Vote for Ad Age’s 2009 Marketer of the Year

The Candidates: Amazon, Hyundai, Lego, McDonald’s, Walmart

Each year, Ad Age awards one top marketer judged to outperform the rest. The past two years, we left the choice up to senior marketing executives, but this year, dear reader, we are turning this important decision over to you.

Ad Age’s editors and reporters have done the spadework, narrowing the list of choices to five marketers we deemed most adept at navigating what — to understate — has been a tough year. The selection will be interesting, since each of these companies handles its brand in different ways and each suggests a different way ahead for the art and science of marketing in a time of great flux. It’s up to you to tell us which you think has been most successful in 2009, worthy of joining recent Ad Age winners such as the Obama campaign (2008), Apple (2007) and Toyota (2006). Voting ends Wednesday, Oct. 21, and the victor will be announced in the Nov. 9 issue.

McDonald’s Credits Menu

Items for Strong Earnings Same-Store Sales up 5%; Details Marketing Spending Behind National Coffee Bar Rollout

Despite commodity cost pressures, price-sensitive consumers and soaring unemployment, McDonald’s reported impressive fourth-quarter and full-year earnings this morning.

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based burger chain reported same-store sales were up 5% in the U.S. during the fourth quarter, and up 4% for the year. It credited its breakfast, chicken, value and beverage items with continued strong sales. Full-year profit actually fell 23%, because of a tax benefit last year. “We serve customers when and where they want McDonald’s, and we provide value across the entire menu,” McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner said during the company’s investor call. “This remains a significant, predictable and attractive brand differentiation that is critical when consumers are feeling the pinch almost everywhere else in their daily lives.” “While we clearly prefer a more robust environment, today’s market conditions play to our strengths; in fact our global comparable sales continue to be strong in January,” added Mr. Skinner. Best in the category?

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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Legendary Esquire Designer Slams Esquire Design

George Lois Also Has Choice Words for The New Yorker and Ad Age

Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Legendary magazine and advertising designer George Lois doesn’t think much of Esquire’s recent attempt to promote the battery-powered cover of its October issue as the start of a new age. He said that as a former Esquire art director he was “embarrassed” by the “silly gimmick” that was not in keeping with the publication’s stature. In a video interview with Ad Age media reporter Nat Ives, Mr. Lois also had some similarly critical things to say about The New Yorker as well as his own relationship with Advertising Age.

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‘Recession-Resistant’ McD’s Forges Ahead With Menu, Store Changes Fast Feeder Reports Healthy Earnings, but Acknowledges ‘Interesting Times’ for Franchisees

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — McDonald’s Corp. CEO Jim Skinner took great care during an earnings call Wednesday to paint his company as recession-resistant and tout its franchisees’ access to credit.

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Credit Crunch Takes Bite Out of McDonald’s

Planned Coffee Rollout Hit by Banking Crisis That Is Restricting Loan Capital

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — The banking crisis is threatening to take a rather surprising hostage: McDonald’s big-budget coffee rollout.

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The Real Reason Why Wieden Quit Starbucks Agency Kept Bumping Up Against a Marketer That Wasn’t Receptive to Its Ideas, Executives Say

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Last week, reacting to what it saw as Starbucks’ micromanagement, waffling and shift to a jump-ball approach for future ad assignments, Wieden & Kennedy took the unusual step of quitting the business. Executives with knowledge of the situation said Starbucks was simply a very frustrating client for the agency.

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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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King of Beers Still Reigns When It Comes to Boldness

Commentary: Trailblazing Ideas Keep Bud Brand Vital and Relevant

Bob Scarpelli

We all admire the work D’Arcy did for Budweiser 30-plus years ago. But with innovative ideas and initiatives, A-B has managed to once again make Budweiser a relevant brand to the core audience and beyond.

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McDonald’s Could Sniff Out New Ground With Yappy Meals Commentary: Fast Feeders Should Consider Tossing a Bone to Dog Owners

Rance Crain

If you were traveling in your car for a day or more, wouldn’t it be great to be able to pull into McDonald’s and get a little plastic bowl of water and a ration of dog food along with your Quarter Pounder?

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Olympic Deal Sealed:

Obama Makes $5 Million Buy Candidate’s Package Includes National Network, Cable

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) — It’s official. Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign will be among the TV sponsors of NBC Universal’s Olympics coverage. In the first significant network-TV buy of any presidential candidate in at least 16 years, the Obama campaign has taken a $5 million package of Olympics spots that includes network TV as well as cable ads.

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McDonald’s Aims to ‘Evolve’ Dollar Menu Overall Income Rises, but Franchisees Grumble Over Narrowed Margins

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Admitting to problems with franchisees over a platform that’s behind much of its turnaround, McDonald’s is determined to tweak its dollar menu until it’s profitable. In a second-quarter earnings call with analysts Wednesday, Ralph Alvarez, the chain’s president-chief operating officer, cited increased commodity costs, declining margins and franchisee profitability for the change.

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