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Dear ${token1} ${token2}

The Weekly Update takes another summer break next week. Normal service resumes on September 6th.

Our favourite ads this week: 

The UK's Mail On Sunday newspaper is not generally known for its creative advertising, making this new spot to promote its lifestyle supplements a welcome change. The battle of the sexes concept is no spring chicken, but the execution is witty. Isn't that the same forest they used in the opening battle scene in Gladiator? 

We have also been chuckling over this US ad for All-Bran by Leo Burnett, in which a construction worker explains how he began eating the cereal to become more "regular". Don't get it? Watch again, and this time keep your eye on what's happening in the background for a literal demonstration...

Scottish bottled water brand Strathmore has launched an eye-catching new ad campaign from Leith, which offers a form of hybrid Scottish hip-hop ribbon-dancing. Also see the Double-Scottish rope-skipping spot.

And finally, the latest instalment in Coca-Cola's Happiness Factory series. This three-minute epic, known as Happiness Factory: The Movie and designed to be shown in cinemas, depicts the perilous journey necessary when supplies of the magical cola run out. Nicely imagined, but you can't help but feel that Coke, and its agencies W&K Amsterdam and Psyop, are stretching this concept just as far as it can go. Great work, guys. Now move on!

There will soon be no shortage of online destinations where you can sample the best ads from around the world. Several new services are currently preparing for launch. Former Publicis creative guru Dave Droga is to launch Honeyshed.com, which he describes as be "QVC meets MTV". It promises to "connect brands with consumers through a mix of branded entertainment, long-form commercials and social networking". At the same time, NBC Universal's USA cable network will launch Didja.com, a portal for a mix of new and classic advertising.

In the news this past week: Advertisers & Media

In a comparatively quiet news week, one of the more entertaining stories to offer a counterpoint to plunging global stock markets, was the report that Johnson & Johnson had issued a law suit against the American Red Cross health relief organisation over copyright infringement on... well, on its Red Cross. J&J claims commercial rights to the well-known red cross symbol, which has been the badge as well as the name of the American Red Cross since its inception, while also being a prominent feature on J&J's first aid products in the US. The moral high ground was quickly seized by American Red Cross CEO Mark Everson, who declaimed: "For a multibillion-dollar drug company to claim that the Red Cross violated a criminal statute that was created to protect the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross - simply so that J&J can make more money - is obscene." In fact the situation is (inevitably) much more complicated than the acres of sensational news coverage have made it appear. 

The symbol was first used by the International Red Cross organisation of Switzerland in the 1860s. The American Red Cross was established in 1881; Johnson & Johnson began using the red cross logo and name from 1887. Under a 1905 charter ratified by Congress, Johnson & Johnson was granted exclusive rights to use the Red Cross trademark on "chemical, surgical and pharmaceutical goods", while the American Red Cross was licensed to use it in connection with its non-profit relief services. The current argument over usage arose from around 2004 after the American Red Cross began licensing rival for-profit manufacturers to use the trademark on a variety of other products. So far this has included baby mitts, nail clippers, combs, toothbrushes and humidifiers, as well as directly competitive products such as private label first-aid kits for discount superstore Target. That arrangement has apparently raised around $3m in licensing fees for American Red Cross, less even than Johnson & Johnson's own recent voluntary charitable donations to the organisation, totalling around $5m. 

Johnson & Johnson has, it says, made several attempts to reach an amicable agreement with American Red Cross to stop this commercial sub-licensing, but the health organisation appears to have declined to discuss the matter, and rejected independent mediation on the issue. As a result, Johnson & Johnson claims it "was left with no choice but to seek protection of our trademark rights through the courts". It doesn't want to prevent the American Red Cross to stop using the symbol for its own purposes, simply to stop licensing it to other manufacturers in violation of its original 100-year-old agreement. The case continues...

It's been a significant week for product recalls. Nokia issued a warning this week that around 46 million of its mobile handset batteries, manufactured under contract by Matsushita, could suffer from serious overheating problems. Users are being offered a free replacement. Also Mattel widened its recall of Chinese-made toys. Last week, the company issued a recall for 1.5 million Fisher-Price toys coated in a potentially toxic lead paint. That announcement apparently prompted the suicide a few days later of the owner of the factory where those toys were produced. This week, the recall was widened to cover almost another 500,000 die-cast cars. In addition, the company recalled more than 18m additional toys which contain a small but powerful magnet which Mattel now considers to be a potential swallowing hazard. The latter is actually a design flaw on Mattel's part rather than on that of its Chinese manufacturers. 

Microsoft completed its $6bn takeover of digital marketing group aQuantive, parent of web agency Avenue A | Razorfish. That business will now form the core of a new division within Microsoft, to be known as the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) Group. AQuantive is being combined with Microsoft's existing digital marketing subsidiaries such as pay-per-click search advertising system AdCenter, in-game advertising service Massive and mobile marketing agency ScreenTonic, all under the control of aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews.

Still riding high on its success in finalising a deal to acquire the Wall Street Journal, News Corporation also reported a strong set of financial results for the year ending June 2007. Revenues were up over 13% to $28.66bn, and net income jumped 48% to $3.4bn. Rupert Murdoch noted that, during the takeover battle, he had been forced to endure the sort of public "criticism normally levelled against a genocidal tyrant", but was happy to so because he is so certain of the perfect fit between WSJ's parent Dow Jones and News Corporation.

In other deals, Akso Nobel of the Netherlands agreed to acquire ICI of the UK for around £8bn, creating the world leader in "decorative coatings" - paints to you and me. ICI's Dulux brand will join Akzo Nobel's portfolio, which includes Crown, Astral, Sikkens and Sadolin, among others. Akzo has already agreed to sell on ICI’s adhesives and electronic material businesses to Germany's Henkel for around £2.7bn.

In the news this past week: Agencies

Campaign reports today on what appear to be moves by Engine Group, the parent to UK advertising agency WCRS, towards an IPO. The company has apparently sold a 15% shareholding to investment fund Loudwater Trust, which has a track record of preparing businesses for floatation. In the mean time, Engine will use the funds raised by the deal for further expansion.

JWT was selected as the "distribution" partner for Wieden & Kennedy on the main global Nokia account. W&K's London office will be responsible for developing the creative concepts for the handset brand, and these will be adapted locally by JWT's extensive global network. However, marketing for the company's N-series multimedia handsets will stay with Interpublic, handled mainly by the Lowe network. In other news, Numico placed global creative for its Milupa, Cow & Gate and Nutricia babyfoods with Leo Burnett; and Nike's Converse division appointed Anomaly to US creative. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

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Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands