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A big Hmmm for this new ad by TBWA\Chiat\Day for Absolut. Despite the involvement of superstar rapper Kanye West, this ad comes very close indeed to merely becoming another of the trashy hard-sell ads it satirises. You're walking a finer line here, my friends. The new French cinema ad by TBWA\Paris to support Amnesty's campaign against marital violence in the home is tough and effective. However it may, as they say, be upsetting for some viewers. In a lighter vein, another great ad by Goodby Silverstein for HP's extraordinary new Touchsmart PC. Finally, two silly ads by Grey London for readymade milkshake Frijj. This is the best of the two, but you can see the other one here. We like the ads a lot, but we're not sure that this is the best approach for the product - this is a drink for kids, after all, who won't get the 50s movie references and will be freaked out by the sight of screaming grown-ups...

In the news this week: takeovers

There were significant developments in the three contested takeovers currently occupying the industry, so we'll tackle them all upfront.

First, InBev vs Anheuser-Busch. It looks like the Belgian/Brazilian company's attempts to win over Anheuser-Busch's shareholders may be working. A group of stockholders filed a lawsuit against the US beer giant alleging a breach of fiduciary duty. Specifically the suit seeks to stop A-B's "directors from entrenching themselves and causing the company to take unreasonable and disproportionate defensive measures" - such as arranging a defensive takeover of Grupo Modelo - "in order to put the combined company beyond the practical reach of InBev or any other potential bidder". A-B has also been widely criticised by media commentators for handling the bid so poorly, hiding behind the barricades when it should have been showing a strong public persona to match the one offered by InBev's CEO Carlos Brito. He has maintained a high profile in the media, emerging far more sympathetically than his visibly embattled counterpart August Busch IV. Encouraged perhaps by the shareholder lawsuit, Brito confirmed plans to proceed on a more aggressive tack, with a proxy battle to remove A-B's board. He proposes a new team of directors which will include Adolphus Busch IV, the estranged uncle of the US company's current CEO. Anheuser's response to this strategy was dismissive (and also poorly phrased), warning that "Anheuser-Busch shareholders should ask themselves whether the directors selected by InBev would negotiate the best transaction for Anheuser-Busch shareholders". Even Presidential candidate Barack Obama was co-opted into the debate, caught on the run no doubt to offer up a fleeting soundbite: "I do think that it’d be a shame if Bud is foreign-owned."

Microsoft vs Yahoo, now. This long-running saga is back on the burner again in anticipation of Yahoo's stormy annual meeting with shareholders, scheduled for August 1st. Both sides have been keeping seats warm in the meeting room. Microsoft has spoken again with both Time Warner, which owns AOL, and News Corporation, owner of MySpace, and also with Yahoo's activist investor Carl Icahn whose motion to dismiss Yahoo's board of directors will be the main item at the AGM. For its part, Yahoo has also been talking to Time Warner about a possible merger with AOL, and is attempting to agree a truce with Icahn by offering him two seats on the board if he drops his motion.  Putting the cat among the pigeons, Microsoft raised the stakes again on Wednesday, stating publicly that it does still want to buy Yahoo, but only if a new board is appointed first. The internet company's shares jumped by almost 12% following that announcement, although at around $24 they're still well below the $33 Microsoft offered back in May. However, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said he's no longer prepared to pay anything near the levels previously discussed.

The hottest developments of all, however, were in WPP's pursuit of research group TNS. Forestalling the "put-up-or-shut-up" deadline imposed by the UK's Takeover Commission, WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell launched a hostile bid for TNS. Sorrell's offer is far more attractive than the nil-premium merger TNS had been attempting to finalise with similar-sized competitor Gfk, valuing TNS at just under £1.1bn, payable in cash and WPP shares. Gfk was quick to respond, cancelling the original nil-premium merger, and announcing instead that it was in talks with a financial partner to deliver its own all-cash counter-offer to trump WPP. According to the Financial Times, this prospective partner is unlikely to be a private equity fund. Gfk's controlling entity in Germany is a non-profit organisation, so the resulting business would be of little interest to a commercial investor. Instead, Gfk is probably in talks with one of Germany's wealthy families about a "national pride" deal. The two most likely partners would be the Quandts, who control BMW, or the Herz family, whose members have a variety of interests including Tchibo and Nivea, and recently made a large profit from the sale of Puma.

In the news this week: Advertisers

In other news, the chief marketing officer for PepsiCo Beverages North America, Cie Nicholson, is to step down later this year, apparently to spend more time with her family. No successor has yet been named. Meanwhile struggling British music group EMI appointed Elio Leoni-Sceti as its new CEO. Guy Hands, the financier who acquired the business last year, will step back into a non-executive role. However the new appointment is unlikely to assuage the concerns of musicians and their managers: Leoni-Sceti's background is in packaged goods not the record business. He was previously head of the European region for household products manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser. Music industry insiders should, however, remember the controversy generated by the appointment in 2004 of Robert Polet, previously head of ice cream at Unilever, as the new CEO of Gucci. Despite the initial outcry, Polet's more disciplined FMCG training proved to be just what the fashion business needed.

Vodafone agreed to pay $900m for a controlling stake in Ghana Telecom. Ghana is one of Africa's fastest-growing telecoms markets. GT is the #3 operator, and also has a fixed line and broadband service. Meanwhile the expected merger of Pan-African mobile service MTN with its India counterpart Reliance could be on the verge of collapse because of a feud between the latter's controlling shareholder Anil Ambani and his older brother Mukesh. The two split their father's empire in 2006. Mukesh now claims first rights on any shares sold by Anil, casting a spanner into plans for the younger sibling to transfer his holding to MTN in return for a large stake in a merged MTN-Reliance.

In the continuation of its sell-off of non-core brands, Procter & Gamble is seeking a buyer for ThermaCare, its line of self-heating, disposable heat wraps. Sales are thought to be around $100m a year.

BMW and Fiat announced the formation of a cooperation alliance between their respective Mini and Alfa Romeo divisions. The two businesses will work together on various technical initiatives, including the development of shared platforms for components and new vehicles.

UK satellite broadcaster Sky was reported to be considering a bid for Spanish counterpart Digital+, currently owned by local media group Prisa. Sky already owns the leading satellite broadcaster in Italy, and has built up a large minority holding in Germany's Premiere.  

In the news this week: Agencies

Interpublic announced the creation of a new parent entity for its media planning and buying units. IPG Mediabrands will take over centralised management responsibility for all the group's various media businesses, along similar lines to the umbrellas already in place at rivals Omnicom, WPP and Publicis. IPG stressed that there are no plans to merge global media networks Universal McCann and Initiative, which will continue to operate as independent entities aligned with McCann Erickson and Dratfcb respectively. However, the new entity will provide a single senior management team to coordinate their activities. Nick Brien was named as president of IPG Mediabrands. Matt Seiler was poached from PHD to replace him as global CEO of Universal McCann; Michael Hudes joins from ClearChannel to lead diversified media services and strategic development.

Wunderman continued its shopping spree for interactive agencies, snapping up Chicago-based Designkitchen. Last week, the group announced the acquisition of French agency Kassius, and it purchased Hong Kong's Agenda at the beginning of the year.

Former Warner Bros and Yahoo CEO Terry Semel is preparing to bid for sports marketing giant IMG, which represents many of the world's leading sporting and entertainment events as well as personalities ranging from Tiger Woods and Venus and Serena Williams to Elizabeth Hurley and Justin Timberlake. Semel's financial partner is investment firm Dubai International Capital. The price tag being demanded by IMG's current owner, financier Ted Forstmann, is thought to be $3bn.

The legal row between the US arm of Japanese agency giant Dentsu and its former creative director Steve Biegel has been resolved in a settlement. The terms of the arrangement have not been disclosed, but according to a statement "both parties wish to put the dispute behind them and move on to successful future endeavours". In a story that became the topic du jour round the watercooler last winter, Biegel alleged he was pressured to take part in various sexual shenanigans organised by Dentsu America's Japanese CEO. See here for further details.

It was a good week for Havas. The account for France's postal service La Poste was won jointly by creative agency Euro RSCG BETC and its corporate communications stablemate Euro RSCG C&O. The group also signed up retailer Monoprix, announcing the creation of new dedicated agency to handle the account. That unit, baptised as City, will be run by Euro RSCG BETC co-founder Remi Babinet. The reason for the spin-off is that BETC itself handles Monoprix's main rival Carrefour. In another development, Euro RSCG became the controlling shareholder in Paris-based independent record label The: Hours. That business is to serve as a specialist division sourcing or developing music content for the agency's clients. Earlier this year, The Hours was tasked with producing the music for the current global Cartier ad campaign, and also distributes original material through a licensing arrangement with Universal Music.

In what could be the sign of worries to come in the future, McCann Erickson has lost another piece of the Microsoft creative account. JWT has been tasked with a project to promote the software giant's new People-Ready B2B system, with billings of around $100m. Earlier this year, Crispin Porter & Bogusky won the account for a forthcoming consumer products campaign. Also, longtime Stella Artois incumbent Lowe London is being asked to pitch against another agency for the advertising for the beer's new 4% variant.

In other account assignments, DDB won global duties for Tourism Australia to create a new campaign to replace M&C Saatchi's widely criticised "Where the bloody hell are you?"; ZenithOptimedia prised European media for Disneyland Paris away from Carat; UK retailer Homebase awarded creative to Leo Burnett; US casino operator Harrah's shifted creative from Tracy Locke to BBDO West; Wrangler handed pan- Euro creative to Paris agency FFL; and the US Peace Corps retained BBDO Atlanta. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here.

In the news this week: Media

A US court ordered Google, which owns video service YouTube, to hand over personal details of everyone who has ever watched a video on the site to cable owner Viacom. The media group is suing YouTube for copyright infringement in connection with content uploaded by ordinary users without permission. Google and YouTube, however, argue that they are not responsible for material posted on the website. The case offers an interesting parallel to the various lawsuits issued by luxury goods manufacturers against eBay over the sale of counterfeit goods. In similar fashion, the auction giant has argued that it cannot be held legally responsible for the goods sold by end users via its service. Last week, a French court dismissed that defence and fined eBay almost E40m. Also this week, Google admitted that advertising revenues for YouTube are well below projections, and will probably come in at only around $200m this year. Two years ago, Google bought the business for a whopping $1.65bn.  

As had been anticipated, NBC Universal sealed a deal to acquire cable strand The Weather Channel for around $3.2bn. Funding for the purchase has been supplied by private equity groups Bain and Blackstone. The deal includes the main cable strand, the well-trafficked Weather.com website and also an international forecasting service. 

The members of US actors' union AFTRA agreed to accept revised terms offered by film and television studios for a new three-year contract. Around 63% of members voted in favour, a clear majority, but less than had been hoped-for by AFTRA managers. That vote could mark a key turning point in the increasingly bitter three-way wrangle between the studios and the two actors' unions. AFTRA's members are for the most part lower-paid and lesser-known TV performers. The larger and more powerful SAG union is actively campaigning against the offered terms and had been canvassing AFTRA's members to vote No to the new contracts. The most recent three-year contract expired at the beginning of July after renewal negotiations got bogged down in the same issues which led to last winter's writers' strike, namely royalties payable on DVD and download sales. In this case, however, a strike looks unlikely. Too many actors suffered financially as a result of the months-long production stoppage caused by the writers' dispute. 

As always, if you haven't already done so, please confirm your subscription to the free Adbrands Weekly Update by clicking here or on the link at the foot of this email. Thank you for your assistance! 

Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands

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