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Our favourite ads this week: 

Coke has announced it will take two spots during the forthcoming Super Bowl, its first appearance for almost a decade in one of the US ad industry's biggest annual showcases. One will be the soft drink's delightful Happiness Factory ad, an animated fantasy that revealed the secret world that exists inside every Coke vending machine. (It was featured as our ad of the week in July last year). The other is this excellent follow-up by Wieden & Kennedy. It starts out very differently indeed from Happiness Factory, like an out-take from the urban crime videogame Grand Theft Auto. But then... well, see for yourself. Like its predecessor, it's guaranteed to put a happy smile on your face. Our favourite bit? The dancing rats, probably.

Our second ad this week is also game-related. Crispin Porter & Bogusky have developed a line of low-priced videogames for the Xbox console on behalf of client Burger King, featuring the fast-feeder's funny-creepy King mascot. The first release is Sneak King, in which players - in the role of the King - have to sneak up on hungry passers-by to deliver their lunch without being spotted. It's a neat blend of console gaming and in-your-face product placement. Check out other games at the BKGamer website.

In the news this week: Advertisers

Mary Minnick, currently Coca-Cola's president of global marketing, innovation and strategy, and widely tipped for many years as a possible successor to CEO Neville Isdell, is to leave the company. Her departure was not unexpected: in a management restructuring at the end of last year, she was passed over for the position of group president & COO in favour of international head Muhtar Kent. It's not known what Minnick will do next, but she did reveal that she plans to move to the UK. In another widely anticipated announcement, John Fleming has been replaced as chief marketing officer of Wal-Mart by his deputy Stephen Quinn. Fleming remains with the company as chief merchandising officer. Meanwhile former marketing exec Julie Roehm, fired very publicly by Wal-Mart at the end of last year, is reported to have filed a lawsuit against the retail giant for breach of contract and for making "false and malicious statements to the media". Meanwhile, over at troubled clothing retailer Gap, president & CEO Paul Pressler tendered his resignation and was replaced on an interim basis by Robert Fisher, son of the group's founders. 

British Airways maintained its record as one of the last UK companies to be consistently plagued by industrial action. (Can you think of a single other private sector British company which has as many run-ins with its staff?) In an escalation of the long-running row with cabin crew over the excessive number of days per year they call in sick, unions have called for a series of strikes designed to inflict maximum damage on the airline's finances and travel schedules. Although BA's stricter management policy has led to a reduction from an average 22 sick days per individual in 2005 to 12 in 2006, that figure is still more than two-thirds higher than the national average (which is seven). The first strike, planned for next week, is expected to lead to the cancellation of around 1,500 BA flights and will bring misery to hundreds of thousands of travellers.

Drug giant Pfizer, whose 2006 financials were boosted significantly by the sale of its consumer healthcare division, has also announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, to boost profitability in its pharmaceuticals unit. Johnson & Johnson, the buyer of Pfizer's healthcare business, reported another splendid year, even without any contribution from that purchase. Sales hit a new high of $53.3bn, while profits maintained the company's astonishing record of more than two decades of double-digit growth. Also in the consumer healthcare sector, Kimberly-Clark is to launch a new anti-viral variant of its Kleenex disposable tissue brand which actually contains a mild pesticide to kill the germs it traps.

Toyota suffered a setback in its goal of overtaking General Motors this year as the biggest US carmaker. The Japanese company announced a recall of 500,000 Tundra pick-up trucks and Sequoia SUVs because of steering problems which have caused several accidents. Toyota's quality control record has come under increasing pressure in recent months. Last year the group recalled 1.8m vehicles in Japan and the US, and three company mangers faced criminal investigation amid allegations they had deliberately covered up defect reports.

The growing concern, especially in Europe, over Apple's iron grip on the MP3 download market appears finally to be crystallising into action. France has for several months been threatening to force the company to make its iTunes download site accessible by devices other than Apple's own iPods. However Norway is the first country to take direct action on the matter. Norway's consumer regulator this week declared iTunes to be unlawful and gave Apple until October to make its code available to other manufacturers. Sweden and Finland have already given their support to Norway's ruling, but have yet to take action themselves. Germany and France are expected follow the Scandinavian lead.

In the news this week: Agencies

Interpublic and Sir Frank Lowe have agreed to call a truce in their year-long row over whether or not Sir Frank used privileged information to capture the flagship Tesco account held by his former employer, Lowe & Partners. Interpublic agreed to withdraw its claim that he did; Lowe in return agreed to drop his defamation lawsuit. No other terms of the settlement have been  made public, but according to sources no money changed hands.

Also this week, Interpublic pulled the plug on OneSeven, the creative boutique formed around the 17 staff members who jumped ship en masse from Saatchi & Saatchi New York in 2005. Most of the Saatchi staffers had previously worked on that agency's General Mills account, and had hoped to use their experience to poach the business from Saatchis. It was not to be.

Chris Jaques, appointed four months ago as CEO of Y&R North America has resigned abruptly citing "personal reasons". He was previously the network's regional director for Asia. Global CEO Hamish McLennan will fill in until a replacement can be found. His predecessor, Gord McLean, is now global managing partner of Y&R.

Some big account changes this week. Nokia called a full review of global creative, split between Grey and Lowe. Hamburger chain Wendy's shifted its $400m creative and media account away from McCann Erickson and Universal McCann and into Saatchis, Kirshenbaum Bond and MediaVest.  Toys 'R Us is seeking a replacement for Y&R as its main creative shop. Louis Vuitton transferred from Euro RSCG to Ogilvy & Mather. Macy's placed its media account with Mediaedge:CIA. 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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