Adbrands Weekly Update 8th February 2007

Weekly Update 8th February 2007

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Our favourite ads this week:

If you don't work in the US advertising and marketing industry, let me just explain what the Super Bowl is. It's an annual contest in which teams from around the country compete to show who can produce the best TV commercial. An audience of 90m Americans watch the contest, which is then talked about in the media, at office water coolers, and online for weeks after the event. Which ad was the coolest? The funniest? The corniest? Who can be considered the ultimate ad champion? With a media cost of up to $87,000 per second, careers can be made or broken by a poorly received spot (for example, last year's Cadillac ad, which led to the dumping of tried and tested Leo Burnett in favour of cool and edgy Modernista). Because viewers might occasionally need a break from the gruelling contest, the broadcast is occasionally interrupted by a football game which passes the time until the next ad is ready to air...

This year's game featured no less than 56 ads. Our particular favourites: The two Coke ads of course, but both have been featured here before. There were an astonishing nine ads from Anheuser-Busch. Pick of that bunch was Bud Light Axe, in which a couple debate whether to stop the car at night to pick up a hitchhiker ("Shall we pick him up? He has Bud Light." "He has an axe!" "But he has Bud Light".) Careerbuilder (above right) had a gladiatorial contest in which office workers compete on the battlefield for a promotion. Emerald Nuts revealed the little known fact that, when you doze off at the office, Robert Goulet appears and messes up your stuff. Most of the car-related ads were only average, but we liked GM's unusual and poignant Robots, while Toyota's Tundra ad found a really arresting way to make a point about acceleration and braking power. Sierra Mist Combover and Snickers After the Kiss were silly but funny. However our overall choice for favourite ad of the Super Bowl was BBDO's Fedex Ground ad. It's not as great as the Caveman ad from last year, but manages to take a dull fact - you can't judge a service by its name - and spins a truly ridiculous riff from it.

(Here's a postscript which demonstrates the political power of a Super Bowl spot. The Snickers ad and its accompanying website have now been withdrawn by Mars because of complaints from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that they were homophobic. Watch the ad quick before it gets pulled from the web as well. Inspired by this activist success, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has also leaped on the bandwagon and asked GM to pull the Robots ad).

In the news this week: Advertisers

There has been a major shake-up in the ranking's of the world's biggest online businesses. Despite the jetstream of publicity it enjoys, as well as a 71% rise in revenues last year, Google doesn't - yet - seize the top spot. In fact, Amazon is now the world #1 after a handsome 26% increase in sales in 2006 to $10.7bn. Google is just behind at $10.6bn, while AOL weighs in at $7.9bn. Yahoo and eBay had $6.4bn and $6.0bn respectively. (In case you were wondering, Google is nevertheless the most profitable of the top five by a large margin. Its $3bn profit put it well ahead of $1.9bn for AOL and $1.1bn for eBay).

On the subject of profits, Exxon set a new record for corporate surplus with a staggering profit of $39.5bn. Shell came some way behind, but still set a record for a UK-based company, with $25.4bn. Both companies experienced enormous benefits for the huge increases in the price of oil over the year.

Back at Google Inc, peace talks between its newly acquired YouTube subsidiary and mediaowner Viacom appear to have stalled. Content from Viacom's MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central channels features heavily on YouTube, where it has been uploaded without consent by users. The two companies have been attempting to broker some form of licensing agreement, similar to that already agreed with other mediaowners, whereby YouTube has to make payments to content owners for copyright infringement by its users. However the talks with Viacom appear to have reached stalemate, and the media company has now asked YouTube to remove immediately some 100,000 separate video clips which it claims are breaching copyright. On his first day as the new CEO of NBC Universal, Jeff Zucker also laid into YouTube for failing to deploy correctly the technology it claimed would monitor illegal uploads of copyright material.

Meanwhile Apple has resolved its long-running legal row with the surviving members of The Beatles over use of the Apple name and image in connection with its music devices. Yet there was still no deal over digital distribution of Beatles music, via iTunes or any other service.

In a shock verdict which could seriously affect the future of Korean car giant Hyundai, its chairman Mong-Koo Chung was found guilty of embezzling $100m out of the family controlled business to set up slush funds to pay for political lobbying. The judge sentenced him to three years in jail, a much harsher penalty than had been expected. Chung remains free on bail for the time being while he appeals against the verdict. This is the latest in a series of example cases brought by Korean investigators against key figures from the country's dominant corporate chaebols.

Reacting to growing healthcare concerns over obesity, confectionery giant Mars has announced official plans to voluntarily suspend all marketing aimed at children aged under 12 from the end of 2007. The decision will affect all European markets, but is expected to spread to other countries as well. Mars is the first such company to set an age limit of 12. Previously it, and some other confectioners, had adopted a voluntary age limit of between 6 and 8 years old.

Gillette announced it had signed three global sporting heroes for its new Champions endorsement programme, replacing former spokesface David Beckham, whose contract expires in June this year. The new triumvirate are tennis player Roger Federer, footballer Thierry Henry and golfer Tiger Woods. The campaign will launch later this year.

Matsushita Electrical Industries, best-known as the company behind the Panasonic brand, has put its controlling stake in secondary brand JVC up for sale. At least five possible buyers are said to have registered their interest, including rival Kenwood and several private equity funds.

In the news this week: Agencies

Finally some good news from French marketing group Havas, parent of Euro RSCG and MPG. Preliminary figures for 2006 showed an increase in group revenues for the first time since 2001. But don't open that champagne just yet. The improvement was very modest, equivalent to less than 1% over last year. (Organic growth excluding exchange rate variations was just 0.4%). But at least that beats the last five years of steady decline. Total revenues were E1,472m, compared to E1,461m last year. Arch-rival Publicis was quick to follow through with an announcement of its own 6.3% rise in group revenues to E4.4bn.

Despite some speculation that it might be acquired by one of the major marketing groups, the majority holding in leading digital agency AKQA was snapped up by private equity investor General Atlantic. It was previously controlled by another fund, Francisco Partners, who are thought to have put their stake up for sale for around $250m.

Bob Bernard, founder & CEO of web design firm WhittmanHart, died suddenly this week from a heart attack. He was just 45. Bernard was previously the architect of interactive design giant MarchFirst, formed from the merger in 2000 of Whittman-Hart with USWeb/CKS. Created at the bursting point of the first internet boom, MarchFirst collapsed almost exactly a year later. Bernard was able to resurrect the WhittmanHart business from the ruins of MarchFirst and successfully rebuilt it to take advantage of the second boom.

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Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands