Latest Microsoft Browser Fuels Fear

IE8 Could Give Web Surfers More Power to Block Ads and Cookies

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — Microsoft’s newest browser is still only in beta, but it already has the advertising world in a tizzy. Its “InPrivate” set of features on Internet Explorer 8 out this week has publishers, marketers and industry advocates worried that it could block their ability to distribute, track and even monetize what the Interactive Advertising Bureau values as a $21.2 billion-plus internet-ad industry.

But Microsoft Internet Explorer general manager Dean Hachamovitch advises to remain calm. “The point isn’t to block content or ads. The point is to put users in control of what they’re sharing,” he said, adding he has read and heard many misconceptions about what InPrivate can and cannot do.

Stealth surfing
For instance, the InPrivate Browsing feature — already slang-termed “porn mode” — only allows a user to hide single browsing session activities from “over the shoulder” viewers such as family members. It does not block ads from being served to the user or from advertisers counting views or clicks.

It works, and got its nickname, by letting users surf porn sites (or any other content, for that matter) without caching any content such as a list of URLs visited, cookies or other data. That could mean no cookies on your computer — as well as no cookies for future use by marketers or publishers, although only during selected InPrivate sessions.

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Old Navy May Be In the Market for New Agency

Has Reached Out to Crispin, TBWA, Say Execs

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Struggling with its identity as of late, Old Navy is shopping around for a hot creative agency to help handle its $200 million marketing account, executives familiar with the matter said.

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Why You Won’t See Michael Phelps on the Wheaties Box Kellogg Signs Swimmer Before Big G’s Traditional Unveiling

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — In a PR masterstroke, Kellogg Co. managed to spoil an every-four-year tradition for General Mills: the unveiling of Olympians to grace the Wheaties box. By the time Big G made its big announcement Thursday, Kellogg had already one-upped the news by revealing that it signed the biggest of them all, Michael Phelps.

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Doner to Take Over As Amazon Agency

Independent Shop Chosen to Create Brand Campaign, Promote Kindle

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Following a quiet pitch, Amazon.com has chosen Southfield, Mich.-based independent shop Doner to devise new ways to market the e-commerce brand, executives familiar with the matter said.

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You Tell Me How Barack Obama Did Are Any Swing Voters Switching Sides?

Campaign Trail

DENVER (AdAge.com) — Let me be the first to admit when I’m wrong. As much as I thought the whole Invesco field thing would look like a Riefenstahl production, it didn’t strike me as such . . . even though I was sitting with 60,000 Barack Obama supporters. (I know Invesco holds more than that, but I’m accounting for the approximately two million journalists who tag along for conventions.)

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SAG, AFTRA Agree to Extend Contracts

Negotiations Buy Time, but Long-Term Outlook for Commercials Still Cloudy

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — Just in time for Labor Day, a labor cease-fire. Late Wednesday evening, the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild announced they had reached an agreement to extend their commercials contracts with the ad industry. That stopgap adds six months to a deal that was set to expire Oct. 29, but does little to quell fears of more labor strife.

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Blockbuster Tie-Ins Power BK’s Summer Sales 3 Minute Ad Age: August 29, 2008

3 Minute Ad Age

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — “The Dark Knight” may have been the king of summer blockbusters, but Burger King ruled the summer kids’ meal tie-ins. The chain promoted “Iron Man,” “Incredible Hulk” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” and credited the partnerships for its impressive same-store sales this summer. McDonald’s, meanwhile, focused on a “Kung Fu Panda” promotion, building on the success of its “Shrek the Third” promotion last summer.

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LEGO’s Miniman figure celebrates the big 3-0.

LEGO’s Miniman figure celebrates the big 3-0.

Pereira & O’Dell, the new agency formed by AKQA alums PJ Pereira and Andrew O’Dell, celebrates the 30th birthday of Lego’s Miniman figure with a global campaign that includes a 3D CGI video and a website loaded with Miniman content.

The site hosts the 60-second video, which can be viewed and downloaded in HD or 3D formats. It features Miniman figurines reenacting memorable cultural moments from the last three decades including the Death Star battle from Star Wars, Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever boogie and even the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Along with the video, visitors can check out other Miniman content including classic commercials, Miniman factoids and an interactive timeline that lets you use a slider to see the figure’s various incarnations over the last 30 years.  Lego: Go Miniman Go

Branded Content Keeps On Truckin’

The line between artistic and sponsored content is blurring like never before as brands and creative teams search for new ways to reach an audience. This often leads to entertainment properties with thinly veiled commercial associations. But when Academy Award-nominated producer and director Brett Morgan started his latest project, “Drive and Deliver,” a branded effort for Navistar’s International Trucks, he wanted it to be completely transparent. “At first there was talk of making it a real film and trying to get it into festivals as a documentary,” says Morgan, whose past work includes The Kid Stays in the Picture and On The Ropes. “But I wanted to be up front and proud of its brand associations and basically make a really good, compelling, extended commercial. I just thought that would speak to the intended audience better than trying to pass something off as a straight documentary film.”

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Audi Beefs Up Ad Budget

Will Use High-Profile TV to Reach Out to Consumers

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — While General Motors Corp. and other big automakers are trimming their ad budgets during this dismal sales year for the industry, Audi of America is bulking up. “We’re going for a broader reach for our media to get Audi out of the best-kept-secret box,” said Audi CMO Scott Keogh.

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Gray Line Buses Crave the Spotlight Sightseeing Company Glad to Provide Wheels for ‘Rachael Ray,’ Other Shows

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Among the usual throngs crowding onto those double-decker buses that ferry tourists around the Big Apple, two not-so-usual suspects hopped aboard Wednesday: Rachael Ray and Ed McMahon. It was all part of a segment on Ms. Ray’s program cooked up with the company that runs those red buses, Gray Line New York Sightseeing, which gladly makes the buses available for film and TV appearances.

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GfK Gives Up Quest to Acquire Taylor Nelson Sofres

That Leaves Just One Very Persistent Suitor: WPP

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — German research firm GfK on Wednesday dropped its bid to acquire Taylor Nelson Sofres, paving the way for WPP Group to acquire the London-based market research giant. But there may be more sparring ahead, as TNS said it still wants nothing to do with WPP’s $2.2 billion takeover bid filed earlier this month.

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McDonald’s Targets Seattle’s Coffee Addicts With Unsnobbycoffee.com 3 Minute Ad Age: August 28, 2008

3 Minute Ad Age

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) – While Starbucks has cut jobs and stores this year, McDonald’s has been launching regional marketing to roll out its new specialty coffee drinks. In Seattle, the chain zeros in on coffee aficionados with its Web site, unsnobby.com. There, users can stage an intervention for friends who are “addicted to snobby iced espresso.” As Ad Age Food reporter Emily Bryson York explains, it might take more than savings for McDonald’s to convert Seattle’s java elite.

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Does Marketing Contribute to Obesity in African-Americans?

Study Indicates It Does, but Economic, Cultural Factors Also to Blame

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Statistical data suggests the black community has been left behind on the road to healthier-food marketing. That’s according to an article in the American Journal of Public Health, which examined marketing and advertising studies conducted between 1992 and 2006 and looked at foods and beverages marketed to blacks vs. whites.

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Germ-Killing Solution Makes a Splash in Denver Maker of MyClyns Takes Its Viral Marketing Seriously

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — Here’s some viral marketing you might not have expected during the election: A startup pharmaceutical company is looking to get mileage from Denver Police buying its product to guard against any hazardous bodily fluids that might emerge during the Democratic National Convention.

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Despite Rising Costs, Burger King Adds to Value Menu

Will Advertise New Items With ‘Reverse Pickpocketer’ Campaign NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In the latest evidence that value menus are shifting across the fast-food category, Burger King is adding smaller, lower-cost items — priced at $1.39. The move comes as franchisees in the fast-food industry struggle to balance rising commodity costs with value menus, which often have items priced at or under $1. FULL ARTICLE

Orange Denies Planting Fake Apple Customers Outside Polish Stores Reports of Poor iPhone Sales Are False, Says Mobile Provider YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — Newswires have been buzzing with reports that Apple’s 3G iPhones might not be selling as briskly in Poland as they are in the U.S., noting that the company’s telecom partner in the country, Orange, has hired people to stand outside stores and create phony lines. A juicy story, except for one thing: Orange says it isn’t true. FULL ARTICLE

Captain Morgan Joins the Race for President Spirits Mascot Uses Convention Sponsorship to Campaign for Himself Campaign Trail CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Coming to a presidential ballot near you: Sen. Obama, Sen. McCain — and Captain Morgan. Diageo has launched a faux-presidential campaign for its rum-shilling pirate. The alcohol behemoth is the official wine and spirits company of the Republican National Convention and the preferred wine and spirits company of the Democratic National Convention. And so, it is leveraging that sponsorship by having the Captain and his sidekick Morganettes campaign at both sites. FULL ARTICLE