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Our favourite ads this week: 

Creative executions for financial services company Capital One have improved dramatically in recent years, and this new Canadian ad (top left - by the local office of DDB) deserves a global rollout, displaying a nicely absurd sense of humour. Quick, call the exterminator, we've got bankers! 

Ever noticed how Orange is the only mobile phone operator which never shows mobile phones in its ads? This ad is for Orange France (top right), courtesy of Publicis Conseil, and shows how your mobile service can even cure "le hoquet" - hiccups to you. 

Forget hiccups, if you want to see real power, how about the devastating force of a squirrel fart? No, really. BBH's new ad for Cadbury's Vigorsol chewing gum (above left) is, I'd bet, unlike most ads you've ever seen before. I assume it must be geared towards a Northern European audience where excess wind is considered to be one of the acceptable benefits of a consumer product. ... 

Finally, yet another stunning ad for California Milk Processors (above right). The US "Got Milk?" series has been one of the most consistently impressive campaigns of the past decade, offering a succession of superbly imaginative creative ideas. This latest one is not in fact from regular supplier Goodby Silverstein, but by Hispanic agency Grupo Gallegos, yet another demonstration of how that shop has broken out of the multicultural niche to become a mainstream agency to match any of its Caucasian rivals

In the news this week: Advertisers & Media

NBC Universal and News Corporation's Fox division announced a potentially groundbreaking alliance to establish an online video distribution channel to combat the potential threat emerging from Google/YouTube. Launching this summer, the portal - dubbed "NewTube" by commentators - will offer a wide range of network TV and movie content, and is also expected to host user-generated content in the same way as YouTube. Crucially, however, user submissions will be carefully monitored - unlike those on YouTube - giving the partners a far greater level of control over copyright. All content is likely to be free, supported by advertising. The new service has already signed up a strong roster of advertisers - including General Motors, Cadbury Schweppes, Intel and Cisco - and has also secured additional distribution through partners including Yahoo, MSN and AOL. News Corporation president-COO Peter Chernin denied that the new venture was designed to be a "YouTube-killer" but said it would be "the largest advertising platform on Earth". 

The bitter rivalry between enterprise software companies Oracle and SAP spilled over into a legal battle this week, when the US company accused its German competitor of “corporate theft on a grand scale”. According to Oracle, employees within a US subsidiary of SAP gained repeated and unauthorised access to its customer support database. As many as 10,000 separate accesses were apparently made in the four months to January 2007, during which substantial quantities of information were downloaded. Oracle claims that this data was then used as the platform for a marketing effort to persuade customers to switch to SAP software.

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney's contract with EMI has finally expired after 43 years. His new label? None other than worldwide coffee chain Starbucks. McCartney's new album will be released on Hear Music, the coffee chain's music subsidiary, which produces the CDs sold globally through its outlets. In a substantial enhancement of Hear Music's operations, the album will also be distributed through traditional retailers in a joint venture with indie company Concord Music.

Privately owned sportscar manufacturer Porsche made a largely symbolic offer to acquire the much larger Volkswagen Group, in which it is already the biggest shareholder. Porsche raised its holding in VW to 31%, primarily to guard against any potential hostile bids from foreign buyers. However, under German law, any purchase over the 30% limit obliges the buyer to make a formal offer for a full takeover. Porsche's offer is well below the larger group's current share price, and few minority shareholders are expected to accept that deal. Nevertheless it will now allow the company to continue adding to its stake without needing to increase its overall bid. 

The board of Sanofi-Aventis is reported to be divided over whether or not to launch a $54bn bid to acquire its US marketing partner Bristol-Myers Squibb. According to press reports, first aired in The Times newspaper, group chairman Jean-Francois Dehecq favours a bid, while CEO Gerard Le Fur would prefer to focus on the development of Sanofi's existing resources.

The bitter legal and PR battle between Wal-Mart and Julie Roehm continues (see last week for the story so far). Roehm this week defended herself against Wal-Mart's devastating 28-page counter-claim to her own suit for wrongful dismissal by hinting at sexism on the retailer's part ("Perhaps some did not like following or taking the advice of a woman") as well as bullying ("As in other cases, Wal-Mart has attacked the victim"). As far as the details quoted from romantic emails between Roehm and her erstwhile subordinate Sean Womack are concerned, she says that Wal-Mart's evidence is selective. "When you patch together pieces of messages sent at different times, you can create pretty much any story you want," she claims. "Wal-Mart is insinuating things about my personal life and pretending I violated some code of ethics with advertisers, all to distract from the reality that it didn't want my form of progressive marketing." 

In the news this week: Agencies

Rumours which have circulated for several weeks of a tie-up between the Lowe advertising network and independent German agency Scholz & Friends were confirmed. Lowe shuttered its existing operations in Germany earlier this year; however under the new arrangement the agency will retain a presence in that market through the creation of a new joint venture to be managed by Scholz, handling Unilever among other existing Lowe clients. Scholz will also work with Lowe clients in other European markets where it has an office. In return, Lowe and affiliated Interpublic-owned agencies will take over representation of the German group in other regions, primarily in Asia and the Americas.

The UK launch of Cadbury Schweppes' Trident gum has already been marred by a barrage of complaints that the accompanying ad campaign by JWT (see it here), in which a black stand-up comedian discovers the joys of Trident, was offensive and racist because it stereotyped Caribbean culture. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has only received around 500 complaints so far. This is less than a current anti-smoking ad, in which former smokers are dragged back to cigarettes by fishing hooks through their mouths, or even the reigning champion, a recent KFC ad which showed people eating with their mouths full, which registered more than 1,500 complaints. However the racial angle of the Trident complaints was apparently too much for the ASA to ignore, and the body has now ordered Cadbury to withdraw the ad.

Interactive advertising sales house DoubleClick was put up for sale by its majority owner, the private equity fund Hellman & Freidman. Various options are being considered, including flotation, but current favourite is a trade sale to Microsoft, said to be already involved in deal discussions. The price sought by H&F is apparently around $2bn, although DoubleClick's revenues were only around $150m last year.

The libel and privacy lawsuit brought by WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell and employee Daniela Weber against Marco Benatti and Italian agency FullSix was resolved this week. Although they admitted no liability, the defendants agreed to pay damages of £120,000 to Sorrell and £30,000 to Weber. There will also be substantial legal costs. Although this case is now resolved, the two sides are also involved in a separate lawsuit relating to Benatti's dismissal as an employee of WPP. 

The week's significant new account assignments or reviews: Sears Holdings put its media account, covering both Sears and Kmart, up for review. Other new reviews in the US include creative and media for Porsche; and creative only for Citigroup's Smith Barney brokerage arm, telecoms companies Qwest and Amp'd, and Miller Brewing, which was dropped by Crispin Porter & Bogusky as a result of "creative differences". Meanwhile, DDB fought its way onto the Kraft roster for the first time with the capture of Miracle Whip. In the UK, the Post Office transferred its UK creative out of Publicis and into Mother. 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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