Seeks to Consolidate Business With One Holding Company

Posted by Rupal Parekh on 07.16.09 @ 11:21 AM

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG has begun a holding-company review as it pursues a global consolidation of its more than $1 billion advertising account, according to several executives familiar with the matter.

The consolidation — one of many launched by mega-marketers during this recession, in a drive to find efficiencies and cut costs — will include roster shops that work on Bayer’s various brands.

Creative and media duties are spread across a number of entities, among them Omnicom Group’s BBDO, which handles advertising for brands such as Aleve and One A Day; WPP’s JWT, which handles creative for a number of consumer brands, including indigestion drug Rennie; and Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Initiative, which handles media planning and buying for the Bayer Consumer Healthcare subsidiary.

Initial meetings are already under way, but an official response to a request for proposals isn’t due till later this summer, so the process likely will take several months. Agency and holding-company representatives either could not be immediately reached or referred calls for comment to Bayer, which did not respond by press time.

Bayer, which was ranked 47th on Ad Age’s list of top 100 national advertisers last month, has a massive ad budget that has remained relatively flat amidst the economic downturn, according to Ad Age data and TNS Media Intelligence figures.

In the U.S. alone, the company spent $442 million to market its products in 2008, down slightly from $459 million in 2007, according to TNS. Unmeasured U.S. media, meanwhile, is estimated at $387 million for 2008, bringing total U.S. spending to $840 million last year. That figure, only a 2% drop-off from 2007, represents about 7% of the company’s total sales, according to Ad Age data. Globally, the company is estimated to spend more than $1 billion on advertising.

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Your Grammar-School Teacher Was Right All Along

Posted by Tom Martin on 07.16.09 @ 11:44 AM

http://www.tommartin.typepad.com

Do you remember show and tell? That great day when your grammar-school teacher gave you the stage and let you bring anything you cared about to show the class. It was an opportunity to share something that you thought was cool, important or interesting and maybe get the class to agree with you, that it was cool, important or interesting.

I loved show and tell — both as presenter and viewer. My fellow classmates had weird interests, but I learned a lot about the world around me and a few interesting things about my classmates. Even today, I enjoy watching my own children pick out what they’ll take for show and tell.

So what the heck does this have to do with advertising? As it turns out, a lot. You see, the average grammar-school teacher knows more about selling than you or me. She gets it. When you’re trying to expose kids to new ideas, it’s better to show them than to tell them about it. By showing them, you give them something tangible to look at, touch and maybe even smell. You give them something they can react to or form a bond with rather than a concept they have to visualize in their mind’s eye. And, not that I’m saying your clients and your fellow staffers are children, but the same concept of understanding new ideas still holds true. Concepts are hard. Examples are easy. And, in today’s stress-filled world, easy wins.

We at Zehnder are probably as guilty as the next agency of spending too much time telling and not enough time showing, especially where digital solutions are concerned. Showing digital solutions requires a good bit of investment (non-billable, I might add) to create proofs of concept or demonstration pieces. Given the current state of our business, it is no wonder we agencies don’t jump at that non-billable ball. But of late, we’ve changed. We’ve started using show and tell as a way to introduce our clients to the wonders of new technology. Sure, it takes a bit more work, but in the end, we find the clients move through the awareness-understanding-adoption curve much faster. It also helps them sell the idea up the ladder internally, which is an oft-overlooked but important step in all new-technology sales.

For instance, we have a lot of local and regional clients that kept asking how they could use Twitter to reach locals. So we built (and gave away, I might add) a local Twitter search tool so they could find and follow local tweeters — the first step in an effective Twitter strategy. Now we can show them how to find/follow nearby tweeters and open a dialog with them. You can actually see the light bulbs going off as you sit next to them.

We didn’t tell our clients about Augmented Reality (AR). We created a simple demonstration video where they could see the technology in action. Sure it’s crude, but that is the point. We didn’t spend a lot of time making it pretty, we made it quickly and cheaply. The point is, when you see it, you get what AR is, and you start to see how it can be used.

Now we’re trying to talk to our B2B and service clients about AR. And again, rather than tell them how they can use the technology, we’re showing them. Specifically, we’re showing them how AR can turn an ordinary business card into a full-motion video sales pitch. Guess what? After they see the video, we don’t have to do a lot of telling. They immediately see the applications for trade shows, networking and direct mail video campaigns.

These are just a few examples of how we’re showing vs. telling our clients about technology and the application of that technology. My advice to agencies (and client brand managers for that matter) is to stop telling and start showing. Sure it takes a bit more work, but believe me, you’ll be happy you did it.

Thanks to: http://www.tommartin.typepad.com/

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Wicked Sick Project Was Wicked Cool

Posted by Ken Wheaton on 07.16.09 @ 04:12 PM

Way down under, the gang at George Patterson Y&R decided they’d prove what a little creativity can do. So they created the Wicked Sick Project, in which they bought an ordinary used BMX bike on eBay, applied a little creativity and, voila, sold it for an astronomical profit. It’s a fun video and should rally the troops fighting against the scourge of commoditization! (You’ll also note that creativity does not necessarily equate to big-budget production values.)

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Case Could Have Legs, but ‘Laptop Hunters’ Will Keep Going and Going for Now

By Rupal Parekh
Published: July 16, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In the latest twist in the computer wars, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner stated publicly yesterday that attorneys for Apple demanded Microsoft pull its “Laptop Hunters” campaign that shows buyers comparing prices between Macs and PCs. And Apple’s keeping quiet on the subject.

Microsoft’s ‘Laptop Hunters’ campaign paints rival Apple as pricey.

The campaign, created by Microsoft’s consumer ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, began running in March and marked a new ad strategy from the software giant: painting rival Apple as pricey. By some measures, the ads have been successful in boosting Microsoft’s “value perception.”

“The ‘PC Hunter’ ads, the ‘PC Rookie’ ads clearly have been winners in the marketplace,” said Mr. Turner, speaking at the software giant’s worldwide partner conference in New Orleans yesterday. “And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, ‘Hey’ — this is a true story — saying, ‘Hey, you need to stop running those ads — we lowered our prices.’ They took like $100 off or something.”

In an e-mailed statement to Ad Age, a Microsoft spokesman would say only: “We can confirm that Apple contacted Microsoft.” Apple, meanwhile, did not respond to several calls for comment, and Apple’s lead ad agency, TBWA/Media Arts Lab, also declined to comment.

One industry lawyer said it’s unlikely Apple will file suit against Microsoft, but if it does, it could have a case based on legal precedent forcing marketers to pull outdated comparison ads.

“Apple seems to have this sort of cool image; I’d be surprised if they’d file suit on something like this. … It would be bad publicity and only make people talk about Microsoft being more relevant,” said Michael McSunas, an attorney at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel.

Mr. McSunas said in the past these sorts of ad tussles have been resolved in lower-profile ways, such as a cease-and-desist letter. Ford, for example, stopped running a commercial for its Freestar minivan in 2004 after receiving a letter from Chrysler’s legal department pointing out that claims in the Ford ads were no longer true. Another option could be calling upon the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

However, if Apple did opt to bring a suit against Microsoft, it “would have a legal leg to stand on,” Mr. McSunas said. “If, indeed, you now can buy a MacBook for under $1,000, then [the 'Laptop Hunters' campaign] would be inaccurate and misleading.”

Whether or not Apple is plotting a legal attack, the alleged phone call — which Mr. Turner ranked as “the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in the business” — has done little to scare off Microsoft. Rather, it seems to have emboldened the company in its quest to win back market share.

“We’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them,” Mr. Turner said of the “Laptop Hunters” spots.

He also announced Microsoft’s plans for a major retail play. “We’re going to have some retail stores opened up that are opened up right next door to Apple stores this fall,” Mr. Turner said. “Stay tuned, just stay tuned.”

~ ~ ~
Beth Snyder Bulik contributed to this report.

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Southwest Reaches Out to Reassure Customers, While Angry Passenger Lays Into Delta

by Michael Bush
Published: July 16, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — When a basketball-size hole opened earlier this week in the fuselage of a Southwest plane, which was rerouted and landed safely, Twitter helped the airline manage the story.

Southwest has nearly 290,000 followers Twitter.

Shortly after the plane landed, the tweets began pouring in from those who heard the news: “Emergency landing for a Southwest flight … A one ft by one ft hole in the fuselage is to blame … yikes.” The incident was documented by those on board via Twitpic and YouTube. The airline’s lead “Twitterer,” Christi Day, immediately began posting updates that included links to an official company release, a statement that all planes would be inspected overnight and news that all passengers on board would be refunded.

“It was important for us to set the tone as soon as we saw those conversations begin online,” Ms. Day said. “We were able to distribute factual information to our customers before they saw it on the 10 p.m. news, which is extremely powerful.”

In an industry where customers are as likely to have smooth, hassle-free flights as they are to have to sit through hourlong delays, Twitter can be either a godsend or a curse for an airline. Southwest, which has nearly 290,000 followers, isn’t the only carrier using Twitter. A number of others, including JetBlue (885,000 followers), Virgin America (24,000 followers), American Airlines (5,600 followers), United Airlines (16,000 followers) and Delta Air Lines (7,300 followers), are also using it — some more effectively than others — for customer service, public relations and crisis management and as a vehicle to promote fare specials.

Travel blogger Chris Elliott said JetBlue and Southwest are the examples others airlines using Twitter should follow. “Both use Twitter as a communications tool, a place to push fare specials,” Mr. Elliott said. “But if you follow them, you also get a sense that, on Twitter, they don’t take themselves as seriously as they would in a press release or press conference. They do things that are a bit more fun, like linking to posts, that are not as formal.”

Growing CRM tool
Abby Lunardini, director of corporate communications at Virgin America, said she views the micro-blogging service as a growing customer-relationship-management tool. “We’ve had guests tweet about missing food service, and we sent a message to the plane’s crew to assist [them],” she said via e-mail. At Virgin America, tweeting is a group effort handled by an interactive marketing team, with help from PR, guest care and marketing groups “as appropriate.”

With Wi-Fi access on its planes, Virgin America receives and responds to tweets they get from passengers while in flight. “We got a tweet from someone en route to Boston who said he had been ignored on the flight and had some other service issues,” Ms. Lunardini said. “Our team met him at the gate in Boston and asked if we could assist with anything or help him further.”

Virgin America, which has Wi-Fi access on its planes, receives and responds to tweets they get from passengers while in flight.

Mr. Elliott said legacy carriers such as Delta and American don’t seem to have figured out Twitter just yet. American just launched its Twitter page on April 13.

Chris Vary, director of emerging media at American Airlines and its head Twitterer, said the airline is being proactive and reactive on Twitter, using it to announce events and fare sales while listening to what consumers and the media are saying about the airline. Asked if he thought it was fair to say American hasn’t figured out Twitter yet he said, “We are putting our best foot forward now and using these channels the best we can to help communicate, listen and monitor. It’s still a learning lab.”

Mr. Elliott said he’s been following Delta since the beginning and hasn’t seen a lot of activity on its Twitter page; the last post Delta made was on June 17. But in the past two days, the airline has been getting knocked around in the Twitterverse over a couple of issues, including a somewhat laughable debate over its newly designed stewardess dresses, which only go up to a size 18. (Sample comment: “Delta wants curvy flight attendants to wear the old uniforms while girls to size 18 fly high in their red hot new dress.”)

Delta takes a bruising
On the more serious matter of customer service, the airline took a bit of a bruising yesterday on Twitter, following a letter Andy Azula, the creative director at the Martin Agency and the actor in the UPS Whiteboard commercials, wrote to Delta that he posted on his blog and linked to on his Twitter page (he has since taken it down). Apparently Delta delayed Mr. Azula’s flight, keeping him and his family waiting at the airport for 13 hours and causing him to miss a number of meetings and a family gathering. The airline didn’t offer any type of compensation in the end. Not only did the link get re-tweeted dozens of times, but people started adding their own commentary, such as “Yep. Delta Airlines is screwed if they don’t rectify this.” The airline did not tweet any type of reply.

When asked to comment for this story, Delta responded via e-mail, saying it is “actively involved in the development of our social-media policies for this growing medium. We will align our social-media strategy to be in sync with our other communication vehicles for the benefit of our customers and employees.”

Mr. Elliott said it’s a mistake for Delta to not participate in the conversation, especially when there are so many negative comments being posted.

“If you put yourself out there and don’t participate, you can damage your brand, because there’s a perception you don’t get it and haven’t taken the time to learn this new medium,” Mr. Elliott said. “And people will start wondering: If they don’t get it in social media, where else don’t they get it? And that opens yourself up to a lot of unpleasant possibilities.”

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