Should Madison Avenue Be Rehabbing Charlie Sheen?

Despite His Bad Behavior, Actor Is New Star of Ads for Fiat and DirecTV

From drug use to allegations of domestic abuse, Charlie Sheen is a portrait of bad behavior. But with the help of Madison Avenue, he’s becoming a marketable brand.

Two major marketers, Fiat and DirecTV make light of Mr. Sheen’s past in new TV campaigns. In Fiat’s spots for its newly-tweaked sports mini, Mr. Sheen races a car around a mansion full of models. “I love being under house arrest,” the actor says, emerging from the Fiat 500 Abarth with an ankle monitor. “What do I get for good behavior?”

Best TV Spots

Sure, the future is here and it’s all about integration and digital and social media and yadda yadda yadda. But we still have a soft spot for the traditional spot. Here is Creativity’s best of the decade.

Cadbury “Gorilla”
Agency: Fallon, London
Director: Juan Cabral

No swirling fabrics, no dreamy ladies, no satisfied young snackers, no … chocolate. “Gorilla” didn’t contain the same ingredients as many chocolate ads before it. Instead, it contained a grape purple backdrop, a gorilla, a set of drums and a few key moments from a monster ’80s track. When it debuted in 2007, “Gorilla” engendered a fierce debate amongst industry types about what exactly has become of advertising. To fans — and fans were many: The ad has been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube, inspired a host of tributes and captured the Film Grand Prix at Cannes — it was an exemplar of the new branded storytelling. Detractors, of course, asked what any of it had to do with chocolate. Fallon’s Juan Cabral (author of Sony “Balls”), who wrote and directed the spot, answers the question “Why?” simply: “It kind of makes sense to be honest. It’s a very powerful drum solo. So a gorilla has to play it.”

MPG: For Voters, Presidential TV Debates Matter

Poll Finds That Among the ‘Undecided,’ Matchup Will Influence Their Final Decision

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The Maverick really needs to be in Mississippi tomorrow night. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s decision to skip tomorrow night’s debate with his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, at the University of Mississippi could be a huge mistake, according to a new study by Havas media agency MPG and CNN’s Advertising Sales and Research Group.

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McCain Picks Bad Time to Cede Battleground Suspends Campaign Just as Obama Ramps Up Spending

Campaign Trail

John McCain took a bold step and suspended his campaign to go to Washington to help resolve the country’s economic crisis. On the one hand this move is consistent with his “country first” brand, but on the other hand a total suspension of his campaign may jeopardize his party’s chances this fall.

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Month’s Top 10 Most-Liked, Most-Recalled New TV Spots

Nielsen IAG Research Ad Ratings: Consumers Like Coca-Cola’s ‘Ceremony’ Ad

Watch the Spot

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Coca-Cola’s “Ceremony” spot was the commercial most liked by viewers during the last month. See the full Nielsen IAG lists of top-liked and top-recalled spots.

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Hillsman Gives Mixed Review to Republican Efforts But Adman Says Obama Won’t Convince Independents That McCain Is Just Like Bush

Campaign Trail

MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) — As Republicans offer their message in the Twin Cities during the Republican National Convention, a local ad executive most experienced in crafting political messages is giving them mixed marks.

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Who’s Watching TV at the Office and in Bars?

Nielsen Rolls Out First Out-of-Home Ratings

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Nielsen is out to count all the people in office cubicles, bars and other people’s houses watching TV, and the media-measurement company on Sept. 2 moved closer to that goal by unveiling its first daily all-electronic national-TV ratings of viewing that occurs outside the home.

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Zappos Shows How Employees Can Be Brand-Builders Is This ‘Overlooked Resource’ as Important as Paid Ads?

Commentary by Pete Blackshaw

If you talk to Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh or his marketing chief, Brian Kalma, you’ll find a plan behind the enthusiastic praise that their company often receives from its own employees. The vast majority of trial and repeat at Zappos.com is driven by word of mouth, and employees — their motivation, their attentiveness to customers, their handling of feedback — are the foundation to that approach.

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Confessions of a Reality TV School Graduate

Ad Age’s Andrew Hampp Discovers the Genre Isn’t So Real After All

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Before I enrolled, I wasn’t sure which was more ridiculous about the New York Reality TV School: the fact that it exists or the fact that it’s taken so long for someone to think of it. But after completing the school’s three-hour workshop, I can unequivocally say it’s the latter.

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Uh-oh, Where Did Those Newspaper Web Ads Go? Tribune, Scripps and Lee Report Declining Online Revenue

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — File this under “It can always get worse.” Amid the constant stream of circulation declines, vanishing ads and staff reductions that have afflicted print newspapers, some major publishers are seeing online-revenue declines for the first time.

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P&G Relies on Power of Mommy Bloggers

Blogging moms are the new celebrities, as far as baby care is concerned. And in a related story, Babycenter is trying to become a Web 2.0 player. FULL ARTICLE

How Honda Trumped Toyota in the Race for Brand Advocates And why you should watch upstart Hyundai. This is the first in a series on which companies successfully grow brand fans. FULL ARTICLE

Sears Tries to Alter Image, Co-Opt Cool in Web Push To build cred with tweens, the typically traditional retailer hits virtually every online community for back to school. FULL ARTICLE

From Gathering Around TV to Gathering Around Wii Want to bond with your family? Get a Wii, writes Mike Vorhaus. FULL ARTICLE

When Marketing Feels Shallow, Go Deep As in deep into an examination of your consumer, writes David Armano. Here’s how he did it. FULL ARTICLE

We Get It: The IPhone’s Big. App Store Will Make It Bigger Digital music exploded when Apple launched iTunes. It hopes to do likewise for mobile applications through the App Store. FULL ARTICLE

Giving Some Thought to Google, the ‘Potential Monopolist’ As Congress looks at antitrust concerns of Google and Yahoo’s search deal, Group M’s Rob Norman worries about long-term implications. FULL ARTICLE

Will Microsoft Prevail With Its Pepé le Pew Approach to Yahoo? As the tech giant’s mad pursuit devolves into Looney Tunes territory, what does It mean for the brand? FULL ARTICLE

Exacerbating the Ad Agency Racial Gap: A Commentary

Agency Execs Further Tarnish Image By Ignoring Diversity Meeting VIDEO 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. PLAY

Google and Clear Channel Execs Clash Over Metrics Issue Stage Debate Focuses on Accreditation of Google TV Ads VIDEO Should Google submit the protocols of its new TV Ads system’s audience measurement functions to the Media Rating Council for accreditation? That seemingly mundane question sparked an intense exchange beween Google TV Ads product manager Keval Desai and Clear Channel EVP for global research Tony Jarvis. See the video of their verbal clash at the recent Advertising Research Federation’s Audience Measurement 3.0 conference. PLAY

Brands Beware: Baby Boomer Consumer Colossus Gathers More Steam Latest Data Underscores Declining Importance of Youth Market VIDEO The average age of U.S. heads of households is now just shy of 50 years old and that’s a startling statistic with serious implications for big brands says Peter Francese in a special Ad Age report. He’s the founder of American Demographics magazine and a demographic trends analyst at Ogilvy & Mather. The latest data underscores the declining importance of the youth market. PLAY

Behind the Glass of In-Window Interactive Ads: Monster Media Creating Digital 3D Interactive Messages That Directly Engage Pedestrians VIDEO In a continuing look at interactive outdoor advertising, 3 Minute Ad Age goes behind the glass with Monster Media. The four-year-old Orlando company’s computer-controlled, rear-projected animations and video displays are now among the country’s largest and most physically engaging forms of street-level advertising. Monster also works closely with JCDecaux and CBS Outdoor on interactive airport signs that respond to pedestrians like huge video game screens. PLAY

TV Commericial Reality Check: Faking It to Look Authentic Intentional Bleepers and Bloopers as Branding Tactic VIDEO The practice of intentionally writing swear words into TV commercial scripts to be bleeped out is becoming more common. It’s all a part of the drive for authenticity. The idea is to create the illusion that this is “real” moment of life. Online, the public appears to be downloading and viewing these sorts of commercials in large numbers, indicating that the creators have struck a chord. But the line between real and fake can be a very tricky one. PLAY

Creativity’s 5 Top Ads of The Week: July 7, 2008 Quicksilver, LG, Zuji Travel, Sorbent, Converse, Quicksilver, LG, Zuji Travel and Sorbent VIDEO 72andSunny give action-sports giant Quiksilver an online makeover; Bartle Bogle Hegarty conjures a whimsical world of steam for LG; Australian agencies The Hallway and Happy Soldier put the baked bean to use for Zuji Travel; Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne, helps a lost boy with Sorbent toilet paper; and New York-based Anomaly rolls out a cornucopia of online offerings for Converse. PLAY