Nepali Maoists Organize an SMS Campaign — It’s Global Handwashing Day!

Communists, Cricketers, Animated Stars Turn Out to Get South Asian Kids to Lather Up

Global Idea Network

The likelihood of contracting bad stuff like diarrhea and respiratory infections is reduced when people wash their hands before eating and after doing their “business.” To that end, a group of entities from Unicef to Procter & Gamble have organized Global Handwashing Day.

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Crazy Thought: Things Are Looking Brighter Why Your Agency Should Act Now to Position Clients for the Economic Turnaround

Small Agency Diary

Because agencies have the unique role of helping to jump-start the economy and leading the recovery by hosting a dialogue with Americans, we need to leverage that role now.

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Coke Out to Acquire China’s Huiyuan Juice Group

Makes $2.4 Billion Offer in Effort to Grow Business in Country

HONG KONG (AdAge.com) — Coca-Cola Co., in an effort to expand its noncarbonated drinks business in China, is trying to acquire the mainland’s largest producer of pure fruit juices in a deal worth $2.4 billion.

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Outdoor Video-Ad Networks Seek Metrics Credibility A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — For all its success in spreading networks of screens throughout the public venues of American cities, the outdoor video advertising business is still struggling with audience measurement. Less than 20 months ago, the major video-network companies formed the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB). Its first priority was to develop a credible metrics system. That program hopes to release new guidelines later this year.

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Gas Station TV Says Obama Camp ’100% Inaccurate’

Campaign Accuses Network of Covering for Big Oil

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The Obama campaign Wednesday morning sent out a release claiming that one of the candidate’s energy-policy ads, “Priorities,” would run on Gas Station TV. But it wasn’t long before GSTV CEO David Leider tried to set the record straight, insisting that the company never received an insertion order and had decided not to accept political advertising of any nature, in keeping with company policy not to run “polarizing” material.

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NCAA Says It Won’t Tighten Rules on Beer Ads Limits Would Threaten Size of Rights Fee Generated From Big-Money Games

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) — The NCAA is rejecting calls from critics to alter its policy allowing beer and wine cooler ads on telecasts of college sports, saying the current policy is sufficient.

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Better ROI or Your Money Back, Says Buzz Agency

BzzAgent Wants to Prove Word of Mouth Performs Better Than Any Other Medium NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — BzzAgent, a network of regular-Joe brand advocates, is making a big bet that word-of-mouth marketing will outperform any other discipline when it comes to ringing registers and driving advocacy for brands. FULL ARTICLE

African-American Media Waiting on Barack’s Big Bucks Think He Doesn’t Need to Court Them? Think Again, Say the Experts WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) — Barack Obama might want to move beyond race, but African-American media outlets are hoping he remembers his roots. Not only would it benefit their particular media sector, it could also have an impact on congressional and local races. FULL ARTICLE

Which Ones Should Go? GM Ought to Be Considering Selling Brands — if It Isn’t Already DETROIT (AdAge.com) — General Motors Corp. spent a lot of time last week batting down a Wall Street Journal report that it is considering killing off or peddling some of its eight North American brands. FULL ARTICLE

Bonnie Fuller: Madonna Still the Best Brand Marketer A-Rod Affair a Platform for Another Material Girl Metamorphosis Commentary by Bonnie Fuller Marriage Wrecker. Man Eater. A-Rod’s Other Woman and Soul Mate. Whatever you want to call Madonna now, you can be guaranteed that the Material Girl loves every one of her new Page One monikers. And it’s not just because she’s the nation’s No. 1 narcissist. No, it’s because Madonna has just proven once again that she is the No. 1 marketer in the nation. FULL ARTICLE

Voters Don’t Hate Attack Ads; They Hate Bad Ads Confessions of a Political Ad Man Campaign Trail When I left my regular ad job to do politics full-time, my executive creative director said, “I always knew you liked politics, but I had no idea you were a Republican.” The emphasis on “Republican” was interchangeable with the emphasis you would put on the words “puppy eater.” FULL ARTICLE

Captain Morgan Spot Gets ‘Responsibility’ Message Just Right Grey’s Subversive Ads Show You Not Only How to Get Drunk but How to Behave — Without the Hypocrisy Garfield’s Ad Review In a perfect world, your do-gooder ads would not only be forceful, but they’d utterly and unhypocritically coincide with your image and therefore complement, not neutralize, your swig-our-firewater appeals. And who has found that perfect world? The Captain. FULL ARTICLE

World’s Largest Digital Sign Nears Completion in Times Square A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The world’s largest digital sign is nearing completion in Times Square. Commissioned by Walgreens, it wraps three sides of the 25-story One Times Square, the famed building from which the New Year’s Eve ball drops. Its 23 synchronized digital screens dwarf those of the nearby Thomson-Reuters sign, which has only 11 such units. The designers are determined to push the competitive advertising environment of Times Square to a whole new level. FULL ARTICLE

Do You Know the People Behind Your Client’s Brand? Pleasing the Internal Audience Is Crucial Small Agency Diary Connecting a brand with its target audience in a sustainable way is like an archer hitting a bull’s-eye at will. But in branding, that ability is not really a success if another target is not also reached: the internal target. FULL ARTICLE

Senators Share Concerns About Online Privacy

Targeted Web Ads Likened to Spying at Hearing, but Also Dubbed ‘Helpful’ WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) — At a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday, some senators questioned whether the use of behavioral profiling to target web ads has gone too far. FULL ARTICLE

Starbucks Offers More Samples, Discounts Tactics Hint at Deeper Troubles for Upscale Chain CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Starbucks said it is offering prolonged and far-flung sampling of summer beverages to assuage consumers and boost traffic through the season. The promotions, which vary by region, are focused in major cities. They’re also targeted at faithful customers who have Starbucks cards or visit the stores more than once a day. FULL ARTICLE

Blockbuster Fills Vacant CMO Post Rebecca Johnson Formerly Led Marketing Efforts at Brinker NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Blockbuster has appointed Rebecca “Becky” Johnson to the role of chief marketing officer. Ms. Johnson was formerly chief marketing and global branding officer at casual-dining giant Brinker International and has also worked at PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division and KFC Corp. FULL ARTICLE

Exacerbating the Ad Agency Racial Gap: A Commentary A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Of the 16 ad agencies forced to sign diversity-hiring agreements with the New York Commission on Human Rights in 2006, only two sent representatives to the latest progress meeting this week. Ad Age Features and Blogs Editor Ken Wheaton was a member of the tiny audience at that gathering. He wonders aloud how companies that are such experts in creating and nurturing corporate images can so neglect their own when it comes to racial diversity. FULL ARTICLE

‘Groundswell’ Gains a Following Practical Advice Makes for a Useful Primer on Social-Media Explosion Bookstore While Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li introduce the groundswell as an unstoppable force and one that today’s companies must understand and embrace, they acknowledge it can be hard for companies to change. Practical advice is what sets this book above the raft of other tomes pontificating on social media. FULL ARTICLE

License to Divide: The Perils of Excessive (Hispanic) Pride We Can’t All Take Credit for Everything The Big Tent Hispanic Corporate Achievers wants Florida to issue a license plate claiming Hispanics discovered Florida. This has left our blogger thinking there must be something wrong with her Hispanicness. FULL ARTICLE

Keeping Up With the Network Where Do You Focus Your Social Energy? Small Agency Diary I’m wondering about my breaking point with social networks, especially as it relates to our business. I have a Facebook page, a (terrible) MySpace page that I think I updated in 2005, a LinkedIn account and one for the Oregon Media Network. There are some questions that keep nagging me, though. FULL ARTICLE

The Battle of the Band (Coffee) Brews SFS Pits Dave Mustaine Against Billy Bob Thornton and Styx Songs for Soap Craving more attention from the musical community, imagine our joy when we recently received coffee from three of our favorite bands — Megadeth, Styx and Billy Bob Thornton’s The Boxmasters. FULL ARTICLE