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Dear ${token1} ${token2}
Our favourite ads this week:
How about this for a counterpoint to last week's "depressed
robot" ad from General Motors? In case you missed it, one of GM's ads
for the Super Bowl featured an anthropomorphic automobile manufacturing
robot who makes a mistake on the factory line and then worries about what
would happen if he lost his job. He ends up imagining himself jumping off
a bridge, a scene which led to protest from (human) suicide prevention
groups. How very different from Skoda's
new ad, appropriately entitled Giggle, which features a multitude of
blissfully happy robots. An excellent job all round by Fallon London, but
special plaudits to the sound editing team. Enough to put a smile back on
the face of even the most miserable Detroit metal.
Unilever have assembled a collection of stunning new ads for Vaseline
skincare lotion, of which BBH New York's Sea
is arguably the most beautiful. (Also check out the set of 13
making-of-the-ad videos available on YouTube). However there are also two
other very fine, handsomely photographed ads in this series, another from
BBH (Locked
In) and one (How
You Feel) from Canada's Zig.
Weekly Update is taking a break next week (back the week after on March
1st), so here are two more great ads to keep you occupied. The first is
another "Good
things come to those who wait" spot from AMV BBDO, entitled Hands
(see the website
for more). The second is - Tadah! - the first Israeli ad ever to feature
in this spot. It's a
witty ad for the Renault Clio in which a scooter rider uses his ingenuity
to get a little of the good life that Clio drivers seem to enjoy.
In the news this week: Advertisers
A brief follow-up to last week's coverage of Super Bowl
ads. According to
Nielsen's new commercials ratings figures, the single most watched ad
during the TV broadcast was HP's, seen by a staggering 99.5m viewers. It was followed by Toyota's Tundra
(99.1m viewers), and one of the FedEx spots (98.2m viewers). Average
viewing audience for all the ads was 93m, and the drop in viewing between
the game and the commercials was less than 1%. CBS, which broadcast the
event, estimates normal drop-off at around 5%.
DaimlerChrysler has acknowledged the
possibility that it might sell part or all of its troubled Chrysler
division. It confirmed that it has asked JP Morgan to explore strategic
alternatives for the business. According to group chairman Dieter Zetsche,
"All options are on the table."
UK supermarket group Sainsbury is the latest target to cross the sights of
private equity funds. Four of the leading investment houses - CVC,
KKR, Blackstone and Texas Pacific - have formed
a consortium to begin talks for a full buyout of the business. If it goes
ahead, it would be Europe's ever such LBO, with a value of around £9bn.
Meanwhile luxury hotels group Four Seasons went private in a $3.4bn
management buyout led by CEO Isadore Sharp, backed by investment firms
controlled by Bill Gates and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Financial services giant Citigroup is to rebrand itself
under the abbreviated Citi brand, and has disposed of the iconic red
umbrella logo it inherited from its historic 1998 merger with the
Travelers insurance group. That deal had already been unpicked in spirit, as a
result of
the sale of the Travelers division in 2004 to St Paul Insurance. At the
time, however, Citigroup declined to sell the umbrella image, despite the
fact that Travelers had been using it since 1870. Now the renamed St Paul Travelers
Companies has been granted rights to the
red umbrella logo as well, and will change its own name to Travelers
Companies.
Vodafone was successful in its attempts to acquire control
of India's #4 mobile phone service Hutch. It agreed to pay Hutchison
Whampoa of Hong Kong $11.1bn for its 67% shareholding and will also take
on Hutch's $2bn of debt. Vodafone also offered to buy out 33% minority
shareholder Essar Group. Although Hutch lags behind the country's leaders,
India is now the world's fastest-growing mobile territory, and Vodafone
expects to be able to boost its ranking there with the introduction of its
other global services. Currently, the British company also has a 10% holding in #1
operator Bharti, but is expected to sell those shares in order to focus on
its new acquisition.
German-owned travel giant Thomas Cook agreed to
buy UK-based My Travel. The former Airtours business
has endured tough trading in recent years, but last year it reported its
first profit since 2001. Sales were £1.1bn. The deal further consolidates Thomas Cook's
position as a challenger for the top spot in European holiday travel. Combined sales of the
two businesses would be around E12bn, putting further pressure on market
leader TUI, which has sales of E14bn. Thomas Cook is now a full
subsidiary of retail group KarstadtQuelle, who bought out their 50%
partner Lufthansa last year.
Sports car manufacturer Porsche appears to have secured
victory in its attempts to become the controlling shareholder in much
larger auto giant Volkswagen. The company had been attempting to lift its
holding to just under 30%, but had been bitterly opposed for several
months by the local government of Lower Saxony where VW is based, and
which has for many years been its dominant shareholder. Lower Saxony's
premier finally admitted defeat and withdrew its objections.
In the news this week: Agencies
New York magazine last week published an excellent, exhaustive account by Steve Fishman of the rise and fall of former
Wal-Mart marketing execs Julie Roehm and Sean Womack, and of the
retailer's short-lived partnership with DraftFCB. It includes
no-holds-barred interviews with Roehm and Womack as well as with
DraftFCB's CEO Howard Draft, the first full discussion any of the three
has given since the affair broke. Nevertheless, no one comes out of the
affair particularly well. Roehm, Womack and Draft all come across as
self-obsessed and shallow at best, foolish in their childish disregard of
Wal-Mart's code of conduct. The full article is available online here
at the New York website. Strongly recommended.
Following the creation of Havas Media at the end of last year as a new
corporate umbrella for its media networks MPG, Arena and Media Contacts,
it looks like Havas is to begin phasing out the subsidiary brands in
favour of a single group identity. MPG France, the flagship of the group's
worldwide media operations, is to begin operating under the Havas Media
name from this month. Meanwhile Havas chairman Vincent Bolloré is in
discussions with hot London agency Clemmow Hornby Inge about purchasing a
significant minority stake in the shop; and also made another attempt to
force a presence in the Aegis board room. He has called for
yet another
extraordinary general meeting to vote on the election of two of his
supporters as directors of Aegis. Two previous votes were soundly defeated
by Aegis shareholders.
Omnicom reported a strong set of 4Q financials. Full year revenues rose
8.5% to $11.4bn. Net income was up almost 9.5% to $865m. CEO John Wren
told analysts that revenue growth had been strong in all markets, with the
exception of Japan, where the group was negatively affected by client
losses.
Peter Stringham, who is due to leave his role as global marketing officer
of HSBC next month, is widely reported to
be in advanced negotiations to become the new chairman-CEO of Y&R
Brands, the parent entity for Y&R Advertising, Wunderman and other
companies. He would be taking over the role vacated by Ann Fudge at the
end of 2006. Stringham is a Y&R veteran - he was previously CEO of
Y&R North America before joining HSBC in 2001.
The week's significant new account assignments or reviews: Germany's
biggest advertiser, Saturn consumer
electronics stores, called a review of European creative. News Corp's 20th
Century Fox confirmed Vizeum for its
worldwide media outside the US. Club Med called a global review of
creative, currently held by Publicis.
French cable group M6 shifted from Australie to Publicis. Hutchison's
3 network in the UK is seeking a replacement for creative agency WCRS.
Coca-Cola shifted all Australian media
from Universal McCann to STW's
recently acquired Ikon. Subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account
Assignments database here.
As always, please confirm your subscription
to the free Adbrands Weekly Update if you haven't already done so 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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