Telefonica media, Sorrell at Davos, CP+B heads south and Arnie makes a comeback at the Super Bowl

I see that Telefonica is reviewing its gigantic media account, worth £200m we read.

Telefonica, a Spanish-owned mobile company, has had its trials in recent years but owns some good brands, including 02 in the UK.

Media is currently with Publicis Groupe-owned ZenithOptimedia in most markets, but ZO is a bit of a basket case at the moment. An obvious ‘safe harbour in a storm’ for many clients worried about their media is WPP’s mighty GroupM, the central negotiating bit for its multifarious media agencies Maxus, MEC, MediaCom and Mindshare.

WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, currently at The World Economic Forum in Davos, will no doubt be seeking out a Telefonica executive or three (they’re bound to be there).

But rival Vodafone, a WPP creative client and no doubt a media client here and there, is also supposed to be reviewing its media, worth a mind-goggling £600m according to some reports although I don’t believe them. So there may be issues for WPP there. But where there’s a bill there’s a way…

***Talking of his Martin-ness, he’s happily chattering away in the Swiss Alps to all and sundry, as he does. One of whom is CNBC and you can see a bit here.

In it he says he’s ‘bullish’ about Germany, Poland and, most of all, Russia. Indeed so, Russia has the Sochi Winter Olympics coming up imminently and, potential suicide bombers aside, that should be a big thing. No doubt SMS will be there in his warm coat (see video link above). Surely Lady Sorrell (an old Davos hand) wasn’t there when he bought that?

But there are a few issues with Russia, aren’t there Martin? Maybe the WPP party planner should book Pussy Riot for Christmas?

***Here’s quite a neat ad from BETC Paris for Ibis hotels, dealing with the idea of getting a good night’s sleep in a hotel, in an adventurous way.

Well it’s better than Lenny Henry for rival Premier Inns.

***I also note that Crispin Porter+Bogusky is thinking of opening an agency in Brazil (World Cup and Olympics) with two creative directors from AlmapBBDO. But CP+B is laying off ten per cent of its US staff after losing Microsoft and Arby’s.

I know that Miles Nadal, CEO of CP+B owner MDC Partners, is the Blondin (tightrope walker) de nos jours but this does sound a touch off, somehow. They do it differently in Brazil (they keep the media commission, for a start) so maybe MDC thinks it’s money for nothing. But I’d be pissed off if I’d just been dumped in Boulder or Miami.

***Super Bowl is coming up in ten days’ time. From the tasters I’ve seen the ads are all so….American – frat boy, noisy, hardly subtle. Let’s hope for a few goodies. If this really is to be the Oscars of the ad business there needs to be some light and shade. We’ll take a closer look next week. Here’s a bit of Arnie.