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Our favourite ads this week: 

The always inventive French filmmaker Michael Gondry has applied his bizarre imagination to "Experience", a new ad for Motorola, conceived by Omnicom creative boutique Cutwater. A lovely little spot, but a bit dark... If you like it, there is a lot more material to be sampled at a dedicated microsite, which can be found here.

On the subject of dark, I'm not sure if this film for Pioneer Electronics' Kuro TVs, by TBWA\Chiat\Day, is actually an advertisement, or one of my nightmares which has somehow ended up in the real world. Guaranteed to make you think in an entirely different way about your eyeballs.

Fashion store Harvey Nichols took advantage of London Fashion Week last week to circulate this splendid viral film, produced by DDB London, to promote its just-as-fabulous food hall. It's a neat complement to Ellen De Generes's American Express ad featured here last week. You'll need to watch several times to pick up all the detail.

Finally, we were tickled by this ad by BBDO Mexico for Bayer's chewable Aspirina. Partners of snorers will find it especially entertaining.

In the news this past week: Advertisers & Media

We can't help feeling sorry for Paul Polman, the CFO of Nestlé. For most of last week he was being widely celebrated by the international news media as the all-but-official successor to chief executive Peter Brabeck, in anticipation of a board meeting last Thursday which was expected to rubber-stamp his appointment. Unfortunately, it was not to be. At that meeting, Polman was passed over by the board in favour of Paul Bulcke, the head of Nestlé's Americas division. Financial analysts were so peeved that their favourite had not been picked that they marked down Nestlé's shares by almost 4% in the two hours following the announcement. Bulcke and Polman were both strong contenders for the role. So close was the call, in fact, that two different press releases were apparently drafted to cover either eventuality. Polman is an outsider who joined Nestlé from Procter & Gamble only a few years ago but is seen by analysts as a moderniser who would further improve the Swiss company's still under-par profit margins. Bulcke on the other hand is a Nestlé lifer, who has spent virtually his entire career to-date at the company, and has done wonders to build its operations in North and South America. In the highly conservative board's eyes, he was apparently the safer choice. He will replace Peter Brabeck as CEO next April. Despite the embarrassment of being passed over, Polman is expected to stay with Nestlé, although he is known to want a more operational role. He could in fact replace Bulcke as head of Nestlé Americas.

It has also been a busy week of musical chairs for automobile marketers in the US. Ford's long-time VP North America sales & marketing, Francisco Codina, announced his retirement from November 1st, and a few days later Hyundai North America's COO Steve Wilhite also resigned. Industry sentiment suggests that the two moves are not unconnected, and that Wilhite will be appointed to replace Codina. (Although the Polman-Bulcke fiasco shows just how wrong industry sentiment can be). Volkswagen of America also lost another senior marketer, its third in recent months. The current instability among staff at VW's US outpost is thought to be related to the company's recently announced decision to move from Detroit to Washington DC.

In the latest alliance between a fashion designer and a mobile phone manufacturer, Giorgio Armani and Samsung this week unveiled their first collaboration, a credit card sized handset. That launch, announced amid the swirl of Milan Fashion Week, is the latest of several such tie-ups. Dolce & Gabbana were first off the mark last year with a golden phone for Motorola; LG followed with the Prada touch screen phone earlier this year. The Armani phone will launch in Europe in November, and the Italian designer is also working with Samsung on a co-branded LCD television.   

Italian Fashion Week was also the launch pad for a controversial marketing campaign to warn the industry against encouraging anorexia in girls. Notorious art director Oliviero Toscani, best-known for his shock-factor Benetton campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s, is responsible for the poster campaign, sponsored by local fashion label Nolita. The posters feature 27-year-old anorexia sufferer Isabelle Caro, who weighs just 31kg (68 pounds). (For more see the Nolita website - be warned that you may find the poster images upsetting).

Talks between General Motors and the United Auto Workers broke down at the start of the week, leading to a sudden walk-out by more than 70,000 employees. It was the first strike action by UAW workers at GM since 1998. The main thrust of the talks was to negotiate the creation of an independent trust that can take over GM's huge pension and health care liabilities, but the strike was actually caused by an impasse over job security for current workers in the event of any future restructuring. The suspension of work focused the attention of both parties, leading to a tentative agreement on terms in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Microsoft was one of several companies reported to be considering a minority stake in social networking website Facebook, which is currently seeking additional expansion capital. According to the rumours, the Seattle software group, which already has an exclusive ad sales arrangement with Facebook, is considering the purchase of a 5% stake, with a price tag of between $300m and $500m. That puts a value on Facebook as a whole in excess of an extraordinary $10bn. Other bidders are said to be prepared to consider valuations of up to $13bn. All this for a company thought to have annual revenues of less than $100m (most of which is generated by Microsoft's ad sales). Last year, Facebook's founder and CEO, the 23-year-old Mark Zuckerberg reportedly turned down an offer from Yahoo to buy 100% of the business for $900m. At the time, many observers ridiculed his arrogance. Looks like he could be the one who's laughing now. (Provided of course he can do a deal before the next hot internet site comes along to burst Facebook's hype bubble...)

In the news this past week: Agencies

The upsurge in performance by Havas is finally beginning to show in its financial results. The group, which owns the Euro RSCG, Arnold and MPG brands, reported strong figures for 1H 2007, with net income up more than 70% to E35m, although revenues only edged up by 1% to E729m, largely because of the decline in the value of the dollar. Organic revenue growth was over 4%, and the group claimed net new business of E1.2bn in the first six months, its best figure for five years.

Lowe New York took another heavy blow this week with the loss of the Saab automobile account, which was transferred to IPG stablemate McCann. The latter also took full control of General Motors' corporate account, previously split with Deutsch Los Angeles. Dell narrowed its global advertising review to two groups, Interpublic and WPP, and Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection appointed The Martin Agency to its creative account. Mandarin Oriental Hotels awarded global media to M&C Saatchi's Walker Media subsidiary, but Walker was unable to convert UK furniture retailer MFI, which decided to stay with incumbent media agency ZenithOptimedia. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

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Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands