WPP’s GroupM, in effect the controller of its various media agencies, is threatening to pull around £200m of ads from UK broadcaster Channel 4 (27 per cent of the total) if the publicly-owned broadcaster won’t agree to revised (lower presumably) ...
Read More »Assorted loonies (including the ASA) take aim at the (rather good) Morrisons Christmas campaign
Aaargh! The UK ad watchdog The Advertising Standards Authority is investigating the Morrisons Christmas campaign because some people have complained that the main ad is sexist: It’s a joke you muppets – and half the population is female. Would it ...
Read More »Do the Epica award-winning epic commercials signal the death of the 30-second spot?
You don’t have to look far for this year’s Big Theme in the Epica creative advertising awards. After 25 years as a Eurocentric awards scheme, with a nod now and then to the wider EMEA hinterland, Epica finally went global, ...
Read More »Cossette unveils anti-fruitcake Christmas campaign
Thanks for all the online Christmas cards, obviously we can’t do all of them. Sometimes they’re an opportunity to take the mickey about all the task which are deal with duly seriously the rest of the year. And there’s some ...
Read More »Beyonce, and us, are better off without Pepsi
Beyonce has signed up with Pepsi, part of its answer to Coca-Cola’s attempt to take over the music business. She’ll be the centrepiece of its Super Bowl extravaganza and, no doubt, ‘brand ambassador’ all over the place. Well fifty million ...
Read More »New Ponce ad for Axe shows perils of ‘The Look’
Unilever’s Axe appears to be taking a new turn (for the worse?) in this new ad from Buenos Aires agency Ponce: anti-ageing properties for men. It’s all tongue-in-cheek of course but women spend millions (billions?) on these potions and no ...
Read More »Fiat’s scorpion invades the US car market
Our favourite little black scorpion is back (someone’s got to like them), last seen invading the USA courtesy of Fiat (see the last few frames). And now the critter is back, rather more prominently, in another ad from The Richards ...
Read More »Returning ‘revenue’ boss Peter Huijboom may be a contender for the top job at Dentsu-owned Aegis
Former Synovate CEO Peter Huijboom (left) is returning to Aegis as its first ‘global director of business integration,’ charged with identifying ‘revenue synergies’ between Aegis and new owner Dentsu, which bought the media buying network for £3.2bn earlier this year. ...
Read More »Why do clients want proper advertising for the Super Bowl but not the rest of the time?
My friend Jerry Judge (left) of the Fearless Group in New York has highlighted the apparent absurdity of Mondelez hiring the world’s hottest creative agency Wieden+Kennedy to produce its Oreo 2013 Super Bowl ad while at the same time bending ...
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