Adbrands Weekly Update 1st February 2007

Weekly Update 1st February 2007

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Our favourite ads this week:

Toyota continue to challenge expectations with an increasingly edgy set of ads. You may remember the spot we featured a few weeks ago in which a husband and wife try to kill each other in imaginative ways in an attempt to be the one to drive off their new car. These latest viral ads for the RAV4 (from Saatchi & Saatchi) are actually even more surprising, featuring hair-raising and Jackass-style stunts and a noticeable lack of computer manipulation or even padding. In one, a man is launched from the front of a speeding vehicle into a set of bowling pins; the other presents a medieval jousting contest, in which the horses are replaced by RAV4s. I defy you not to say "Ouch!" or some similar expletive at the end of each one. Now that's definitely going to hurt in the morning...

Thankfully, Coca-Cola GB has junked those dreadful tortoise ads for Diet Coke and replaced them with this update of the old "hunk" commercial from the 1980s, courtesy of Fallon London. This time, the object of these office girls' "Diet Coke break" is not a well-muscled construction worker but a rather more sensitive-looking lift engineer. Interesting though it is, I think it's fair to say that this ad is unlikely to achieve the classic status justly accorded the original Diet Coke break ad (refresh your memory here), and it highlights some of the problems facing the product. The company's flagship Coca-Cola brand has a clear positioning within the market, and this is amply demonstrated by bold and confident ads like Grand Theft Coke featured here last week. Diet Coke, on the other hand, doesn't really know what it's about any more, especially since Coke Zero arrived and stole away "bloke" drinkers. As a result, the new Diet Coke ad almost seems to position the drink as a sort of non-alcoholic alco-pop aimed at predatory ladettes like these three oddly passive oglers. That could just as easily be a Bacardi Breezer or Archers Aqua they're drinking. I'm not sure there's a real future for Diet Coke in this particular direction. See what you think.

In the news this week: Advertisers

Today's strangest news is of course the revelation behind the chaos which occurred yesterday in Boston. In case you didn't catch the story, parts of the city were sealed off while police and bomb disposal experts destroyed five suspicious "packages", thought to be potential explosive devices. This mornings, um, bombshell is that the five packages, actually magnetic lights, were in fact part of a outdoor advertising campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a new cartoon series on Time Warner's Cartoon Network. The man responsible for installing the ads has nevertheless been arrested for disorderly conduct and placing hoax devices. Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting division was forced to make a rather embarrassed apology, but pointed out that the ads have already been in place in ten other US cities for two weeks without incident. Boston's mayor, Thomas Menino, is having none of it. “It is outrageous," he said in a statement, "in a post-9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme. I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today’s incidents.”

US drug company Bristol-Myers Squibb, which has faced a series of legal and patent problems in recent years, was reported to have entered talks with Sanofi-Aventis of France which could lead to a merger. The American company's best-selling product is Plavix, originally developed by Sanofi. However during 2006, BMS mishandled negotiations with generic developer Apotex over an expected patent challenge to Plavix, which briefly allowed the Canadian company to flood the market with its copycat product. As a result, sales of Plavix plunged by more than half in the last three months of last year. Sanofi-Aventis was not amused, and no doubt feels it could manage the business better itself. A merged group would rival industry leader Pfizer in size.

Troubled PC manufacturer Dell said goodbye to chief executive Kevin Rollins and reappointed founder Michael Dell in the top job. Dell had moved to a role as non-executive chairman in 2004, but the company has come under intense pressure since the end of 2005, and is now close to losing its position as the global #1 in PCs to HP.

H&M announced the name for its new premium priced store chain, which is due to launch this Spring in London. The new brand will be COS or Collections of Style. Following the London launch, outlets will open in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium by the end of the year.

There were signs of another wave of consolidation in the financial services sector, with two major deals announced. Merrill Lynch agreed to pay $1.8bn for First Republic, a US private banking and wealth management firm. Citigroup agreed to buy the UK's Egg from Prudential for $575m, significantly enhancing its presence in the UK. Takeover rumours continue to swirl around another UK banking group, Barclays.

As had been expected for some time, Altria finally confirmed a date for the full demerger of its Kraft Foods subsidiary. The spin-off will take place on March 30th, establishing Kraft as an independent company for the first time in almost two decades. There is some speculation that Altria may also split its remaining tobacco business in two, establishing Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International as separate companies.

Time Inc agreed a deal to sell its Time4Media specialist magazine portfolio, including Parenting, Ski, Field & Stream, Popular Science and Yachting, to Bonnier of Sweden for around $200m. Bonnier already has a presence in the US through a 50% stake in World Publications, whose existing titles include Saveur, Garden Design, Water Ski and Boating Life.

In the news this week: Agencies

PHD founder David Pattison is to join independent UK interactive media agency i-level as group chief executive. As a result, Andrew Walmsley and Charlie Dobres will adopt new roles in the business, taking more of a back seat. Walmsley becomes deputy chairman and will manage senior client relationships. Dobres moves to a non-executive advisory role to allow him time for other projects.

Publicis this week completed its $1.3bn acquisition of direct/digital group Digitas. The group voluntarily denied any plans to bid for Aegis, but said it was still considering other interactive purchases in Europe and Asia, but at a much lower combined price, perhaps half or less the Digitas deal.

Senator Hillary Clinton announced the marketing team that will support her bid to become the Democratic nominee for the 2008 Presidential election. They include GSD&M CEO Roy Spence and Andy Berlin of United, as well as Jimmy Siegel, a former BBDO senior executive creative director who is now creative director at advocacy group a-political.

Sprint Nextel, currently midway through a review of its creative account, has cut both agencies which previously handled the account, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Publicis & Hal Riney. The three remaining contenders are Goodby Silverstein, O&M and Y&R, although another agency could be added. In other news, General Motors shifted its Saturn brand out of Goodby and into Deutsch/LA. Hasbro is said to have transferred all its creative business out of Grey New York and into Uproar, a unit of Omnicom's Tracy Locke Partnership. Subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here.

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Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands