks to account wins that included the US$200 million BMW assignment, as well as Dyson, Charles Schwab, Applebee’s and Chrysler.

The turnaround is largely credited to global CEO Matt Seiler, someone Mears worked closely with at PHD in the U.S. and was a key factor in Mears’ decision to lead the new Canadian office.

"When this opportunity started being discussed, Matt and I had a lot of discussion about what he’s been doing with UM globally and I’m really excited to bring to this market the idea of surrounding myself with curious people and curiosity really driving who we are," said Mears. "The global vision is ‘curious minds for surprising results’ and that’s really a strong area for a media company to be playing in. It’s not just about planning and buying media nowadays. It’s about how do we get the deep consumer insight to drive business results for our clients. So my goal is to help bring that vision to the Canadian marketplace and we’re ready to do just that with the great client base and staff that we have."

Universal McCann Opens in Toronto

3:43:56 AM

by Melita Kuburas

A new office from Interpublic Group launched this week that will separate some of M2 Universal's clients according to whether they are international or local to Canada. Universal McCann Canada (UM) will handle international clients like Chrysler, Sony and Microsoft, while M2 Universal will handle Royal Bank, GM and CBC.

"We're really servicing two different types of businesses," Hugh Dow, chairman, Mediabrands Canada, tells MiC. "One is global clients that are networked across the UM system. The global business requires a knowledge of the international infrastructure and a knowledge of the policies and procedures that many of these companies put into place from a global perspective."

The new office is in a different location from M2, and is home to about 60 employees - 15 of them new hires. They includes Michael Bolt, who made the jump from Mediacom, and Laura Maurice who moved from Starcom. The division will be headed by Peter Mears, who will move from his position at PHD London.

The launch has been in the works since the summer, says Dow, well before M2 won the Chrysler account in December. The new allocation will also benefit domestic clients, who are major players in their categories, where decisions can be made without taking into account the global point of view. Dow says for M2, having two major competitors is in no way a conflict of interest.

"These are competitive businesses, and we have totally separate operations with people [who] work only on either Chrysler or GM, and there's no sharing of information or strategy. We adhere very strictly to confidentiality and the requirements of each advertiser," he says.

UM gründet neue Geschäftseinheit Rally@UM

3:43:56 AM

Mit der Geschäftseinheit Rally@UM bietet Universal McCann (UM) ihren Kunden neue
Lösungen, um Konsumenten in der digitalen Welt an ihre Marke zu binden. Aus der
Kombination von digitalen Marketingmaßnahmen mit spezifischen eCommerce- und Social
Media-Projekten entstehen hier neue „Social Distribution“-Modelle.

Frankfurt, 01. September 2011 – Die Media- und Marketingagentur Universal McCann
(UM) gründet die neue Geschäftseinheit Rally@UM und geht damit den nächsten Schritt
in ihrer weitreichenden Digitalisierungsstrategie. Mit Rally@UM kombiniert die Agentur ihre
Kernkompetenzen aus der Mediaplanung mit ihrem umfassenden Know-how in den Bereichen
Mobile, Social Commerce, Social Media und Location Based Services. Dabei versteht UM die
interdisziplinär aufgebaute Unit als Plattform und ‚Match-Maker’. Die Rally-Spezialisten entwickeln
für jeden Kunden die ideale Lösung, um sie in mobilen, sozialen Konsumentennetzwerken zu
verankern. Rally@UM ist aber mehr als reines ‚F-Commerce’ oder Abverkauf über Social Media.
Es geht darum, die jeweils passenden Technologien, Dienste und Kooperationspartner
auszuwählen und sie in einer einheitlichen Strategie zusammenzuführen. Unternehmen können so
digitale Distributionswege, sogenannte „Social Distribution-Modelle“, für sich erschließen und
aktiv ausbauen. Der Startschuss für Rally@UM erfolgt am 1. September 2011. Mit Microsoft ist der
erste namhafte Kunde bereits gewonnen. In der aktuellen Windows7-Kampagne setzt Microsoft auf
transparente und direkte Konsumenteninteraktion und damit auf mobile Social Distribution-
Ansätze von Rally@UM. „In UM haben wir seit Jahren einen zukunftsfähigen, innovativen Partner
für alle Bereiche der Kommunikationsplanung. Und mit Rally@UM werden wir in Kürze weitere
Schritte auf neuen mobilen sozialen Distributionswegen gehen“ sagt Antje Spethmann, Marcom
Manager Windows.

Mit der neuen Geschäftseinheit nutzt Universal McCann die immer größere Rolle interaktiver
Technologien im Alltag der Verbraucher und setzt eigene Akzente im digitalen Marketing.
„Menschen organisieren ihren Konsum zunehmend systematisch mithilfe von sozialen Netzwerken
und Location Based Services“, sagt Kerstin Clessienne, die als Director Digital / Strategy bei UM
den neuen Geschäftsbereich leiten wird. „Daraus entstehen für Unternehmen viele neue Kanäle
und Chancen, besser mit ihren Zielgruppen zu kommunizieren und sie an ihre Marke zu binden.“
Im digitalen Zeitalter ist es essenziell, digitale Markenkommunikationsstrategien und
eCommerce-Maßnahmen mit neuen Technologien zu kombinieren. Location Based Services,
Couponing und Social Search-Anwendungen spielen dabei eine besondere Rolle. So entstehen
übergreifende Kommunikationsräume, die Nutzern eine bis dato nie dagewesene Transparenz
und Informationsfülle über Marken und Produkte bieten.

„ Nutzer lassen sich nicht mehr in feste Kanäle zwängen“, ergänzt Martina Rohr, Digital Planner
und Projektleitung bei Rally@UM. „Im Konsumentenalltag verschwimmen die Grenzen zwischen
Offline- und Online-Kommunikation durch mobile, soziale Technologien immer mehr. Wir
begleiten unsere Kunden auf den daraus entstehenden neuen Distributionswegen für
Informationen und Güter.“

Da die technologische Entwicklung stets voranschreitet, ist auch das Thema Trendscouting zentral
im Rally@UM-Konzept verankert. Kontinuierlich erforscht und analysiert das Rally@UM-Team
neue digitale Märkte und korrespondierende Technologien. Deren Auswirkungen auf die
Konsumenten sind besonders wichtig, um neue Entwicklungen und Geschäftsmodelle frühzeitig zu
erkennen und sie in Kampagnen wirkungsvoll einzusetzen.

„In rasantem Tempo ändert sich das Kommunikationsverhalten der Gesellschaft und entsprechend
auch die eingesetzten Technologien“, sagt Michael Dunke, CEO bei Universal McCann in
Frankfurt. „Wir sind schon seit Jahren an der Spitze dieser Entwicklungen und machen mit
Rally@UM nun den nächsten Schritt in unserer digitalen Ausrichtung. Das Marktpotenzial im
Bereich ‚Social Distribution’ ist quasi unbegrenzt, da diese Entwicklungen keine Branche und
keine Marke auslassen werden.“ Dunke will den Break-Even noch vor Jahresfrist erreichen und
erwartet für Rally@UM ein starkes Wachstum.

UM London Behind Sky’s First Ever Product Placement Deal With Xbox

3:43:56 AM

UM London has orchestrated a product placement deal that will see the Kinect for Xbox 360 game Kinect Sports appear in the pre-title sequence of Sky 1 HD’s sports panel show A League of Their Own.

Starting this Friday (1^stApril), it will be the first product placement deal ever to air on Sky channels. It will complement Xbox 360’s existing sponsorship of the series, also negotiated by UM London.

The product placement sequence will feature the stars of the show, including James Corden, Jamie Redknapp and Freddie Flintoff, preparing to go on-air while members of the studio audience gear up backstage by playing Kinect Sports. It was co-produced by CPL Productions.

Phil Cresswell, Ideation Director, UM London, says:

“We’re really excited to be involved in the first ever product placement deal for Xbox in the UK. The new Ofcom regulations have opened up a great opportunity for us to work with broadcasters, partners and producers in the same way that we have been doing for a number of years across our European markets. Now we can build on our vast experience in this field and apply it more closely to home.”

Stephen McGill, Director of Xbox and Entertainment for Microsoft’s Retail Sales and Marketing Division (UK & IR), adds:

‘This latest sponsorship deal with Sky provides yet another highly innovative partnership opportunity. Kinect Sports is an ideal fit for A League of Their Own, and I’m sure viewers will be interested to see how the game has been integrated into the show.’

The deal builds on a growing number of collaborative efforts between UM London, Sky and Xbox. Earlier this year, Xbox’s Dance Central was the headline sponsor of Sky’s Got to Dance 2 – the biggest dance competition ever to hit the UK screens.

UM, McCann Boost Planning With UM Inside

3:43:56 AM

The unit will offer clients at both agencies a greater level of resources

- Noreen O'Leary

Interpublic Group units McCann Erickson in New York and Universal McCann have created a new joint strategy venture, UM Inside, that will offer clients at both agencies a greater level of integrated planning resources, the companies said.

Media concern UM will run the operations, which will be based at McCann New York, with planning resources available to clients across McCann Worldgroup.

Elyse Hoelzer, director of engagement mapping at Omnicom's BBDO in New York, was recruited to serve as executive vice president, communications planning, for the new venture.

Thom Gruhler, president of McCann New York, has made an overhaul of the agency's planning efforts a top priority since he assumed that role last August. McCann has largely been known for its brand planning, rooted in an understanding of consumer attitudes toward brands. Gruhler has expanded that capability into behavioral research, business analytics and, now, media behavior.

"UM has left the [McCann] building and [UM global CEO] Matt [Seiler] and Jacki [Kelley, president, UM North America] have created a new dynamic -- media planning and buying should be there," said Gruhler. "But media communications and strategy should be close to the production of creative. We need to have attitudinal, behavioral and communications planning all baked into how we brief our creative people."

Gruhler's aim is to create a flatter, platform-neutral environment at McCann. "The primary importance of UM Inside is to use media behaviors to direct creative thinking at the very earliest stage of the planning process, and to guide the prioritization of messages and contexts that will deliver the best results for our clients' business challenges," he said.

Within Worldgroup, UM and McCann already share responsibilities for eight large clients, including the U.S. Army, Verizon, MasterCard and Applebee's.

Last month, Gruhler hired Anne Benvenuto, former director of strategic services at Interpublic Group's R/GA, to become director of behavioral planning at McCann. Benvenuto became the third leader at McCann's New York planning department, as the agency directed each of the three top execs there to focus on a specific aspect of the discipline: co-directors of strategic planning Devika Bulchandani and John Kottmann shifted to director of brand planning and director of business strategy and analytics, respectively.

Gruhler is now shifting his focus to "putting digital at the center" of the agency. He's looking to build an integrated studio and he says he will be hiring a general manager for McCann New York who has a digital background.

"I want to create a significant digital infrastructure," he said. "Right now we do quite a lot of digital, but a lot of it is marketing oriented in the realm of banners and Web sites," Gruhler said." I want to see more utility and platform work, that's where the juice is."

Integrierte Videowerbung kommt bei den Marken an.

3:43:56 AM

L'Oreal bucht im Rahmen seiner aktuellen Kampagne Diesel „Fuel For Life“ die erste Platzierung integrierter Videowerbung in der Unterhaltungsrotation von Produktkraft ein.

Integrierte Videowerbung ist das neue digitale Vermarktungsangebot von Produktkraft, bei der die Werbetreibenden auf vordefinierten Werbeflächen in frisch produzierten und Reichweiten starken Contents mit Standardformaten wie Medium Rectangle und 16:9 Bewegtbildformaten direkt und nach Buchungsvolumen austauschbar im Videoinhalt platziert werden.

Universal McCann (UM), Düsseldorf hat als eine der ersten Agenturen im deutschen Markt das Potenzial dieses neuen Ansatzes erkannt. Mit dem Parfüm „Diesel“ der Marke L'Oreal setzt der Marketingspezialist nun gemeinsam mit Produktkraft eine erste Kampagne auf. Damit beweist Universal McCann (UM) seine Stellung als First-Mover und Marktinnovator mit Gespür für neue Trends und Zielgruppen.

Die Marke Diesel profitiert davon: Die Kombination von Bewegtbildformaten und aussagekräftigen Markeninhalten mit reichweitenstarken Medienkanälen fördert die Interaktion und steigert die Bekanntheit bei digitalaffinen Verbrauchern.

„Das Konzept von Produktkraft ist in unseren Augen hoch interessant für Marken aller Branchen“, so MArtina Sallach bei Universal McCann, Düsseldorf. „Unsere Kunden fordern immer häufiger, Bewegtbildformate in den Mediamix aufzunehmen. Wir sind vom Erfolg des Diesel-Projekts überzeugt und planen auch in anderen Kampagnen mit Produktkraft zusammenarbeiten.“

Die Kampagne lief in der Unterhaltungsrotation u.a. auf dem Top 4 Youtube Channel in Deutschland, dem erfolgreichen Web Talkshow Format Clixoom.de, das thematisch und Zielgruppen affin zur Kampagne Reichweiten starke Volumina lieferte.

Weitere Kampagne anderer Marken sind bereits gebucht und laufen derzeit u.a. in der Musikrotation bei dem Top 1 Youtube Channel in Deutschland

Jan Schlüter, GF bei Produktkraft sagt: „Seit der offiziellen Vorstellung des neuen Vermarktungsmodells sind gerade 8 Wochen vergangen und wir freuen uns über den Zuspruch der Marken, die erkennen, dass wir mit diesem neuen Vermarktungsmodell Content und Werbung eng miteinander verbinden, so dass dem Zuschauer ohne Unterbrechung Unterhaltung und dem Werbetreibenden eine effektive Möglichkeit zur Präsentation seiner Marke geboten werden.

UM London shortlisted at 2011 Festival of Media Awards

3:43:56 AM

UM London has been shortlisted for two highly prestigious 2011 Festival of Media Awards, which recognise and reward the very best in media thinking from around the world.

‘Bing Breaks’ – UM London’s ground breaking TV campaign for Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has been shortlisted in two categories: Media Bravery and Best Use of Creative Media. Both categories look for innovation, creativity, intelligent thinking and bold new approaches in the world of media.

The ‘Bing Breaks’ campaign, which ran last summer, completely revolutionised the traditional TV ad break by running a search query (as live) prior to every single advertisement, mimicking the behaviour of the Bing product. It was the first time anything of the kind had been attempted anywhere in the world.

Andy Jones, CEO of UM London, said:

“Bing Breaks is media innovation at its very best. We’re proud to have been shortlisted for such a prestigious award, and to be setting the standard on the global stage. The campaign was the result of an extraordinary team effort, involving clients, creative agencies, media owners, rival media agencies and UM London planners and buyers.”

Globally, UM have been shortlisted for a total of 12 awards. UM Sweden, Denmark, the Middle East, Poland and Turkey each found themselves on the shortlist, with UM Sydney up for an impressive four awards.

UM London has been shortlisted for two highly prestigious 2011 Festival of Media Awards, which recognise and reward the very best in media thinking from around the world.

‘Bing Breaks’ – UM London’s ground breaking TV campaign for Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has been shortlisted in two categories: Media Bravery and Best Use of Creative Media. Both categories look for innovation, creativity, intelligent thinking and bold new approaches in the world of media.

The ‘Bing Breaks’ campaign, which ran last summer, completely revolutionised the traditional TV ad break by running a search query (as live) prior to every single advertisement, mimicking the behaviour of the Bing product. It was the first time anything of the kind had been attempted anywhere in the world.

Andy Jones, CEO of UM London, said:
“Bing Breaks is media innovation at its very best. We’re proud to have been shortlisted for such a prestigious award, and to be setting the standard on the global stage. The campaign was the result of an extraordinary team effort, involving clients, creative agencies, media owners, rival media agencies and UM London planners and buyers.”

Globally, UM have been shortlisted for a total of 12 awards. UM Sweden, Denmark, the Middle East, Poland and Turkey each found themselves on the shortlist, with UM Sydney up for an impressive four awards.

The Founder Group awards UM and Lowe its media and creative accounts

3:43:56 AM

by Benjamin Li

BEIJING - Chinese IT company The Founder Group has awarded its media and creative accounts to Universal McCann and Lowe following the final round of a pitch that included Mindshare and WE Marketing.

Last year, The Founder Group underwent a brand audit and decided to develop a branding campaign to strengthen the perception of the group.

The client does not have an incumbent agency. In 2009, the monitored adspend for Founder IT alone was US$10 million. The group is diversifying beyond its core IT activities to include healthcare and other industries.

The key challenge for both agencies is to develop a strategy to strengthen Founder’s image and foster awareness of its diverse business portfolio. Since there are several businesses within Founder, agencies will be challenged with how to create an unified image and how to convey the message within the proper channels, as each of their business segments has its own distinct competitor.

Henry Tajer, president of UM Asia-Pacific, said: “As changing perceptions is critical, it is important to expand beyond Founder’s traditional vehicles of TV and print, OOH and search are playing a much greater role for Founder than they have in the past. It is a privilege to be chosen as Founder’s media communications partner and the team is eager to deliver on the opportunities we have identified.”

Both agencies will commence work immediately.

The Founder Group was founded in China in 1986 as a business extension of Peking University, which remains a close partner.

Neugeschäft für UM

3:43:56 AM

Nach gewonnenen Wettbewerbspräsentationen vertrauen fünf Neukunden auf die Kompetenz der Kommunikationsexperten. Damit setzt sich das Wachstum der Agenturgruppe in 2011 fort.

Frankfurt, 20. April 2011 - Die Mediaagentur UM (Universal McCann) meldet fünf Neukunden: Für den internationalen Energiekonzern Statoil entwerfen die Frankfurter Kommunikationsexperten gerade eine integrierte, auf Entscheider ausgerichtete Kampagne: Neben aufmerksamkeitsstarken Out-of-home-Maßnahmen in Berlin gibt es eine Printkampagne in Entscheidermedien, themenspezifische Dossiers, innovative Online-Aktionen sowie eine Energiekonferenz mit einer Expertenrunde in Berlin.

Weiterhin hat Universal McCann gerade einige Pitches für sich entschieden, darunter den weltweiten um South African Tourism. Für die südafrikanische Tourismusvertretung übernimmt der Frankfurter Standort die Entwicklung einer Mediastrategie, den Einkauf sowie Marktforschung und die Optimierung der deutschsprachige Website www.dein-suedafrika.de.

Neu auf der Kundenliste der Hessen stehen zudem APP (Asian Pulp & Paper), einer der größten Zellstoff- und Papierfabrikanten der Welt, und das Bloemenbureau Holland, dessen europäischen Etat UM betreut. Bloemenbureau Holland unterstützt den Absatz von Zierpflanzen zugunsten der niederländischen Produzenten und Großhändler.

Neugeschäft vermeldet auch das Büro in Nürnberg. Die Mediaexperten konnten die Stadt Frankfurt von sich überzeugen. Sie werden künftig den Mediaetat der Rhein-Main-Metropole betreuen und hier ihre Kompetenz im Geomarketing einsetzen.

Mit den gewonnenen Neukunden knüpft UM an die jüngsten Erfolge an. Gerade hatte die Agenturgruppe ein Büro in Hamburg eröffnet und ist damit an vier Standorten in Deutschland vertreten.

UM picks up £20m South African Tourism

3:43:56 AM

South African Tourism has appointed UM to its estimated £20m global media account, with UM London co-ordinating the business in the UK.

UM won the account after a statutory pitch process and will be responsible for planning and buying media across international markets, to promote tourism to the country.

UM South Africa, based in Johannesburg, will lead the account, with other UM offices in key global markets including UK, USA, Germany, China and Brazil co-ordinating the business at a local level.

Andy Jones, CEO, UM London said:

“We are thrilled to have won this account globally and UM London is excited about working with South African Tourism in the UK. We look forward to working with the cient to build on our travel expertise and help amplift the South African Tourism brand presence in the UK."

As reported by Campaign:

South African Tourism has appointed UM to its estimated £20m global media account, with UM London co-ordinating the business in the UK.

UM won the account after a statutory pitch process and will be responsible for planning and buying media across international markets, to promote tourism to the country.

UM South Africa, based in Johannesburg, will lead the account, with other UM offices in key global markets including UK, USA, Germany, China and Brazil co-ordinating the business at a local level.

Andy Jones, CEO, UM London said:

“We are thrilled to have won this account globally and UM London is excited about working with South African Tourism in the UK. We look forward to working with the cient to build on our travel expertise and help amplift the South African Tourism brand presence in the UK."

Real Madrid sponsor Bwin creates online game

3:43:56 AM

LONDON - Bwin, the online sports betting and gaming site and sponsor of Real Madrid, has launched a virtual game challenging fans to find the team's lost star players, before April's game against bitter rivals Barcelona.

Kaká, Van der Vaart, Granero and Marcelo have to be found at Savetherealgame.com.

Users who complete the game get the opportunity to win a trip with the Real Madrid players in their team plane to a La Liga game.

Fans must release the players by playing a game where they have to find four numerical codes hidden on the internet. Kaká, Van der Vaart, Granero and Marcelo will help players on their mission with different hints and tips. The answers to the questions will be revealed during the game.

The game aims to mark the occasion of the upcoming Real Madrid – Barcelona game that will take place at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium next month.

Last month, the online gaming company, which also sponsors Italian football team AC Milan, appointed Universal McCann to handle its UK media-planning and buying account.

The Austrian-based gaming site, which has 20 million registered users in markets including Germany, Spain and Italy, is expected to spend around £4m on radio, print and online advertising in an attempt to secure a presence in the competitive online gaming market.

UM gewinnt erneut DekaBank-Etat

3:43:56 AM

Frankfurt, 1. Februar 2011 - Die Frankfurter Mediaagentur UM (Universal McCann) hat sich in einer mehrstufigen Wettbewerbspräsentation gegen vier namhafte Konkurrenten durchgesetzt und den achtstelligen Media-Etat der DekaBank gewonnen. Damit betreuen die Frankfurter weiterhin sämtliche Werbemaßnahmen des Finanzdienstleisters für alle Media-Kanäle. UM verantwortet die Fullservice-Mediaplanung und den Mediaeinkauf für die laufende DekaBank-Kampagne „Wünsche & Wissen gesichert“. Für die DekaBank arbeitet UM bereits seit dem Jahr 2007.

Die DekaBank mit Hauptsitz in Frankfurt am Main ist in den Geschäftsfeldern Asset Management Kapitalmarkt, Asset Management Immobilien sowie Corporates & Markets aktiv. Sie zählt mit einem für die Kunden verwalteten Fondsvermögen von rund 179 Mrd. Euro zu den großen deutschen Finanzdienstleistern. Eigentümer sind je zur Hälfte Sparkassen und Landesbanken. Als zentraler Asset Manager der Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe offeriert die DekaBank unter Deutschlands bekanntester Fondsmarke Deka Investmentfonds eine breite Palette an Aktien-, Renten-, Immobilien- und Mischfonds für private und institutionelle Anleger.

UM London launches major debut campaign for Marie Curie Cancer Care

3:43:56 AM

UM London is embarking on its first campaign with leading cancer charity Marie Curie Cancer Care. It will be the charity’s biggest marketing push to date and will run throughout March.

The launch, as reported in full by Marketing Magazine today, comes as Marie Curie Cancer Care prepares for its annual ‘Great Daffodil Appeal’, which asks people to wear daffodils for the month of March as a sign of support.

As part of the marketing push, UM and Marie Curie Cancer Care will be rolling out a very diverse and innovative media plan, including the charity’s first ever TV ad campaign (created by DLKW), an integrated partnership with Classic FM , a bespoke smartphone app and a Facebook campaign to reach a younger audience.

Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Director of Communications, Chris Dainty, said:

“Marie Curie is a well-known charity and everybody has heard about the campaign, but this is about educating them on how their money is spent and the help we give.”

Tony Mattson, Head of Strategy at UM London, said:

“It is a real privilege to be working with Marie Curie Cancer Care. The campaigns for this year’s Great Daffodil Appeal will be groundbreaking & exciting! We not only take the charity onto the nation’s TV screens for the first time in March, we are also building their community fan base on Facebook and developing an engaging multi-channel partnership with Classic FM."

UM London won the £5m media planning and buying account for Marie Curie Cancer Care in October 2010, after a competitive pitch against a number of top UK agencies.

UM London is embarking on its first campaign with leading cancer charity Marie Curie Cancer Care. It will be the charity’s biggest marketing push to date and will run throughout March.

The launch, as reported in full by Marketing Magazine today, comes as Marie Curie Cancer Care prepares for its annual ‘Great Daffodil Appeal’, which asks people to wear daffodils for the month of March as a sign of support. As part of the marketing push, UM and Marie Curie Cancer Care will be rolling out a very diverse and innovative media plan, including the charity’s first ever TV ad campaign (created by DLKW), an integrated partnership with Classic FM , a bespoke smartphone app and a Facebook campaign to reach a younger audience.

Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Director of Communications, Chris Dainty, said:

“Marie Curie is a well-known charity and everybody has heard about the campaign, but this is about educating them on how their money is spent and the help we give.”

Tony Mattson, Head of Strategy at UM London, said:

“It is a real privilege to be working with Marie Curie Cancer Care. The campaigns for this year’s Great Daffodil Appeal will be groundbreaking & exciting! We not only take the charity onto the nation’s TV screens for the first time in March, we are also building their community fan base on Facebook and developing an engaging multi-channel partnership with Classic FM."

UM London won the £5m media planning and buying account for Marie Curie Cancer Care in October 2010, after a competitive pitch against a number of top UK agencies.

Media Research Transformers

3:43:56 AM

Research exes at the nation’s largest media shops are morphing into money-marketing managers

- Katy Bachman, Mediaweek

Research titles at media agencies used to be simple. “Head of research” pretty much said it all. But today, there is a whole new crop of titles populating research department org charts at media agency shops: “marketing accountability,” “consumer insights,” “analytics,” “business intelligence” and “marketing science.”

These new handles aren’t puffery. They represent a real shift in the role and scope of research in media planning and buying.

Not too long ago, the bulk of agency research centered around TV ratings and other media currencies. Media researchers focused on how to invest clients’ dollars. They calculated cost per points, focused on finding the right reach and frequency for campaigns, and figured out the most efficient CPMs using age and sex stats.

While those core practices still exist within research divisions, media research has given way to consumer marketing and business focuses. Research divisions at the biggest shops now offer services that are more proactive, helping clients both determine and execute media and marketing strategies across a growing number of traditional, nontraditional and digital platforms.

In many ways, the research divisions at the nation’s largest media shops see themselves as consultants or “money-marketing managers,” more akin to the role of a McKinsey or Accenture.

“Research used to be a stand-alone group that worried if the TV data was good and what the top programs were. As the years moved on, research has evolved to how can I solve the business problem? It’s gone from a more academic to a more business approach,” says Lyle Schwartz, managing partner, director of implementation research and marketplace analysis for GroupM. “We’re playing a bigger role.”

The shift in focus has not been without its casualties. A good number of veteran media research execs, many among the most notable and quotable, have exited these organizations. Some have ended up at media companies, others in research firms. To some industry observers, it’s an alarming trend, particularly at a time when video is more prevalent than ever online and ratings data streams from Nielsen are proliferating.

“Some of those roles that used to be very TV-centric are still important, but the focus has changed,” says David Shiffman, evp of connections research and analytics for MediaVest. “We need to go beyond how clients plan and buy media. We need to help shape market strategy. We’re going 20 leaps forward to how you predict the marketplace.”

In order to make those leaps, huge divisions are being assembled to provide clients with a fuller range of services to support both media and marketing campaigns. OMD has about 60-70 “research” people, MediaVest about 35-40, Starcom about 30, Universal McCann about 14, CARAT about 20 and MPG about 15. GroupM has 18 but also has several people embedded within each planning group.

“Practices such as marketing science and analytics used to live in the full-service agency. Now it’s in the media agency,” says Joe Masucci, national director of business intelligence for OMD. “We’re breaking down the artificial barriers that existed between media and marketing. We want to be seen by our clients as the central intelligence arm.”

These firms now employ econometricians (experts who employ mathematical systems on data to determine the cause and effect of business outcomes), statisticians and even MBAs.

“I want the guy who tore apart his telephone, people who want to know how things tick,” says John Lowell, svp of research and analytics for Starcom USA. “We’re not divesting from the traditional media research areas; we’re just demanding something more.”

None of these shops have wiped out media research competency. A lot of the functions have moved to desktop applications. While there may be fewer people devoted to media research handling the syndicated data from firms such as Nielsen, Arbitron and MRI, divisions are growing in other areas such as consumer insight, brand and market research, and competitive/marketplace analytics to handle specialized databases to create media mix and other predictive models.

“We are spending more time advising about media mix and marketing versus media research. We’re going beyond how clients plan and buy media; we’re helping to shape market strategy,” says MediaVest’s Shiffman. Joe Abruzzo, evp and director of research for MPG, agrees: “We’re spending money differently in a lot more areas like competitive and strategic analysis.”

Like everything else in the agency world, the changes in analytics start with the client. You’d have to be living under a rock to not see how the economy has altered client thinking about media and marketing. Return on investment is the new mantra, and, increasingly, clients want their media and marketing campaigns tied to the same metrics by which their business is judged, whether it’s sales, awareness or engagement.

“The pressure on [client] marketing departments forces an ROI discussion,” says Huw Griffiths, evp/global director of marketing accountability and research at UM. “We’re orienting more toward the clients’ business measures. As soon as you do that, it introduces an area of analytics such as forecasting and linking measures together. That in turn creates a need for analytics to build predictive models.”

If the old media research focused on CPM, the current media research is a synthesis of metrics around the consumer. “It includes data on the purchase funnel, segmentation, awareness and tracking data, combined to show return on investment,” says Mike Hess, evp of research, marketing science and consumer insights for Carat. “There is a new paradigm emerging around synthesizing and integrating agency mix models with clients’ proprietary information,” he adds.

Agencies are looking to the Web for metric models that throw off enormous buckets of numbers in real time. In some cases, that allows clients to price their campaigns by outcome or response or to change a campaign midstream if it’s not producing the desired response.

“Because of digital data, everything is getting more and more granular. Clients expect answers in real time,” says Starcom’s Lowell.

Clients also want all their marketing and media efforts knit closer together, seeking connections among the data in order to create integrated campaigns that deliver measurable results. And collaboration across disciplines has become essential to today’s accountability-driven clients.

“‘Research’ almost doesn’t feel like the right word for it,” says Joel Rubinson, chief research officer for the Advertising Research Foundation. “We’re moving to a blended competency kind of model.”

However, there are some questions about the trend, which is evolving and morphing rapidly as technology makes it easier to handle exponentially larger quantities of data.

It’s easier than ever to have access to and crunch behavioral data from the Web, second-by-second tuning data from set-top boxes -- plus myriad daily consumer panels, product distribution or sales data. Seduced by bigger boxcar loads of numbers, some believe the basics of good research may take a backseat. Just because research can produce a number doesn’t make it a number that clients can take to the bank.

“There is a lot of pressure from client procurement departments on the agency to produce more and more for less and less. Clients appear generally uninformed or unconcerned about the real foundations of the media and marketing recommendations,” says Tony Jarvis, a media research consultant. “Regrettably, this is leading many agencies to wonder if they can afford to have someone assessing and driving the quality of research data.”

There is also a disconnect between where research divisions are going and what happens when it comes down to placing a buy. While agencies may be connecting research to a clients’ business metrics, buys are still being made based on the traditional currencies. The comfort zone, it seems, is still back with traditional GRPs and CPMs.

“There’s a split between the way media is bought and the way it is evaluated,” says UM’s Griffiths. “That has to change. We’re trying to structure buys based on outcome, but we’re dealing with a massive legacy of vendors and partners that aren’t used to working like that.”

For now, buys continue to be negotiated the old-fashioned way with traditional metrics. Buys based on nontraditional metrics are few and small in scale, and are subject to how willing a media company and its clients are to trialing out new approaches.

Says OMD’s Masucci: “It’s the key riddle to solve...There is a lot of inertia. Unless we figure it out, clients will be backing agencies in a corner.”

----

Research Disciplines

1. Business intelligence: Competitive and marketplace info and systems including advertising spend; syndicated and proprietary sales and marketing data from the client.

2. Syndicated media information from research: Data from firms such as Nielsen, MRI, Arbitron, ComScore; market research from AC Nielsen; and related applications provided by third-party processors.

3. Specialized databases and analytics: 360-degree planning and media mix models, return on investment, prediction and simulation models.

4. Consumer research, brand and market research: Includes syndicated research from firms such as Scarborough and Experian Simmons, as well as the client’s own proprietary databases.

5. Custom research: Unique studies usually executed in close collaboration with the client and sometimes the media company as an enhancement or cross-check on insights/findings from existing data.

UM & MasterCard announce exclusive TFL partnership for Oyster wallet branding

3:43:56 AM

MasterCard has announced a new, multi-million pound partnership with Transport for London (TfL) for the exclusive branding of TfL‟s Oyster card wallet for 2011. The Oyster card wallet is distributed with all new cards issued and is available from tube and rail stations and Travel Information Centres.

The partnership, masterminded by UM London, with a campaign planned by IPM and CBS Outdoor, will also see MasterCard brand London Underground ticket barriers to support its key initiatives and sponsorship properties over the coming year, including the UEFA Champions League Final in May 2011.

It is another milestone in MasterCard‟s strategy to raise awareness of MasterCard® PayPass™ contactless payments in transport systems, as cities such as London move towards enabling contactless „open loop‟ payments on their trains, tubes and buses. This would allow commuters to „Tap & Go™‟ and pay travel fares directly at the ticketing gate with the same credit, debit or prepaid card they use to make everyday purchases.

Hany Fam, President of the UK & Ireland Division at MasterCard, said:

“Oyster has been a huge success, providing millions of consumers every day with a convenient way of accessing London's transport system. But we believe that MasterCard PayPass can offer even more. Frustrations such as missing a train because you have to queue up to buy a ticket, or waiting for a bus only to find that you don‟t have enough value to travel, could be a thing of the past.

We will be distributing six million wallets in the capital next year, with travellers in London tapping their Oyster cards over 13 million times a day.”

MasterCard has announced a new, multi-million pound partnership with Transport for London (TfL) for the exclusive branding of TfL‟s Oyster card wallet for 2011.

The Oyster card wallet is distributed with all new cards issued and is available from tube and rail stations and Travel Information Centres.

The partnership, masterminded by UM London, with a campaign planned by IPM and CBS Outdoor, will also see MasterCard brand London Underground ticket barriers to support its key initiatives and sponsorship properties over the coming year, including the UEFA Champions League Final in May 2011.

It is another milestone in MasterCard‟s strategy to raise awareness of MasterCard® PayPass™ contactless payments in transport systems, as cities such as London move towards enabling contactless „open loop‟ payments on their trains, tubes and buses. This would allow commuters to „Tap & Go™‟ and pay travel fares directly at the ticketing gate with the same credit, debit or prepaid card they use to make everyday purchases.

Hany Fam, President of the UK & Ireland Division at MasterCard, said:

“Oyster has been a huge success, providing millions of consumers every day with a convenient way of accessing London's transport system. But we believe that MasterCard PayPass can offer even more. Frustrations such as missing a train because you have to queue up to buy a ticket, or waiting for a bus only to find that you don‟t have enough value to travel, could be a thing of the past.

We will be distributing six million wallets in the capital next year, with travellers in London tapping their Oyster cards over 13 million times a day.”

UM wächst stark und eröffnet Büro in Hamburg

3:43:56 AM

UM wächst stark und eröffnet Büro in Hamburg

Nach einem erfolgreichen Jahr 2010 startet UM (Universal McCann) mit einem eigenen Standort an der Elbe ins neue Jahr. Frank Knebel leitet das Hamburger Büro. Für seine bisherige Aufgabe – die Standortleitung in Düsseldorf – konnte UM Sabrina Sallach verpflichten. Sie kommt von Plan.Net.media.

Frankfurt/Hamburg/Düsseldorf, 20. Januar 2011 – Die Mediaagentur UM bringt in Hamburg ein integriertes Beratungsteam an den Start. Unter der Führung von Frank Knebel, 39, arbeiten seit Anfang Januar zehn Media-Experten aus dem klassischen
sowie digitalen Business Hand in Hand für Kunden wie ABInBev, Tempur Matratzen, Niederegger Marzipan, Häagen Dasz, ARTE und den zuletzt gewonnenen Kunden Burberry.

„Ich freue mich, gemeinsam mit Frank Knebel das Geschäft in Hamburg und insbesondere den digitalen Bereich noch weiter auszubauen“, so Michael Dunke, CEO
von UM. Das Hamburger Büro war Mitte 2009 geschlossen und das Geschäft an die anderen Standorte verteilt worden. Nun befindet sich UM wieder auf einem deutlichen Wachstumskurs. So pitchen die Hamburger gerade um einen großen Etat eines Handelsunternehmens.

Knebel, der über die Geschäfte an der Elbe direkt an Dunke berichtet, begrüßt die nun größere Nähe zu den Kunden. Beispielsweise sitzt ABInBev (u.a. Beck’s) in Bremen. Dieses Unternehmen betreut Knebel mit seinem Team – neben zahlreichen anderen Kunden – seit nunmehr sieben Jahren. Für die Beck’s Gold Kampagne hat UM gerade den deutschen Mediapreis 2010 gewonnen.

Mit dem Wechsel nach Hamburg übergibt Knebel die Leitung des Düsseldorfer UM Standortes an Sabrina Sallach, 41. Sie kommt von Plan.Net media in Hamburg, wo sie zuvor als Geschäftsleiterin mit dem Schwerpunkt digitales Business und Neugeschäft,
für Kunden aus der Unterhaltungsindustrie sowie aus der Touristik- und Finanzbranche verantwortlich war. Davor arbeitete die Marketingfachwirtin bei Starcom und bei thomaskochmedia als Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung. Am Düsseldorfer UM-Standort
wird sie nun mit insgesamt zwölf Mitarbeitern Unternehmen wie L’Oréal beraten.
Auch Sallach berichtet direkt an Dunke.

Wachstum setzt sich in 2011 fort

UM ist an insgesamt vier Standorten in Deutschland vertreten: Neben dem Hauptsitz in Frankfurt am Main sind diese Nürnberg, Düsseldorf und Hamburg. Mit der Eröffnung des Hamburger Büros knüpft UM an ein erfolgreiches Jahr mit viel Neugeschäft an. „Im Jahr 2010 haben wir rund 30 Neukunden gewonnen und konnten um 20 Prozent wachsen“, so UM CEO Dunke. Im Jahr 2011 soll die Agentur weiter wachsen. Derzeit präsentiert die Frankfurter Agentur um einen großen Etat aus der Pharmabranche. UM beschäftigt in Deutschland mehr als 150 Mitarbeiter.

Universal McCann

UM (Universal McCann; Holding IPG New York) zählt zu den Top Ten Mediaagenturen
und betreut internationale sowie nationale Kunden, z. B. ABInBev (wie u.a. Becks, Hasseröder), Microsoft, MasterCard, Norma, Intersport, L’Oréal (Vichy, Armani, Lancôme), BASF, MediaMarkt, Toys’R’us und FRoSTA. Neben der Zentrale in Frankfurt/Main gibt es Agenturen in Düsseldorf, Nürnberg und Hamburg.
Für mehr Infos nutzen Sie bitte www.universalmccann.de

Context Optional Launches Social Marketing Suite

3:43:56 AM

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 22, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ---- Context Optional, the social marketing company, announced today the launch of its Social Marketing Suite, a customizable software solution for brands and agencies to manage and build brand presence on Facebook.

The Social Marketing Suite brings together Context Optional's enterprise-class social marketing modules -- Applications, Moderation, Publishing and Analytics -- into one easy-to-use platform that is now available on a subscription basis. The Social Marketing Suite is the first offering that integrates campaign creation and management, fan engagement and measurement into a single product. The modules allow brands to:

Easily build and launch engaging branded applications on Facebook Pages

Moderate conversations taking place across Facebook Pages

Publish and schedule Facebook posts and track media and links

Analyze engagement and conversation taking place on Facebook

"Efficiently and cost effectively harnessing conversations that are happening on social media platforms are key components of our marketing efforts," said Heidi Browning, EVP, Microsoft & Global Digital Officer, Universal McCann. "We look for solutions that allow us to seamlessly manage, moderate and analyze our social media efforts at scale and in one place to help us better understand and serve our customers on an ongoing basis."

The Social Marketing Suite addresses the growing need for enterprise-class social marketing tools, particularly as studies are showing that 'conversationalists' are engaging in social networks at staggering rates and making themselves more accessible to brands. About 59% of online consumers are active on social networks at least one a month, according to the recent Forrester Research study Introducing The New Social Technographics.

"Brands that have taken social seriously need to find more efficient ways to stay involved in consumer conversations while keeping pages interesting and free of profanity," said Kevin Barenblat, co-founder and CEO, Context Optional. "Marketers are demanding workflow and analytics solutions for Facebook that are on par with what they use for television, email and search."

More than a dozen global brands and agencies have licensed Context Optional's Social Marketing Suite including Fortune 500 companies in the retail, technology, entertainment and financial services sectors.

To learn more about the Context Optional Social Marketing Suite, please visit http://www.contextoptional.com/products/ or contact info@contextoptional.com.

About Context Optional

Context Optional is a leading provider of social marketing software and services to global brands and advertising agencies. The company provides marketers with comprehensive solutions to build, manage, monitor and measure brand presence across the social web to meet their acquisition, engagement and retention goals. By combining industry expertise, a leading technology platform, and comprehensive analytics into an integrated approach, Context Optional delivers the most effective social CRM and marketing solutions to Fortune 1000 brands and agencies. Context Optional is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York and Seattle. For more information, please visit http://www.contextoptional.com.

Contact: Kasey Fleisher Hickey, +1-415-738-7997, ext. 34, kasey (at) contextoptional (dot) com

SOURCE Context Optional

UM and Microsoft in Exclusive Viral Campaign for Bing

3:43:56 AM

Microsoft search engine Bing has launched a new web TV campaign featuring Kayvan Novak, the star of Channel 4’s comedy series Facejacker.

Bing UK’s head of search Alex Payne told Marketing Week that the aim of the webisode series is to promote awareness and perception of the brand in a “more engaging and entertaining” way.

Payne added: “Early indications, in response to a number of teasers on Facebook, Twitter and with key influentials about the campaign, suggest the webisodes will go viral over the following days.”

The first installment of the web series, entitled the Art of Technology, launched last week on a dedicated microsite theartoftechnology.co.uk. It follows Facejacker’s eccentric art critic character Brian Badonde as he interviews a number of Bing experts.

UM London will be supporting the initiative through an online campaign that will drive traffic to the video, encouraging people to share it with peers. The campaign will cover high visibility sites such as YouTube, See Saw and The Sun online – all of which will house unique video content that will link through to the main hub.

‘It’s another example of how we are branching out and getting involved in more cutting-edge digital work in the social media sphere,’ said Ian Aslett, Digital Planner at UM. ‘Wave 5, the acclaimed social media study we conducted last year, showed us that viral marketing is getting bigger and bigger, so it’s crucial that we maximise its potential for our clients.’

The webisode initiative was created by JWT Entertainment and Hat Trick Productions.

Microsoft search engine Bing has launched a new web TV campaign featuring Kayvan Novak, the star of Channel 4’s comedy series Facejacker.

Bing UK’s head of search Alex Payne told Marketing Week that the aim of the webisode series is to promote awareness and perception of the brand in a “more engaging and entertaining” way.

Payne added: “Early indications, in response to a number of teasers on Facebook, Twitter and with key influentials about the campaign, suggest the webisodes will go viral over the following days.”

The first installment of the web series, entitled the Art of Technology, launched last week on a dedicated microsite theartoftechnology.co.uk. It follows Facejacker’s eccentric art critic character Brian Badonde as he interviews a number of Bing experts.

UM London will be supporting the initiative through an online campaign that will drive traffic to the video, encouraging people to share it with peers. The campaign will cover high visibility sites such as YouTube, See Saw and The Sun online – all of which will house unique video content that will link through to the main hub.

‘It’s another example of how we are branching out and getting involved in more cutting-edge digital work in the social media sphere,’ said Ian Aslett, Digital Planner at UM. ‘Wave 5, the acclaimed social media study we conducted last year, showed us that viral marketing is getting bigger and bigger, so it’s crucial that we maximise its potential for our clients.’

The webisode initiative was created by JWT Entertainment and Hat Trick Productions.

UM gewinnt Burberry

3:43:56 AM

Very british lässt die Traditionsmarke Burberry wissen, dass sie eine neue Mediaagentur unter Vertrag genommen hat. „We are pleased to announce the appointment of Universal McCann“, heißt es in einer Pressemitteilung. Erzufolge wird das Medianetwork der New Yorker Interpublic-Holding künftig die gesamte internationale Mediaplanung und den Einkauf der Werbeplätze verantworten.

Die Entscheidung für Universal McCann fiel nach einem Pitch, in dem die WPP-Tochter Mindshare das Nachsehen hatte. Bis dato wurde das Mediabudget von Burberry von Mediacom betreut, die ebenfalls zur Group M der Londoner WPP-Holding gehört. Wie viel die britische Modemarke mit dem berühmten Karomuster weltweit in seine Kommunikation insgesamt investiert, ist nicht bekannt. In jedem Fall wird aber die Expansion in neue Märkte und neue Marketingkanäle – allen voran in die digitalen Medien – angestrebt.

In Deutschland dürfte der Etat, der nun bei Universal McCann in Frankfurt auf der Neukundenliste steht, brutto 4 bis 5 Millionen Euro betragen. Die erste Zusammenarbeit mit dem Medianetwork wird im Juni sichtbar werden, wenn Burberry die Werbekampagne für kommende Herbst- und Winterkollektion lanciert. Die Kreationen der Werbekampagnen werden von Burberry weiterhin inhouse gestaltet. Verantwortlich dafür ist Christopher Bailey, Burberry Chief Creative Officer in London

Marc Ruxin Keynote at CM Summit NYC

3:43:56 AM

Which is more important in developing a new campaign: scale, or customization? How do you temper the demand for "bright shiny objects" to ensure that you are developing on the right platform for your audience? Watch Marc Ruxin, the EVP and Chief Innovation Officer for McCann Worldgroup, at the CM Summit in New York City, where he addresses these questions and others, and outlines the Executweets case study.

BRITs Fans Get A Priceless Gift From MasterCard

3:43:56 AM

In its ‘Something for the fans’ campaign, developed in partnership with McCann Erikson & UM London, MasterCard will give cardholders the chance to win personal items donated by BRITs legends of past and present – each with a unique story behind it.

Tinie Tempah, Kasabian, The Ting Tings and Eliza Doolittle have all signed up so far – and the exclusive competition for the 'prizes that money can’t buy' is now live.

For the first time, the same ‘Something for the fans’ campaign will run across all media platforms – TV, digital, press and outdoor around the venue. Sponsorship TV idents featuring the four artists went out on the Nominations Party broadcast on ITV2 last night, reaching over half a million viewers.

Digital will also play a major role, reflecting music fans’ online habits. As well as idents on music content sites and in music online chat rooms, we will be running cleverly targeted campaigns on Facebook, Spotify, and Last FM. Integrated throughout the campaign is the use of innovative artist-specific targeting, providing the perfect platform for the MasterCard promotion to be served to the most loyal of fans.

Finally, on the night of the Nominations Party, MasterCard branding was all around the party at the IndigO2, including some eye catching outdoor formats like digital projections and LED banners.

Alex Vale, UM Planner, said:

“This year’s BRIT campaign is certainly our most exciting yet for MasterCard. The idea of the priceless gift has been integrated across all our media platforms in a unique way, with a a very specific focus on true music fans. After all – they are the people who have made the BRITs what they are today.”

Shaun Springer, Head of Brand, Sponsorship and Digital Marketing, MasterCard UK & Ireland, comments:

“MasterCard is proud to be supporting The BRIT Awards once again this year. The BRIT Awards are a really important asset to MasterCard as we feel they truly highlight the outstanding talent that the British music scene has to offer."

For the 13th year running, MasterCard are headline sponsors of the prestigious BRIT Awards 2011, happening on 15th February. This year, as the BRITs get even more exciting, MasterCard will be adding an extra special twist to make the event even more memorable.

In its ‘Something for the fans’ campaign, developed in partnership with McCann Erikson & UM London, MasterCard will give cardholders the chance to win personal items donated by BRITs legends of past and present – each with a unique story behind it.

Tinie Tempah, Kasabian, The Ting Tings and Eliza Doolittle have all signed up so far – and the exclusive competition for the 'prizes that money can’t buy' is now live.

For the first time, the same ‘Something for the fans’ campaign will run across all media platforms – TV, digital, press and outdoor around the venue. Sponsorship TV idents featuring the four artists will go out tonight on the Nominations Party broadcast on ITV2 last night, reaching over half a million viewers.

Digital will also play a major role, reflecting music fans’ online habits. As well as idents on music content sites and in music online chat rooms, we will be running cleverly targeted campaigns on Facebook, Spotify, and Last FM. Integrated throughout the campaign is the use of innovative artist-specific targeting, providing the perfect platform for the MasterCard promotion to be served to the most loyal of fans.Finally, on the night of the Nominations Party, MasterCard branding was all around the party at the IndigO2, including some eye catching outdoor formats like digital projections and LED banners.

Alex Vale, UM Planner, said:

“This year’s BRIT campaign is certainly our most exciting yet for MasterCard. The idea of the priceless gift has been integrated across all our media platforms in a unique way, with a a very specific focus on true music fans. After all – they are the people who have made the BRITs what they are today.”

Shaun Springer, Head of Brand, Sponsorship and Digital Marketing, MasterCard UK & Ireland, comments:

“MasterCard is proud to be supporting The BRIT Awards once again this year. The BRIT Awards are a really important asset to MasterCard as we feel they truly highlight the outstanding talent that the British music scene has to offer."

blueSummit gewinnt Lufthansa und Swiss

3:43:56 AM

Die Search-Spezialisten von blueSummit haben sich die internationalen Etats der Lufthansa Passage Airlines gesichert. Für die Kranich-Marke verantwortet die Agentur künftig Suchmaschinenoptimierung (SEO) und -marketing (SEM). Hinzu kommt der Bereich SEM für die Tochter Swiss International Air Lines. "Reisen und Flüge werden heutzutage über das Internet gebucht“, erklärt Parand Rohani, Manager Online-Marketing bei Swiss.

Für Lufthansa sollen über Paid Search und SEO die Buchungen auf Lufthansa.com optimiert werden. Steuern wird blueSummit die weltweiten Maßnahmen komplett aus München. Für Asien und Amerika holt sich die vor zwei Jahren gegründete Agentur Marktwissen aus dem Netzwerk von Universal McCann. Paneuropäisch ist blueSummit bereits für mehrere Kunden tätig. Zusammen mit dem Bestandskunden Austrian Airlines betreut die Agentur nun alle drei deutschsprachigen Fluggesellschaften in der Star Alliance.

"Der größte Pitch, den ich bis jetzt machen durfte“, sagt Agenturgründer und Geschäftsführer Sebastian Sommerer. "Ein weltweites Projekt wie dieses ist für uns ein weiterer Schritt ins internationale Geschäft“, fügt er hinzu. Der Verzicht auf weitere Niederlassungen passt zur Firmenphilosophie: "Wir sind ein ganz starker Verfechter der zentralen Performance-Steuerung“, sagt der Gründer. Darin sieht er einen Trend, der sich durchsetzen wird.

Neben dem Search-Schwerpunkt will die gerade zwei Jahre alte Agentur ihren Kunden auch in anderen Bereichen immer wieder Verzahnungsmöglichkeiten aufzeigen. Search drehe zwar die Online-Marketing-Maschinerie, alle anderen Teile seien aber auch wichtig. Das spiegelt der Claim "...more than Search!“ wider. Der Blick auf die gesamte Branche ist Sommerer wichtig.

Auch darin sieht er einen Unterschied zu vielen anderen in der Branche: "Es gibt zwei Extreme in der Agentur-Landschaft: Wir haben extreme Spezialisten, die den Markt sehr isoliert betrachten und andererseits große Player, die sich zu Bauchläden entwickelt haben", erklärt er.

Der Honorarumsatz von blueSummit belief sich 2009 auf einen deutlich siebenstelligen Betrag. Mit neuen Kunden will die Agentur dieses Jahr um mindestens 30 Prozent wachsen.
http://www.blueSummit.de

MSN-Vet Mike Siegenthaler Jumps to UM

3:43:56 AM

MSN-Vet Mike Siegenthaler Jumps to UM

Feb 7, 2010

-By Mike Shields

Mike Siegenthaler

Mike Siegenthaler, who most recently led MSN’s Branded Entertainment and Experiences Team (BEET), is making the jump to UM to become executive vp, head of the agency’s burgeoning MOR group.

MOR (media owner relationship) is charged with helping the agency’s clients conceive and execute on large-scale, breakthrough programs that run the gamut from branded entertainment series to highly integrated, custom sponsorship packages. To do so, MOR aspires to connect with the agency’s media partners much earlier in the creative process—meeting with programmers and researchers rather than just sales executives.

Siegenthaler, a 10-year MSN veteran, started at UM last week. (MSN officials were unavailable for comment on a potential replacement.) He now oversees a four-person team tasked with serving all of UM’s U.S. offices, which includes Scott Laine, formerly of Wired magazine.

Siegenthaler, 42, who had a brief run as a media planner at J. Walter Thompson earlier in his career, said he saw a unique opportunity in returning to the agency world to help reshape how media gets bought and sold. The ideal is for his team to be included in most major planning and creative briefings, as well as new business pitches—rather than receiving a planning budget after most major strategic decisions have already been made.

“This is not a group with a ‘special’ budget that works on a ‘special’ plan,” he said. “It’s not about, ‘Send me your out-of-the-box ideas in 48 hours.’ It’s holistic. And it’s not just branded entertainment. It’s about using every tool in your box. If you want something breakthrough and completely custom, you’ve got to get in early. And everyone needs to embrace this.”

Embracing the MOR concept is so core to the UM culture that the company is placing logos on its office walls and Web site with the word “vendors” circled with a slash through it. That directive comes from CEO Matt Seiler, who first conceived the MOR approach back in 2008 when he noticed creative agencies expanding their offerings to become more integral to their clients’ business.

“I felt we needed to rethink what a full-service agency could be,” Seiler said. “I thought there was a real opportunity [for media agencies] to be a one-stop shop because of the money we manage. You have a partnership with the media owners that isn’t being leveraged now. But media owners can really be your creative department.”

They can even be your market research department, said Carolyn Everson COO, executive vp, strategy and operations at Viacom. “Matt’s vision is to be more closely aligned with media owners to tap into our creativity and our consumer insights,” she said. “We have expertise in certain markets. For example, we know millennials, men or kids.”

Everson said that most media companies are glad to ditch the vendor/buyer relationship. “McCann is looking to change the model—that is really inspiring to work with,” she said. “It’s refreshing, frankly, to have a media agency think about us in this way.”

UM gewinnt Deutschen Mediapreis 2010

3:43:56 AM

Deutscher Mediapreis 2010: Die besten Media-Ideen des Jahres

Sieger Kategorie Print: Universal McCann für InBev Deutschland

Die intellektuelle Avantgarde als Konsumvorbild ist wünschenswert, aber schwierig zu erreichen. Beck's Gold gelang das mit einer komplett gebrandeten Ausgabe des Magazins Human globaler Zufall.

Produkt- und Markenname erscheinen nur auf einer einzigen Seite im Heft, subtile Hinweise wie eine Seite ganz in Gold oder goldene Texte stellen den Bezug zum Produkt auch ohne Branding her - und überwinden so die Werbereaktanz der Zielgruppe. Die Umschlagseiten sind thermoreaktiv, d. h. die Anzeige wird erst durch Auflegen der Hand sichtbar.

Ein spielerischer und hochwertiger Umgang mit dem Medium, fand die Jury. "Eine überraschende und stilsichere Einbindung der Marke. Die Zielgruppe wird nicht verprellt, sondern subtil angesprochen. Für die Leser ein Mehrwert", so Lars Niemann, Anzeigenleiter Stern/Geo/Art bei G+J.

Aus: W&V

Universal McCann Is Ad Age's Comeback Agency of the Year

3:43:56 AM

Ad Age
Universal McCann Is Ad Age's Comeback Agency of the Year

Formerly Viewed as Just a Media Arm, Aggressive Approach Landed Shop a Host of New Business

By Michael Bush
Published: January 25, 2010

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- BMW North America's nine-month-long media review was one of the longest and most-drawn-out of the year. Patrick McKenna, manager-marketing communications and consumer events at BMW, said there were a few reasons for the holdup. One one was Matt Seiler, global CEO of Universal McCann, the agency that eventually wrestled the business away from four-year incumbent GSD&M Idea City.

The automaker says it was "very happy" with GSD&M but decided to review the business because of the ramifications of the economic downturn on the media market. "It was a case of us just going to market to see what the market would provide," Mr. McKenna said. What the market wrought, he said, was a one-man crusade for BMW's business.

"When I say 'crusade' I mean two-page unsolicited e-mails on Sunday night at 10 o'clock about his passion and commitment to the business, what [Mr. Seiler] would do to secure the business and then back that up with his plans for the brand," Mr. McKenna said. "We loved his passion, and ultimately [Univeral McCann] prevailed."

And Along with the $200 million BMW account, Universal McCann also notched its belt with wins from Dyson, Charles Schwab, Applebee's and Chrysler.

The parade of new business coming through the doors must have been the equivalent of culture shock for those who had been at Universal McCann before Mr. Seiler's arrival, because for a few years before -- and even for a little while after -- he left Omnicom Group's PHD to join Universal McCann in July of 2008, the agency hadn't won much new business. It didn't help that UM was largely viewed as just the media arm for creative giant McCann Erickson and unable to land accounts unless they came through there. But in 18 months, Mr. Seiler helped turn Universal McCann into a powerhouse using an aggressive approach much like he took with the BMW review.

And Mr. Seiler last week was tapped to join the new management structure at Mediabrands, Interpublic Group of Cos.' umbrella unit for its media agencies, called Office of the Chairman. This new management group, which will report directly to Interpublic CEO Michael Roth, also includes Richard Beaven, CEO of Initiative; Tara Comonte, Mediabrands' COO and CFO; and Matt Freeman, CEO of Mediabrands Ventures.

Rethinking
Mr. Seiler's desire to create an earlier and more strategic relationship between media agency and media owner on behalf of his clients is unusual, as is tapping someone with no prior agency experience, Jacki Kelley, as North American president.

While Mr. Seiler's immediate and significant problem was fixing Universal McCann, his vision is to more broadly rethink the media-agency business. "I've always believed the media portion of the industry needed to be rethought ... to think about what the hell we offer our clients and how to differentiate ourselves from other agencies," Mr. Seiler said.

Ms. Kelley has helped carry out Mr. Seiler's vision for a more strategic relationship with media owners. "As a former media owner, it wasn't news to me that Matt's concept would add value because media owners have been frustrated for years with agencies that provide limited information and very short time tables for ideas that have never been done before," she said. "Seeing someone on the buying side that would actually change the way they were structured in order to really alter the way the agency engages was radical." One of those restructuring efforts includes hiring media-owner-relationship managers for North America.

Becky Saeger, exec VP-CMO at Charles Schwab, tapped Universal McCann in July to be its media-planning and -buying agency. Ms. Saeger said the company was looking for a media partner that was willing to do more than plan and buy media and push it to ensure the company wasn't looking at things in a compartmentalized way.

"They did a great job from a tactical perspective in terms of buying and executing but also brought great perspective on the digital landscape," Ms. Saeger said. "They have a good knowledge of the market, and over the six-month period they have learned a lot and every time we have gotten together, there has been an obvious cumulative impact of the knowledge. "

BMW's Mr. McKenna has also been so pleased with the agency that he gave Universal McCann his blessing to pitch the Chrysler media account, which had many in the industry screaming conflict. Mr. McKenna said after a "very open and candid conversation" with Ms. Kelley about how the agency would not pursue it without BMW's blessing and how the shop keeps the J&J and L'Oréal accounts separate and firewalled, he was comfortable there would be no conflicts.

He also sees the increased buying clout from Chrysler, which it won, as a benefit to BMW. "It could help us from an overall buying-clout standpoint, the tide lifting all boats so to speak," Mr. McKenna said.

Universal McCann: U.S. Media Agency of the Year '09

3:43:56 AM

Adweek
Universal McCann: U.S. Media Agency of the Year '09

CEO Matt Seiler on the power of momentum, his best decision and why he has no mentors

Jan 18, 2010

- Steve McClellan

For much of the past decade, Interpublic's Universal McCann was one of the most beleaguered media shops in the industry, having lost huge accounts like General Motors, Coca-Cola and Lowe's. By 2008, the agency was stable again, thanks largely to the efforts of then-worldwide CEO Nick Brien and his team. When Brien was promoted to CEO of IPG's media management arm, Mediabrands, he hired Matt Seiler to succeed him as UM's CEO in August 2008. The stage was set for UM to complete its turnaround and Seiler delivered in 2009, his first full year running the company. Seiler revamped the management team, hiring media company veteran Jacki Kelley in April to run North America. Seiler and Kelley immediately went to work on the offering. The biggest change: a new approach to working with media owners in a bid to maximize those relationships. In May, the wins started coming in quick succession -- Dyson, BMW, Schwab and others, capped by the the Chrysler account in December. All told, UM added nearly $1 billion in new business (excluding Chrysler, which takes effect this month) and posted an impressive 11 percent revenue gain to $191 million. For completing its turnaround with its best winning streak in seven years -- without a single loss -- new management and a fine-tuned offering, Universal McCann is Adweek's U.S. Media Agency of the Year for 2009.

Adweek: A lot of things went right for your shop in 2009. What was the most important lesson you learned?
Matt Seiler: The criticality of getting the team right. And that when the team is right it shows in everything that you do. From a new business perspective, there is nothing more appealing to a prospect than a team that is absolutely consistent. At least as important is that we really like each other. It's very seductive to a potential client, I think, to see how much the agency team has confidence in each other and likes each other. It makes the client feel comfortable and happy and liked.

Other lessons?
The power of momentum. It's that "when you smile, the world smiles with you" thing. Once we had the team right, it felt fantastic. The first exposure the team really had to a prospect was Dyson and after that BMW, and immediately after, Schwab. It feeds on itself.

What was the biggest surprise last year?
The whole thing. I keep pinching myself because I can't quite believe how much this team accomplished in a year. The adopting of the new positioning, the esprit de corps, picking up nine new pieces of business. We retained all our existing business and grew in lots of different directions with existing clients.

What's the best decision you made in '09?
Hiring [North American president] Jacki Kelley. [The fact] that she comes from a media-owner background is part of what makes her a phenomenal leader for the agency. And she reflects the promise of what partnering with a media owner is. She sort of represents the other side of the table in everything we do. The [Media Owner Relationship] team underneath her is all about that. ( READ AN INTERVIEW WITH JACKI KELLEY)

Describe your management style
Hopefully trusting. I absolutely believe that the people of UM are beyond capable of delivering. I believe that Jacki [Kelley] and I are here to empower people to do what they're great at doing and not to stand in their way.

Who are your mentors?
[Bewitched's] Darrin Stephens is my mentor [laughs]. I don't think that's a very rich vein for me, sadly, and I really should analyze that. I haven't had mentors. I've had a few really terrific bosses and without pandering [current boss Mediabrands CEO] Nick [Brien] is the best that I've had, but it's a little late in my long-toothed career to be considering Nick a mentor.

Any missed opportunities?
We have not yet hired the head of the team that will oversee our Media Owner Relationship team. That kind of troubles me. I'm very anxious to do that.

Did you have someone in your sights?
There's been a couple of people we liked a lot. It's a really critical hire, though. It's a big statement to the media owners, the clients and the people here. So the importance of the individual is great.

Would you call that your most innovative move in 2009?
Yes, and it will be the most innovative thing we do [this] year.

Who do you least like going up against in a pitch and why?
It's not so much an individual agency. I least like being in a pitch that has been called for cost savings and pits everybody against each other. I least like being defined by our peer set. I would love to have more opportunities to compete with creative agencies. All media agencies should define the business that we're in specifically enough that we have a competitive advantage to make it impossible to throw us all together.

Beside your CrackBerry, what's your favorite digital gadget?
I would say my DVR. I do not watch television when television is on, ever.

Describe yourself in three words
The first three that popped in my head were "in a hurry." This is going to sound totally gross, but as I envisioned [my Christmas break] there was a big part of me that didn't want it. I'm so excited about what's going on here [in some ways I was thinking] let's hurry up with this whole Christmas thing because there's a lot of cool stuff that we'll be implementing in the new year that I can't wait to do.

Talk about the new Media Owner Relationship initiative.
The connection between agencies and media owners hasn't worked as well as it could because the link [has been] the buying group. There's tremendous power, influence and connectivity between media agencies and media owners, but the right people weren't necessarily talking to each other. The relationship shouldn't be just about going to the upfront and buying television and running messages. That's missing the opportunity of the incredible stuff that exists ... that we ought to be taking advantage of, [such as] what's coming out of the studios, what's possible on the airwaves. To not tap into that is ludicrous.

So it's about resetting the whole relationship?
Yes, start again. The truth is all the media owners are very siloed by their P&Ls so the opportunity to get the best content out of the media owner doesn't necessarily come from the media owner himself. Or herself.

So you're hiring your own people to figure that out.
Yes. And you have to change your process to allow for the time [it takes] to go to the media owner with an intelligent strategy and to not presuppose that last year's plan is right for this year. There's too much of that in the business. We need to be asking a new set of questions to start big conversations about audience connections. That's more relevant. We're expert on the identification of and the romancing of an audience, and then matching this up with the deliverer.

Romancing the audience?
Yes, it's not just about adults 18 to 49. We have all the data. We know everything about audiences and where to go and find them. But we need to be in love with them and really get inside their heads. The media owner is excellent at creating content that stimulates those people. So it's really about identifying the necessary audience for the client's objective and finding that same audience on the media-owner side and then plopping those two pieces together. It requires thinking differently.

The Chrysler win, coming in December, topped off a terrific year. Interestingly, duties on that account also include creative responsibilities at the retail marketing level. How did that assignment come about?
What Chrysler was looking for is not dissimilar with how we work with a couple of our other clients, notably Microsoft, Sony and J&J where we function as, I won't say the AOR but the backbone. As more and more clients are looking to work with multiple creative agencies, it makes sense to have somebody be responsible for the totality of the business. And the more innovative and fresh-thinking clients are recognizing that the media agency can allow all of the creative agencies to plug into that common backbone. So it's easier for them to have a Fallon or a GlobalHue to do specialized work that can come and go and be plugged into the consistent thing, which is the media agency.

But how did you end up with the creative retail advertising assignment?
It works across all four brands [Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram] and they could have had it done by the different creative agencies, but the communication requirements and the integration needs and so on suggested that was a much harder way of doing it. Housing it in one place to support all four brands was just smarter.

So UM will be creating the ads at the local dealership level?
Yes, we'll create them. We picked up a number of people who had been working on that portion of the business and plopped them back down at UM. Also, the agency has a lot of account management experience and people who come from full-service agencies. So what a lot of us have done as individuals elsewhere we'll now get to do again as an agency.

UM and not McCann Erickson?
Just UM.

Do you create ads for other clients?
We do not, but I imagine that we will do more of it. I want to be careful in how this comes out in that we're not looking to become a full-service agency or take work from our brothers and sisters on the creative agency side. Our push is really with the connection with the media owner and content creation. However, we have great flexibility and can manage a variety of tasks for clients. The retail work for Chrysler just makes sense. It's more locally focused, especially where there's potential for addressability. More and more that's going happen.

Is this the beginning of a rebundling trend?
I don't think so. What it does do, though, is beg the question of what is an AOR relationship? We have tended to think that the AOR was the creative agency and I think there is a need to rethink that.

Would you elaborate on that?
If you look at a lot of clients there's a pattern of a pendulum swing where, for example, Coke had all its work with one creative agency and then shifted out to many creative agencies and then began to concentrate it a bit again. Microsoft had all of its business with one creative agency and then started working with multiple creative agencies. And that's been going on for a decade or more. I think right now we're in the midst of a trend that is more towards working with multiple creative agencies and the need therefore to have consistency around your business and the transmission of your messaging. And that's where the media agency comes in to serve as the backbone to which the different creative agencies can plug into.

What about the crafting of messages?
I think that the days of thinking that messaging necessarily comes from your creative agency are also numbered. There's been a lot of talk about the work that consumers are doing to generate their own content and there are myriad cases where work is coming from media owners. So a client can be expecting to get communications done by a big creative agency or a [boutique] shop, or from media agencies or media companies or consumers. The really good thing is that it will lead to better entertainment all around and that the choices that clients have and that we as audiences have are greater. There's value in all of the competition that comes from multiple players.

Entertainment in the sense of the messaging that goes out?
Yes, and where it goes out. I think the NBCU-Comcast deal is fascinating for what it portends content wise, and how much it will look or feel like advertising, and how much of it is going to be embedded content. We have talked for so long about addressability and not done it, and this is a real big step toward that. And with addressability comes whole new ways of integrating content. As those who transmit communication also become those who create the communication, there is much greater chance for sharing information about whose house you're transmitting stuff into and what messages are right for them and what they do with those messages.

So, it's not just targeted advertising, but targeted content opportunities as well?
Right, and that's why none of the models that have existed historically should be considered to be the models for today. There's lots and lots of ways to get great entertainment. The more people that the client can engage to create content for them, the better the content is likely to be.

Chrysler Confirms UM Hire

3:43:56 AM

Adweek

Chrysler Confirms UM Hire

IPG shop has won 2 car accounts in '09: Chrysler and BMW

Dec 9, 2009

- Steve McClellan

It's official: Universal McCann has now added two car accounts this year, with Chrysler confirming today it has awarded media chores to UM after a review.

Earlier this year, the Interpublic Group shop won BMW.

Sources said UM has been cleared by the clients to keep both auto accounts.

Aegis Group's Carat had also contended for the Chrysler business. Omnicom's PHD is the incumbent.

Like many automakers, Chrysler has cut its ad spending sharply in the last couple of years. It spent $840 million in domestic measured media last year, way down from $1.8 billion in 2007, per Nielsen. The automaker's spending totaled $316 million this year through September. (Spending on the BMW account is estimated at $200 million.)

Sources said that Chrysler defines PHD as a "tier-two" vendor, because it supplies media services through the contract agreement the client has with sibling agency BBDO, the carmaker's lead creative shop.

That contract is set to expire at the end of January, and Chrysler said that UM and PHD would work over the next two months to "ensure a smooth transition."

The client said that with UM, media buying and planning would be primarily run out of Detroit, with the support of offices in New York and San Francisco. The scope of work covers traditional and digital media. In addition to buying and planning, UM will also be tasked with supporting Chrysler's retail marketing initiatives.

"As a new company with a brand-driven focus, we are looking for agencies that can deliver unique ideas and solutions to help us better communicate with consumers," said Olivier Francois, president and CEO, Chrysler brand, and head of Chrysler marketing, in a statement. "These changes will allow Chrysler greater efficiencies and flexibility in the use of its media across all four brands and at the retail level."

According to Nielsen, BMW spent about $150 million on domestic ads in 2008. The UM assignment also includes an estimated $50 million in additional dealer chores.

In addition, Chrysler said today that Meredith Integrated Marketing would manage customer relationship marketing initiatives for both the U.S. and Canada. Meredith has been a custom publisher for the client.

The client chose Publicis Groupe's Fallon to succeed BBDO as the lead on creative.

UM Dubai wins Gold at the Gemas

3:43:56 AM

Media All Stars 2009

3:43:56 AM

Adweek

Media All-Stars 2009

Our annual survey of the best and brightest, featuring UM's Matt Seiler, executive of the year

Nov 16, 2009
by Steve McClellan

Both personally and professionally, Universal McCann worldwide CEO Matt Seiler has mastered the art of the extreme makeover.

On the home front, over the past dozen years, Seiler and his family have bought, lived in, renovated and resold four homes. "I love taking a house that isn't what it could be and help make it to become that...With God's will and our contractor's wallet," he quips. The latest home redesign will wrap up in a matter of weeks.

Clearly a man who deals with building contractors on a regular basis thrives on chaos. But Seiler sees himself more as someone who heartily embraces change: "I love change. A lot of people hate it. But I hate it when things are the way they are. I get bored too quickly."

Seiler's relatively brief but intense career in the media agency business bears out his philosophy. He has advanced by exceeding client expectations and successfully implementing agency redesigns, all the while navigating the constantly shifting media landscape. In the past five years, he's run two holding company media agencies -- Omnicom's PHD and more recently Interpublic Group's larger UM, where he assumed his current post in September 2008.

In both cases, he's refined the offerings, improved the new business track record and boosted revenue -- considerably. This year alone, UM has raked in $650 million in new business, including BMW ($200 million), Applebee's ($155 million), Charles Schwab ($100 million) and Dyson ($40 million), and retained key client Nationwide ($210 million) after a review.

For the results he's delivered for UM in less than two years, Matt Seiler is our pick for Media All-Stars Executive of the Year.

He also generated serious results while at PHD USA, which Seiler joined as president in September 2004. He honed the shop's offering with the development of a robust communications planning capability and reorganized around what he called the lead agent system, which put one senior executive in charge of each major account who could then tap various specialists at the agency in order to service client needs. The upshot: more than $1 billion in net new business and an almost 30 percent revenue jump (to $300 million) in his first two years on the job. For his efforts he was elevated to North American CEO in the spring of 2007.

Meanwhile, as Seiler set about retooling PHD, UM was facing its own serious challenges. The low point, perhaps, was 2005 when the shop lost close to $1 billion in accounts, including Lowe's ($315 million) and a portion of the General Motors buying business ($600 million).

When Nick Brien joined the shop as worldwide CEO late in 2005 (replacing Robin Kent, who was ousted earlier that year), he spent a lot of time putting out fires on major accounts, including Microsoft and Sony, which had become dissatisfied. In 2006, the agency effectively declared a moratorium on new business efforts as it sought to shore up its offering and make sure existing clients were being serviced to their satisfaction.

In 2007, near disaster struck when Johnson & Johnson put its $3 billion global media account in review. UM was the incumbent on the lion's share of the U.S. business and spent most of the year defending it (successfully) and putting in place the extra resources it had promised to retain the account going forward.

When Brien was elevated to CEO at Mediabrands in July last year, he hired Seiler for the global UM CEO role.

Brien relates that he was impressed with Seiler's work at PHD to "build a business with a very distinctive proposition." Beyond that, Seiler has a "breadth of experience" that also spans senior level positions at several creative shops (including BBDO New York), coupled with personal traits such as curiosity, drive, optimism and "a fearlessness to take risks" that are necessary today for global CEOs. Seiler, he says, has a "rare combination" of talents. "He is a visionary who can execute, and clients are stimulated by that."

Seiler is the first to acknowledge that his predecessor (and boss) Brien and the IPG financial team laid a solid foundation for his most recent agency remodeling efforts.

"IPG cleaned up their act squeaky clean," he explains, referring to the separate P&L that was set up to separate UM from McCann World Group a few years back. "Nick stabilized the big clients, and I came into a really healthy opportunity."

The first thing he set out to do was to create a new positioning statement for the agency that let the outside world know "who we are and what we stand for," recalls Seiler. Before he joined the agency, he was asked what his impression of it was. "My response was I didn't have any impression of UM," he bluntly declared. As a way of communicating the shop's worldview to outsiders, Seiler came up with the positioning statement "Curious Minds for Surprising Results."

And clients like it. "It's really true of them," says Steve Petitpas, general manager for Microsoft's global marketing communications group. "I do think Matt is transforming UM into an agency that is grounded in curiosity and intelligence about customers and how they interact with media."

Earlier this year, Seiler put his new management team in place -- a combination of new and existing managers at the agency, which has estimated worldwide billings of $15 billion. In some cases UM veterans took on new roles. Case in point: Scott Tegethoff, an account executive who is now chief marketing officer but who still oversees the global Coca-Cola account.

"Sometimes you have to redeploy people in order to stimulate them," says Seiler. "Here's a guy that is so creative and energetic and passionate about the brand, and we hadn't used him for that. So we moved him into the CMO role, and he's terrific."

In May, Seiler hired Jacki Kelley from the vendor side -- she had run the sales operation for Martha Stewart Omnimedia -- to run UM U.S. as president.

And while some in the industry didn't completely get the hire at the time because Kelley lacks agency experience, Seiler counters that her experience makes great sense given his "deep interest in connecting with media owners in a way that nobody else has." And he made a similar move in Europe for the same reason, hiring Jim Hytner, the former ITV and BskyB executive, to oversee UM's Europe/Middle East/Africa region.

Petitpas applauds Seiler's decision to bring in new people from outside the media agency world -- to him, Kelley is a "great hire." The shop has "a lot of people that we can get into the really good discussions" that run the gamut of strategic marketing and communications. While Microsoft may have been dissatisfied a few years back, that's clearly no longer the case. "UM is a very important relationship, and I'm a genuinely happy client with Matt," he adds.

Those words clearly constitute a client view Seiler hopes doesn't change.

Clients: Sony, Microsoft, BMW, Charles Schwab, Nationwide, Applebee's

Years in Biz: On the media agency side: 5; in advertising: 25 years

Signature Achievement: Landing or defending $850 million in business for UM

What the Boss Says: Nick Brien says Seiler possesses "a fearlessness to take risks" and calls him "a visionary who can execute, and clients are stimulated by that.

UM Turkey named Agency of the Year

3:43:56 AM

UM Hungary Wins Effies

3:43:56 AM

Mini USA Moves TV, Radio Buying to McCann

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Mini USA Moves TV, Radio Buying to McCann

Automaker Follows Parent BMW's Media Agency Pick Without a Review

Posted by Michael Bush and Jean Halliday on 10.22.09 @ 04:46 PM

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Mini USA has shifted its national and spot TV- and radio-buying business to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann without a review.

Trudy Hardy, marketing communications manager at Mini USA, said the brand made the move to take advantage of BMW's group buying power. In May, Mini's parent company awarded planning and buying duties for its national and regional dealer groups to Universal McCann.

Mini took a backseat during that review, deciding not to be included in the process. "We wanted to wait a few months to evaluate [Universal McCann]," Ms. Hardy said. Apparently, it liked what it saw from the agency.

Universal McCann referred calls for comment to the client.

Ms. Hardy said Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, Mini's creative agency of record, retains planning duties on all of Mini's media and retains buying responsibilities for print and online. Out of Home Pitch buys Mini's out-of-home media, she added.

In 2008, Mini spent nearly $20 million on measured media, and it has spent almost $7 million in the first six months of 2009. Mini sold 34,996 new cars in the U.S. in the first nine months of the year, a 14% drop from the same period a year ago, but it was less severe than the total industry drop of 27%, according to Automotive News. In comparison, Toyota had the nation's best-selling car, the Camry, tallying sales of 264,351 units through September, though that was 26% lower than a year ago.

Universal McCann is also said by industry executives to be one of the shops talking to Chrysler as the embattled automaker gets set to review its media business. Last month, Universal McCann was handed Applebee's $150 million-plus media planning and buying account, also without a review, from incumbent Publicis Groupe's Starcom.

Why MySpace's Heidi Browning Returned to the Agency World

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Why MySpace's Heidi Browning Returned to the Agency World

Q&A: Universal McCann's Global Digital Officer on Her New Role and What Working in Social Media Taught Her

by Michael Bush
Published: October 19, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- After getting a taste of all three sides -- agency, client and publisher -- Heidi Browning has returned to the agency world and landed at Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann as global digital officer, another newly created role by Universal McCann global CEO Matt Seiler. Ms. Browning will be based in San Francisco but will spend the majority of her time over the next few weeks traveling the globe and meeting with clients.

In between her recent jaunts to Redmond, Wash., to visit Microsoft, one of the agency's biggest clients and her primary assignment for now, Ms. Browning spoke with Ad Age about what her role will entail aside from working with Microsoft, the challenges media shops face in the digital space, what brought her back to agency life and why she left MySpace to come back.

Ad Age: What's your role going to entail?

Ms. Browning: The role has two parts to it. The first is as the global digital officer lead, and that is taking my experience from the digital agency world as well as the social media space and infusing that into all of our media. The second part is a strategic role on the Microsoft account. I'll be working in partnership with [Universal McCann Exec VP-Global Managing Partner] Kristi Argyilan; she focuses on the operational side of the business and I'll be working on the strategic and digital side of Microsoft. And we're working across the entire portfolio of Microsoft products, which gives us a really great opportunity to see trends and insights and learnings from product to product.

Ad Age: Is Microsoft going to be your first project and primary client?

Ms. Browning: It's the first client I'm working with now so it's the primary focus of the bulk of my time for now. But I'm also focused on this global digital role and how can we build, shape and create a media agency of the future that has these digital and social sensibilities.

Ad Age: What drew you back to the agency side of things?

Ms. Browning: I've been on all three sides -- client, agency and publisher -- and I came to this point in my career and where I asked myself what was the most rewarding and exciting part of my career that I really liked, and the agency work is where I found my creative passion and satisfaction. I also thought it was a great time to get back into the agency world because there is such a transformation happening right now and agencies need to change and the changes need to reflect some of the learnings and insight we gained on the digital side of the business.

Matt Seiler's vision and philosophy of how do we create the agency of the future was really attractive to me because it's built on insights, built for digital sensibility and a rigorous practice around ROI and that to me is what's really exciting about digital and eventually all media.

Also, agencies are facing a challenge and I like to take on a challenge. And having been on the publisher side I had such great access to amazing brands, but for me, on a personal level, I couldn't go deep enough. I was able to connect with them and solve business problems with MySpace as my toolkit but when you're on the agency side you have entire suite of marketing, advertising and communications solutions at your fingertips. And I wanted to be able to go deep with the client and be able to bring that toolkit and really drive new learnings and better results for clients.

Ad Age: What are the biggest challenges facing media agencies in the digital space?

Ms. Browning: It's for all types of agencies period because this world is morphing at such an incredible rate where clients are bringing a lot of media practices in house. You're seeing publishers cerate their own versions of media agencies and the traditional models starting to erode.

The vision behind Universal McCann is: Let's create this new agency for the future that's built on agility and data-driven insights around the customers that's built on collaboration, and really have digital and social at the agency's core. Traditional media is evolving so digital and social sensibilities are going to be applied throughout. I have those experiences so it can help shape how that impacts our media planning, buying, optimizing and measuring practice.

Ad Age: What's the relationship with David Cohen, Universal McCann's U.S. director of digital, going to be?

Ms. Browning: David and I will partner throughout the digital world here and we have a number smart digital leaders in the organization, and I see us as a collective gathering together to contribute our experiences to help shape the digital influence on the future of our business.

Ad Age: What did you learn at MySpace that has equipped you for this role?

Ms. Browning: A lot, like the notion of how, when and why to think about social in campaigns and what it actually takes to deliver on that, because, as we know, a lot of people think about social media on a campaign-by-campaign basis and it's really much bigger than that. It's infused into your entire business: how you communicate with customers, how you influence your product, how you market and how you do promotions. There's so many different aspects that touch your business that are social and so taking that experience and knowledge and knowing what works and doesn't work and being able to apply that to Universal McCann's clients is going to be enormously useful.

Ad Age: Why leave MySpace?

Ms. Browning: There are two reasons I left, one being that there's a lot of opportunity in general and I was really excited to get back in to the agency world here in San Francisco in particular. San Francisco has been a really strong media-agency world, especially on the digital side, and the city itself has seemed to have lost a lot of business over the years. And I wanted to start to infuse the agency connection with Silicon Valley into Madison Avenue so that we can continue to drive San Francisco on the map as a digital innovation leader that is a natural driver for global digital practice.

And MySpace is in its second phase of life and will emerge in a really interesting and differentiated place. I'm really happy to see where they are going and I can't wait to see where they ultimately end up.

Ad Age: What will it look like when it finally emerges?

Ms. Browning: It won't look drastically different from where it is today but I do think you're seeing the signs of where it's going in terms of really focusing on entertainment. Of course you'd have to talk to them about what their official positioning is but they are at this interesting crossroads in life in their world and they are moving into a new, differentiated spot.

How AOL Is Trying To Sell Itself To Advertisers (TWX)

3:43:56 AM

The Business Insider:
Silicon Alley Insider

How AOL Is Trying To Sell Itself To Advertisers (TWX)

Michael Learmonth|Oct. 19, 2009, 8:47 AM

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- "Keith Urban stood right there!"

It was, actually, just a TV studio and the assembled execs from Mediabrands had seen plenty of those before. But this was a tour of AOL's New York studios off lower Broadway, and Mike Rubens, AOL's director-production, was trying to make a point: We're not just another portal aggregating and syndicating entertainment and information -- we are producing it! Lots of it!

As if to prove that, AOL Music's editor in chief and former Rolling Stone editor Bill Crandall invited the group to watch Beyonce perform "All The Single Ladies" on a monitor in the studio.

Then AOL Sales President Jeff Levick got right to the point. "What I'd like you to do is take everything you know about AOL and just sort of put it aside for a moment."

This is one of five so-called agency summits AOL held with the media-buying arms of holding companies to cast itself as a content company built from the ground up to entertain and inform web audiences and to deliver them ad messages.

Crucial omissions
The three-hour drill-down included a whistle-stop tour of its media properties from The Boombox and Spinner to Politics Daily and Daily Finance to Engadget. Only scant reference was made to AOL's ad network and technologies -- the onetime Platform A, now known as AOL Advertising. AOL's cash engine, the internet-access business, came up only when a Mediabrands executive brought it up. And Bebo, AOL's $850 million prize of last summer? Well, that didn't come up at all.

Most startling, however, was that the event -- attended by the braintrust of AOL execs including CEO Tim Amstrong; Mr. Levick; Agency Relations Chief Erin Clift; Jon Brod, head of AOL ventures and maps; Brad Garlinghouse, head of communications, e-mail, AIM and ICQ, and Bill Wilson, head of content -- was happening at all.

"We didn't have these kinds of meetings nine months ago. We didn't have the relationships," said Mr. Wilson, the only member of Mr. Armstrong's posse who has been on the job more than nine months. Mr. Garlinghouse is just a month into his job, having jumped to AOL from Yahoo.

"Normally we don't go on tours of AOL; it's not part of my day job," said Bant Breen, president-digital for Initiative Worldwide. "Part of it was to re-educate key players on my side on what AOL is."

And part of that is a give and take between AOL and the agencies. David Cohen, exec VP-digital at Universal McCann asked what makes AOL think it can make a business of web content when there's "a whole bunch of carcasses by the side of the road of people who have tried and failed?"

Branding ahead
AOL responded that its new approach is about addressing the fragmented web by launching many, many niche properties. "Where others in the space are focused on creating a few starting places, we are taking the exact opposite approach where we are creating starting places on your interests ... hundreds of them," Mr. Wilson said.

On the agency side, one of the hurdles is that so many of AOL's branded sites are still a mystery to consumers. Those "unknown brands are the hardest part right now," said Ben Winkler, senior VP-digital at Initiative. "It's hard enough to get [clients] to commit to digital spend; then once you do to say, 'Here are some brands [to buy] you haven't heard of,' it isn't really worth the effort."

AOL's answer: We know we have a huge branding effort ahead. The AOL brand will be present on most sites, and where it's not obvious the sites will share a look and feel.

It would be hard to overstate the importance of these summits to AOL. With the spinoff from Time Warner coming in December, it is laying the groundwork to be a standalone company, and while revenue from its legacy dial-up business declines each quarter, growth, if it comes, will come from advertising.

In Talks With Agencies, AOL Plays Up Its Role As Content Producer—

3:43:56 AM

PaidContent.Org
The Economics of Content

In Talks With Agencies, AOL Plays Up Its Role As Content Producer—While Downplaying The Ad Net

David Kaplan
Oct 18, 2009 11:30 PM ET

Chances are, most major media buyers are not likely to be impressed by seeing a media company’s TV studio. But when the company showing it off is AOL (NYSE: TWX) TV studio, there’s a chance some might take notice. As the company’s current executive leadership settles into place, content is the chief focus and AOL wants advertisers to recognize that. AdAge has the rundown on a recent three-hour meeting at the company’s Manhattan offices, where AOL promoted music properties like The Boombox and Spinner, along with news blogs Politics Daily, Daily Finance and Engadget. But unlike AOL’s past agency outreach efforts, AOL appears to be shying away from talking up its ad network.

The meeting was led by CEO Tim Armstrong; AOL Advertising and Strategy head Jeff Levick; Agency Relations Chief Erin Clift; Jon Brod, head of AOL ventures and maps; Brad Garlinghouse, head of communications, e-mail, AIM and ICQ, and Bill Wilson, head of content—the only holdover from AOL’s old guard. A year ago, Wilson teamed with then Platform A President Lynda Clarizio for a traveling agency roadshow that served to defend the company’s relevance in the face of display advertising’s downward spiral. Even despite the poor ad market, AOL’s advertising properties were the star of the show.

With a slow recovery expected for online advertising, it makes sense for AOL to lean forward to with its content face. And while AOL’s steady stream of prominent hires and trumpeting of its high traffic numbers—albeit still driven by its dial-up service to a large extent—have helped give the content side more of a glow then its ad business. But AOL, which is currently working on a brand revamp with help from Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett, has a lot of doubt to overcome. David Cohen, EVP-digital at Universal McCann, put the question directly to AOL execs: what makes the company think it can build a content business when there’s “a whole bunch of carcasses by the side of the road of people who have tried and failed?”

Wilson’s response was that while others are creating a few broad destinations, AOL is banking on blanketing the web with hundreds of niche-focused sites. Be that as it may, it will take more than niche sites and a TV studio to convince advertisers that the new AOL really is new.

How Bloomberg Can Benefit From BusinessWeek's Ad Sales

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

How Bloomberg Can Benefit From BusinessWeek's Ad Sales

Opportunities for 'Good' Synergy Between Two Business Brands

by Nat Ives
Published: October 16, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Bloomberg LP's acquisition of BusinessWeek may provide both parties benefits on the editorial side: Bloomberg is promising to give BusinessWeek more news pages and coverage from Bloomberg reporters, while BusinessWeek reporters' access to high-level executives may expand Bloomberg reporters' entrée in turn. But Bloomberg ad sales efforts also stand to gain from BusinessWeek's relationships with marketers and agencies.

And ad sales, along with those planned editorial improvements and higher subscription prices, are going to play a big role in determining what happens to BusinessWeek one or two years from now.

"What will be interesting to see, and important for Bloomberg to articulate to people like me on the agency side, is where the differentiation stays and where there will be a natural intersection, and why that would be meaningful," said Jeffrey Fischer, senior VP-managing director at Universal McCann's print-activation group. "We're looking forward to 2010. We talk to the people at Bloomberg about clients like institutional investors. We talk to BusinessWeek about accounts like auto. It will be interesting where that comes together and where that doesn't."

There are opportunities here for "good" synergy, according to Steve Farella, CEO of independent media agency TargetCast and former CEO of the Media Planning Group at Havas. Some media companies try to sell across diverse properties, leading marketers to buy things they don't particularly want, but this tie-up brings together similar audiences, he said. "Anybody picking up anything to do with Bloomberg or BusinessWeek, we know they have money and want to spend it and invest it."

Some BusinessWeek advertisers that hadn't previously considered Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg Markets or Bloomberg TV might take another look now, agreed Eric Blankfein, managing director for channel insights at Horizon Media. But it won't be automatic, he said. "It's still going to going to be a jump to bring a more general marketer using BusinessWeek to a Bloomberg property."

BusinessWeek's top print advertisers in 2008 comprised IBM, Dell, Accenture, Sprint Nextel, T. Rowe Price, Breitling watches, Samsung, Verizon, Honda and Dun & Bradstreet, according to TNS Media Intelligence. TNS doesn't track Bloomberg Markets, but the November issue includes some general consumer advertising -- for Porsche and Toyota, for example -- along with a lot of narrow financial products and services, like the CBOE marketplace, NYSE Euronext, Knight Direct and Townsend RealTick trading systems. The Oct. 19 issue of BusinessWeek includes ads for wonky business plays such as Korean Free Economic Zones and SAS Business Analytics, but also broader advertising for the Chase Sapphire card, Sprint and Sharp.

A Bloomberg spokeswoman said the company is in the midst of putting together teams to evaluate issues including cross-platform strategies for BusinessWeek, Bloomberg Markets magazine and Bloomberg's multimedia properties.

The outcome will matter to more than just Bloomberg. Bloomberg's acquisition may have been BusinessWeek's best possible outcome from the sale effort McGraw-Hill began three months ago, but it did not deliver BusinessWeek, as a print weekly to any sort of Promised Land. Call it a promising reprieve.

"The thing that surprised me the most was that they plan to continue operating it as a weekly magazine," said Reed Phillips, managing partner at DeSilva & Phillips, an investment bank specializing in the media business. "That's a significant commitment."

The weekly print schedule probably isn't an eternal commitment for Bloomberg, said Ken Doctor, the media analyst at Outsell. "Keep print?" he said in an e-mail. "Probably for 12 to 18 months, testing out how much of the major drop in magazine ad pages is cyclical and how much is structural."

Ad pages in BusinessWeek's issues this year through Oct 6. fell 34%, worse than the 22.7% decline seen across weeklies as a whole, according to the Media Industry Newsletter.

BusinessWeek's print edition collected $112.6 million in ad revenue over the first three quarters this year, down 31.5%, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, whose estimates are based on openly quoted ad rates and don't reflect discounts. BusinessWeek ad revenue in full-year 2008 totaled $236.1 million, down 12.7%, according to the bureau.

UM Czech Wins Gold

3:43:56 AM

It’s 10 P.M.: Do You Know Where Your Online Ads Are?

3:43:56 AM

The Wall Street Journal

It’s 10 P.M.: Do You Know Where Your Online Ads Are?

October 13, 2009, 8:46 AM ET

Click fraud, in which a person or automated computer program clicks on ads repeatedly to make them seem more effective than they are, has long marred Web advertising.

But marketers often buy display ads based on the number of times they are loaded onto a page, rather than the number of clicks they get. That model was harder to sabotage, until the last few years, when the invisible-ad phenomenon emerged.

The problem has given rise to a group of companies, such as DoubleVerify, Anchor Intelligence and AdXpose, which audit online-ad campaigns for marketers. These companies say they regularly find instances of fraud or other pitfalls, ranging from invisible ads to marketers buying ads on pages that could include inappropriate or risqué content.

“There really is no way of checking to make sure that your ads are showing up where they should be,” said Mitchell Weinstein, director of ad operations at Interpublic Group ad agency Universal McCann.

In August, Universal McCann started working with DoubleVerify, which has found several instances of ads for McCann’s clients showing up next to inappropriate content, Mr. Weinstein said. “That is wasted money on our end and our clients’ end.”

Concerned about their reputation, some ad networks have started to offer guarantees of where marketers’ ads will end up. Undertone Networks promises advertisers space on high-quality Web sites — and that it will pay them $50,000 if it doesn’t come through.

It's just business. Or, is it?

3:43:56 AM

The Huffington Post

It's Just Business, Or, is it?

Jarvis Coffin

CEO & President, Burst Media

Posted: October 6, 2009 02:13 PM

Advertising Age reports on the game of musical chairs that has been taking place over the past 18 months among the top media buying agencies. According to the report, 10 of the top 14 companies in the space have swapped-out their CEO.

This is what comes of living in the real world. It wasn't always thus for ad agencies. Before the era of leveraged buy-outs made consolidation possible, ad agencies were private companies owned by partners living in places like Connecticut. Now, they are public companies, most of them, and when times get tough the tough re-arrange the deck chairs.

Whither client relationships in all of this? I liked Phil Cowdell's reported statement to boss Scott Neslund that he would only take-over Mindshare's North American operations if he could do so as an "old-fashioned client man." But what does that mean today? Do relationships matter? Matt Seiler at Universal McCann reportedly thinks it's more complicated than that.

Maybe so, because the clients themselves, perhaps taking their cue from the itinerant nature of things on the agency side, are as prone to sweep the decks by changing one agency for another in costly account reviews.

Is it the business or is it simply business that has the agency world doing so much deck chair re-arranging? Is it the complex realities of the new media world, or the realities of the world, period? What problem is getting fixed by all these changes? Performance problems? In which case it's being argued that among the top 14 companies in the media planning and buying industry 70% of the leadership was - well - not right for the times.

Really? Recessions have always taken their toll on the advertising and media business. Technology, on the other hand, while disruptive, has done nothing but help. Radio? Television? Very disruptive, but they helped make multi-millionaires out of the leading agency executives of the time.

Adaptation can be brutal. We are a full fifteen years into this Internet thing, however, and the conversation is still about how to make it work, meaning there is no evidence that adaptation is occurring at a faster rate today versus the past. Indeed, the IAB's report on Internet spending for the first half of this year issued last week with Price Waterhouse Coopers indicates nearly 90% of media spending still occurs on the top 50 web properties.

How complicated is that? But, maybe, that's the point of so much change at major buying companies. No more skimming the surface of the new media opportunity and hanging around the shallow end. Time to wade deep and really connect with the possibilities - starting at the top.

It which case, maybe the 70% overhaul leads somewhere. But, only if you believe it's about the business, and not just about business.

Media-Buying, Planning Agencies Shake Up Top Executives

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Media-Buying, Planning Agencies Shake Up Top Executives

Why The Majority of Leaders in the Space Have Changed Chiefs in Recent Past

Posted by Michael Bush on 10.05.09

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Ten of the 14 major media-buying and selling agencies have installed new chiefs at the global or North America leadership levels in the past year and a half, creating a period of management flux that hasn't been seen since these firms were spun out a decade ago.

Of course, it makes sense that all this is happening now, because 2009 has been hammer time for media agencies. Major marketers have been launching procurement-driven reviews to lop off cost, pushing some agencies to drop fees, in some cases to nothing. And as they flirt with commoditization, there's more pressure on shops to recruit the kind of talent that create sophisticated strategies for marketers in a complex digital age.

Some agencies have looked to put more digital-savvy leaders in control. Others have used the recession to accelerate succession plans for old management. Still others have simply been looking to put some oomph into limp new-business operations.

Louis Jones, who was recently named CEO of North America for WPP's Maxus, replacing Carla Loffredo, now chief operating officer for Maxus North America, said that was a key consideration in his placement.

"We recognized a need to shift the gravity within the media department so that digital strategy sat more centrally within how we thought about everything," said Mr. Jones, who is also the first African-American to head a major media agency. "It was a move that the industry needs to take a bigger step towards by integrating online and offline and having a real sound repository of digital experience."

Less golf
What there's less room for is purely relationship-focused management arrangement based on secret handshakes, golf outings and the like.

"The cult of the individual is not as powerful as it used to be," said Martin Cass, who replaced Scott Sorokin as U.S. president of Aegis' Carat last October. "I get the sense that the marketplace is a lot less clubby and more democratic than it was."

Due to significantly slashed media budgets and fees, just about every other agency is down anywhere from low to high double digits in terms of revenue, according to industry insiders.

"It was an extremely challenging year for everybody and almost every agency is down in major numbers," said one media agency CEO. "It's bad everywhere and very few agencies will end the year with the same number of staff or more than they had last year."

With less time allotted to prove oneself, Lisa Donohue, who replaced John Muszynski as U.S. CEO of Publicis Groupe's Starcom USA about 100 days ago, said one needs to create impact that's not only positive, but immediate.

"Provide value from day one and advance the momentum from there," she said. "It's easier said than done of course, but I've wrapped my head around ways to do it like listening, acting decisively and with conviction and providing perspective and a clear point-of-view."

Leading by example
When asked by Dominic Proctor, Mindshare's global CEO, to fill the agency's top spot in North America after Scott Neslund stepped down, Phil Cowdell said he would only do it if he was able to remain true to his roots of being an "old-fashioned client man."

Mr. Cowdell doesn't believe the role of today's CEO is sitting in the office managing profits and losses and hiring. "That's not an efficient use of what I do," he said. He describes his philosophy on the role of today's media agency CEO -- being out front and solving client problems and having a point of view -- by quoting George Patton: "I have never seen men managed into battle. I've only seen them led."

Matt Seiler, who replaced Nick Brien as global CEO of Interpublic's Universal McCann in July 2008, said relationships will always be critical but it's the work that's really important. Universal McCann recently won the Charles Schwab business, an account Mr. Seiler had when he was at Omnicom's PHD, and was awarded, without a review, media duties for Applebee's, whose sibling company IHOP currently works with Universal McCann.

He said the implications of these personnel changes are beneficial to clients and the media industry, which is evolving faster than any other marketplace.

"To think the same people that were doing it well when it was simpler should or could be the same people doing it today is probably naïve," Mr. Seiler said. "You have to bring in different perspectives, and that's not a criticism of the people who were in leadership positions before. This is the natural evolution that must take place if you are going to think differently about how you manage your business and what services you provide for your clients."

Costly reviews
But personnel changes aren't the only things impacting client-agency relationships. The drawn-out, costly and sometimes pointless review process, has become more of an exercise in putting agencies through the ringer to squeeze them for every penny they can.

"These reviews certainly aren't making our lives any easier," said one media-agency president. But the executive said these procurement-driven pitches also have a negative domino effect felt throughout the agency world when competing agencies cut and slash fees to nearly zero to either hold on to or win a piece of business.

"The risk comes when people get desperate," the agency president said. "There will be a comeback and you'll find over the next year or so that people have done deals that are impossible to maintain."

UM wins at the MFA

3:43:56 AM

UM wins at the MFA Awards! Click here to see the full list of winners.

Agency Innovators 2009

3:43:56 AM

The Internationalist

Agency Innovators 2009

October 2009

Daryl Lee

Global President, Communications Planning & Strategy

Universal McCann New York

CURRENT CLIENTS: Microsoft, Sony, MasterCard, Bacardi and UPS

BORN: South Africa

WORKED IN: New York, South Africa and the United Kingdom

Daryl Lee’s efforts are insuring that Universal McCann is a leading destination for integrated marketing and communications strategy solutions.

His strengths include specialization in integrated marketing communications strategy, marketing plan development, channel planning, 360-degree messaging architectures, advertising metrics and ROI. As UM’s Global President of Communications Planning & Strategy, he oversees both the communications planning and research teams — two areas which are playing an integral role in the evolution of the Universal McCann brand.

Communications Planning at UM is dedicated to generating profound consumer insights that yield the most surprising results for its clients. As the head of the discipline, Daryl is responsible for directing the agency’s Communications Planning specialists around the world to make the most of their innate curiosity, ultimately turning media insights into marketing breakthroughs for the agency’s global brands.

Before joining Universal McCann, Daryl was a Senior Partner and Worldwide Group Director of the IBM Strategy Group, and Joint Operating Board member at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. He pioneered the IMC strategy function on IBM, the agency’s flagship global account, and developed a channel planning methodology called “Combustion,” which was piloted in the US, Japan and China, and has been adopted across Ogilvy globally as the channel planning standard.

Prior to Ogilvy, he was a Marketing Strategist for healthcare and financial services clients at McKinsey & Company, where he provided strategy and marketing consulting to senior management of Fortune 100 clients.

Interesting Insight: Daryl returned to his native South Africa to participate in setting up and running the nation's first democratically-elected transitional government. He found that the experience of working with such diverse cultures contributed significantly to better understanding the issues facing global clients and their challenges in cross-border communications.

Other International Background: A Rhodes Scholar, Daryl earned a D.Phil. in English Literature from Oxford University, where he has taught American Drama and Modern Literature. (DPhil is an advanced research degree awarded on the basis of a thesis and oral examination, modeled on the German and American Ph. D.)

View Daryl's UM Bio

OMMA Award

3:43:56 AM

And the winner is… UM LA for their work on Sony’s District 9 at the 2009 OMMA awards for Integrated Online Campaigns/Media & Entertainment!

Bringing the movement to ban non-humans from Sony's sci-fi film District 9 to life, the campaign to generate early buzz about the film (and make clear that it was different than Peter Jackson's long-rumored Halo project) utilized social media, a fake blog, web site portal, videos, a participatory video game, and even a hotline so fans could relay non-human sightings. The end results were unprecedented: hotline calls, fan-created videos on YouTube, a Facebook fan base and 90% positive buzz online.

Congratulations to all who worked to make this campaign a success.

Fantastic job!

Applebee's Hands Media Account to Universal McCann

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Applebee's Hands Media Account to Universal McCann

Moves Duties From Starcom in Cost-Efficiency Consolidation Play

Posted by Michael Bush on 09.15.09 @ 04:03 PM

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Applebee's has moved its $150 million-plus media planning and buying account from Publicis Groupe's Starcom to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann without a review, the company said. Following the example of other major advertisers, Applebee's is taking the route of consolidation for more cost efficiencies.

The fast-casual chain is the latest to consolidate accounts.

Applebee's, the largest player in the casual-dining space, already works with Universal McCann sibling McCann Erickson on the creative side. Patrick Lenow, executive director-communications for Dine Equity, parent company to Applebee's and IHOP, which also works with Universal McCann, said the company consolidated its media and creative responsibilities as a way to capitalize on opportunities in the market while creating more cost efficiencies.

"We thought there were good opportunities in the marketplace by bringing creative and media buying under the single [McCann] banner," Mr. Lenow said. "We appreciate the work Starcom has done for us and we think it will be a smooth transition over the next 90 days."

"We are delighted to be adding such a well-recognized brand as Applebee's to our roster of New York clients," said Universal McCann's North American president, Jacki Kelley. "In partnership with McCann, we see this as an opportunity to better serve Applebee's and are privileged to work with such an engaged group of franchisees. Having worked with IHOP in Los Angeles since 1996, we are excited to expand our relationship with Dine Equity with one more of their divisions."

Mr. Lenow said that pricing was not a factor in the company's decision.

Along with Omnicom Group's OMD, Universal McCann has been one of the busiest shops this year in terms of collecting new business. Since May, the agency has won the $40 million Dyson account, BMW's media-planning and -buying business and the $100 million-plus Charles Schwab planning-and-buying account. The agency retained its media-buying chores for insurance and financial services provider Nationwide during that time as well.

In November of last year Applebee's brought Rebeca Johnson aboard as senior VP-marketing. IHOP purchased Applebee's for $2.1 billion in July of 2007. Applebee's, not unlike its competitors, has struggled some since the time of the IHOP acquisition, but recent same-store sales improvements have led some experts to speculate that the sector may be staging a recovery. In recent months Applebee's has put a greater focus on value-deal offerings, such as two entrees and an appetizer for $20.

Universal referred calls to the client.

Starcom, which has worked with Applebee's since 2005, confirmed the departure and said the agency "remains proud of the work it did with Applebee's and wishes them well."

~ ~ ~
Emily Bryson York contributed to this report.

Grand Prix for UM EMEA

3:43:56 AM

Applebee's Consolidates Chores at McCann Worldgroup

3:43:56 AM

Adweek

Applebee's Consolidates Chores at McCann Worldgroup

Media and below-the-line assignments shift into IPG camp

Sept 15, 2009

- Noreen O'Leary

NEW YORK Applebee's has consolidated its marketing and media business at Interpublic Group's McCann Worldgroup, sources said.

Media buying and planning and below-the-line chores are now moving into the Worldgroup camp, where Universal McCann and MRM will likely work on aspects of the assignment, per sources.

In 2008, the Lenexa, Kan.-based restaurant chain spent $154 million in domestic measured media; through June, the client spent $76 million on ads, per Nielsen.

Media planning and buying duties have been at Publicis Groupe's Starcom in Chicago.

Reps at Applebee's, McCann and Starcom could not immediately be reached.

McCann Erickson won creative duties on the business in 2007 after IHOP, already an agency client, acquired Applebee's in a $1.9 billion transaction.

UM's Jacki Kelley Swims in Other Side of Upfront Pool

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

UM's Jacki Kelley Swims in Other Side of Upfront Pool

Q&A: Former MSLO Exec Discusses How Agencies, Media Handled Protracted Ad Talks and the Role of Scatter

by Michael Bush
Published: August 13, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Since Jacki Kelley joined Universal McCann as its North American president a little less than four months ago, the agency has pulled off an impressive run of new-business wins totaling more than half a billion dollars, helping the Interpublic Group of Cos. shop mount a comeback from its troubles a few years back.

Starting in May, when Ms. Kelley joined Universal McCann, the agency quietly won the $40 million Dyson account. A few weeks later it made a much bigger splash, winning BMW's media-planning and -buying business. In July it kept the momentum rolling by bringing in another $200 million in business through the $100 million-plus Charles Schwab planning-and-buying account win and the retention of media-buying chores for insurance and financial services provider Nationwide.

Even if some good luck followed Ms. Kelley when she came aboard, she refuses to take much of the recognition and instead credits agency CEO Matt Seiler and his mission of creating more strategic relationships between media owners and agencies.

"Matt gets much of the credit," she told Advertising Age. "But our formula is really based on collaboration. On these new-business pitches we are demonstrating our willingness and expectation to create a higher level of collaboration between the media owners and ourselves."

The former exec VP-media sales for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia spoke with Ad Age about the biggest challenge she's encountered so far at the agency, the way the upfront is playing out, and what it's like being on the agency side of the table for the first time in these negotiations.

Ad Age: How are marketers and media owners responding to the new collaborative approach Matt Seiler and you are pushing?

Ms. Kelley: Media owners are very excited about this, because they recognize that there is a lot of value that can be created that is left on the table based on the way agencies historically engaged with them. There's a tremendous appetite.

Ad Age: How has the upfront been going for Universal McCann?

Ms. Kelley: It's been a slower market. But we're very pleased with the way in which we have been able to invest and shepherd the client's investment that we are accountable for. We feel that we got to the right place. It took a little while for sellers to reset and realize the marketplace was not going to move at the rate they were initially asking for, but I think we are really pleased with [the deals] that we locked in and the rates at which we have done [them].

Ad Age: Do you get the sense that a happy medium was found for marketers and media owners?

Ms. Kelley: The market always finds its balance. The agencies are always pushing on behalf of clients and recognize the climate we are in, and sellers are appropriately trying to garner the best rate for their products. I have a lot of trust that the marketplace will find the right balance, and I believe it has in this case. There's always a desire, mind you, on the agencies and clients to continually get more, and in some cases we have not put money on the table because we believe it's better to wait and manage it through scatter, but that paragraph has yet to be written in terms of how that turns out. They will find the right marketplace.

Ad Age: Are the reductions where you'd thought they'd be?

Ms. Kelley: They were a little less than I anticipated they would be at this point.

Ad Age: Are any media owners doing or offering anything really unique?

Ms. Kelley: There were a couple that did some really interesting stuff, but the things we are working on with them are not yet public, so we can't talk about them. But they are really great examples of rich content integration that really provide a different level of collaboration that we're seeking. But there definitely were some media owners that brought something new to the table this year. And when I say new, I mean the back-and-forth we created with them, the level of transparency we gave them in what needed to be accomplished and the very creative in which we worked with them and the creative agency to bring that to market.

Ad Age: How surprised were you by the length of time it took for things to move?

Ms. Kelley: I wasn't surprised at all, coming from the media owners' side, because in a climate like this you are going to hold as long as you possibly can. So it's not surprising that it has been this protracted.

Ad Age: Did the upfront stalemate cause the agency to alter its approach?

Ms. Kelley: Our approach was always around scenario planning, so we had several scenarios we knew we would execute on if the market went one way or the other. A lot of pre-planning went into that so we just managed the scenario plans we created in advance and executed on those as the market moved.

Ad Age: How has it been sitting on the other side of the table for the first time?

Ms. Kelley: I always say we swim in the same pool we just see slightly different shades of water. It's the same game but playing it slightly different. It was certainly interesting, but you continue to appreciate both sides of the coin.

Ad Age: What's the biggest challenge you have encountered so far?

Ms. Kelley: There is so much appetite to create meaningful change, but there are simply not enough hours in a day. So the biggest challenge, like anything, is to pace yourself for the right combination of productivity and results and recognizing you have to keep wheels on the bus as you go through this transformation.

Before You Base Your Business Plan on Paid Content, Read This

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Before You Base Your Business Plan on Paid Content, Read This

Not Everyone Will Enjoy the Spoils of Murdoch's Favorite Online Revenue Model

by Nat Ives
Published: August 10, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- For a moment last week, it seemed like paid content was really on the march. Rupert Murdoch announced his intention to charge for every News Corp. news site. DirecTV, the second-largest pay-TV provider, was found in talks to launch a web-video service -- for its paying subscribers. And a comprehensive new forecast reported that consumers were spending less time with media that's heavily subsidized by advertising -- and more with media they pay for.

"No longer are newspaper- and magazine-subscription purchases and network prime-time viewing the norm," said John Suhler, president and general partner at Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the private-equity firm that authored the forecast. "Instead they are declining and consumers are spending more time with media which they support and pay for, as opposed to ad-supported media. This development is a culmination of two decades of this secular shift towards consumer-controlled media and shows no signs of slowing."

Newspapers' print circulation is expected to fall from about $10 billion this year to something more than $8 billion in 2013. Consumer magazines, which typically offer readers cheap subscriptions and rely on advertisers for most of their profitable revenue, got about $9.8 billion in circulation revenue last year, Veronis Suhler said. That figure will be $9.7 billion in 2013. Meanwhile, subscribers spent about $55 billion on basic pay TV last year, but will be paying $72 billion by 2013. And video games and internet access will continue to grow as well.

But while it's clear that paid content's campaign will advance, it's also apparent it will not deliver spoils for everyone.

For one thing, Veronis Suhler considers every website that you call free -- The New York Times, People.com or TMZ for example -- to be paid media. That's because Veronis Suhler looks at what people pay to access a particular medium, not where those dollars actually go. Web-access revenue may climb from $17 billion last year to $21 billion in 2013, as Veronis Suhler forecasts, but that money isn't reaching The Times, People or TMZ.

Ad dependence
"In the cable TV model, the money you pay to Comcast trickles up to the content providers, so you are paying for your content as well as your access," said Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired and author of the new book "Free," an examination of modern pricing opportunities and threats. "In the internet model, you are not. It's closer to the telephone model: You pay for your line but not the information you receive over it."

So cable and the web are thriving because they offer specialized content for which people will pay -- but in the case of the web, content providers still overwhelmingly depend on advertisers for revenue.

For another thing, Mr. Murdoch may be overstating his plans -- or over-estimating the demand for some of his sites. News Corp. is going to have a hard time charging for, say, the New York Post's site, whose content competes with free offerings from Gawker, Gothamist, the New York Daily News and plenty of others.

Maybe Mr. Murdoch has a clever plan that gets around that. Until we see one, however, it looks like specialized professional content, like his Wall Street Journal model online, will remain the chief winning front for paid content.

Taunton Press, for example, says it has more than 80,000 people paying for memberships on sites from Fine Cooking, Fine Homebuilding or Fine Woodworking.

'Freemium'
The sites use a "freemium" model: There's some free content, but you have to pay for access to, for example, intricate long-form video on specific projects, most magazine articles, or experts who will answer members' questions. "Anything that's not a commodity," said Jason Revzon, VP-interactive at Taunton Press. Prices vary, but people who aren't subscribing to the print edition of Fine Cooking, for example, pay $29.95 for annual subscriptions to the site.

Specialized content that's disappearing under the old models, in particular, can find new individual buyers, said Tyler Brûlé, founder of global-news magazine Monocle. Subscribers get 10 issues for a hefty 75 pounds, or $125 at today's exchange rate.

"Without us even having to articulate it on the page, people have said, 'I'm paying a premium for Monocle because news gathering in the old sense is an expensive business.'"

Again, this isn't necessarily a portrait of paid content taking over the world. Monocle says it has about 11,000 subscribers.

Media brands need to be subtle about paid content and its limits, as well as its opportunities, said Josh Macht, group publisher at the Harvard Business Review, which offers material outside its online pay wall and lots more behind it. "If we don't want to be only ad-supported and we really want to find our way to a paid model, I don't think the question is, 'Would you pay $5 for this?' The question is, 'What do need us for and what are we best at?'"

Former 'Ad Age,' 'Entertainment Weekly' Publisher Donaton To Lead

3:43:56 AM

Mediapost

MediaDailyNews

Former 'Ad Age,' 'Entertainment Weekly' Publisher Donaton To Lead Interpublic's Branded Entertainment

by Joe Mandese, Thursday, July 30, 2009, 4:19 PM

Interpublic has re-branded its branded entertainment operations, and it has tapped a well-known ad industry brand to manage it. Scott Donaton, former publisher of Entertainment Weekly and Advertising Age, will lead "Ensemble," the new name of Interpublic's Mediabrands' branded entertainment unit. Donaton becomes president-CEO of Ensemble and a full-time company associate.

Interpublic said the new unit, which includes Universal McCann, Initiative and Media Link, would operate in an alliance with advertising and media industry consulting firm Media Link LLC, headed by Michael Kassan. As such, Donaton will have a shared reporting structure to stakeholders in the new unit.

Interpublic said Donaton would work with Mediabrands agencies and their clients to "bridge the gap between marketers and the entertainment industry."

Specifically, Interpublic said Donaton would be working with the existing entertainment teams inside Initiative, UM and Interpublic's Specialty Service Groups in an effort to bring "first-look" opportunities to their clients.

While editor at Advertising Age, prior to becoming its publisher, Donaton championed the concept of "Madison & Vine," a publishing and event franchise that has lost some steam within the industry and Crain Communications, but it spawned a lot of energy and excitement around the field of branded entertainment marketing.

Ironically, two of Donaton's "Madison & Vine" colleagues, Ad Age journalists Richard Linnett and Hank Kim, bolted the magazine at the height of the frenzy to form a branded entertainment unit within Interpublic rival Havas. They have since moved on.

New Day, New Way for Resurgent UM

3:43:56 AM

Adweek

New Day, New Way for Resurgent UM

After a series of setbacks, the IPG company's refocused efforts are finally paying off

July 20, 2009

- Steve McClellan

NEW YORK After years of drought (some of it self-imposed) and armed with a different new business development formula, Interpublic Group's Universal McCann has won four pitches in the last two months with combined ad spending of $550 million. The shop, which stumbled badly a few years back with a string of major client losses, has implemented a series of changes in management and processes that appear to be reviving the agency's fortunes.

Last week alone the shop won the $100 million Charles Schwab account and successfully defended its $210 million buying account with insurance company Nationwide after a review that kicked off in December 2008.

In May, UM wrested the estimated $200 million BMW media business away from GSD&M Idea City after a review that started in September 2008 and, earlier that month, was awarded the $40 million Dyson media account.

Even discounting Nationwide, which was retained, the shop has already won more net new business this year -- $340 million -- than it did in the previous five years. The year is still young, but so far the shop has not suffered any client losses.

Jacki Kelley, who joined the agency as North American president in late April, credited worldwide CEO Matt Seiler with making a series of moves to better position the shop, including the hiring of Jen Hohman as svp, managing director of new business about nine months ago. An IPG veteran, Hohman was imported from McCann Erickson, where she worked on the U.S. Army account.

The shop, according to Kelley, now picks a separate business development team for each pitch, with many of those team members sticking with the client if UM wins the business -- a strategy increasingly being used by a number of media companies. "We're putting people in front of the client that they will ultimately work with," said Kelley.

Consultants say that's a smart move as it can be frustrating for clients to watch those who made the winning presentation suddenly disappear, leaving them with an agency team they hadn't bargained for.

"When a client is hiring an agency, they're hiring a team," said New York-based search consultant Joanne Davis, founder of her eponymously named company. "It's, 'Who's my one back to pat, who's my one throat to choke?' We tell our clients to make sure they know who the team is going to be" before selecting a shop.

Kelley said the ability to reach out to media oversight unit Mediabrands (formed a year ago) for an assist with specialized services like outdoor (OSI) or newspapers (NSA) as well as several new tools have also helped.

The shop has poured significant resources into a live consumer insight panel with 170,000 participants, and upgraded channel-allocation tools and a process for monitoring what consumers are saying about marketers and their competitors.

Jennifer Hanley, svp of marketing services for Nationwide, who oversaw the company's media review, said UM's analytics and tracking tools were among the reasons the insurer stuck with the company. Also, she said, the shop has worked well with the client's new creative agency of record, independent shop McKinney. "Their chemistry is good and they each understand how the other works," said Hanley.

Other key factors, said Hanley, included account service, agency management, and overall personality and culture. Nationwide, she added, tends not to spend as much as competitors in the category and they "want to make every dollar work hard."

The road to recovery has been a long one for UM. The nadir, perhaps, was 2005 when the shop lost close to $1 billion in accounts, including Lowe's ($315 million) and a portion of the General Motors buying business ($600 million).

When Nick Brien joined the shop as worldwide CEO late in 2005 (replacing Robin Kent, who was ousted earlier in the year), he spent a lot of time putting out fires on major accounts, including Microsoft and Sony, which had become dissatisfied. In 2006, the agency effectively declared a moratorium on new business efforts as it sought to shore up its offering and make sure existing clients were being serviced to their satisfaction.

In 2007, near disaster struck when Johnson & Johnson put its $3 billion global media account in review. UM was the incumbent on the lion's share of the U.S. business and spent most of the year defending it (successfully) and putting in place the extra resources it had promised to retain the account going forward.

When Brien was elevated to CEO at Mediabrands in July of last year, he hired Seiler, former CEO at PHD USA, for the global UM CEO role.

Earlier this year, Seiler put his global team in place.

"A lot of agencies go through peaks and valleys," said Davis. "There's a lead and a lag. A lot of people were saying, 'UM, not doing well.' But they've accomplished a great comeback. It starts with shifting management and talent and making sure you have the right people in the right jobs."

Kelley, who joined UM from Martha Stewart Omnimedia, where she was evp, sales, is in the process of hiring a new team that will be specifically tasked with forging stronger ties with individual media companies.

N.Y. Ad Club Names Gruhler President

3:43:56 AM

Adweek

N.Y. Ad Club Names Gruhler President

July 17, 2009

- Adweek Staff

NEW YORK The Advertising Club here said it has named C. Thom Gruhler, who serves as evp, worldwide global account director at McCann Erickson, president.

Gruhler (pictured) succeeds Ian Parminter, svp, integrated ad sales and marketing at Discovery Networks, who now becomes chairman of the trade group.

"One of my goals for the club will be to strengthen the dialogue among the board in addressing the bigger issues that affect us right now and ensure that our initiatives directly meet the shifting needs of our membership," Gruhler said in a statement. "The Ad Club's early legacy was to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas by industry executives and I am hoping to make this an even more prominent cornerstone in the months ahead."

In addition, Beth Ann Eason, general manager and COO, Beliefnet, moves to svp from vp; Laurel Rossi, president, Strategy Farm, ascends to vp from director; Ron Fierman, CEO and president, Digital Pulp, continues as treasurer; and John Partilla, evp, president of global media sales, Clear Channel Communications, remains vp.

The club also named seven new board members:

• Michael Duda, partner, chief corporate strategy officer, Deutsch
• Gerry Frascione, CEO and presidnt, BBDO North America
• Carl Fremont, evp, Global Media Director, Digitas
• Heide Gardner, svp, chief diversity and inclusion officer, IPG
• Jacki Kelley, president, Universal McCann North America
• Rob Master, director of North American Media, Unilever
• Greg McCastle, svp, advanced ad solutions, AT&T

The seven executives who are receiving the Ad Club President's Award for outstanding contributions and commitment to club initiatives and programs are:

• Peter Bopp, partner, Leadership Strategy Group
• Frank Dudley, CMO, 'mktg'
• Wright Ferguson, president, Ferguson & Associates
• Tony Jones, senior copywriter, McCann Erickson
• Mari Kim Novak, senior director, global marketing engagement, Microsoft Advertising
• Jay Sears, evp, strategic products and business development, Context Web
• Mark Waites, joint cd and founding partner, Mother, London

Ori Zohar, account executive, Universal McCann and a former Ad Club intern, is the recipient of the Rising Star Award for his involvement in program development and social and educational event planning for the club's young professionals committee.

The club also offered thanks to these board members retiring this year: Dawn Bullen; Colleen DeCourcy, TBWA Worldwide; Todd Harvey, Activision; Carla Loffredo, Maxus; Diego Scotti, Conde Nast; and John Vail, Pepsi.

Texas Instruments hands regional media to UM

3:43:56 AM

Media

by Anita Davis 16-Jul-09, 12:00

ASIA-PACIFIC - Texas Instruments (TI), an American semiconductor and electronics company, has reportedly awarded its regional media planning and buying account to Universal McCann.

According to sources, UM will be TI’s regional agency-of-record with the account headed out of UM Shanghai under CEO Manpreet Singh.

In the past, TI worked with MEC Taiwan for one year to handle its account across the region, excluding Japan. That account was taken from UM.

A source close to the brand said TI shifted its regional business to China because of a “change in strategy” that will see China become a more prominent market.

It has not been disclosed whether TI held a pitch for its account, nor a timeline or a price tag for the business.

TI, ranked number 215 on the Fortune 500’s 2009 list, has 26,200 employees worldwide, with 8,900 in Asia-Pacific and 2,000 in Japan.

In April, the company posted first-quarter revenue of US$2.09 billion, a year-on-year drop of 36 per cent and a quarterly plunge of 16 per cent. The news prompted TI to announce a shift in its business strategy, downplaying its wireless baseband division, which produces chips for mobile phone networks, to emphasise its analogue and embedded-chip business, used in a range of devices from smartphones to large machinery.

Universal McCann Keeps Nationwide

3:43:56 AM

Adweek.com

Universal McCann Keeps Nationwide

And the IPG shop even adds some chores following a review

July 14, 2009

- Steve McClellan

NEW YORK Nationwide has opted to stay with incumbent media shop Universal McCann, a unit of Interpublic Group, after a seven-month review, the client confirmed today.

The insurance company spent $210 million in major measured media in 2008, according to Nielsen.

MediaCom, owned by WPP, was the other finalist for the business.

In addition to UM's previous media buying duties, which included national and spot TV and radio, Nationwide said UM would now also handle print and out-of-home media. McKinney, the client's creative agency, will continue to handle media planning.

"Periodically we review the work of all of our agencies to ensure that we are being as efficient and effective as possible in optimizing our strategic resources," said Jennifer Hanley, senior vice president of marketing services for Nationwide. "In this process, UM confirmed that they continue to be the right fit for Nationwide's media buying needs. We look forward to building on the good work UM has done in the past to help us reach consumers with messages about the personalized On Your Side service Nationwide offers customers."

"We are thrilled that Nationwide has chosen to continue our partnership and has, in fact, increased our responsibilities," said Jacki Kelley, UM North American president. "We look forward to continuing our long-term relationship and working with McKinney to provide Nationwide with more than they expected, delivering surprising results,"

The client launched parallel creative and media reviews in late December.

In May, Nationwide awarded the creative business to Durham, N.C.-based independent McKinney. Interpublic's TM Advertising had been the incumbent.

It could not be determined which shops had been eliminated earlier from the competition. ABA Consulting, Dallas, oversaw the review process.

UM has been on a roll of late, adding several pieces of national business, including Charles Schwab's $100 million account just yesterday, BMW in June and Dyson in May.

UM Wins Charles Schwab

3:43:56 AM

Adweek.com

UM Wins Charles Schwab

July 13, 2009

- Steve McClellan

NEW YORK Discount brokerage Charles Schwab has awarded its estimated $100 million media buying and planning account to Interpublic's Universal McCann after a review, the client has confirmed.

Other contenders included Aegis Group's Carat and the incumbent, PHD.

The win is UM's third big score in recent weeks, following its additions of Dyson in May and BMW in June.

PHD won planning and buying duties on the account after a consolidation review in 2005. Up to that point, PHD had been the planning incumbent for all of the client's offline advertising, and had managed print and out-of-home media.

Quantcast Shakes Up Ad-Targeting Model

3:43:56 AM

The Wall Street Journal

Quantcast Shakes Up Ad-Targeting Model

JULY 6, 2009

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

In a test of the viability of small online-ad companies, Quantcast has launched a new online ad-targeting service that is being closely watched by advertisers and investors.

Quantcast, a high-profile San Francisco start-up, is one of dozens of young companies helping broker targeted display ads -- which typically contain both text and images, and are aimed at audiences selected for such characteristics as age, income or even probable personality traits.

Some of these start-ups sell targeted ads directly on behalf of media companies and other Web publishers. Others -- like Quantcast -- provide data to help companies, such as General Electric's NBC Universal and Time-Warner's Time Inc., sell targeted ads on their own.

Investors have poured millions of dollars into the fledgling businesses, hoping to discover the next Google or Yahoo that could change the way ads are sold online.

View Full Image

Quantcast CEO Konrad Feldman, left, and Chief Revenue Officer Todd Teresi.

So far, few of the ad-targeting and data-brokering companies -- which also include AudienceScience and BlueKai -- have become big, or even profitable. And lawmakers and regulators have stepped up inquiries into whether the ways they collect and crunch data on Web users' online behavior ought to be more tightly regulated to protect consumer privacy.

Quantcast, which has 65 employees, is attracting attention because it entered the ad-targeting business by the backdoor. In 2006, it started out by offering a free service that allowed Web publishers to track the types of people visiting their sites through software code it placed on the sites.

The service put Quantcast in competition with Nielsen and comScore, which track audiences based on the Web-surfing behaviors of panels of Internet users, among other methods.

Now Quantcast plans to translate the technology it has installed on more than 10 million Web sites into revenue. Its new media-buying service, known as Quantcast Media Program, begins by allowing advertisers to create a detailed profile of the types of people they want to reach. Then Quantcast finds Web sites using its measurement technology that are attracting those types of people. It takes a cut of the revenue from the resulting ads sold by the Web sites.

Independent online-media analyst Barry Parr says Quantcast's model of giving away audience data, and charging only when an advertiser buys ads, is likely to appeal to advertisers more than other services that charge publishers upfront for their data.

Some Web sites question whether Quantcast sees enough online activity for its data to be valuable, noting that it still doesn't measure some of the largest sites on the Web. But Quantcast Chief Executive Konrad Feldman says roughly all U.S. Internet users hit a site it tracks every month, and that the real strength of the service is that it allows advertisers to build a custom target audience on the fly.

So far, few advertisers have purchased ads through the new service, which was announced last week. Home Depot has bought some on weather-tracking service Weather Underground, according to Richard Lowden, vice president of sales at the weather Web site. However, companies including Kia Motors and Virgin America are using Quantcast data to define the types of consumers they want to target online.

Quantcast faces keen competition in the display-ad market, ranging from smaller companies such as Specific Media Inc. to larger players like Yahoo and Time Warner's AOL.

David Zinman, Yahoo's vice president and general manager for display advertising, says his company recently launched a new ad-targeting service that allows advertisers to show display ads to visitors who searched for certain search terms. "We have data that is only available to Yahoo, and are using it in a very specific and customized way" for advertisers, he says.

Still, some ad professionals are enthusiastic about Quantcast's new service. "Yahoo can do many of the things that Quantcast can do, but they only see behavior on their own networks," says Jacki Kelley, president of North America for Universal McCann, a media agency owned by Interpublic Group. She says one of her clients is testing the Quantcast media-buying program.

Peter Naylor, senior vice president of digital media sales for NBC Universal, says he is more confident of Quantcast's data than that of other ad-targeting companies because it has helped NBC run a "fine-tooth comb" through its own audience. NBC used Quantcast to track its Olympics Web sites last year, for instance, and found significant differences between visitors to the site's gymnastics areas, compared with the equestrian ones.

As a result, NBC plans to roll out Quantcast's media-buying program across its online properties. "It helps us find more of an advertiser's target audience," Mr. Naylor says.

Wanted: One White Knight, Preferably With a Bag of Gold

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Wanted: One White Knight, Preferably With a Bag of Gold

Why Forbes, Fortune Really Hope BusinessWeek Fetches More Than TV Guide Did

by Nat Ives
Published: July 20, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- BusinessWeek is not TV Guide, OK?

Sure, it may seem like the business weekly's heyday coincided with the time TV Guide was on every house's coffee table, but insiders insist it is poised for a different fate.

Even if ad pages come back, business books need to adjust to an altered landscape.

TV Guide, another formerly profitable major magazine institution to go on the block during this recession, famously fetched a whopping $1 at auction -- in a deal greased by nearly $10 million in sweetheart 3% loans for the buyer. The specter of a dollar sale for BusinessWeek became the master meme last week after the Financial Times quoted one banker calling it "the kind of deal that would be obtainable."

But TV Guide was sold without its accompanying website and reached a very different audience, a BusinessWeek executive retorted. "If you want to reach mothers who buy Nabisco in the grocery store, you have a lot of options," the executive said. "If you want to reach executives and business decision makers, there are more and more options but still only five or 10 good ones."

For all the challenges in the credit market, not to mention the tens of millions of dollars BusinessWeek is said to be losing, its competitors had better hope it can fetch a lot more than a lone greenback. Both Forbes and Fortune are profitable, but a token dollar transaction for their competitor would represent a vote of very little confidence in the future of their category.

That's because, despite specific circumstances that helped BusinessWeek slide into the red, they're all facing pretty much the same questions: If ad-page sales don't regain their old momentum, how well can they make digital compensate? Can they continue to meet the needs, and capture the dollars, of their particular advertisers, who are changing pretty rapidly themselves? What will be their story after the recession ends?

"Offline those brands have an opportunity to be around for some time, but I think they'll be smaller and smaller offline, while online they can be bigger and bigger," said Forbes.com CEO Jim Spanfeller last Thursday, following the news last week that he was leaving after nine years.

"Any business title that is not drawing most of its revenue from digital within, say, three years will most likely not be in business," he added later. "Even with a recovery, I simply do not see huge ad revenues coming back to print."

Jeff Fischer, senior VP-managing director at Universal McCann, where he oversees the print-activation group, said that may well be true. Most magazines cover areas about which readers are passionate and will remain passionate, Mr. Fischer said. So that's a good thing. Business magazines' print editions are perhaps more functional, though -- and that's a space with which electronic media competes very well. "Ad pages will come back, but not to the pre-recessionary levels," he said.

Plenty of people disagree, of course. "I do believe that a lot of the advertisers who value these audiences are going to be back," said Hugh Wiley, publisher of Fortune. "And they're going to be back big."

Can't rely on ad pages alone
Even if that proves to be true, the business books cannot rely on ad pages alone, and need to adjust to an altered landscape. As recently as 2004, BusinessWeek's top advertisers were IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor, Oracle, General Motors, Microsoft, Xerox, Accenture and Ford. Last year the equivalent list was IBM, Dell, Accenture, Sprint Nextel, T Rowe Price, Breitling Switzerland, Samsung, Verizon, Honda Motor and Dun & Bradstreet. Obviously the meltdown in Detroit has afflicted all kinds of media sellers, but automakers' cutbacks left the business magazines even more exposed to financial-services companies -- which have also suffered tremendously in the recession.

That's probably almost entirely a cyclical problem, at least, one that will be more or less remedied by any recovery. But the structural shifts are big too. Today's top advertisers in these titles are also increasingly committed to other, often more targeted ways of reaching their customers. IBM, for example, spent an estimated $8.9 million advertising in BusinessWeek last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. It devoted 16% of its ad spending to magazines, up from 11% the year before. But it also spent 9% on the internet, up from 4% in 2007.

Dell, BusinessWeek's second-biggest spender last year, with an $8.3 million outlay, devoted 10% of its ad spending to magazines in both 2008 and 2007. But it increased its allocation to the web to 15% last year from 10% the year before. IBM and Dell declined to comment on their advertising strategies.

All the business brands are online in major ways by this point, but with varying results and, of course, head-to-head with all the challenges and competition that internet publishing brings. Growth is neither automatic nor never-ending. Unique visitors last May totaled 7.3 million at Forbes.com, down 12% from May 2008; 7.2 million at CNNMoney, the site that subsumes Fortune magazine, down 6% from the prior May; and 3.5 million at BusinessWeek.com, up nearly 1% from the same month a year earlier, according to Nielsen Online.

Internet revenue is even tougher for outside observers to estimate than web traffic. Forbes.com collected $288.1 million in online revenue last year, for example, according to TNS Media Intelligence. CNNMoney got $205.3 million and BusinessWeek.com pulled in $11.3 million.

Insiders said those figures are very generous. But whatever the true numbers are, they are headed in the right direction. Forbes.com revenue grew 69% from 2007, according to TNS, while CNNMoney revenue rose 55%, and BusinessWeek.com revenue shot up 77%.

Leaning on franchise rankings, events
This year, of course, has proved a much tougher market, which is why the business titles are increasingly leaning on -- or maybe squeezing dry is a better metaphor -- their big franchise rankings and events.

Forbes and Fortune each rely on key franchises they can monetize a million different ways, such as the Forbes Global 200 list of the biggest companies and the Fortune 500.

BusinessWeek has less to offer: its well-established business-school rankings and the less influential BusinessWeek 50, a list of the best-performing companies based on data from Standard & Poor's, its sibling for now within McGraw-Hill.

"The lists are a gold mine," said Steve Forbes, chairman-CEO of Forbes Inc. as well as editor in chief at the magazine. "Thankfully we've had a tradition, whether it was our grading on mutual funds going back to the 1950s to the Forbes 400 in the 1980s to the listings we have today, whether it's dead celebrities or the value of franchises or sports valuation."

Those franchises help the other brands, but they haven't really been in BusinessWeek's DNA. "Yeah, I wish the BusinessWeek 50 was more synonymous with great companies, but it's just not what we do," the BusinessWeek executive said. As for lists with perhaps less relevance to running a business, such as Forbes's "The World's Top Earning Models," BusinessWeek has so far shrugged. "We kind of felt like the answer was to go deeper in business, not dilute our audience."

Events are also becoming a bigger part of the magazine brands' businesses. Forbes has a Global CEO Forum planned in Malaysia this September, for example, but also conducts virtual iConferences, such as one it just convened for financial planners. "Even though the numbers are hardly big, it is the kind of thing you give your right arm for as a marketer," Mr. Forbes said.

Fortune's latest Most Powerful Women Summit meets in California this September; its Brainstorm: Green conference last March included first-time sponsors such as AT&T, HP, Qualcomm and IBM. Here, too, perhaps BusinessWeek could do more; it typically offers smaller events built around programs designed for advertisers.

BusinessWeek's costly print schedule
On the cost side, BusinessWeek suffers from a weekly print schedule, which has some advantages but in recession also means putting out issues that lose money. Production and distribution costs haven't taken a break in the downturn, after all. As a result, BusinessWeek has combined issues into doubles two extra times this year; each one gives it an extra week off at the printing plant. But readers still expect to see an issue pretty much every week.

"The truth of the matter is we got hit with an ad depression with a weekly publication with a slightly more robust journalistic model that had worked for many, many years and probably will again," the BusinessWeek executive said.

Depending on conditions going forward, the weekly BusinessWeek and the biweekly Forbes and Fortune might all want to consider reducing frequency as a way to save costs.

It's far from obvious who might buy BusinessWeek in this environment, however powerful its brand may be and however successful it's been in previous years. Even if the sale price were so low that no financing was required, taking on its red ink will be another expense in itself. Mansueto Ventures, which owns Fast Company and Inc., might want to take a look; a spokeswoman declined to comment on the prospect. OpenGate Capital, which bought TV Guide, may not want to take on another money-losing title while it's focused on the one it has. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has already said it is not interested.

So BusinessWeek may find itself hoping for a new white knight to emerge. Any white knight, however, will definitely need some armor as it sets about evaluating the business model; perhaps cutting the lengthy masthead; likely pushing further into business lines not so reliant on advertising and subscription sales; and, of course, facing the growing hordes of competitors.

The weekly's new competitive set include the likes of The Economist, which has made major inroads in the U.S. in recent years, and more aggressive pushes from dailies such as the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times. And that's before you get to the digital-only competition, which includes everything from social media to portals to marketers' own sites.

For the moment BusinessWeek, understandably, is thinking about its near future and going about its routine. "We're focused on doing what we do best which is serving our audience and our customers," a BusinessWeek spokesman said, declining to elaborate. Editorial's softball team still took the field last Thursday night after work.

Loyal ‘Simpsons’ Fans Fetch Higher Ad Rates on Web

3:43:56 AM

Bloomberg

Loyal 'Simpsons' Fans Fetch Higher Ad Rates on Web (Update 1)
(UM's David Cohen quoted)

By Brett Pulley and Andy Fixmer

June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Television programs such as “The Simpsons” and “CSI” are for the first time commanding higher advertising rates at Web sites including Hulu.com and TV.com than on prime-time TV.

The premium rates in the just-ended 2008-2009 television season are mainly for shows that rank among the most-watched by Nielsen Co., said David Poltrack, chief research officer at New York-based CBS Corp., which is home to “CSI” and owns TV.com.

Marketers, who are now considering commitments for the 2009-2010 TV season, are willing to pay more because TV.com and Hulu.com, owned by investors including News Corp., NBC and Walt Disney Co., provide committed viewers who actively seek out shows. There are fewer commercials, and consumers are twice as likely to recall Web ads, Poltrack said, citing Nielsen.

“The reason people are paying such a high premium for these ads on the Internet is they do have a captive audience,” Poltrack said. “You know you have eyes on the screen.”

The challenge for the networks, whose total prime-time audience shrank 3.6 percent last season, is that Web viewing and ad sales, while increasing, are still too small to replace traditional revenue sources.

CBS’s April 6 broadcast of the U.S. collegiate basketball championship game, for instance, attracted 17.6 million viewers, according to New York-based Nielsen. By comparison, the network’s Webcast of the championship tournament starting in March drew 7.52 million unique visitors, according a statement.

TV vs. Web Rates

CBS, owner of the most-watched broadcast network, gained 19 cents to $7.21 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have lost 12 percent this year. New York- based News Corp., whose Fox network airs “The Simpsons,” added 16 cents to $9.15 and is little changed this year.

Marketers typically pay $20 to $40 per thousand viewers for a prime-time ad. On Hulu, which began offering shows to the public in March 2008, an ad on the animated series “The Simpsons” costs $60 per thousand viewers, Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. wrote in a June 18 report.

“It ends up being twice as expensive in the Internet world,” said David Cohen, U.S. director of digital communications at Universal McCann, which is owned by the New York-based advertising company Interpublic Group of Cos.

That isn’t deterring companies from buying time.

Intel Corp., the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, has shifted spending to sites including Hulu, which streams TV shows from NBC, Fox and soon ABC, as part of a $100 million worldwide marketing campaign, according to Arlene Villanueva, global media director for the Santa Clara, California-based company.

‘All the Comedies’

“Hulu has all the comedies on NBC, Fox and now ABC,” Villanueva said in an interview. “Most of those fans will watch the finale again or catch up on episodes they missed. It’s a great opportunity to be smart and reach our audience.”

General Motors Corp. will direct brand-building dollars to premium videos on the Internet while it works to emerge from bankruptcy, said Betsy Lazar, executive director of advertising and media operations for the Detroit-based automaker.

“As the economy improves, we expect that demand for premium programming on the Internet will increase as well,” Lazar said in an e-mail.

The gains from Web ads only partly counter the loss of traditional advertising for Fox, Walt Disney’s ABC, CBS and General Electric Co.’s NBC. At CBS, interactive revenue amounted to 6 percent of the $2.23 billion in first-quarter TV sales, according to a May 7 company statement.

Siphoning Off Viewers

Nathanson, based in New York, estimates ad sales at the four networks will drop 10 percent this year to $12.8 billion.

Networks also risk siphoning off prime-time audiences to sites with less inventory and lower ad sales, the analyst wrote.

A “Simpsons” episode on Hulu has just 37 seconds of ads, Nathanson wrote. A broadcast episode has nine minutes and produces three times the revenue per viewer at half the price, he estimated.

“The networks should be very careful that the move to the Web does not cannibalize the core business,” Nathanson wrote.

NBC and ABC declined to comment on rate comparisons.

Closely held Hulu attracts clients by delivering “their target audience,” Jean-Paul Colaco, senior vice president of advertising, said in an e-mail. The site “is delivering value that is resonating with our advertisers,” including more than 40 million users a month.

Disney Investment

In April, Burbank, California-based Disney acquired a 27 percent stake in Los Angeles-based Hulu for about $35 million, becoming a co-owner with News Corp. and New York-based NBC Universal and agreeing to supply shows and films.

News Corp., Disney and NBC sites, including Hulu, ranked among the 10 most-visited for videos in the U.S. in March, according to ComScore Inc., the Reston, Virginia-based researcher, showing the companies are retaining viewers migrating to the Internet. Time Warner Inc. and Viacom Inc., both based in New York, also have top 10 sites, as does CBS.

IGN Entertainment, News Corp.’s Web site for video-game fans, charges as much as $45 per thousand viewers and has advertisers including Activision Blizzard Inc., the largest game publisher, McDonald’s and Burger King, said Charlie Barrett, senior vice president of sales for the Brisbane, California- based company.

“The viewer made a selection, and the advertiser knows you are waiting for the selected content,” Barrett said in an interview. “That’s a powerful advertising moment.”

Poltrack said lower-rated shows won’t command the same prices as popular programs, and that ads on those series aren’t any more valuable than basic, static banners on Web sites.

“This is about scarcity,” Poltrack said. “All of the networks who are now streaming online have multiple advertisers competing for a small supply of premium programs. That premium content is what advertisers want.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Brett Pulley in New York at bpulley@bloomberg.net; Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 25, 2009 16:23 EDT

Cannes Media Festival

3:43:56 AM

UM won many awards at the 2009 Cannes Media Lions Festival.

- Gold in Best Use of Ambient Media for Check Them! Public Awareness campaign for Testicular Cancer in Macedonia

- Silver in Best Use of Television for MasterCard’s “12 Chimes of the Bell” campaign in Spain

- Bronze in Best in Cinema for the short film “Botelya” (The Bottle) by Johnson’s Baby Oil in the Philippines

- Bronze for Best in Mixed Media for “The Power of Nano Innovations” campaign by Tata Motor Car in India (Lodestar Universal)

UM Spain at El Sol

3:43:56 AM

Verizon Offers 99 Cent NYC Cab Rides

3:43:56 AM

Adweek.com

Verizon Offers 99 Cent NYC Cab Rides

June 9, 2009

-By Steve McClellan, Adweek

A typical cab ride in New York City can cost between $10 and $20 -- or more -- depending on traffic and destination.

But tomorrow, for one day only, Verizon is sponsoring 99-cent cab rides that start from select locations (with Verizon-branded taxis) for destinations anywhere in Manhattan.

In two weeks, the phone giant will bring New Yorkers a steeply discounted summer treat: Mr. Softee Ice Cream (from vendor trucks at select points in the city) for 99 cents.

The sharply reduced cab fares and ice cream are part of a guerilla marketing effort by the wireless phone carrier, developed by Interpublic Group's McCann Erickson and sister media shop Universal McCann. The goal is to tout a Verizon business segment that has low consumer awareness: prepaid cellular plans. As you might guess, the pre-paid plan's daily usage fee is 99 cents.

According to Natan Cohen, a UM media planner on the account, research has shown "consumers think of Verizon as more of a contract carrier and not a pre-pay carrier," even though the company has had prepaid plans for years.

That's a problem, particularly in the recession, as more people reevaluate their options and consider whether they can get along with a prepaid plan, which are almost always cheaper than full-service contracts, said Cohen. By raising awareness of the client's prepaid options, he said, Verizon wants to "make sure its customers realize they don't have to sacrifice the network," while cutting back on more expensive wireless features. The guerilla tactics, he said, are a means of "connecting deeper to show the value you can get for 99 cents."

For tomorrow's event, Verizon will use a fleet of 40 cabs to shuttle people from key transit hubs including Penn and Grand Central Stations to their Manhattan destinations in the morning -- and from key various points back to the transit terminals during the evening rush. So-called "brand ambassadors" at each locale will help manage the flow of cab riders and collect the fares.

The ice cream promo, set for June 23, will feature four Verizon Wireless-wrapped trucks at high-traffic locations in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens during the lunch hour. Branded napkins with additional prepaid details will be dispensed with the treats.

The cab and ice-cream tactics are supporting a broader New York-area campaign dominated by print and out-of-home advertising including subway, bus and bus shelter ads, along with wild postings and digital signage. The special events also will be promoted in radio and newspaper ads. The company kicked off a national TV campaign for its prepaid plans on May 26. The branding theme for the entire campaign is "99 cents does more."

Steve Ohler, group creative director at McCann in New York, said the campaign theme was derived from the fact that with the Verizon prepaid plan "you only have to pay for the days you actually use your phone and all your calls to any of the 80 million other Verizon customers are free. That's why 99 cents does more. I think we were able to find some fun ways to bring that value to life for our fellow New Yorkers."

According to Cohen, the client views the taxi and ice cream stunts as a "pilot program" that could lead to additional events in New York and other cities after it reviews the results. "Everybody is feeling the squeeze" of the recession, said Cohen, adding that the campaign's success will be based on sales. "We expect to move the needle in New York," he said.

Source: Adweek.com

Women to Watch 2009: Jacki Kelley

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Jacki Kelley

President-North America, Universal McCann

By Michael Bush
Published: June 01, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In her first foray into the agency world, Jacki Kelley has certainly jumped into the deep end of the pool. Not only is Ms. Kelley -- who took on the newly created role of president of North America for Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann on May 1 -- charged with giving a voice to an agency that has been near silent on the new-business front, she will also serve as the face for agency CEO Matt Seiler's vision of establishing an earlier and more strategic and collaborative relationship between media agencies and media owners.

Mr. Seiler said he chose Ms. Kelley -- who has more than 20 years of experience at media companies such as USA Today, Yahoo and, most recently, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, where she was exec VP-media sales -- to lead this ambitious effort because of her lack of agency experience.

"It's great to have people who don't come from our side," Mr. Seiler said. "They don't know what isn't possible, so they'll push forward trying to accomplish what everyone else might think is impossible."

Ms. Kelley, who will oversee planning and buying across all channels, business development and key North American accounts, knows adjusting to agency life will entail learning on the fly, but for her that's an upside. "I enjoy a very fast pace and variety in what I do, and that has been fulfilled for me in spades here already," Ms. Kelley said.

And she's not stressing over the numerous tasks she has before her.

"I don't internalize it as pressure," she said. "I see it as a tremendous privilege and opportunity. I think [reinventing] that relationship between media owner and agency is an important transition and critical solution for us as an industry."

In fact, having a shot at establishing better relations between the two was a challenge the 42-year-old had been looking to tackle for quite some time. In her initial meeting with Mr. Seiler, she told him she had been waiting her entire career for someone at an agency to propose bridging that gap.

And while she's been on the job only a short time, Ms. Kelley said the clients and media owners she has spoken to have been "very receptive" to the idea.

"The challenge for us," she said, "is how do we operationalize and execute this consistently?"

Searching For The New Heart Of Madison Avenue

3:43:56 AM

MediaPostNews
Online Media Daily

Searching For The New Heart Of Madison Avenue, Interpublic Thinks It's Closer To Wall Street

Joe Mandese, Jun 01, 2009 09:16 AM

Interpublic finally went public with its new digital media trading system, officially joining an expanding field of big agency holding companies that are trying to become Madison Avenue's equivalent of Wall Street's investment banking firms. Interpublic said the new system, dubbed Cadreon, initially will make a marketplace around online display, online video and mobile media buys, but would eventually be expanded to include social media, digital out-of-home media, emerging digital TV platforms, and ultimate, all forms of media that can be transacted digitally. Significantly, Interpublic executives said Cadreon will accelerate the shift from traditional approaches for planning and buying media to a new era of "audience planning and buying across media channels."

Cadreon, which has been operating in beta for about nine months, follows other big agencies that have created systems for trading digital media the way Wall Street's electronic exchanges do. In fact, Madison Avenue's new systems sit on top of and work with a wide range of exchanges, aggregators and broad-based and vertical advertising networks that have grown organically in the online display advertising marketplace, and which have become a major source of transacting the bulk of so-called "non-premium" advertising that goes unsold by the sales organizations of online publishers. With "seats" on the various exchanges, and utilizing sophisticated tools, technologies, and proprietary algorithms, the new agency trading systems seek to leverage the burgeoning marketplace on behalf of advertisers, re-aggregating audiences to match the profiles and targeting needs of their brands, and ensuring that the right advertising messages are served to the right consumers at the right time.

Last November, during a keynote at MediaPost's OMMA Ad Nets conference in New York, then Havas Digital CEO Don Epperson laid out a similar vision for Havas' new Adnetik system, which Epperson said enables the agency to create "virtual brand networks" by mixing and matching audiences tailored for the needs of specific brands.

"We're starting to think of our job at agencies almost as audience aggregators vs. media planners," Epperson, who has since left Havas, told the OMMA conference attendees.

Other agencies have been following a similar route. MDC Partners' Media Kitchen has spun off Varick Media Management, which founder and president Darren Herman likens to a "Wall Street hedge fund" utilizing technology to make real-time investment decisions to build "portfolios" of audiences for advertisers and brands working across online audience exchanges and networks.

Other big agencies, including WPP and Publicis have indicated that they have similar systems, but so far have been less vocal about how they work, who they are working with, and how they are differentiated from others in the marketplace.

The Interpublic team, meanwhile, claims Cadreon is clearly differentiated from others in the field for several reasons including its mix of technology, algorithms, and people, and its plan to eventually transact, not just online inventory, but all media via the system.

One thing Cadreon will not do, says Brendan Moorcroft senior vice president-director global digital strategy at Interpublic's Universal McCann unit, is "arbitrage," a Wall Street term for making a market on the price differences created by simultaneously buying and selling equities and commodities.

Other agencies have alluded that they might seek to make a market around the buying and selling for online inventory by dynamically mixing and matching audience inventory across their mix of clients based on real-time market fluctuations.

"We're not in the arbitrage game," says Quentin George, chief digital officer of Interpublic's Mediabrands unit, which has overseen the creation and management of Cadreon. Instead, George says Interpublic's various media agencies will utilize the system to create proprietary algorithms that will dynamically aggregate and buy audiences for specific clients.

Another key differentiator, according to the Interpublic executives, is that Cadreon does not "pre-buy" inventory, or hedge against the future, potential needs of clients. Instead, the Interpublic executives say Cadreon procures inventory dynamically, and only when actually needed for a specific brand's audience delivery needs. By doing that way, they said they can match the advertising campaign or message with the best possible audience exposure in real time.

Interpublic's George says Cadreon won't replace the "face-to-face" negotiations that Interpublic agencies conduct with the media on behalf of their clients, but he says it will enable them to focus on things that enhance the value of media for the brands, such as branded content integration, sponsorships, and other concepts that require creativity and human interaction.

Interpublic claims to have already processed 55 campaigns via Cadreon, and says it is fully operational in the U.S. and will be rolled out to overseas markets soon.

IPG Unveils Cadreon Digital Ad Network

3:43:56 AM

Mediaweek

IPG Unveils Cadreon Digital Ad Network

Unit is geared to purchase multiple forms of digital advertising

May 30, 2009

-By Steve McClellan, Adweek

After nine months of testing campaign executions, Interpublic Group's Mediabrands will unveil on Monday a new ad network called Cadreon. It is geared to purchase multiple forms of digital advertising such as online video, mobile, social networks and digital out-of-home, among others.

Cadreon is first launching in the U.S. and will roll out in key markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa by year's end, said Quentin George, chief digital officer at Mediabrands. George is overseeing the project and also serving as the network's interim CEO while he searches for an exec to take on the job full time.

The plan is to use the new network to capture as much client digital business -- both creative duties and media chores -- as possible, said George. He noted that currently about 20 percent of client digital budgets in the U.S. are earmarked for networks, while the comparable figure in EMEA markets is roughly 70 percent.

In addition to buying, Cadreon will provide real-time dynamic ad creation to help clients build and serve units on the fly. The system utilizes a host of different parameters, tailoring both creative content and messaging to specific client audience profiles.

"The burden of proof is on us" to demonstrate the network's superiority compared to competitors, George said.

To avoid conflicts, the network is being set up as a separate company with a distinct P&L under the Mediabrands roof.

What the new network won't do is package client data for group buys or acquire inventory directly from publishers for resale to clients, said George.

The network system is designed to eliminate waste by focusing on target audiences, not just sites or inventory. "In every instance, the algorithms, data and all buying activity will only happen for one client at a time, so there is no pollution of your algorithm by someone else's buy," said George.

George has been working primarily with Microsoft during the test phase. So far, the client seems pleased. "The idea of buying audiences and not inventory is a new way of operating and has delivered us great results," said Bill Capodanno, director of customer experience architecture at Microsoft, in a statement.

"Data is key," said George, and the more data the client shares "the more narrowly we can define the audience. Other networks are geared toward delivering yield for publishers. The only thing we care about is performance for the advertiser."

George said the network would be hiring staffers with nontraditional backgrounds: "We're recruiting people from Wall Street and other areas because what we are creating is closer to investment and portfolio management than it is to traditional media buying."

Plans call for the network to have a staff of 30 by year's end, but that could change depending on the amount of client buy-in, George said.

Right now, nine staffers are on board, including Nicole Craine, Cadreon's vp, operations, who George hired from Organic where Craine held a similar role. (George was with Organic before joining IPG in 2006 and brought Craine aboard there as well.)

To one degree or another, the other holding companies have launched or intend to launch proprietary ad networks. Publicis Groupe is developing the Audience on Demand network under VivaKi. WPP Group has a network in 24/7 Real Media. And prior to its purchase by Microsoft, Razorfish's parent company aQuantive operated the DrivePM network. --additional reporting by Brian Morrissey

UM Netherlands Agency of the Year

3:43:56 AM

BMW's U.S. Media Travels to UM

3:43:56 AM

Adweek.com

GSD&M, which had been adding more creative work from automaker of late, parts with the media business

May 28, 2009

-By Steve McClellan

NEW YORK BMW has selected Interpublic Group's Universal McCann here to handle media chores after a review, the client has confirmed.

The other finalist was the incumbent, Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City in Austin, Texas.

The assignment includes national media duties for the Woodcliff Lake, N.J., carmaker and some dealer group chores.

All told, the work moving to UM is worth about $200 million, according to sources. BMW spent $150 million on domestic ads in 2008, roughly in line with the previous year's spending, per Nielsen.

"We are thrilled to have UM onboard as our new media buying and planning partner," said Jack Pitney, vice president of marketing, BMW of North America. "The agency has a solid reputation for excellence, and we look forward to a very productive relationship."

Commenting on the win, UM worldwide CEO Matt Seiler said: "It's an absolute privilege to work on a brand with the stature of BMW and a personal thrill for me to work on it twice and being able to share that experience with every one at UM." Earlier in his career at Ammirati & Puris, Seiler worked on the account when it was parked at that agency, which came up with the iconic "Ultimate driving machine" line for the brand.

The client confirmed the media review in September and by November had winnowed the field of contenders down to five. Beside the two finalists, that mix included independents Horizon Media and Targetcast:TCM and Aegis Group's Carat.

GSD&M is the lead national creative agency for BMW. Those chores were not part of just concluded media review.

Earlier this month, the shop expanded its creative BMW assignment, with the automaker naming the shop its lead global agency for duties previously shared among various resources. BMW's first international work via GSD&M will use the central theme "Joy." It will be adapted across all media worldwide including the Internet, car shows and events, the client said today.

That work rolls out in Europe this summer and hits the U.S. in early 2010. The global assignment came just a week after the client unveiled a new creative campaign dubbed "Expression of joy" to help launch its Z4 Roadster.

The media competition was overseen by Manuel Reyes of Cortex Consulting Group in Ocala, Fla., an affiliate of London-based consultancy AuditStar.

On the positive side for GSD&M, in addition to adding the global creative work from BMW, the agency won Ace Hardware's $40 million-plus ad business yesterday.

BMW Finally Picks Media Agency for Dealer Groups: Universal McCann

3:43:56 AM

AdAge.com

BMW Finally Picks Media Agency for Dealer Groups: Universal McCann

Win Over GSD&M Idea City Helps End Long New-Business Drought

Posted by Jean Halliday on 05.28.09 @ 04:18 PM

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- BMW of North America tapped Universal McCann, New York, as the media planner and buyer for its national and regional dealer groups, helping end a long new-business drought for the Interpublic Group-owned agency.

The incumbent, Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City, Chicago, was one of two finalists for the account. The agency's media contract with BMW expires at the end of June, when Universal McCann will start handling the business, a BMW spokesman told Advertising Age.

BMW started the review last September and narrowed the list of four finalists to two months ago. The decision took so long because it was trying to get the most advantageous financial deal amid the global auto industry's worst slump in decades, according to industry execs close to the situation.

Financial efficiencies were a consideration but not the only one, the BMW spokesman said. "We wanted to make sure whoever had our account has a very good understanding of our brand and how best to talk to people -- that's crucial."

The company said the media review was part of a regular process put in place by its parent company, Germany's BMW AG, "designed to maximize efficiencies and increase the effectiveness of BMW's media-planning and -buying spend worldwide." The automaker spends some $150 million in U.S. measured media annually.

Jack Pitney, VP-marketing of BMW in North America, said Universal McCann "has a solid reputation for excellence, and we look forward to a very productive relationship."

BMW's other agencies
GSD&M, Austin, Texas, which won BMW's creative account in fall 2005 and was awarded the media account without a review a few months later, will keep the brand's national creative account. Two weeks ago, the agency won a jump ball to be BMW's lead global creative agency (and this week was awarded the creative account of retailer Ace Hardware as well).

WPP's Grey West, San Francisco, won BMW's regional-dealer-group creative account last fall.

For Universal McCann, the win is a coup. With no major news coming out of the agency other than layoffs -- the agency laid off 8% of its U.S. staff in March -- and the hiring of Jacki Kelley as president of its North American division, this win is significant on two levels. First, it marks the first major new business for the agency since Matt Seiler took over as global CEO last July. And second, the win -- combined with a recent $40 million Dyson account win earlier this month, according to executives close to the matter -- signals that the agency may finally be getting itself on track.

~ ~ ~
Michael Bush contributed to this report.

4As Task Force Tackles Interact Ads, Data Ownership

3:43:56 AM

MediaPostNews - Media DailyNews

4As Task Force Tackles Interactive Ads, Data Ownership

(UM's David Cohen mentioned)

David Goetzl, Mar 04, 2009 05:59 PM

NEW ORLEANS -- A task force under the aegis of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Interactive Advertising Bureau that examined how to alter business practices for interactive advertising failed to come to an agreement on who owns performance data generated from online campaigns. It was not a surprise--given GroupM's recent push to ensure campaign data is the exclusive property of the advertiser and the agency. But it highlights how difficult it may be to reach consensus on how the industry should overhaul the way it does business.

Formed in 2007, the task force is part of the 4As "Project Reinvention" initiative, which looks to upgrade practices in all media, starting with the interactive and spot TV areas. Trade associations, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Television Bureau of Advertising are key players in their respective sectors.

""It's going to be bloody and ugly," IAB chief Randall Rothenberg quipped about the looming industry battle over data ownership, implying that it would emerge as a central conflict on Madison Avenue. However, he said the online industry is agreeing to changes in practice. Rothenberg said the two sides have a mutual interest and some common goals.

In addition to the data-ownership issue, the interactive group failed to agree on recommendations for how the industry should handle aspects of makegoods, and how to deal with creative that is submitted late. The task force is searching for ways for the industry to cut costs; late creative is a drain on resources.

Rothenberg spoke on a panel at the 4As annual media conference Wednesday in New Orleans, where the recommendations--or lack thereof--were discussed. GroupM chief Irwin Gotlieb also participated.

Interactive task force members include Universal McCann executive David Cohen and CBS Interactive's Zack Rogers, along with many other top buyers and sellers.

The separate task force seeking changes in the spot TV arena appears to have had a far easier time reaching agreement on what must be done. As expected, the group urged the industry to drop its decades-old negotiating currency of a cost-per-point metric and move to a cost-per-thousand--which would put it in line with other media from network TV to newspapers.

Back in the interactive area, that business ironically continues to struggle to find agreed-upon standards, which would allow it to conduct transactions via electronic systems. The result of using email and faxes--as it is in spot TV--is a backlog of paperwork. That leads to massive time spent manually entering data, which can cause numerous errors.

The interactive task force has recommended standard forms for requests for proposal (RFPs), insertion orders and invoices, among other actions, to be placed within an e-business format. And a beta development process is using them, with publishers and system vendors such as Mediabank, Harris Corp. and DoubleClick participating.

One possible benefit: allowing for changes to be made more easily to a campaign while it is still running. Another: reducing discrepancies where a buyer and seller may disagree on whether ads that were purchased actually ran. If there is disagreement, settling on makegoods can take weeks.

In the spot business, its task force recommendation to move to CPMs as currency is viewed as a way to jump-start cross-platform deal-making, where a buyer can purchase on-air spots, as well as banners on a station Web site, in one fell swoop. Buyers could also compare the value of a spot buy with other media more easily, the task force believes.

Similar to the interactive group, the spot task force recommended that the industry adopt a system where the performance of a buy can be monitored once it is up and running. Makegoods can be doled out without waiting weeks.

Spot TV task force members include Starcom's Kevin Gallagher and Hearst-Argyle's Kathleen Keefe, along with TVB executive Abby Auerbach.

Project reinvention has its roots in comments that GroupM's Gotlieb made in late 2006, when he urged the industry to update its business practices on the grounds that its very survival is at stake. On Wednesday, he took that concern to another level, saying changes are more crucial now in a struggling economy. "We really no longer have the luxury of debating some of these issues," he said. "We have to deal with them and get on with it."

He said the troubled economy actually offers a "silver lining," since it could lead to swifter overhauls.

The mild-mannered Gotlieb caused a stir on the panel when he took a swipe at the trade publication Advertising Age. After the IAB's Rothenberg cited an Ad Age editorial this week raising questions about the ad industry's trade associations, Gotlieb said the problem isn't with the trade associations, but with the trade magazine.

"I wouldn't take what that particular trade magazine said too personally, Randy," Gotlieb told his fellow panelist, then added: "I would suspect that their same companies would be asking the same questions about their ROI. They're just trying to pass on the pain."

Gotlieb went on to say that all the trade associations play a very important role in working out conflicts, facilitating industry reinvention, and demonstrating the ROI and benefits of their media.

"As someone who sits on my side of the fence, we wouldn't have it any other way," Gotlieb said, receiving an ovation.

Separately, Rothenberg stridently warned online publishers and agencies that Washington is watching, and urged action. The federal and state governments are "looking for us to protect privacy rights ... in interactive media," he said. He urged industry members to join the six trade associations in creating "an effective and meaningful self-regulatory practice."

Gotlieb said that ensuring privacy is smart business, and protecting it is important for clients: "We can't do the jobs we need to do for our clients if we don't serve the interests of those who protect privacy."

TVB chief Chris Rohrs, who joined Rothenberg and Gotlieb on the panel, said reinventing business practices in the spot business just "comes down to customer service." Agreeing with Gotlieb, he said it's more crucial now than ever.

But Rohrs said that recommendations such as changing the currency and looking for stations to halt preemptions if they can sell inventory for higher rates are "worthwhile and important advances, but they cannot succeed without a robust e-business solution." In other words, changes to how deal-making is done are crucial, but finding the right trading systems to facilitate the negotiations and stewardship of a buy is equally critical.

Smart Phone Users Taking Action on Ads

3:43:56 AM

Mediaweek.com

Smart Phone Users Taking Action on Ads

April 28, 2009

-By Steve McClellan, Adweek

More than a third of high-use smart phone users (defined as those who download mobile content from the Web at least once at day or close to it) are taking action on mobile advertisements, according to the results of a new research study on smart phone usage patterns.

Interpublic Group's Universal McCann, with support from research firm Questus, conducted the study earlier this year. It was sponsored by Platform-A, a unit of Time Warner's AOL.

The study found that smart phone users are clicking on ads (53 percent), requesting more information or a coupon (35 percent) and making purchases via their handsets (24 percent).

Detailed findings of the study will be presented at the OMMA Mobile Conference in New York on April 29.

"The smart phone is a great convenience for many Americans, enabling them to access Internet content anywhere and anytime," said Stuart Rodnick, director of strategic insights at Platform-A.

The study reports Web-enabled devices have helped users to consume media throughout their daily routine, with 82 percent of respondents reporting that they use mobile devices at work and 81 percent saying they use them while shopping.

The mobile Web has also become a ritual with commuters, who use it as part of their workday commute. Currently, nearly one of every seven minutes of media consumption takes place on a mobile device, per the study, and six of every 10 consumers expect their mobile Internet usage to increase significantly over the next two years.

"Much has changed in two years," said Graeme Hutton, director of consumer insights at UM, in a statement. "Our 2007 global mobile study demonstrated just how much the U.S. lagged behind other developing nations. Now mobile is less about 'wireless online' and more about being a highly personal, customized medium. Smart phone users are reaching for their devices to help answer unmet needs. Services that don't have dedicated mobile formats are going to miss out on this huge and continual media consumption shift."

The study polled 1,800 participants online who frequently surf the Web with their mobile devices. In addition, smaller panel samples kept daily usage diaries and video logs.

Sponsor Platform-A owns Third Screen Media, a mobile ad-serving platform and network that enables advertising on mobile devices.

UM said it would use data compiled from the study to provide proprietary insights for the media agency's clients on a case-by-case basis.

UM wins at the Festival of Media

3:43:56 AM

UM has won the “Best Use of Search” award at the Festival of Media Awards for our work on Microsoft Windows OneCare Live.

UM Australia also received special mention for their work on Aussie Lamb, which was an amazing collaborative media partnership.

Media Agencies Still Figuring Out Multiplatform Buys, Social Media

3:43:56 AM

AdAge.com

Media Agencies Still Figuring Out Multiplatform Buys, Social Media

But Top Managers Say Progress Is Being Made on Both Fronts

by Michael Bush

Published: April 20, 2009

VALENCIA (AdAge.com) -- The tenuous relationship between media agencies and media owners reared its head during the day's last session at the 2009 Festival of Media as the heads of some of the largest media agencies gathered here discussed how everything from the recession to social media has affected their operations.

During the "Global CEO Spotlight" panel, the moderator, Advertising Age Editor Jonah Bloom, playing the role of a media owner, took the agencies to task for complicating buys due to their complex internal structure. "We came with a multiplatform [ad buy] and it was an integrated-marketing solution. And then the [agency's] TV guy didn't want to know about parts of it, or he wasn't talking to the digital guy and the digital guy doesn't even know who lives in the TV department." His monologue drew applause from the media owners in the audience.

Sharing talent
Nick Brien, president-CEO of Interpublic Group of Cos.' Mediabrands, said media agencies and media owners need to take part in sharing talent across their organizations to reduce the miscommunication. He said Interpublic's Universal McCann has taken steps to bridge the gap between agency and owner by bringing in Jacki Kelley, formerly of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, to run the agency's North American division.

More 2009 Festival of Media Coverage:

Havas CEO Sees At Least Two More Years of Grey Skies
Fernando Rodes Vila Calls for Focus on Green Initiatives in Meantime

Unilever Wins Two Awards for Axe, Dove Media Campaigns
OMD, MediaCom Also Big Agency-Side Winners at Festival of Media

"That was not by chance but by design," Mr. Brien said. "Universal McCann has a commitment to kick-start the focus on the assets and capabilities of media owners in a more strategic way. Our business comes down to three things: people, process and technology. We need smarter, different people trained differently. ... So by design we are looking at all of our businesses and asking, 'How can we formally establish relationships with our media owner brethren?'"

The recession has obviously caused agencies to step back and assess their internal structures as well. Jack Klues, managing partner at Publicis Groupe's Vivaki, said his agency often has two different groups doing the same type of work and is looking for ways to "standardize and homogenize" that process to eliminate those redundancies.

"The recession has caused us to focus on what's important to clients and the organization and what isn't," Mr. Klues said. "That fosters conversation between the two of us and helps determine what work can be eliminated. We're in a race to standardize things."

Dominic Proctor, CEO of WPP's Mindshare Worldwide, said other types of standardization could be taking place across media agencies, such as the "way we transact things. These are the growing pains of the industry that were happening anyway but the recession has sped it up."

Social media has also made an impact on media agencies.

Can't afford to, can't afford not to
"The number of people and hours we invest in [social media] is huge," Mainardo de Nardis, the new global CEO of Omnicom Group's OMD Global, said. "The revenue is small but we can't afford not to do it but can't afford to do it. There's an imbalance and we have to find a way to rebalance it."

The other hot-button topic always on the minds of media agency folk -- margins -- was also discussed.

Mr. Brien said if media agencies can get to a level of accountability and have a "candid" opportunity to examine all elements of a campaign and determine the contribution the agency made, "why is not reasonable and certainly possible to share in the commercial upside? That's one of the biggest places we can go."

He said the recession has forced his clients further down the sales funnel, as they have become more focused on the point of purchase by trying to determine how customers are behaving when they are in the store.

"[Clients'] equity is strong and can afford to dial down at least 50% [of ad spending] for the next 12 months on the brand as they get through this challenge," he said. "It's a mix change, it's not about spending less."

But what will the agency world look like on the other side of the recession? Mr. de Nardis doesn't believe agencies will come out of this the same way they went in, and one result will be a different array of decision makers. "We will have different players around the table," Mr. de Nardis said.

Universal McCann Changes Media Tactics

3:43:56 AM

Adweek

Universal McCann Changes Media Tactics

Agency's new hire shows stronger commitment to media-owner ties

April 13, 2009

-By Steve McClellan

NEW YORK In the latest sign that Matt Seiler, global CEO of Universal McCann, is redefining the relationship the agency forges with media owners, he has hired Jacki Kelley -- whose career spans two decades on the sales and marketing side of the media business -- as the shop's North America president.

Seiler said he had talked with several candidates at media shops and other agencies about the newly created post, but earlier this year had an "aha" moment when "I realized I'd been looking in the wrong places" for an executive he hoped would transform UM's dealings with sellers. He then added media sellers to his list of candidates.

Throughout the industry, said Seiler, buyer-seller relationships lack depth and focus too much on the final transaction. Instead, he believes the ties have to be forged "early in the planning process to create strategic connections to what the client's business objectives are and using the total resources of the media owners to achieve that."

The hire is the latest move Seiler has taken to reshape the Interpublic Group agency, which he joined eight months ago. And there's more to come: in the following weeks, UM will appoint a handful of North American executives who will serve as liaisons to specific media companies with a mandate to forge deeper, more meaningful ties.

Kelley spent 18 years in various functions at Gannett's USA Today, including circulation and advertising posts at both domestic and international operations before joining Yahoo in 2006 as svp, advertising, just as digital devices and services were gaining critical mass with consumers. In 2007, she joined Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia as evp, media sales, where she led the creation of an integrated media team.

Kelley said she jumped to the buy side because she's interested in the opportunity to transform UM's relationship with sellers. She added that Seiler's take "is in line with the approach I've advocated on the media side, which is to focus on the audience and change the conversation from one about planning and buying to one of strategy, insight and the creation of shared assets." While that sounds fairly straightforward, she said, "it's more uncommon than any of us would like."

And agencies need to focus on audience, she said, or they might find themselves on the outside looking in. "Media companies have bypassed agencies in order to get to clients and execute on a more strategic level," Kelley said. "It's how media owners want to engage."

Seiler said that once the agency's new structure for interacting with media companies is finalized in North America, he hopes to export it to other parts of the world. While sellers across the globe have different setups, with some adjustments, he said, "I think it is template-able."

Kelley is expected to start at UM in late April or early May.

Forebes.Com Interview: Matt Seiler

3:43:56 AM

Interview: Matt Seiler, Global CEO, Universal McCann: Current Ad-Sales System Is 'Ridiculous'

Staci D. Kramer 04.13.09, 11:30 AM ET

Beyond the buzz about TV Everywhere or any of the options being tossed around for making programming available across platforms, lies a simple economic reality: in order to make any of it work, advertisers will have to pay for a viewer’s attention regardless of the platform. That would mean a dramatic shift from a world where value is based on the screen being viewed to a unified theory of advertising. As The Cable Show concluded in Washington, D.C., late last week, I asked Matt Seiler, the global chief executive of Interpublic’s Universal McCann, what it would take to truly sell ads across platforms. Seiler, who took that job last August and has since reorganized the ad agency, bluntly listed the current buying system, including the upfronts, as an obstacle holding everyone back: “It’s ridiculous. It is not consumer oriented. It’s not client oriented. It’s antiquated-industry oriented.” Edited excerpts from our conversation follow:

Staci D. Kramer: You talked a little bit about how to get to a unified audience, a unified sell. You’re interested in accelerating things. What actually has to happen?

Matt Seiler: That’s such a great question. I want to solve for an industry issue but as UM, I can’t really change the entire market dynamics. We’re creating a new division within our organization that gets to the media owners much, much, much earlier in the process than what typically happens. The way that it usually works is there’s a buyer that works with the sales person around a specific medium late in the process so planners and clients have decided what the target audience is going to be and what the media mix is going to be, and too often it’s what the media mix was last year. ... All of that stuff is predetermined so how much can we really do things differently if there are that many givens?

What we’re trying to do is get to the media owner really early in the process, not necessarily the sales person, to say here’s what we’re looking to accomplish on behalf of our client, here’s what the business objective is and here specifically is the target audience and everything that we know about them. … And then allow the media owner the time to come back to us and say, ‘Here’s what’s coming out of my studio, here’s what I’ve got in branded content avails in television, whether that’s broadcast or cable. Here’s what my outdoor locations are.’ If I do a good enough job telling you who my consumer is, talk to me about how you can aggregate all of those resources upon my consumer’s behalf—and then we’ll get into what does it cost and how much of that is stuff that I already have commitments for and how much is it that I don’t already have commitments for. That’s my desire and I want to do that right this second. I’ve got some clients coming along with my right now. I can’t say who. We’re close.

That’s the ideal reality and we’re available to do that today. Cut to what we’re actually doing today: there is the cable upfront and it is a seller’s market that determines how much cable you need to commit to now before you even know what your business objectives are or what your communications spend is. And then you scurry on over to the broadcasters, and you go to their upfront to get you to commit to, as (CBS chief executive) Les Moonves says, even more money for the same sh*t that has fewer people watching it. I’m not sure how that works. And then you go over to another segment and each of those discussions involves a different set of people and a different pre-determined amount of money. It’s ridiculous. It is not consumer oriented, it’s not client oriented. It’s antiquated-industry oriented.

What I’d like to have happen is have all of us on the buying side agree that we’re just not going to do this anymore, that having a system that was set up for U.S. automotives as they launched new models in the fall doesn’t really make sense any more. There barely are U.S. automotives, never mind models that ought to be determining the entire way that we buy. But we as an industry are not quite ready to lock arms because there are basis points that we’re afraid of losing, commitments we’re afraid of losing, there’s all those properties.

Nobody wants to be the one to play Jenga, to pull the little block out and see if the tower will stand.

Because what if we’re wrong.

So is that standing in the way of something like what Jeff Bewkes is talking about with TV Everywhere?

Totally. It’s their big problem because they compensate their people on the silos into which they fall. It’s our problem because the people we have buying fit exactly into those silos. And it’s our clients’ problems because, for the most part, our clients are segmented that way, too. There is their digital person, there is their direct person. They have their own little groups of fiefdoms. We haven’t pushed as far as we need to … I think the consumer isn’t really demanding this stuff yet because the consumer doesn’t really predict the future terribly well so the consumer isn’t saying give me all my programming everywhere I want it all the time. The consumer is saying, ‘I found it over there, so I’ll go there.’

Isn’t there also the issue of which consumer are you programming for? Are you programming for that narrow group that’s the early adopter who knows how to plug in their HDMI—and knows what HDMI is? Or are you dealing with a person who isn’t going to use it until there’s a remote with a text keyboard—and maybe not then?

We are a quick-to-mass society so as we find a way to Twitter, we all find a way to Twitter. Then afterwards we wonder, do I actually care about Twitter? We’re on Facebook because we gotta be on Facebook. Same deal.

I think what will happen is when addressability—and particularly the interactivity of addressability—happens, then you’re going to start doing it and Melanie’s going to find out you’re doing it then I better do it too because you’re doing it. But that hasn’t happened yet. There isn’t this story of how you found your way to interact with your television or how you found a way to get the communications that you most want whenever where ever. We’re almost there.

Is it artificial to have broadcast freely available with ad-support only but then make some cable available only to video subscribers?

It’s confusing as hell, isn’t it?

Is ABC.com’s advertising more valuable to you than ABC on Hulu or ABC on Google or does it matter?

That’s a really tough question to answer. Wherever the audience is most engaged—we all talk about engagement but nobody knows what we mean—but wherever it is that you can find the audience who is most involved with, caring the most about the programming and therefore the advertising that’s attached, that’s going to be of greatest value. Right now, we don’t have a consistent measurement for that—that’s why we all talk about engagement because we can hide behind it—but that’s what we really want to find so if I can find on Hulu or I can find on ABC.com an audience that is paying more attention to my communications, then I’ll pay more for it especially if I can track it.

So tracking is what matters?

Tracking matters a ton. If I’m on dot.com or if I’m on Hulu, I’ve got a much better chance of seeing what they’re doing and who they are and what they’ve done post-my communication, then I do en masse.

If I’m a subscriber who gets TBS or TNT from my cable provider and then I can also get it through TV Everywhere, am I more or less valuable to you than that person who watches ABC on Hulu or online elsewhere? Is there a difference between the broadcast viewer and the cable subscriber online?

The cable subscriber online had the potential to be of greater value because there is more data collected about that audience. Today, is that person more valuable? Not necessarily, because I’m not really getting that data, but it’s there.

So what you really want is if ABC’s going to make that choice or someone else, it’s going to be to somebody who collects that kind of data?

And then serve it up to me in a way I can use.

Universal McCann Taps Kelley as N.A. President

3:43:56 AM

Mediaweek

Universal McCann Taps Kelley As N.A. President

April 13, 2009

-By Steve McClellan, Adweek & Mediaweek

Jacki Kelley’s career spans just over two decades, all of it on the sales and marketing side of the media business. Now, she’s jumping to a media agency, to take the newly created position of North America president at Interpublic Group’s Universal McCann, reporting to Matt Seiler, the shop’s global CEO.

It’s Seiler’s latest move to reshape the agency, which he joined eight months ago, and signals his effort to redefine the agency’s relationships with media owners. There’s more to come: in coming weeks, UM will appoint a handful of North American executives who will serve as liaisons to specific media companies with which they will forge deeper, more meaningful ties.

Seiler said he talked with several candidates at other media agencies about the new post but earlier this year had an “aha” moment when “I realized I’d been looking in the wrong places” for an executive he hoped would transform UM’s dealings with sellers.

He explained that he believes buyer-seller relationships lack depth and focus too much on the final transaction. Instead, he says ties have to be forged “early in the planning process to create strategic connections to what the client’s business objectives are and using the total resources of the media owners to achieve that.”

Enter Kelley, who spent 18 years in various functions at Gannett’s USA Today, including circulation and ad posts at both domestic and international operations before joining Yahoo in 2006 as senior vp of advertising just as digital devices and services were gaining critical mass with consumers. In 2007, she joined Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia as executive vp of media sales where she led the creation of an integrated media team. She will start at UM in late April or early May.

Why jump now to the buy side? Kelley said Seiler’s take “is in line with the approach I’ve advocated on the media side, which is to focus on the audience and change the conversation from one about planning and buying to one of strategy, insight and the creation of shared assets.” While that sounds fairly straightforward, said Kelley, “it’s more uncommon than any of us would like.”

And it’s got to change or agencies could find themselves on the outside looking in, she added. “Media companies have bypassed agencies in order to get to clients and execute on a more strategic level. It’s how media owners want to engage.”

Seiler said he ultimately plans to export this structure for interacting with media to other parts of the world. While sellers across the globe have different set-ups, with some adjustments, “I think it is template-able,” he said.

Give Consumers Reasons to Stick with Your Brand

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Give Consumers Reasons to Stick With Your Brand

Universal McCann Study Finds Categories Vulnerable to Switching

By Michael Bush

Published: April 06, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A recent temperature check of consumers' thoughts on the economy and their spending habits reveals that most believe the economy will continue to slide and that personal technology is a necessity most will not give up or reduce spending on.

Universal McCann's Econocurious Consumer Confidence survey, which was conducted in two waves, in November and March, shows that nearly the same number of people said the economy is worse now than it was three months ago (76% in March vs. 78% in November). However, the number of people who said they think the economy will decline even more in the next six months was larger in March (41%) than it was in November (35%).

"I don't think we have seen confidence this low in years, but despite that, people are still loyal to preferred brands in categories that are considered closest to them and their well-being," said Daryl Lee, global president-communications planning and strategy at the Interpublic Group of Cos. agency. "If you're in one of those categories that can provide that to consumers, you will have loyal customers, but you need to keep reminding them of why they should be loyal."

The survey helps shed some light on the factors that drive purchase decisions and which brands consumers plan to continue to buy. In several categories, only about a third of consumers plan to remain brand loyal, and their resolve appears to be wavering. In November, 38% of consumers planned to remain brand loyal when shopping for toiletries, but only 37% still planned to do so in March. The same slight slip can be seen in other categories: skin care (33% in March vs. 35% in November); vitamins (32% in March vs. 34% in November). It does appear that consumers plan to slightly increase brand loyalty to beer, wine and liquor (33% in March vs. 32% in November.)

To the lowest bidder
Items from specific brands that consumers will buy only if they are discounted include groceries (39% in March vs. 37% in November), confectionary and candy (33% in March vs. 31% in November), personal technology (38% in both surveys), home entertainment (39% in March vs. 37% in November), clothing (48% in both surveys) and furniture (36% in March vs. 37% in November). More people in March (33%) than in November (30%) said when it came to over-the-counter medication they would pass on their regular brands for the cheapest deal they could find.

Mr. Lee said Universal McCann's advice to its clients is to behave in a way that inspires trust among consumers, because brand behavior is being scrutinized just as much as brand messaging in this climate.

Mr. Lee said he believes that despite a penny-pinching mind-set, consumers are still looking for reasons to stay with the brands they like. "Brands within the categories consumers are willing to spend in need to be innovative and creative and make consumers feel good about the purchases they have to make," he said.

One of the more interesting findings of the survey was how much consumers view technology as a necessity. Of the 88% of respondents who have the internet in their homes, only 8% (7% in November) plan to cut back on its usage. Of the 82% who have cellphones, only 13% intend to cut back on usage, compared with 9% in November.

Canoe Ventures Ready to Launch

3:43:56 AM

Advertising Age

Canoe Ventures Ready to Launch
(UM's Matt Seiler quoted)

At NCTA: But Are Marketers Ready to Buy Into Cable's Addressable-Advertising Initiative?

by Andrew Hampp

Published: April 03, 2009

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Now that Canoe Ventures is readying the launch of its first national addressable advertising product, dubbed the Cable Advanced Advertising System, in four to six weeks, just how ready is the industry to start using it? Depends whom you ask.

In a panel at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association's Cable Show in Washington, top cable network executives, distributors and media buyers spoke about the industrywide initiative that has the top six cable operators working in concert with each other to make advertising relevant to TV viewers based on data such as household income, purchasing behavior or demographics.

For the cable networks, Canoe's "creative versioning" technology is an opportunity for incremental revenue, as well as targeting that can make programs and ads more relevant.

According to David Verklin, CEO of Canoe Ventures, "We have the ability to run an American Express Green Card ad nationally, and their Gold Card ad can run in 370 zones in America where the average household income is above Green Card households."

Mr. Verklin said two cable networks are already prepared to use the new CAAS product when it launches later in second quarter.

The remaining question for cable networks is how to sell CAAS's reach to advertisers, said David Levy, president of Turner Broadcasting Sales. "If you get too targeted, what's the premium and is there going to be enough of a premium?" he said. "This is additive; it's not going to shift dollars to 'reach' buys. So for national buys, it's good to have targetability, but it has to have valuable information."

For the cable operators, Canoe presents an opportunity to collect more ad dollars from the internet and direct mail, because Canoe's CAAS will, for the first time in the U.S., add a local ad insertion to national ads. "If NBC Universal wants to make ads more targeted and Canoe can help them do that, it will make the TV platform as relevant as possible for everybody," said Stephen Burke, chief operating officer of Comcast Corp.

But Matt Seiler, global CEO of Universal McCann, cautioned that media agencies' buying groups are still too segregated to properly buy addressable advertising. "One of the things we have got to stop doing is organizing ourselves based on that kind of silo, because our people don't know anything," he said. "I don't think we as an industry are really organized to take advantage of this."

Mr. Verklin argued that addressable advertising is already a boon for direct marketers looking for more transaction-based relationships with their target consumers. It will also make ad engagement much more measurable. "A third of commercials on TV have no rating. Set-top-box data can allow us to put a rating on every break on TV. There is enormous promise with this venture."

Alcohol, Sex Ads Get Prime TV Time

3:43:56 AM

Los Angeles Times

"Alcohol, Sex Ads Get Prime TV Time"

(UM's Kathy Doyle quoted)

By Alana Semuels

February 13, 2009

The airwaves are getting more grown-up, and it's not just the shows.

The Absolut Vodka commercials that aired in Los Angeles and 14 other cities during Sunday night's Grammy Awards marked the first time in years that liquor ads ran in prime time on network-owned stations.

Also crowding the airwaves during heavy viewing hours are infomercials once reserved for the middle of the night and ads touting extramarital affairs and the intimate uses of K-Y Jelly.

As the recession takes its toll on firms that rely on advertising, TV stations aren't the only companies running ads once considered inappropriate.

In recent months, the NBA rescinded a ban on courtside advertising by liquor companies. Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. did the same for ads they run on their websites. Billboard operators have allowed more strip clubs to hawk their establishments on roadside signs.

"Given the economy, there are publishers and media outlets that are doing what they have to to survive," said Steve Hall, an ad-industry veteran who publishes the website AdRants.

Standards for advertising have been changing for decades, just as they have for the TV shows they accompany. For example, the number of distilled-spirits commercials on cable TV tripled from 2001 to 2007, said David Jernigan, associate professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

But marketing experts say the trend has accelerated since the financial crisis began.

"When you have the evaporation of advertising revenue, you have to look for new and creative ways of getting sellers in the door," said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council. "It's coming in the way of adult-themed products and content."

Listeners of KROQ-FM (106.7) in Los Angeles might have been surprised to hear ads for Ashley Madison Agency, which promotes extramarital affairs, while drinking their morning coffee this week.

"Sign up today and I will guarantee you an affair to remember," the company's president urges, directing listeners to the company's website.

The Canadian company's ads have been appearing in more places, including on a Houston NBC affiliate during the Super Bowl. Cable companies that once rejected the firm's ads are now having second thoughts, said Noel Biderman, president of Ashley Madison Agency.

A year ago, no broadcast TV group would have agreed to run distilled-spirit ads, said Kathy Doyle, senior vice president and director of local broadcast for Universal McCann, a major ad buyer. She pitched them after WNBC-TV in New York ran a late-night ad for Bacardi rum in November 2007. In the last few months, nearly every one has considered it.

"The bottom's dropped out in the market, and they're looking for new sources of revenue," she said.

Some publishers and stations acknowledge that the economy has forced changes in the type of ads they are willing to accept.

"We're looking at a different world than we were three years ago, relative to the economy," said Jim Burke, president of sales for Fox Television Stations group, which owns and operates about two dozen local Fox stations. "We're looking at a number of categories, trying to find ways to increase our revenue."

Alcohol companies are at the forefront of this trend, said George Hacker, director of the alcohol policies project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. His organization, with support from dozens of coaches and schools, has been trying to persuade the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. to ban alcohol ads from broadcasts of its sporting events. The NCAA denied the request in August.

The Absolut ad that ran around 10 p.m. during the Grammys -- on KCBS-TV Channel 2 in Los Angeles -- doesn't show anyone drinking the vodka. Instead it shows a marketplace in which kisses and hugs serve as currency, then fades to an Absolut bottle.

The ad has continued to run this week on KTTV-TV Channel 11 as well as KCAL-TV Channel 9 and KTLA-TV Channel 5, whose parent company, Tribune Co., also owns the Los Angeles Times. It's also being shown in markets such as San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

Mike Nelson, a spokesman for CBS Television Stations, said individual station managers could decide which ads to run, and that they "determined that the [content] for this particular spot is tasteful and appropriate for the stations' late-evening audiences."

Several issues motivated Facebook and Google to change their policies on alcohol ads, the Internet giants said.

Facebook now allows software developers to promote alcohol in programs they create to run on the social-networking website, as long as they prevent anyone under age 21 from accessing them. Google changed its policy in December to let advertisers bid for ad placement alongside search terms targeting hard-alcohol and liqueur drinkers in the U.S. It had relaxed its policies about beer-related ads months earlier.

"It's based on user experience and the fact that many folks have been asking for it for a long time," a Google spokeswoman said.

Letting ad standards slip is as dangerous as doing the same for content, said Mark Fitzgerald, editor at large with Editor & Publisher, a newspaper industry trade journal. He said he had noticed more ads that wouldn't have made the cut, even on the front pages, and that adult-focused companies had become more suggestive with what they depict in their ads.

Ads should "set a tone, have a little bit of class, suggest you're coming into good real estate," he said.

But in all media, the real estate is increasingly up for grabs. That creates new opportunities for companies such as R2C Group, an ad agency whose clients include Total Gym (pitched by Chuck Norris) and an Obama commemorative coin among its infomercial clients.

"Car dealers are pulling off the air, retailers are pulling off the air, which opens more time to our clients," R2C Group Chief Executive Tim O'Leary said. "We had a very good year."

alana.semuels@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ads13-2009feb13,0,4778111.story

From the Los Angeles Times

Absolut Takes a Shot at Network Television

3:43:56 AM

Brandweek

Absolut Takes a Shot at Network Television
(UM's Kathy Doyle Quoted)

Feb 8, 2009

-By Anthony Crupi and Kenneth Hein

Instead of Katy Perry or Kanye West, Absolut Vodka may get the most attention from its scheduled appearance during the 51st Grammy Awards tonight (Feb. 8). Absolut has taken the bold step of breaking the voluntary ban of spirits advertising on network TV.

In the third hour of the Grammys, affiliates in 14 of the top DMAs were slated to run a 30-second TV spot called “Hugs.” It marked the first time a commercial for a distilled-spirits product would appear on any CBS-owned local broadcast stations.

The move is a controversial one. Advocacy groups claim that children under 21 already see too much alcohol-related advertising and allowing liquor marketers on network TV will only exacerbate this fact.

In 2001, NBC became the first to experiment with carrying a liquor ad on its local flagship station, selling Smirnoff vodka time on Saturday Night Live.

Although that branding spot was meant to be followed by months of pro-social messaging about responsible alcohol consumption, the subsequent backlash from Congress and advocacy groups made it untenable for NBC to continue the arrangement.

Since then, NBC made tentative forays back into the category, airing spots on its New York affiliate from Bacardi and Grey Goose.

According to a CBS rep, the affiliates will run the Absolut ad at their own discretion: “Each of our local station general managers is responsible for evaluating the suitability of ads. In this case, they determined that the creative for this particular spot is tasteful and appropriate for the stations' late-evening audiences.”

Produced by TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York, the “Hugs” ad is an exercise in restrained buoyancy, presenting a softly-lit parallel universe where affection is coin of the realm, a kiss on the cheek the sanctioned currency. Scored with the Louis Armstrong standard, “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” it ends with the “In an Absolut World” tag and an understated product shot.

The “Hugs” spot, built as the TV extension of a brand campaign that launched in spring 2007, is set to air after 10 p.m. tonight in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and 10 other top-20 markets, an ambitious local buy reaching 31 percent of all U.S. TV households.

This week, the ad will be seen in seven local markets, with the particulars of each buy determined by individual stations. If all goes according to plan, Absolut will piece together a second TV buy in the latter half of the year.

Other spirits brands may follow suit. “We’ve been approached by [stations] to do more liquor business,” said Kathy Doyle, SVP, director of local broadcast at Universal McCann, who brokered the Bacardi deal. “I think the category is getting ready to break open.”

With local advertising in free-fall, broadcasters may no longer have the stomach to turn away liquor patronage. “The world has changed since 2001. People are more accepting of spirits advertising,” said Arthur Shapiro, alcohol industry consultant, AM Shapiro and Associates. “The industry draws the distinction between network, cable or spot. The consumer doesn’t care.”

Absolut was purchased for $8.9 billion by Pernod Ricard last July. Shapiro said the network buy is an attempt to regain some of the brand’s lost cachet. “They want to recapture the equity it once had,” he said.

“The Grammys is our coming-out party. Big events demand to be seen live, so they counteract the ad-avoidance you face in other environments,” said Clare Kanter, Absolut senior brand manager. “So we’re getting the big audience, the right demo and we’re in a party-type atmosphere.”

At 5 million cases sold in 2007, Absolut is the fourth best-selling spirit in the U.S., per Impact, New York. Still, Grey Goose, Svedka and many other brands have slowed its sales.

The network buy may not help its cause, said George Hacker, director of the alcohol policies project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “The brand will certainly be held up to scorn. Obviously, these are tough times and the networks are looking for revenue wherever they can get it. [But], we are less than delighted by this expansion of spirits advertising onto network television.”

David Jernigan, the former executive director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University said, “After 10 p.m. is really heavy usage time for the groups most at risk. So many young people at this point have TVs in their rooms and go to bed watching Letterman . . . This is a step backward.”

Absolut Breaks Voluntary Ban on Liquor Ads on Broadcast TV

3:43:56 AM

Adweek

Absolut Breaks Voluntary Ban on Liquor Ads on Broadcast TV –

Vodka maker raises the ire of advocates by running ads on CBS
(UM's Kathy Doyle quoted)

Vodka maker raises the ire of advocates by running ads on CBS

Feb 9, 2009

-By Anthony Crupi, Mediaweek and Kenneth Hein, Brandweek

NEW YORK Instead of Katy Perry or Kanye West, Absolut Vodka may get the most attention from its scheduled appearance during the 51st Grammy Awards this past Sunday night. Absolut has taken the bold step of breaking the voluntary ban of spirits advertising on broadcast TV.

In the third hour of the Grammys, affiliates in 14 of the top DMAs were slated to run a 30-second TV spot called "Hugs." It marked the first time a commercial for a distilled-spirits product would appear on any CBS-owned local broadcast stations.

The move is a controversial one. Advocacy groups claim that children under 21 already see too much alcohol-related advertising and allowing liquor marketers on network TV will only exacerbate this fact.

In 2001, NBC became the first to experiment with carrying a liquor ad on its New York flagship station, selling Smirnoff vodka time on Saturday Night Live.

Although that branding spot was meant to be followed by months of pro-social messaging about responsible alcohol consumption, the subsequent backlash from Congress and advocacy groups made it untenable for NBC to continue the arrangement.

Since then, NBC made tentative forays back into the category, airing spots on its New York affiliate from Bacardi and Grey Goose.

According to a CBS rep, the affiliates will run the Absolut ad at their own discretion: "Each of our local station general managers is responsible for evaluating the suitability of ads. In this case, they determined that the creative for this particular spot is tasteful and appropriate for the stations' late-evening audiences."

Produced by TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York, the "Hugs" ad is an exercise in restrained buoyancy, presenting a softly-lit parallel universe where affection is coin of the realm, a kiss on the cheek the sanctioned currency. Scored with the Louis Armstrong standard, "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," it ends with the "In an Absolut world" tag and an understated product shot.

The "Hugs" spot, built as the TV extension of a brand campaign that launched in spring 2007, aired after 10 p.m. Sunday in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and 10 other top-20 markets, an ambitious local buy reaching 31 percent of all U.S. TV households.

This week, the ad will be seen in seven local markets, with the particulars of each buy determined by individual stations. If all goes according to plan, Absolut will piece together a second TV buy in the latter half of the year.

Other spirits brands may follow suit. "We've been approached by [stations] to do more liquor business," said Kathy Doyle, svp, director of local broadcast at Universal McCann, who brokered the Bacardi deal. "I think the category is getting ready to break open."

With local advertising in free-fall, broadcasters may no longer have the stomach to turn away liquor patronage. "The world has changed since 2001. People are more accepting of spirits advertising," said Arthur Shapiro, alcohol industry consultant, AM Shapiro and Associates. "The industry draws the distinction between network, cable or spot. The consumer doesn't care."

Absolut was purchased for $8.9 billion by Pernod Ricard last July. Shapiro said the network buy is an attempt to regain some of the brand's lost cachet. "They want to recapture the equity it once had," he said.

"The Grammys is our coming-out party. Big events demand to be seen live, so they counteract the ad avoidance you face in other environments," said Clare Kanter, Absolut senior brand manager. "We're getting the big audience, the right demo and we're in a party-type atmosphere."

At 5 million cases sold in 2007, Absolut is the fourth best-selling spirit in the U.S., per Impact, New York. Still, Svedka and many other brands have slowed its sales. In fact, the brand's sales are expected to be off as much as 6 percent when the final 2008 totals are tallied.

The network buy may not help its cause, said George Hacker, director of the alcohol policies project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "The brand will certainly be held up to scorn. Obviously, these are tough times and the networks are looking for revenue wherever they can get it. [But], we are less than delighted by this expansion of spirits advertising onto network television."

CBS, Absolut Drink to Tough Times in Prime

3:43:56 AM

Mediaweek

CBS, Absolut Drink to Tough Times in Prime

Absolut buys prime inventory on CBS O&Os for first time
(UM's Kathy Doyle quoted)

Feb 8, 2009

-By Anthony Crupi

Absolut’s the first ad in broadcast prime.

Viewers on Feb. 8 who tuned in to CBS’ broadcast of the 51st Annual Grammy Awards were treated to a cross-generational Whitman’s Sampler of live performances, as kiddie-pop artists the Jonas Brothers teamed up with R&B icon Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney ripped through “I Saw Her Standing There” with lead Foo Fighter Dave Grohl.

But perhaps the most groundbreaking moment came in the third hour of the program, when affiliates in 14 of the top DMAs ran a 30-second branding spot for Absolut vodka. The event marked the first time a commercial for a distilled-spirits product has appeared on any CBS-owned TV station. As produced by TBWA/Chiat/Day, the “Hugs” ad presents a softly-lit parallel universe where affection is coin of the realm, and a kiss on the cheek is the sanctioned currency. Scored with the Louis Armstrong standard “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” the ad ends with the “In An Absolut World” tag line and an understated product shot.

Built as the TV extension of a brand campaign that launched in spring 2007, the “Hugs” spot aired after 10 p.m. Sunday in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and 10 other top-20 markets, an ambitious local buy reaching 31 percent of all U.S. TV households. This week, the ad will be seen in seven local markets, with the particulars of each buy determined by the individual stations. In New York, the Absolut ad will run in late-night during CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman and The Late, Late Show. The other TV station to carry the spot is NBC flagship WNBC-TV, which will slate it during The Tonight Show.

According to a CBS representative, the affiliates will run the Absolut ad at their own discretion. “Each of our local station general managers is responsible for evaluating the suitability of ads,” he said. “In this case, they determined that the creative for this particular spot is tasteful and appropriate for the stations’ late-evening audiences.”

While CBS may be taking a step into unchartered waters, NBC is in familiar drink. In 2001, NBC became the first to experiment with carrying a liquor ad on its flagship station, selling Smirnoff vodka time on Saturday Night Live. Although that branding spot was meant to be followed by months of pro-social messaging about responsible alcohol consumption, the subsequent backlash from Congress and advocacy groups made it untenable for NBC to continue the deal.

Since then, NBC has made tentative forays back into the category, including a brief execution with Bacardi North America in 2007.

While the Bacardi buy also was short-lived, the media buyer who brokered the deal said that interest in spirits continues to bubble up. “We’ve been approached by O&Os to do more liquor business,” said Kathy Doyle, senior vp, director of local broadcast, Universal McCann. “I think the category is getting ready to break open.”

National cable is also a major component of the Absolut buy, as the spot will appear on a roster of targeted nets, including FX (Damages, Nip/Tuck), E! (The Soup) and Comedy Central. (Since 2001, when a recession forced nets to seek out alternative sponsorship dollars, cable has been awash in booze.)

With local advertising in free-fall, broadcasters may no longer have the stomach to turn away liquor patronage. “The world has changed since 2001. People are more accepting of spirits advertising,” said Arthur Shapiro, alcohol industry consultant, AM Shapiro and Associates.
“The industry draws the distinction between network, cable or spot. The consumer doesn’t care.”

Should the Sons of Temperance take issue with the Absolut spot, the creative will find its way to YouTube. On Feb. 9, Absolut will engineer a 24-hour homepage takeover of the site, said Clare Kanter, Absolut senior brand manager. “We didn’t really have the funding to do a national buy, so we’re making the ad available to our key target, adults 21-29,” Kanter said. “It would be a mistake not to be there.”

If all goes according to plan, Absolut will piece together a second TV buy in the latter half of the year.

AOL's Platform-A Back to Square One?

3:43:56 AM

Mediaweek

AOL's Platform-A Back to Square One?

Buyers split on which direction Platform-A should head

(UM's David Cohen quoted)

Feb 8, 2009

-By Mike Shields

Digital media buyers are weary of the constant executive and strategic shifts at AOL. But many are surprisingly optimistic that the long-adrift Web portal may finally be taking the proper steps to right itself.

Last week, AOL ousted Platform-A president Lynda Clarizio after just 11 months on the job (which was only six months longer than her predecessor). She was replaced by Yahoo vet Greg Coleman, whose heritage is in traditional brand selling. Then the company revealed a severe revenue decline during parent company Time Warner’s earnings call, causing outrage among some analysts. Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield issued a missive in which he called for chairman and CEO Randy Falco’ and president/COO Ron Grant’s jobs.

Unfortunately for AOL, the leadership changes and bad news were all too familiar to some buyers. “It feels a little bit like Groundhog Day,” said Amanda Richman, senior vp, director of digital services at MediaVest. Or maybe Back to The Future. “This seems to signal a shift from technology&hellipback to a focus on content and experiences.” Richman is referring to Platform-A’s formation back in 2007. While just a few years ago AOL was touting itself as the home of original entertainment like the Mark Burnett series Gold Rush, Platform-A was delivering a firm statement to the market that AOL would focus on the ad network, performance-based side of the business.

It’s a move the company never should have made, argued David Cohen, executive vp, U.S. director of digital communications at Universal McCann, since that segment was already saturated with imitators all chasing the same direct-response dollars. “The real growth in this industry is in brand marketing. You can’t have your entire sell [be] around spots and dots,” said Cohen.

AOL officials explained that Clarizio had succeeded at integrating the company’s ad network-related acquisitions (Tacoda, Third Screen Media, etc.) and that it’s now time to focus on sales efforts. At least one digital exec buys that argument. “For AOL, 2008 was a year of focusing on their technology to make sure they delivered,” said Carrie Frolich, managing director, digital media MEC Interaction. “They did a great job. It feels like AOL is being proactive with this move, and this is not a backed-in-a-corner move.”

However, Dave Martin, vp, digital media at Ignited, warned that ’09 might be a dangerous year to move far away from D-R in favor of brand dollars. “You have to talk about both, especially in this economy,” he said. “Targeting, network buys—these things are critical. Platform-A needs to be locked and ready.”

Coleman is expected to focus his efforts on landing top brand advertisers, given the recent formation of AOL’s programming-centric group MediaGlow, which has quietly launched 70 new niche sites. According to AOL, MediaGlow sites saw page views soar from 48 billion to 71 billion last year. That would be great news—except it more glaringly highlights AOL’s display-ad declines.

Imran Khan, managing director, J.P. Morgan, cautioned that selling niche content might be tricky in a rough economic climate that favors performance-based campaigns. “Content is a good strategy for AOL,” he said. “But pricing is down, and you have to be very careful with all these content investments. It will be hard to get a return in this environment.”

Still, buyers are willing to be patient—with MediaGlow and AOL. Universal McCann’s Cohen said that MediaGlow properties like WalletPop.com and Asylum.com are “all nascent brands. It’s a little unfair to judge them yet.”

MediaVest’s Richman emphasized that it will be crucial for these sites to deliver more than just extra page views. “They’ve created a lot of mini-brands,” she said. “The jury is still out on how they apply that. Do they allow us to get more depth and experience?”

For his part, Adam Shlachter, digital practice lead at MEC Interaction, said that after attend a recent AOL “road show” sales event, he came away impressed with the company’s renewed commitment to content. “They are launching some properties and not even thinking about ad support [to start]. They’re building loyal audiences and they’re not slowing down.”

Mind Over Matter

3:43:56 AM

Media Magazine

February 2009

Proof [IN]SIGHT: Mind Over Matter

By Graeme Hutton

Click Here to Download a Scan of the Article

UM's Global Brand Keys on Curiosity

3:43:56 AM

Adweek

Jan 12, 2009

-By Steve McClellan

NEW YORK In his first five months on the job, Universal McCann worldwide CEO Matt Seiler has quickly put his stamp on the Interpublic media shop, restructuring the U.S. operation, solidifying his senior global management team and instituting a new global brand position.

Mary Gerzema, president of UM's U.S. operation, left the shop at year's end and the position has been eliminated. Seiler said he considered Gerzema a "real asset" during her tenure at the agency, but "we just didn't end up having a role that made sense for her and us," given the new structure of the North American operation, where the leaders of the global Microsoft, Sony and Johnson & Johnson accounts, based in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, report to him.

Instead of a U.S. president, Seiler is hiring an executive to head the New York office, who will have oversight of a number of key U.S. accounts and capabilities including the national broadcast and print buying operations and business development.

With the new structure, "North America looks like a mini world with Canada, New York, L.A., San Francisco and J3 (the stand-alone J&J operation within UM) as sort of full service entities reporting into global with the other geographical regions," Seiler said.

UM currently has an estimated $15 billion in annual billings worldwide. Seiler describes 2008 as a year that turned out well due to "terrific organic growth" from existing clients. He declined to be more specific,but sources said it was between 15 and 20 percent. Going forward, said Seiler, new business development, lacking in '08, will be a top priority.

Meanwhile, Seiler's global management team, including three new positions, is in place. Veteran agency and search consultant Jan Boyle has joined the shop in the new role of global managing partners lead. Boyle will work with the agency's account heads (although they will report to Seiler) on major global and multiregional clients to insure they have the tools and resources to fully serve those clients and to maximize opportunities for organic growth with those accounts. Boyle will also serve as chief liaison with the McCann World Group, which houses sister creative and diversified service agencies such as McCann Erickson, in order to, as Seiler puts it, "insure we're getting the most out of each other in critical markets around the world."

Seiler and Boyle have known each other since the late 1980s, when Boyle, who ran the BMW assignment at Ammirati & Puris, hired Seiler to work on the car account. In 2000, Boyle co-founded the search consultancy MatchWorks. With her return to the agency world, Boyle has closed the consultancy.

Boyle said she was happy running MatchWorks with no thought to rejoining an ad shop. But after a chance encounter with Seiler at an Ammirati reunion dinner in October, Seiler said of Boyle, "You're exactly what I want," for one of the new global roles. After further meetings to discuss the position, Boyle said, "It was just something I couldn't refuse."

Seiler has also created a worldwide chief marketing officer position and appointed Scott Tegethoff to fill it. Tegethoff will continue to oversee the shop's global Coca-Cola account across 49 markets.

Huw Griffiths has been promoted to global director of research, a new post. Daryl Lee, president of global strategy, and Quentin George, president of digital and new media, retain their roles while joining the global management team.

UM has also launched its new brand position, with the tagline, "Curious minds for surprising results," which replaces, "The next thing now."

One of the problems with the latter slogan, said Seiler, was "what that actually redounded to for clients. If you're just bringing them new stuff all the time, so what? Particularly in an economy such as this where clients are saying 'I'm not sure. I just want to be aware of all the cool things I might do one day. I'd really much rather know what you're going to do for me today and how that is going to beat my expectations for what success looks like.'"

UM clients agree. Jack Kennard, svp, global director of marketing services for wine and spirits marketer Brown-Forman, describes the new positioning as a "welcome rebalancing of the role of art and science in media planning and buying." The old slogan was good for its time, said Kennard, when marketers were initially learning about new digital platforms, but it "focused rather exclusively on science, technology, the new and the novel. The new positioning reinforces the importance of human nature and the creative power of curiosity." He added, "My idea of great reach and frequency are emotional bonds sustained over time," which is what media shops help create between their clients and consumers.

The curiosity theme has been a key component of the UM communications planning offering, whose development has been overseen by Lee since he joined the agency as lead strategist two years ago. At UM, Lee said, the communications planning offering is "specifically about insights and the source of all insights is curiosity," he said.

But Seiler has taken the theme and made it the core tenet of the agency, going so far as to develop a "curiosity quotient," to assess new hires. Even the company Intranet is now curiosity themed, with a question of the day that is answered the following day. Compensation to some extent will now be linked to curiosity, said Seiler.

"We're fundamentally overhauling the training to insure that new people coming in have a certain level of curiosity and that the people that are here are kept fresh on what being curious is," Seiler said. "We define it as open-mindedness that leads to unexpected or surprising results."

The Curious Story of Universal McCann

3:43:56 AM

Mediaweek

The Curious Story of Universal McCann

CEO Seiler ties global positioning to inquisitive energy

Jan 11, 2009

-By Steve McClellan

In his first five months on the job, Universal McCann Worldwide CEO Matt Seiler has put his stamp on the Interpublic media shop, restructuring the U.S. operation, solidifying his senior global management team and instituting a new global brand position.

Mary Gerzema, president of UM’s U.S. operation, left the shop at year’s end and the position has been eliminated. Instead of a U.S. president, Seiler is hiring an executive to head the New York office, who will have oversight of a number of key U.S. accounts and capabilities including the national broadcast and print buying operations, business development, among others.

In the new structure, “North America looks like a mini world with Canada, New York, L.A., San Francisco and J3 [the stand-alone J&J operation within UM] as sort of full-service entities reporting into global with the other geographical regions,” Seiler explained.

Meanwhile Seiler’s global management team, including three new positions, is in place.
Veteran agency and search consultant Jan Boyle has joined the shop in the new role of global managing partners lead. Boyle will work with the agency’s account heads (although they will report to Seiler) on major global and multiregional clients. Boyle will also serve as chief liaison with the McCann World Group, which houses sister creative and diversified service agencies such as McCann Erickson, in order to, as Seiler puts it, “insure we’re getting the most out of each other in critical markets around the world.”

Seiler has also created a worldwide chief marketing officer position, appointing Scott Tegethoff to fill it. Tegethoff will continue to oversee the shop’s global Coca-Cola account across 49 markets. Huw Griffiths has been promoted to global director of research, a new position. Daryl Lee, president of global strategy and Quentin George, president of digital and new media, retain their roles while joining the global management team.

UM has also just launched its new brand position, with the tagline, “curious minds for surprising results,” which replaces, “the next thing now.”

One of the problems with the latter slogan, said Seiler, was that, “If you’re just bringing them new stuff all the time, so what? In an economy such as this, clients are saying, ‘I’m not sure I just want to be aware of all the cool things I might do one day. I’d really much rather know what you’re going to do for me today and how that is going to beat my expectations for what success looks like.’”

UM clients agree. Jack Kennard, senior vp, global director of marketing services for wine and spirits marketer Brown-Forman, described the new positioning as a “welcome rebalancing of the role of art and science in media planning and buying.” The old slogan was good for its time, said Kennard, when markers were initially learning about new digital platforms, but it “focused rather exclusively on science, technology, the new and the novel. The new positioning reinforces the importance of human nature and the creative power of curiosity.”

The curiosity theme has been a key part of the UM communications planning offering, whose development has been overseen by Lee since he joined the agency two years ago. At UM, Lee said, communications planning is “specifically about insights and the source of all insights is curiosity.”

But Seiler has taken the theme and made it the core tenet of the agency, going so far as to develop a “curiosity quotient,” to assess new hires. Even the company Intranet is now curiosity themed, with a question of the day that is answered the following day.
Compensation, to some extent, now will be linked to curiosity, said Seiler.

“We’re fundamentally overhauling the training to insure that new people coming in have a certain level of curiosity and that the people that are here are kept fresh on what being curious is,” Seiler said. “We define it as open-mindedness that leads to unexpected or surprising results.”

Ad Shops Eye Web Space

3:43:56 AM

The Wall Street Journal

Ad Shops Eye Web Space

JANUARY 5, 2009, 11:27 P.M. ET

By EMILY STEEL

Madison Avenue took a back seat as technology companies created the tools to buy advertising space online. Now, major ad holding companies are developing their own systems.

The latest tool, from Interpublic Group's media-buying unit, Mediabrands, creates custom digital ad marketplaces for clients, which include Johnson & Johnson, Hyundai Motor America and Microsoft. It groups the ad space across thousands of Web sites from ad networks and ad exchanges and then adds a layer of data ranging from the sites a consumer has visited to information in the marketer's own customer database. Marketers can then place ads that appear only to the consumers they are trying to reach.

For instance, a tech marketer could choose to show ads only to consumers who have already downloaded a white paper from its Web site and visited a competitor's site, says Quentin George, the newly appointed chief digital officer at Mediabrands.

Mediabrands has deployed the system to buy ads for one of its clients and plans to soon roll it out to others. Other big holding companies, like Publicis Groupe, WPP and Havas, are developing similar tools.

While creative star power, catchy jingles and attention-grabbing TV commercials have long been the ad industry's bread and butter, many shops are now eager to harness -- and own -- consumer data to build deeper and more lucrative relationships with marketers. The development is part of a broader industry push to create technologies to streamline the placement of ads and to keep up with Internet companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL.

Major marketers, for their part, have long relied on ad agencies to buy space in newspapers and on television and radio, a business model the Internet is challenging. Since the Internet offers an unlimited supply of ad inventory and the ability to buy ads according to individual users, it wasn't feasible to buy ads from millions of individual Web sites until an array of smaller tech companies -- many of them since evolved into or bought up by the Internet giants -- had created systems to aggregate online ad space and target ads.

Google changed the rules by linking ads to Internet searches, in many cases eliminating the intermediary role of the agencies. Today, hundreds of thousands of advertisers buy online ads directly from the Web sites of Google and its competitors, though most of these advertisers are still small businesses.

"The ad-network business, we almost shouldn't have allowed it to exist," says Rob Norman, chief executive of WPP's digital-media unit, Group M Interaction Worldwide. WPP acquired the online-ad firm 24/7 Real Media in 2007 and is now using its technologies to build its own online ad-buying system and data warehouse. Tech firms "got there first and dealt with the science before we did," he says.

The ad holding companies have struck a flurry of individual partnerships with the Internet companies, but they have come to realize that they need to create their own systems to remain a relevant partner to marketers.

"If technology is going to automate the rest of media, then agencies will be cut out unless they control platforms as well," says Dave Morgan, founder of the behavioral targeting ad network Tacoda, now owned by AOL, and Real Media, one of the first online ad networks, which later merged with 24/7.

Each time an online ad broker delivers an ad, the broker captures information about individual browsers as well as which type of ads and Web sites are the most effective. Because ad agencies sit on the buy side, they can tap into data from multiple Internet companies and can link those data with the advertisers' own information. This creates a smarter approach to buying online ads, says Curt Hecht, president of the Vivaki Nerve Center, Publicis Groupe's digital-ad initiative.

But industry executives say it's going to be a long haul, as building such technologies places holding companies outside their core competencies. Ad agencies have traditionally been in the service business, not the software development business, and often lack the technology skills to compete with the experts. Digital-advertising executives say aggregating data for the sake of owning them is worthless, and that companies have to be smart about understanding and analyzing the information so that they can put it to use.

One advantage the ad holding companies might have is their strong relationships with major media companies. As they become more reliant on digital ad dollars, media companies like ESPN and Martha Stewart have grown increasingly leery of ceding their ad space to Internet ad brokers, believing that can erode the value of ad space on their sites. But marketers still want to buy ad space on these sites, because the content is safe and predictable and leads to a good brand association so some ad holding companies have persuaded media companies to include their ad inventory in their digital ad systems. CBS is going to include ad inventory on its sites in Publicis Groupe's system, which also links ad space sold by Web giants Google, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo.

UM | RSS

Digital Continues to Set the Radio Agenda

Who Is RayWJ?

UM has won the tender on Digital Media serving of all InBev Ukraine brands in 2012

Pay-for-Performance Starts to Gain Steam

Streaming Dreams

Media Analytics: Universal McCann

UM Banks On New Platform To Collaborate, Share Information

Online Metrics Inch Closer to Standardization

Your brand wants to be social

MAGNAGLOBAL FORECAST December 2011

MAGNAGLOBAL MEDIA OWNERS ADVERTISING REVENUE FORECAST: BRICs and Sports Will Help Global Advertising Revenues to Grow In 2012

Key Findings

2011: The Slowdown

2012: The BRIC Engine

China Takes the #2 Spot

UK: Olympics provide some respite

Media business chiefs brace for bleak 2012

Forget fans, media execs can't get enough sports

Tempur Appoints UM

Sweet Win: UM Scores Ghirardelli Digital

First Mover: Yin Woon Rani

UM Wins Global Account for ExxonMobil

UM Adds Smoke to MLA’s Beef Barbeque Site

Google Rivals to Pool Unsold Ad Space

Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft Forge Partnership in Bid to Raise Online Ad Revenues

Exxon Consolidates Global Ad Duties with Omnicom and Interpublic

YouTube Tees Up Big Talent

Gower Announces Senior Hires at UM Melbourne

Universal McCann Hires Yin Woon Rani as N.A. President

Wave 5 gives a South African perspective on ‘socialisation of brands’

McCann Restructures Communications Universe, Taps MPG's Nasi To Run UM As Benarroch Moves To Worldgroup

UM Client Xbox Signs Exclusive Promotional Deal with Disney UK

Top 10 Digital Media Buyers (30 and Under)

Yahoo Vexed by Weak Sales

UM Appointed by UTS:INSEARCH

UM Hires Zoe Scaman

UM Brisbane Appoints Lukas Temple as Digital Lead

How Media Agency CEOs Would Change the TV Upfront

YouTube Goes Professional

The End of the Beginning or the Beginning of the End?

UM Appoints Grivas to New Publisher Role

UM London Names Global Radio its ‘Most Valuable Partner’

UM London’s Diversity Unit becomes First UK Winner in Multi-Cultural Awards for client BET International

Personalised Game Inlays for Xbox Forza Fanatics

Top advertising chief sees calm amid economic storm

UM auf der dmexco 2011 in Köln

UM London Wins Media Agency of the Year At 2011 Marketing Week 'Blades Awards'

UM London Wins Media Agency of the Year At 2011 Marketing Week 'Blades Awards'

UM London Launches Exclusive Campaign for Totaljobs.com

UM Names Soriano Digital Chief

UM London Helps Refuge Raise Awareness of Domestic Violence in the UK

UM Accelerates its Digital Capabilities

UM London Client FRijj Launches New Incredible Campaign

UM Taps Pelham As EVP To Oversee MasterCard, Media Spend $500M Worldwide

Two Effie Awards for UM Australia

Dairy Crest Launch First New Kids’ Cheese Snack in Over a Decade

ZUJI and UM Create Marketing First

UM won the tender on advertising servicing for “Kyivmiskbud”

Universal McCann focuses on training talent

The Devil and AOL's Display Bounceback

UM London Wins £2m BISSELL Business

The Internet Turns Consumers Into Savvier Shoppers

Universal McCann Unit Customizes Big Ideas

Why More Media Companies and Agencies Should Guarantee Ad Results

Meredith Guarantees Top Advertisers Sales Gains

Does reputation matter more than the ability to reach a target audience?

Nova launches “Renovate Your Life” campaign with Australian mobile first

MasterCard Brings 'Priceless' to a Pricey Place

Social mediacrats favour brands

XBOX Announces TV Partnership With T4's Ibiza Rocks 2011

Universal McCann wins agency of the year award

UM London Wins Innovation Category at Thinkbox Awards

Ideation Director Phil Cresswell in M&M ezine

UM’s Wave 5 Social looks at ‘socialisation of brands’

How Can Companies Help Women Reach the Top?

Romanian Advertising Campaign Brings McCann Erickson Cannes Lions Medals

Appealing Media Acquired by YuMe

Cannes POV: Don Draper Has Been Replaced by Your UX Designer

Bloomberg TV Pushes for a Wider Audience

MAGNAGLOBAL MEDIA OWNERS ADVERTISING REVENUE FORECAST:
BRICs and Sports Will Help Global Advertising Revenues to Grow In 2012