Y&R setting up shop on Catalina Island?

An emergency all-agency meeting of Young & Rubicam this morning in Irvine, Calif., rumored to be about new business or a management shift, turned out be equally dramatic, heralding the relocation of the office to Long Beach and Catalina Island. A swirl of activity led up to the announcement, including confidential meetings, relocation memos, IT studies of Catalina’s wireless and telephone services, and facilities research into the logistics of commuting through Long Beach or San Pedro to the island once owned by William Wrigley Jr. and still populated by a herd of buffalo from an old Western shot there decades ago. Managing director David Murphy told staffers the meeting had been pushed up after Adweek learned of the developments, confirmed them through the Catalina Chamber of Commerce and other sources and was planning an e-mail push and a story for Monday. At the end of the meeting, sources say, Murphy said that despite fake displays of enthusiasm for paradisiac exile and the prospect of a three-hour commute, that this was all just a big old April Fools’ Day prank.

—Posted by Gregory Solman

Photo: Martinez/La Opinion Photos/Newscom

Published on April 1, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Y&R

Mexican-American Girl creates controversy

An American Girl doll named Marisol Luna has caused a bit of a flap because her back story has her yearning to escape a Chicago neighborhood she deems dangerous for the suburbs. Some children who actually live in that largely Mexican neighborhood, Pilsen, found Marisol's tale demeaning. A group from a Pilsen high school marched earlier this week in front of American Girl's North Side store to demand an apology from American Girl owner Mattel. They also want scholarships and money from the company. Mattel so far has said no dice, perhaps hardened to such protests by past complaints like those over Barbie's tiny waist and full bust, which some literalists said represented an unfair model of womanhood for little girls. A doll would seem to be the epitome of childhood innocence, a tool for fantasy. But the real world butts in everywhere, it seems. Marisol Luna, with the book telling her story, continues to sell for $84 on americangirl.com.

—Posted by Trevor Jensen

Credit: American Girl

Published on April 1, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (27)

Gulp! Yet another Google product?

Google is having some April Fools’ Day fun, linking off its homepage to a supposed new product called Google Gulp. We’re used to these guys introducing a funky new product every other day, and frankly, we wouldn’t be that surprised if they got into the food and beverage market, but still, there’s something fishy about “a line of ‘smart drinks’ designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty.” Some of the pseudo-marketing-speak is great: “With flavors ranging from Beta Carroty to Glutamate Grape, you’ll never run out of ways to quench your thirst for knowledge.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 1, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The incredible disappearing Kazaa

It occurred to us recently that we never hear much anymore about peer-to-peer file-sharing service Kazaa, the latter-day Napster (well, latter-day illegal Napster, anyway). Now we may have discovered why: Traffic to the Kazaa Media Desktop site is down 71 percent year-on-year, according to February data from comScore MediaMetrix. And another Kazaa property, Kazaa Lite, shows a traffic decline of 40 percent. Overall, peer-to-peer sites dropped in traffic by 36.8 percent in the last year, the study says. That’s stunning, but it’s not crystal clear that all of that traffic is headed to iTunes and its competitors. The top 10 retail sites showed a sturdy but not mind-blowing 8 percent traffic gain over the same period, while the much-vaunted iTunes—and yes, you can peg AdFreak as a devotee—showed an increase of 2 percent in the last year.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on April 1, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Do we really need more Lingerie Bowl?

Despite generally crappy reviews for its first two games, the Lingerie Bowl is expanding. The pay-per-view event, which has lingerie-clad models playing jiggly touch football, has aired during halftime of the past two Super Bowls—but got the most press for losing its key sponsor, Chrysler, in its first year. Now it wants to run opposite the NBA Finals and the World Series, too. The guy who created the franchise, Mitch Mortaza, continues to position his product as a risque alternative to the “overly produced conservative lip-synching shows” that the broadcast nets air during big sporting events. But Mortaza may never recover from his bad luck of 2004: The people who paid him to see a little skin that year ended up missing the true main event—the wardrobe malfunction—entirely.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Published on April 1, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Rock 'n' roll angst or rock 'n' roll Angus?

So perhaps rock 'n' roll (at least the concept) really is dead. First there was U2's much discussed iPod ad, for which the Springsteen-described "wily Irish guys" took no money, but left many fans and critics a bit cold. Then Hootie—aka Darius Rucker—appears in a Burger King commercial.  (Though Hootie barely qualifies as "rock 'n' roll" but you get the point.) And then Collective Soul spends two days at Leo Burnett as the inaugural act in the agency's Musical Artist in Residence program, which promotes better collaboration between music performers, producers and songwriters looking for marketing opportunities. When did it become "cool" to collaborate with advertisers? There was a time, not too long ago, when rock 'n' roll meant anti-establishment haranguing, and you only sold out after your time had passed. (Yes, I'm showing my age.) Now, my first thought when the Hard Rock Café earlier this week announced it would award a free hamburger to anyone named "Angus" was that AC/DC's Angus Young had a pretty sweet opening for his own cross-promotion.

—Posted by Aaron Baar

Photo credit: Tackeff/Zuma/Newscom

Published on March 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (7)

Even Pat Sajak has a blog

We were reading yesterday in The New York Post that Pat Sajak has a blog—and surprisingly it’s not full of tips on how to win at Wheel of Fortune. No, it’s a forum for the game show host’s conservative political views under the link “Sajak says” at patsajak.com. Sounding an awful lot like he’s doing an Ann Coulter imitation, the lead item is titled, “Arguing with Liberals, and Why I’ve Stopped” and begins, “Every time I argue with a Liberal, I’m reminded of quarrels I used to have with my parents … ” There’s only one problem with calling this a blog (which, we wish to point out, is what the Post calls it, not how Sajak refers to it on his site)—there’s no way we could find for readers to comment. If you wish to steer clear of knowing too much about America’s favorite game show host’s political leanings, click on the link “BoJak Records,” which reveals his passion for Jude Johstone, a singer/songwriter who has written hits for Johnny Cash and Stevie Nicks, and who has a new release out on Sajak’s BoJak label.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on March 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Christian Science Monitor on the buzz over buzz

Given how fascinated the marketing world is with that ephemeral quality called buzz, it's interesting that some of the most extensive coverage of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's inaugural conference came in the Christian Science Monitor. This story effectively outlines the contours of what's bound to be one of the industry's next big controversies: the use of word-of-mouth to move product among people old enough to buy a candy bar but not old enough to vote. WOMMA was to spend part of its two-day summit, which concluded yesterday, detailing its own ethics code—but critics, including the National Institute on Media and the Family, charge that marketers are simply out to turn kids into "junior ad people." (WOMMA notes the NIMF declined its invitation to help write the code of ethics or speak at the conference.) By the way, if anyone had asked us (OK, they didn't) which piece was more insightful about the state of marketing—the Monitor one or the tired rehashing by Ken Auletta in The New Yorker—we'd say this one. No contest.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on March 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wendy's chili: finger-splicin' good!

Check the Burger King—has he got all ten fingers? This Wendy’s chili incident in San Jose in which a woman found a severed fingertip in her food is a vile public relations nightmare. What's worse—it is still “unsolved,” and virtually an episode of Forensic Files just waiting to be produced, as evidenced by this USA Today story investigating the origin of the, uh, tip. Few real events ever have people wishing they were urban legends, but this one qualifies. If only it were as fake as the exploding Pop Rocks or the batter-fried rat detailed on www.snopes.com. Meanwhile, if you crave Wendy's chili but are afraid what it might contain, we'll point you to this recipe for Wendy's-style chili. At least if you make it yourself, assembling the ingredients is completely in your control.

—Posted by Celeste Ward

Published on March 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Wendy's

Diet Orange Crush: Microsoft's secret weapon?

Twice a year, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates retreats to a waterfront cottage in the Pacific Northwest to read dozens of papers from colleagues on the future of technology, according to a March 28 front-page story in The Wall Street Journal. (If you've got a sub to the WSJ Online, you can read it here; if not, you can read this synopsis from the New York Daily News, which the paper filed under "Daily Dirt & Gossip.") He spends a week looking for powerful business ideas, at times emailing their authors, thereby triggering excitement and further research. Some days he reads for up to 18 hours, at times skipping meals but not one of his favorite sodas: Diet Orange Crush. In fact, a few years ago he had a small refrigerator and bathroom installed in an upstairs study "so he could maximize his reading time by not having to go downstairs," the Journal reports. The fridge is stocked with Diet Orange Crush and Diet Coke. Orange Crush, a Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages brand that dates back to 1916, also appeared in the subhead to the 1,965-word peak inside Think Week ("Security and Mapping Ideas—Grilled Cheese, Orange Crush"). Clearly, with a single email Gates can chart Microsoft's priorities for years to come. AdFreak wonders, however, what his fetish for Crush can do for soda sales.

—Posted by Andrew McMains

Published on March 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

BK's whopper of an omelet

The fast food industry is buzzing about Burger King's new larger-than-life breakfast sandwich, the Enormous Omelet Sandwich. The gi-normous concoction has 730 calories and 47 grams of fat, more than the Whopper. The sandwich's contents—one sausage patty, two eggs, two American cheese slices and three strips of bacon (ew)—will make it difficult to stuff down while driving to work but probably will make a favorite hangover remedy for some. "The critics will still label it food porn," Sherri Daye Scott, editor at fast-food magazine QSR, told USA Today. "But the average male fast-food customer does not have a problem with this."

—Posted by Lisa van der Pool

Published on March 30, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Burger King

How to keep your iPod thug-proof

What’s wrong with this picture? Actually, nothing (if you forget the fact it’s a little dark). Though my iPod, as pictured here, is missing its iconic white earbuds and thus, some of its design panache, it’s got something much better: an anti-theft device consisting of an old, cheap pair of headphones from a Sony Walkman. I went rummaging through my box of old headphones last night after reading that iPods are behind a recent surge in crime on New York’s subways. (Well, the iPods aren’t actually engaging in a self-initiated crime wave, they are being stolen by teenagers who can, of course, tell an iPod owner from the far end of a subway car because of the earbuds.) Of course, the thought of switching to circa 1980s headphones creates a modern-day conundrum and I’m not quite sure I can go through with it; what’s more valuable, being seen as one of New York’s millions of neo-hipster Pod people, or my $350 music player and its weird collection of songs that only I could love?

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on March 30, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Big Mac, now in hip-hop flavor

News that McDonald’s will pay hip-hop artists $1-$5 every time a radio station plays a song of theirs that mentions a Big Mac is unusual only in that McDonald’s is owning up to it. Product placement has been a staple of hip-hop songs for years, from “Pass the Courvoisier” to Lexus, Timbaland, Cristal and a multitude of other names, and that’s not likely to change soon. And while McDonald’s may be inviting criticism from child obesity groups or begging for a replay of the ludicrous Ludacris vs. Bill O’Reilly feud, there doesn’t seem to be much of a downside otherwise. Outlets as varied as MTV.com and The Guardian are squawking about the move, so even if a single hip-hop artist doesn’t take the bait, it’s already garnered its fair share of press—way more than the silly Lincoln Fry, for instance. The next brand to try this probably won’t be so lucky.

—Posted by Mae Anderson

Credit: McDonald’s

Published on March 30, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Anderson

DWI charge dooms car-insurance pitchman

Political correctness can jump the pond, it seems. From London comes word that British comedian Vic Reeves (shown here) got canned from his gig endorsing car insurance yesterday because he’s been charged with drunk driving. Churchill Insurance pulled “our one advert” with the not-so-funnyman so it can “review the situation,” according to a company statement. What’s to review? This demands a counterintuitive response. Put the guy back on the air, with a whole slew of spots talking about how he rose up and dried out with the help of his car insurance. If Lorraine Bracco can make coin from Pfizer by capitalizing on her depression, why should Vic’s commercial career hit the skids, so to speak, just because he rolled while reeling? By the way, Vic apparently failed to stop at the scene, but the bobbies caught him and booked him. Which means, of course, that now he can endorse bail bonds.

—Posted by Jack Feuer

Photo: Lawrence/eyevine/Zuma/Newscom

Published on March 30, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

What to do with that tax refund?

One wonders why retailers haven’t campaigned to shift the tax-filing date so people get their refunds during Christmas-shopping season. Alternatively, one wonders why retailers haven’t campaigned to change the date of Christmas to achieve the same effect. In any case, a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation by BIGresearch finds 67 percent of consumers expect to receive a tax refund this year from the IRS. Of these lucky souls, 9 percent said they’ll devote at least part of the money to a “major purchase.” Thirteen percent said they’ll spend some of it on a vacation. Larger numbers claimed (plausibly or otherwise) that they’ll use refund money to pay down debt (50 percent) and/or to augment their savings (39 percent). Twenty-four percent said they’ll use at least some of it to cover “everyday expenses.” Men were more likely than women to say the refund will help fund a vacation (15 percent vs. 12 percent); women were more likely than men to say they’ll use some for a major purchase (11.5 percent vs. 6.5 percent). In a breakdown by age group, the 18-24-year-olds were the most likely to say they’ll use some of the refund on a vacation (18 percent). They were also the most likely to say they’ll use it to reduce debt (60 percent), boost their savings (50 percent) and defray everyday expenses (29 percent). Might these young adults have an inflated notion of just how far their tax refund will go?

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Credit: Getty Images

Published on March 30, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gap can’t fill Sarah Jessica void

New York women were aghast last week when news broke that the Gap was no longer going to use Sarah Jessica Parker, the Sex and the City style maven, in its advertising. (Joss Stone, a 17-year-old British soul singer, will star in the upcoming campaign for the summer white-denim line.) Well, maybe not all New York women were aghast—but at least four of them were, as they sipped pear martinis and sampled sushi at a trendy Japanese restaurant in the Meatpacking District during a Saturday night birthday party. In a scene oddly reminiscent of Sex and the City, the four discussed Parker’s latest, and apparently last, commercial for the ailing retailer, in which she tapped her Broadway roots, singing “Enjoy Being a Girl” in an endearing song and dance promoting “khakis with a feminine flair.” “I love that commercial,” gushed one diner. “What is the Gap thinking? She’s a fashion icon!” wailed another. “Sarah Jessica Parker was the only good thing Gap had going for it,” a third concluded as the talk turned to the Gap’s current reputation for poor quality and uninspired designs—and a friend in Montreal’s decision to boycott the clothier because of its marketing decision. No one at the table seemed cheered up that Parker was paid $38 million for her three-season stint. Maybe it was the fact that Parker just turned 40 and her replacement is just 17. Or that the birthday candle in front of them was melting the green-tea ice cream. But mostly it was the fact that the beloved actress, a Square Pegs nerd turned fashion diva, was no longer going to be gracing TV screens with her radiant personality, unless you count Sex and the City reruns on TBS.

—Posted by Eleftheria Parpis

Published on March 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Parpis

P. Diddy spins out, and into auto parts

As a businessman, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs still gets mad props. (Do the kids still say that?) But as a brand, Sean John might be wearing a bit thin. Already a hip-hop musician and “entertainment entrepreneur,” the former limo driver is now branching out into the auto-parts business, selling custom rims for luxe SUVs, sports trucks and cushy sedans. There’s no doubt it fits well with the urban culture—spinning rims that run $700-$3,000 per wheel add extra “bling” to your Escalade. (Remember when they were just called hub caps?) And while his new partner, Greg Weld, 61, told the AP that he was amazed by Diddy’s ability to work a room and “build his brand,” I can’t help but wonder if, like a Top 40 song on Z100, this tune is a bit overplayed. First music, then fashion, Broadway shows, marathon running ... now spinning rims? Like Madonna a decade ago, Combs is fond of turning up his name’s volume, but to stay in the spotlight he’ll have to continue to give the venues thoughtful consideration. After all, even the Sex book had a backlash.

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Photo: Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Published on March 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Diddy

Thumbs down on TiVo ads

TiVo likes to promote itself as a service that lets you record anything and watch it whenever you want, but with consumers, the fact it lets them skip commercials is equally top-of-mind. Thus, though TiVo doesn’t hide its willingness to let advertisers under its tent, it faces a firestorm every time it attempts to, as it did over the weekend. It presented a limited number of subscribers with an advertising tag as they skipped through the commercials, and, predictably, the criticism was immediate. Some comments referred to them as pop-ups; others as banner ads—both pretty derogatory descriptions. Our emotional side has us feeling at one with all those commercial-hating consumers; but the more rational part asks, “Who the hell do you think finances all this programming?”

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on March 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Budget squeeze brings out the Charmin

As if winter in Buffalo isn’t misery enough, it turns out staffers at the Rath Building in town—one of the primary office facilities for Erie County—have been suffering the indignity of having to bring their own toilet paper to work. Things have gotten so bad with a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall that government buildings have had to cut back on basic paper goods and cleaning supplies. As politicos continue to point the finger and blame each other for the financial mess, the folks at Procter & Gamble showed what a little private enterprise (and creative product placement) can achieve. The Cincinnati company donated a truck full of Charmin Megarolls to Rath employees. But the company’s cha-cha-chaaing bears (Leonard, Molly, Bill, Dylan and Amy) ran into their own bit of political controversy, as Erie County comptroller Nancy Naples called the toilet tissue an illegal gift. Fortunately, calmer minds prevailed, as county executive Joel Giambra said he’d accept the offer—only if the supersized rolls will fit in the building’s bathrooms.

—Posted by Noreen O’Leary

Published on March 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under O'Leary

What’s that smell? It must be Céline Dion

Hands up—who does not want to Belong to this: Céline Dion has released a new perfume, Belong, which is supposed to “reflect where Celine is right now in her life—enjoying her family when she is out of the spotlight.” Who else Belongs to this club? Britney Spears? Does Belong refer to multimillionaire female pop stars who plan to stop touring and play Las Vegas alone, creating virtual shrines to themselves in Caesar’s Palace? If so, Stevie Nicks may soon have her own scent. AdFreak will skip that one, too.

—Posted by Celeste Ward

Photo: Khayat/KRT/Newscom
 

Published on March 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

LeBron is good, but not that good

Some people will believe anything. We’re talking about the fun Powerade spot in which LeBron James hits four consecutive insanely long full-court shots. Enough people thought the footage might be real that the Urban Legends Reference Pages Web site gave the spot its own page, which clarifies: “Lebron James is a incredibly gifted athlete with amazing skills on the basketball court, but if he could sink 80-foot shots as consistently and effortlessly as depicted in this Powerade spot, he’d be shattering NBA scoring records left and right.” You can probably blame this kind of gullibility on the old “Hacky Spot” Nike spot, in which Tiger Woods bounced a ball on the end of his club 49 times before smashing it into the distance. That footage looked too good to be true as well—but it was real.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (13)

Russell’s Grunts pack it in

Oscar-winning ruffian Russell Crowe, moving on to bigger and better things, has disappointed about 11 fans worldwide with the announcement that his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, is kaput. But take heart! The band is signing off with one final CD, titled My Hand, My Heart. The Gladiator star tells fans on his Web site that the song “Raewyn,” which will be released on iTunes, is “the only song I’ve written that has made both men and women cry, think and call their parents—usually in that order. ... I have emails from Sting and Billy Bragg, two of my writing heroes, that give testament to the quiet power of the song. ... The record is fresh, relavatory and graceful.” Gotcha. OK, Russ.

—Posted by Celeste Ward

Photo: Philbey/Zuma/Newscom

Published on March 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harvard students after their Lucky Charms

It’s not enough, apparently, to go to the most prestigious university in the country, if you can’t get your Lucky Charms and Cap’n Crunch fix. According to this story in the Boston Globe, Harvard students are up in arms over the decision by the campus food service to swap well-known cereal brands with knock-offs like Marshmallow Mateys and Colossal Crunch, causing one enraged (sugar-addicted?) senior to start “Harvard Students for the Reimplementation of Brand-Named Cereals.” Complains one sophomore: “I used to eat Lucky Charms for lunch and dinner. The fake stuff gets real soggy, and I’ve just stopped eating cereal. This is not fair.” (We guess there were no questions about balanced nutrition on recent SAT exams.) The university explains its decision by saying that students have shown a preference for “healthier, organic” products and that cereal prices have been going up by 8-10 percent a year. While Harvard students ponder life without Apple Jacks, we’ll reminisce about the time when students there used to protest things like apartheid.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on March 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Advertising's final frontier: deep space

These days nothing is sacred when it comes to ad placement. From urinals to foreheads, it seems like almost everything has been done. Now one company is going where most haven't gone before, at least not until now. Deep Space Communications has beamed the first commercial transmission of a Web site into space. The site is Craigslist.com, the popular community site that has personal and classified listings for most cities in the U.S. "It's very fitting that the first [commercial] transmission into space is by a community Web site like craigslist because it represents a wide cross section of society," said Jim Lewis, vice president of Deep Space Communications Network in this CNN.com story. One wonders if there's an extraterrestrial out there right now pondering one 32-year-old Boston woman's "cheesecake obsession" or  this Charlotte man looking for Roxxane, but I digress.

—Posted by Lisa van der Pool

Published on March 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google execs searching for a bonus

What does it take to get a bonus, for Pete’s sake? You’d think a $1.7 billion IPO, your company becoming a verb, and $3.2 billion in sales would be enough. Apparently not enough for the Google boys. Google’s leadership trinity—Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt—didn’t get bonuses in 2004, according to new financial filings. Larry and Sergey took home $150,000 in salary, while Schmidt got $250,000. However, Google’s board decided not to give the brass fat bonuses, like the $7.2 million given to Disney’s Michael Eisner. Before you feel too sorry for the guys at the top of Googleplex, remember this: The IPO made Larry and Sergey worth over $7.5 billion and Schmidt nearly $3 billion, and they get free lunches from the cafeteria. Oh, the execs did qualify for a “holiday bonus” of $1,566 given to every Googler. Every little bit helps.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on March 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Morrissey