Why Digital Agencies Are Indeed Ready to Lead

Over the past 18 months, a great debate has consumed our industry: Are digital agencies poised to sit at the head of the advertising table? Depending on whom you ask and what you read, the answer seems to flip flop

- with a majority of people still having reservations and making claims that digital agencies aren’t ready to lead.

So why does the debate continue? Does offline or online really matter to an oblivious consumer who’s only interested in “no-line” communications? Are we spending too much time focusing on who should lead and not enough asking: What’s next?

Dell Bows India Campaign

First Big Brand Work From WPP’s Enfatico

Global Idea Network

PC giant Dell is rolling a big campaign aimed at small- and medium-size business in India. The new effort, which runs the media gamut from print and digital to broadcast, represents a shift from the previous strategy of targeting large organizations.

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McDonald’s Gives Packaging a Flashy Update New Look Highlights Food Pictures, Plays Down ‘Lovin’ It’ Slogan

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — McDonald’s is scrapping its package design across 118 countries and 56 languages in what Global Chief Marketing Officer Mary Dillon called the “biggest packaging initiative in the history of the brand.” The new look puts more emphasis on product and less on the brand’s iconic “I’m lovin’ it” tagline.

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Ad Age at the ANA

News and Video, Including Marketer of the Year, From the Marketing Industry’s Largest Annual Gathering

Growth was the theme of the Association of National Advertisers’ annual meeting last week. Given that the industry is staring into the gaping maw of a 2009 that many believe could be its worst in decades, that may sound ironic. But somehow it seemed to work, as speaker after speaker outlined strategies soft and hard for growing in good times and bad. Ad Age editors and reporters were there. Read the news reports and watch videos from the event. Also: See who marketers, agency heads and marketing-services vendors selected as Ad Age’s Marketer of the Year.

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With No Ring, James Is Still No Jordan Behind the Continuing Quest to Turn the NBA’s Biggest Endorser Into a Global Icon

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AdAge.com) — Everybody loves a winner, and in some respects that’s what it’s going to take for Lebron James to achieve his stated goal two years ago of becoming a global icon, along the lines of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Muhammad Ali, by the 2008 Summer Olympics.

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Ad Club Honors David Droga’s Global Water Project

A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In late 2006, in response to a challenge from Esquire magazine, David Droga came up with the idea of branding tap water to raise money for UNICEF. Called the Tap Project, it at first involved 300 New York City restaurants asking patrons to pay a dollar for their tap water. The program then went national and, next year, will go global. Last week, the Advertising Club of New York honored Droga for his work.

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McCain Winning Search-Ad Race Has Gained More Traffic Online With Important Keyword Purchases

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — John McCain may not know how to use e-mail, but his campaign apparently knows how to use search. It’s one technology area where the Republican seems to be besting Barack Obama.

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U.N. Chief Seeks Ad Industry Help on Global Warming

A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

Advertising Week 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The fifth annual Advertising Week in New York and the opening session of the United Nations’ General Assembly intertwined for a short while Monday morning. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invited a small group of the ad industry’s top executives to U.N. headquarters for a chat. He wants the world’s largest advertising holding companies to assist the U.N. in mounting a sustained advertising campaign about the dangers of global warming.

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Enfatico CEO Answers Critics: ‘We’re Resetting’ Agency Bar Torrence Boone Speaks Out, Says Shop’s About More Than Just Dell

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Torrence Boone says that contrary to what observers think, his agency, Enfatico — built from scratch after Dell handed WPP its three-year, $4.5 billion marketing contract in late 2007 — is not just an in-house shop.

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Changes in Beer Industry Have Wholesalers on Edge

Distributors Feel Squeezed by Retailers, Brewers Amid Mergers and Acquisitions

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) — The beer industry, gathered here for its annual wholesaler convention, seems to be in dire need of the relaxing properties of its product.

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TBWA Wins Visa’s $600 Million Global Account Omnicom Shop Prevails in Holding-Company Review

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Visa said it has awarded global creative and strategic marketing duties on its $600 million account to Omnicom Group’s TBWA Worldwide, following a holding-company pitch for the business.

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Stoli, Looking to Grow in U.S., Taps Ogilvy

Agency Beats McCann to Head Vodka Brand’s Global Marketing

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Following a review, Ogilvy, New York, has picked up global marketing duties for Russian vodka brand Stolichnaya.

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Putting the Funk in the GOP Taking a Tour of Sound 80 and the Club Where Much of ‘Purple Rain’ Was Filmed

Campaign Trail

It’s not just because I’m in the Twin Cities area that I’m now surrounded by 90% more white people. Within the convention hall itself, the crowd — as one would suspect from a Republican gathering — is much whiter and a tad older than the one roaming the streets, arenas and stadiums of Denver. But that doesn’t mean the delegates don’t like their parties.

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InBev Calls Global Creative Review for Stella Artois

Longtime Agency Lowe Won’t Defend $40M-$50M Account

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — After a 25-year relationship, Lowe Worldwide and Stella Artois are calling it quits. InBev put its Stella Artois brand in play, with the beer maker calling a global creative review for the brand’s estimated $40 million to $50 million global account.

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Fear of Preroll Ads Eases New Study Helps Dispel Belief That Online Video Viewers Will Surf Away

LONDON (AdAge.com) — The perils of preroll appear to have been vastly overstated, according to research by Jupiter, which suggests audience loss as a direct result of prerolls could be as little as 5%. The figure comes as the research firm releases a major European report about online video and in-stream video advertising.

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Bacardi Opens Review of Global Ad Account

Flagship Rum Brand’s Business Worth Over $100 Million; Grey Goose, Other Portfolio Spirits May Follow

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Bacardi has placed the global advertising account for its flagship rum brand into review. The brand spent $35 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, but worldwide spending is said to surpass $100 million.

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Safeway to Roll Out House Brands to Grocery Stores Nationwide Launch of O Organics, Eating Right Follows Success in Own Aisles

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Following a big success in its own aisles, Safeway is rolling its organic house brand, O Organics, and a better-for-you brand, Eating Right, into competitive groceries chains nationwide this fall.

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Kaline Out at Ford

Global Media Manager Had Been With Automaker for Over a Decade

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — Mark Kaline, the high-profile global media manager of Ford Motor Co., left the automaker this week. Mr. Kaline is a casualty of Ford’s latest move, announced in June, to cut its white-collar staff by 15% by Aug. 1.

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Ford’s Cost-Cutting Spurs Shakeup Major Staff Changes Come Amid New Financial Losses

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — Ford Motor Co. will consolidate sales and marketing for its Ford Division with its Lincoln Mercury arm Aug. 1, according to two executives close to the automaker. In a cost-cutting move, the marketing and sales staff will be aligned by product type and have responsibility for models in that category from all three brands, they said.

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