This Might Be an Ad That’ll Actually Get Click-Through

Why Apple’s Latest Online Spot From TBWA Is ‘Value Added’

The next 600 words nominally review the latest Apple ad, but actually they represent more of a bone toss.

The tossee is Randall Rothenberg, president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The … um … tosser is AdReview.

The reason is a friendly, ongoing dispute concerning the future of online advertising. The difference of opinion breaks down as follows: AdReview believes the internet will be at best a marginal ad medium, never to replace the venerable but collapsing Mainstream Media.

Marketers to Up Spending in Cable, Online

.. Mobile in Next 6 Months

Over the next six months, not only will ad spending be down, but the feeling among advertisers and their agencies toward media such as broadcast TV, national newspapers and magazines is growing more pessimistic. The dreary outlook is courtesy of the new Advertiser Optimism Report by Advertiser Perceptions.

The latest Advertiser Optimism Report by Advertiser Perceptions. Click to enlarge.

But while the outlook is somewhat bleak for the aforementioned ad media, others like online, cable TV and mobile are likely to attract more of marketers’ money.

The report shows a large percentage of the advertisers polled (68%) said they plan to increase their ad spending online. Still, that number is down four points from 72% six months ago. The numbers were also slightly down for cable TV (27% vs. 28%) and mobile (51% vs. 53%) over that same period but remained on the “optimistic” side of the scale.

Advertisers were more pessimistic on broadcast TV, with only 16% saying they would increase their ad spending on broadcast. That is down from the 22% who said they planned to increase their broadcast TV budget a year ago, and only slightly better than the 14% who were planning to increase their broadcast spending six months ago. National newspapers, which were already low six months ago at 10%, dropped into the single digits at 9%, while magazines saw a more drastic drop from 22% to 18% over the same time period. > FULL ARTICLE

The Growing Power of China’s International Ad Festival

A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The China International Advertising Festival, which for 15 years has been a low-key regional event, displayed new levels of sophistication and international allure this year. The just-ended event, held in the city of Heifei, drew much stronger attention from other countries than ever before. One attendee was Terry Savage, executive chairman of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. He noted that Asia was rapidly evolving into a center for creative advertising excellence.

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Despite Wall Street Worries, Online Brokers TD Ameritrade, E-Trade Go Prospecting Latest Campaigns Pitch Stunned Investors to Rethink Their Portfolios

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In the wake of another disastrous week on Wall Street, which saw the market close at its lowest point in five years, online brokers from TD Ameritrade to E-Trade are launching new campaigns to draw in new or lapsed consumers.

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Musicians, Marketers on the Record, if Not the Same Track

CMJ Panel Highlights Benefits, Continued Perils of Band-Brand Partnerships

Songs for Soap

Marketing and licensing one’s music is more important than ever, and this year’s CMJ Music Marathon, held on New York University’s campus, struck up conversations with the publishing and advertising worlds that would have been unimaginable when the fest began 28 years ago.

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Sarah Palin ‘SNL’ Online Clips Soon to Eclipse TV Among the Top ‘Most Popular’ Shorts on Hulu.com

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s appearance was very good for “Saturday Night Live,” bringing the show its best ratings in 14 years. But the number of people who have watched the clips on the web is closing fast, and will soon surpass the 15 million that watched on TV, if it hasn’t already.

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Time Is Money: Wealthy Drop Dollars Online

Google Study Finds Millionaires Prefer Efficiency of Web Shopping to Bricks-and-Mortar Stores for Luxury Purchases

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The internet is a shopping destination of choice for the rich — and the one most preferred by the very rich, according to a study from Google.

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Creativity and Procreation Don’t Have to Be Mutually Exclusive New Documentary on Women and Art Raises Issues That Have Also Plagued Our Industry

Commentary by Teressa Iezzi

Hands off your keyboard. Can you name five female artists?

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NBC Aligning Brands With A-list Talent — Online

Digital Studio Wants Advertisers to Fund Production of Original Web Series

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Ben Silverman, NBC’s co-head of programming, changed TV’s traditional upfront ad-sales model this year by soliciting advertisers to be part of the development process, integrating their brands into scripted shows from the get-go. Now Cameron Death, Mr. Silverman’s digital counterpart and former Reveille colleague, is hoping to do the same for NBC.com.

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Ask.com Tries Again After $100 Million Advertising Disaster A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Ask.com, which spent $100 million on its last campaign with little results, is trying its hand at advertising once again. With a new CEO at the helm and a new advertising agency devising the creative, the search-engine company has launched a new series of TV spots. Ad Age digital editor Abbey Klaassen sat down with Ask.com’s new chief, Jim Safka, to discuss how this campaign will differ from the previous one.

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It Doesn’t Matter What Exactly Drinkability Is; It Just Works

Bud Light Plays Up a Uniquely Vague Brand Attribute

Garfield’s AdReview

For an extraordinarily successful, extremely entertaining decade, Bud Light has been about the beer-drinking experience and not the intrinsic qualities of the product itself. But suddenly the environment is changing.

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Online Community Building at National Geographic A 3 Minute Ad Age Video Report

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — As the first photographer to serve as editor of National Geographic, Chris Johns in his three-and-a-half-year tenure has brought a new vision to the publication. And it works. In a seriously down market, his ad pages and single-copy sales are up significantly. Just named Ad Age’s Editor of the Year, Mr. Johns sat down to discuss his strategy for running a successful monthly magazine in an era of instant news. He also detailed the publication’s online community-building efforts for consumer photographers.

Subaru Gains Traction as Auto Industry Stalls

Carmaker Forgoes Reason for ‘Love’ in Ad Push That Led to 6% Boost in New-Car Sales

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — As the auto industry sputters through its worst sales year since 1993, Subaru of America is clipping along, and it’s doing so without an ad message touting price, performance or gas mileage. Despite offering the lowest incentives in the industry, the niche brand reported the industry’s biggest percentage jump in U.S. new-vehicle sales — 129,298 units through August, according to Automotive News, some 5.8% better than a year ago.

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The Ongoing Elusiveness of Measuring Online Search Panelists at Digital Talk Seemed Flummoxed by Putting Value on Engagement

Advertising Week 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Panelists at Ad Age’s Digital Bites Breakfast on Wednesday at New York’s Paley Center for Media spoke of the elusiveness of measuring the engagement value of online search and of the intricacies of search as part of a broader marketing campaign. But when talk turned to the need to coordinate reach and frequency targets with site engagement, the frustration punctuated the entire discussion.

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Unilever’s New Leader: You Can Expect Change

Polman Seeks Broader Adoption of ‘Alternative Communication Vehicles’

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — in an interview with Advertising Age, incoming Unilever CEO Paul Polman discussed why his appointment doesn’t signal that anything is fundamentally wrong with the CPG giant. He also covered why he doesn’t plan to remake Unilever as a Euro-Procter, his outlook on how to improve marketing and innovation, and why he holds no grudges against his former companies.

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New Michael Moore Movie to Premiere for Free Online Will Forgo Traditional Hollywood Media Buys to Promote Documentary on 2004 Presidential Election

Madison & Vine

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — One year after his health-care documentary “Sicko” got leaked online weeks before its theatrical premiere, director Michael Moore is taking the distribution of his latest film in his own hands. The controversial filmmaker will release his new documentary, “Slacker Uprising,” exclusively online as a free download for three weeks starting Sept. 23.

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Kellogg: Digital ROI Surpasses That of TV

After Success With Special K, Marketer to Shift More Spending Online

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — The digital divide is narrowing for Kellogg Co., which said its return on online investment for the Special K brand has surpassed that of broadcast TV over the past 18 months.

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Pepsi VP Russell J. Weiner to Join Domino’s as CMO Is Second Major Marketing Exec to Leave Beverage Giant in Recent Months

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Russell J. Weiner is the new exec VP-chief marketing officer at Domino’s. He was previously VP-marketing for colas at Pepsi-Cola North America. In his former post, Mr. Weiner oversaw the Pepsi brand, a $14 billion business accounting for 50% of Pepsi’s North American volume. He will start at Domino’s later this month.

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