Digital Advertising

Digital Advertising!

Oct. 27 marks the 15th anniversary of the industry’s first banner display ads, which appeared on Hotwired.com. To the many of you reading this who weren’t in the business back then, that’s not a typo; I’m not referring to www.HotWire.com, the travel site, but HotWired — the first commercial digital magazine on the web and the offshoot of Wired magazine.

For us, it started with a speech. It was May 1994, and Ed Artzt, the chairman of P&G at the time, made his landmark speech at the 4A’s meeting in White Sulphur Springs, WV calling for marketers and their agencies to dive headlong into the “new media” revolution or be left behind.

My boss and mentor Bob Schmetterer, president of Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer (MVBMS), a unit of Euro RSCG, was in that audience and he was totally energized by Artzt’s challenge. It’s important to note that our largest account at the time was MCI, which employed Vinton Cerf — the “Father of the Internet” — as VP-data services.

Powerade for False Advertising

Says Coke Brand’s Campaign Misleads Consumers Into Thinking Pepsi Beverage Is ‘Incomplete’

PepsiCo’s Gatorade brand today filed a lawsuit against Coca-Cola’s Powerade, alleging false advertising, trademark dilution, deceptive acts and practices, injury to business reputation, and unfair competition. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, takes Powerade to task for its new advertising campaign, first reported by Advertising Age.

In its suit, Gatorade asserts that the campaign misleads consumers and overstates the product benefits of its Powerade Ion4. The campaign positions Powerade’s newly reformulated drink as the “complete sports drink.” Billboards, digital efforts and an ESPN cover, which was criticized by ASME, picture half of a Gatorade bottle with the text “Don’t settle for an incomplete sports drink.”

Powerade is seeking to set itself apart by touting its drink as containing four electrolytes — sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium — while Gatorade’s formula contains just two electrolytes, sodium and potassium. Gatorade’s suit takes issue with Powerade’s positioning, noting the “miniscule” amounts of calcium and magnesium that are part of the new formulation. “There is no evidence that the minute quantities of magnesium and calcium present in Powerade Ion4 make it superior to Gatorade in any way,” the complaint states.

‘No evidence’ of Powerade’s claims
“As the category leader, we have a responsibility to ensure consumers are accurately informed about the benefits of a sports drink. And the truth is, scientists say there is no evidence that Powerade Ion4 is a more complete sports drink than Gatorade,” PepsiCo said in a statement. “This claim is complete in only one way — it is completely false.”

Smartphones Could Fuel Surge

… in Video Gaming Studies Reveal Growth Potential for In-game Ads

The video-gaming and mobile industries have been on a collision course for years, but Apple’s iPhone 3G and its video-game-laden AppStore has pushed mobile video gaming to the edge of a possible mainstream breakout. And that means not only a surge in video games played and developed for the iPhone — and similar phones such as those being built on Google’s Android platform — but also more potential for in-game advertising.

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Jack Bauer: The Half-Million-Dollar Man

Two-Hour ‘24′ Movie Fetches Highest Price of Fall Season

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Jack Bauer, the fictional protagonist of Fox’s popular spy serial “24,” regularly trounces hijackers, terrorists and secret cabals of world-dominating conspirators. Now he’s about to do the same to “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Heroes” and “Desperate Housewives” — by scoring this season’s highest price for a 30-second spot so far for a two-hour special.

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Hershey Reports Third-Quarter Earnings Up 98% Increased Advertising Helps Propel Impressive Surge

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Hershey Co.’s third-quarter earnings nearly doubled to $125 million from $63 million a year ago, a turnaround helped by the confectioner boosting ad support sharply this year to stem share loss to rival Mars.

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Sims Venture Into Outside World Full of Advertising

Latest Version of Most Popular PC Title Will House Dynamic In-Game Ads

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — When “The Sims 3″ launches in February, the popular video game promises to be more realistic than ever, thanks to improved graphics, better processing power and an increase in ads. Yes, an increase in ads.

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States Use Tough Times to Tout Their Lotteries Governments Alter Messages, Employ Social Networks to Reach New Audiences

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — State governments are taking marketing of their lottos more seriously than ever, with different pitches and value-added offers such as gas discounts with purchase.

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Budweiser’s New Ale Strategy

A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In all of its 130 years of operation as a beer giant, the Budweiser brand has never nationally marketed an ale. That changed this week as it rolled out its new Budweiser American Ale brand. Anheuser-Busch VP-Brand Management Keith Levy explains why the brewer believes now is the time to move into a market niche it has long ignored.

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Diversity Hearing to Be Held Second Day of Advertising Week Seabrook’s Committee on Civil Rights Back in Action

Campaign Trail

The New York City Committee on Civil Rights is holding a hearing Sept. 23, the second day of Advertising Week, on the topic of diversity and the advertising industry. Advertising Age obtained a memo, issued by the office of Gary Altman, the legislative counsel for the City Council, to participants. It was dated Sept. 10.

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What Agency Creatives Don’t Know About Mobile Advertising

A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Do the creatives at your ad agency really understand mobile-phone advertising? While all emerging digital media have their complexities, mobile-phone communications can be unusually complicated because of the tangle of incompatible device sizes, proprietary standards and lengthy procedural requirements of all the different carriers. At the same time, the internal logistics of some agencies may effectively prevent creatives from acquiring the most basic materials and information needed to produce effective mobile ad campaigns.

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It’s Time for Brands to Embrace Text Messaging It Can Provide a Direct Route to the Urban Market

The Big Tent

I want this post to inspire you about the power of text messaging as a way to reach your urban audience.

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Google’s Browser Throw Down Is All About Advertising

Data-Blocking Changes to Microsoft’s IE May Have Fueled Search Giant’s Effort to Launch Its Own Browser

By Abbey Klaassen

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — It’s hard not to view the Google vs. Microsoft internet ad battle as the biggest new-media business story for the decade. And in the latest fight, Google is throwing down a challenge to the one area in which Microsoft has clearly had the biggest success: the internet browser.

Google’s free Chrome browser is creating a frenzy among tech bloggers.

Google yesterday introduced its free web browser, Chrome, which launches a Windows version in beta today, via its company blog. (The news leaked when Google prematurely — and accidentally — sent a comic book it had commissioned to introduce the browser.)

Already, the browser is creating a frenzy among tech bloggers.

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Five Rules for Black-Owned Agencies

Above All, We Should Create Great Work and Support Future Generations of Minority Talent

The Big Tent

The debate about the role of black-owned agencies has raged since Vince Cullers Advertising — widely reported to be the first black agency — opened its doors back in 1956. My own thoughts on what that role should be have led me to create five rules I think we should live by.

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Publicis Alums Share Their ‘History of Advertising’ A Glossy Tale of Adland’s Movers and Shakers for the Coffee-Table Set

Bookstore

In 2006, members of Publicis Groupe drafted a timeline of famous ad campaigns in honor of the 100th birthday of Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, Publicis’ late founder. Now on commercial shelves via Taschen — and featuring a foreword by Publicis Chairman-CEO Maurice Levy — the expanded edition offers more than 300 glossy pages of work documenting the dramatic leap of consumerism into the 21st century.

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Creativity’s 2008 Awards Winners List

The definitive online tally of the best agencies, brands, creatives, production companies and directors, according to a weighted tabulation of the major advertising awards shows.

Additionally, read the thoughts of jurors from this year’s shows. Deutsch, Los Angeles’ Chief Creative Officer Eric Hirschberg sat on the Effies jury and wrote for us about creative-effective paradigm. Mother, London’s CCO, Mark Waites, relayed his experience chairing the ANDYs. Nancy Vonk, co-CCO of Ogilvy & Mather Toronto and chair of the Art Directors Club advertising awards, proposes a solution for scam ads. Simon Waterfall, co-founder of Poke, London and president of D&AD exposed the rise of digital at the show. Bob Barrie, partner & CD at Barrie D’Rozario Murphy, Minneapolis and judge at the One Show writes about the evolution of categories. Jonathan Ford, creative partner at Pearlfisher, explains how the first Design Lions jury at Cannes went. Finally, we present our insight into the awards process, taking a glance at the boob tube at “4 A.M. Bend, Oregon.”

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