Monday, June 22, 2009
Twitter to Share Shopping Tips, Add E-Commerce Angle
http://www.marketingvox.com/

Todd Chaffee, a board investor for Twitter and general partner at Institutional Venture Partners, has suggested to The New York Times that the site may incorporate a means for advertisers to target customers by their desires in real-time — then send direct messages proffering discounts and special offers.

Conceptually, the microblogging service would wed e-commerce to the generous product advice that already comes from users. Mobile phone shopping may also be a development area.

For example, a user who uses Twitter to arbitrarily express his desire for a burger may be sent a message featuring a personal offer from a burger franchise, says TwitteRadar.

Read more.

Monday, June 8, 2009
New ads present Spam as spark for lively meals
http://www.sfgate.com/

The makers of Spam, long a symbol of frugality, are advertising the often-maligned canned pork as a way to relieve boredom at the dinner table as the recession wears on.

The "Break the Monotony" ad campaign moves to television and radio Monday as consumers seeking to eat on the cheap buy more of Hormel Foods Inc.'s low-cost Spam, Dinty Moore beef stew and namesake chili. The campaign offers new uses for the meat-in-a-can designed to brighten its image — away from the meat notoriously lampooned in a 1970 Monty Python skit and toward a fun, hip ingredient useable in a range of comfort foods.

Sales of canned foods, especially canned meat, have been rising in the recession as people limit their food spending because they usually cost less than fresh fruits, vegetables or meat, said Marcia Mogelonsky, an analyst with research firm Mintel.

"They're an alternative to just eggs or a sandwich or whatever," she said. "It extends a meal. It adds a protein.

Read more.

Monday, June 1, 2009
VideoEgg Sports ‘Stretchy’ Ads for Social Sites
http://www.marketingvox.com/

San Francisco-based ad network Video Egg introduced Twig, an AdFrames unit designed for "long" web pages — social sites where users must scroll in order to read comments and extended content.

The offering was designed specifically with blogs in mind. By attaching the ad to the top or bottom of a page and staying within view as users scroll up or down, Twig increases brand exposure to audiences accustomed to skimming. (See demo).

Twig ads stretch to the width of the browser window and appear at the top or bottom of the frame. Users also have the option of expanding the content to watch video or other media if they hover over the ad.

Read more.

Wednesday, May 28, 2009
Dell's Della Debacle an Example of Wrong Way to Target Women
http://adage.com/

Hearing that Dell had launched a female-targeted microsite called Della last week triggered my "Is it a gag?" reflex -- the suspicious reaction to a bit of marketing too extreme to be real. Yet upon arrival at the site, there they were: all the ridiculous "women's advertising" clichés you could imagine in your wildest feminine-products-commercial fantasies. But it wasn't a gag -- not intentionally, anyway.

Dell created this site to specifically target potential female buyers of netbooks -- to communicate that these computers are especially suitable to womanly needs and, one supposes, to spare women from having to confront the full-strength Dell site. Della is all soft, unthreatening palettes and images of sisters sharing, natch. The home page originally depicted three women with laptops sitting, explicably, close enough together that their shoulders overlapped. Those shoulders, it should be said, were swathed in fabric that matched ... their laptops! (That photo has since been swapped out for equally hilarious imagery.) The site goes on to offer humorously nontechnical "Tech Tips." Originally those included, yes, tips for how computers can help ladies count calories (and search recipes online!).

Read more.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Class-action lawsuit over tobacco ads proceeds
http://www.sfgate.com/

Consumers have the right to sue as a group over advertising they believe misled them into buying products, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Monday in reinstating a massive suit against the tobacco industry.

The 4-3 decision rejected business arguments that, if accepted, would have virtually prohibited class-action suits for false advertising by requiring proof that every plaintiff - millions of them, in some cases - had seen an allegedly deceptive ad and relied on it to make a purchase. The court majority said that evidence is required only for the single plaintiff or small group that represents the entire class.

"This gives the consumers rights to protect themselves from fraudulent advertising," said Mark Robinson, a lawyer for the smokers who sued tobacco companies in 1997.

The ruling could make California "the class-action capital of the country," retorted William Stern, a lawyer for business organizations and a co-author of Proposition 64, a 2004 ballot measure at the heart of the case.

Read more.

Monday, May 18, 2009
TV, radio, Web ad revenue taking big hit
http://www.sfgate.com/

In flush times, television stations are accustomed to 30 to 40 percent profit margins. But the recession is goring even these cash cows with a 14 percent drop in advertising revenue in the first quarter of this year compared to last at Bay Area TV stations, analysts say.

Ad revenue took an even bigger tumble at Bay Area radio stations, with a 27 percent decline during the same period.

The main culprit is the imploding auto industry, which provides from 20 percent to one-third of the advertising revenue for broadcasters. With General Motors and Chrysler announcing plans last week to close 1,900 dealerships during the next year, it will take years for advertising levels to recover at TV and radio outlets. "And when it does return, it will be different," said Robin Flynn, senior analyst at SNL Kagan, who recently conducted a nationwide study of advertising on radio and TV stations and projected the 14 percent TV decline.

Read more.

Tuesdsay, May 12, 2009
Universities make their mark on big, small screens
http://www.sfgate.com/

Many know of the University of Michigan through its famous alumni — Madonna, Gerald Ford, Arthur Miller. And ... Gregory House, and Gerald and Karen DeGroot.

The first three names are really well-known in the fields of public policy, music and theater.

The last three aren't real at all.

House, the lead character on the Fox medical drama of the same name, is a Michigan medical school graduate, and the DeGroots are Michigan doctoral candidates who founded the mysterious Dharma Initiative at the center of the ABC serial "Lost."

Such tie-ins allow TV and film productions to be more authentic while at the same time providing universities with free advertising and the chance to up their coolness quotient.

Read more.

Thursday, May 7, 2009
Yelp and Local Search
http://www.clickz.com/

If you search for a local business on Google, Yahoo, or MSN, in one of the bigger cities in the United States, chances are excellent that a Yelp page or two will appear on the first page of the search results. Yelp ranks well in the big three search engines for local categories, including things like movies, nightclubs, massages, restaurants, oil changes, and much more.

Yelp is growing faster than Citysearch. Its monthly unique visitors have more than doubled in the past year and topped 20 million in February 2009. So what exactly is Yelp?

Read more.

Thursday, April 30, 2009
ABC Takes Significant Stake in Hulu
http://adage.com/

After months of talks, Walt Disney Co. has taken a stake in Hulu, and made ABC the third of four major broadcast networks to distribute content through the web TV service.

The deal brings full-length shows from ABC and Disney cable channels to Hulu, which has built itself into a top video portal in the past year by distributing shows from NBC, Fox and 150 other content partners. Disney took a 27% stake in the company, comparable to stakes held by NBC Universal and News Corp., and, like the other two partners, agreed to invest marketing dollars in the venture, according to PaidContent.

Read more.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Older Audience Is Looking Better Than Ever
http://www.nytimes.com/

When Brian Gordon and his partners started ebeanstalk.com, which sells children’s learning toys online, they expected most of business to come from younger consumers starting families. But a recent customer survey found that up to 40 percent were actually older, mainly grandparents.

“If you’d asked me if 4 out of 10 people would be grandparents, I’d have said, ‘No, that’s not going to happen,’ ” Mr. Gordon said. Also surprising, Mr. Gordon says, is that despite the economy, sales are up about 65 percent so far this year compared with a year earlier. He attributed that largely to older consumers, who “are our most demanding customers” but are more willing than their younger counterparts are to pay full price.

Read more.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Cyberspace: doomed to become a "vaster wasteland"?
http://www.sfgate.com/

Nearly 50 years ago, then-FCC Commissioner Newton Minow lamented in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters that the once-promising young medium of Television had become a "vast wasteland." Well, history is repeating itself as the once-promising medium of the Web is maturing into a vaster wasteland of cyberspace. The latest horrifying indicator comes in this recent report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, noting that 2008 Internet advertising revenues totaled $23.4 billion, up 10.6 percent from 2007. That makes Internet advertising the fastest growing advertising medium in history. Ever.

Read more.

Monday, April 8, 2009
Facebook's Sandberg: Advertisers, meet the 'active network'
http://news.cnet.com/

"We're here today to talk about how many friends you can have," Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said in her keynote address at the AdAge Digital conference on Wednesday, the same day that Facebook announced it had reached the milestone of 200 million active users around the world. "This is certainly something I thought about a bit before I joined Facebook, but in the last year this has been a major question in my life."

But the major question she was addressing in her talk was a different one: namely, can advertisers reap dollars from a social network? It's the usual meat of any social network executive's talk at a Madison Avenue conference.

Read more.

Monday, March 30, 2009
How Microsoft put Apple owners on the defensive
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/

Her name is “Lauren” and she’s making the Apple guys nuts.

She’s the young, hip, Volkswagen-driving redhead who stars in the latest Microsoft’s (MSFT) TV campaign. Told that if she can find a 17-inch laptop for under $1,000 she can keep it, Lauren ends up — to the Mac aficionados’ dismay — with an HP (HPQ) running Windows Vista.

“I would have to double my budget, which isn’t feasible,” Lauren says as she drives away from an Apple Store, where 17-inch notebooks start at $2,799. Then she sighs and delivers the ad’s coup de grace: “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.”

Read more.

Monday, March 23, 2009
YouTube Tries Bigger Home-Page Ads
http://adage.com/

YouTube blew out one aspect of its money-making plan last week: way bigger home-page ads. YouTube gave Lionsgate two rich-media units and exclusivity on its home page to advertise 'The Haunting in Connecticut.'
YouTube gave Lionsgate two rich-media units and exclusivity on its home page to advertise 'The Haunting in Connecticut.'

YouTube started experimenting with giant masthead ads across the top of the page late last year. Electronic Arts bought the space to promote the video game "Spore," Universal Pictures promoted the next "Fast and the Furious" there, and ABC advertised the new season of "Lost."

But on March 20, YouTube pushed it a bit further, giving Lionsgate both the masthead and the standard box unit on the right for a new unit it's calling a "cross talk" ad. It promotes the studio's upcoming horror film, "The Haunting in Connecticut," which opens March 27.

Read more.

Tuesday, March 19, 2009
R/GA Raids AKQA for S.F. Tech Lead
http://www.adweek.com/

R/GA has poached another AKQA executive for its nearly year-old San Francisco outpost.

The Interpublic Group digital agency hired Peter Cole as technology director for the office. Cole worked at AKQA for eight years, most recently serving as director of creative development.

Cole (shown at right) is the latest AKQA vet R/GA has hired. It brought on Mauro Cavelletti as executive creative director of its San Francisco office last April. Cavelletti and Cole worked together at AKQA on projects for Nike, Microsoft and Coke. It has also hired a few other staffers from AKQA. The office has 21 staffers.

R/GA CEO Bob Greenberg stated the rationale for opening the office in San Francisco was a hunt for talent, although he said the shop would compete as much with tech companies like Google and Yahoo as agency rivals like AKQA.

Read more.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Facebook Sending More Traffic Than Google to Some Sites
http://adage.com

Marketers spend billions to attract search traffic from Google, but late last year Facebook started becoming a bigger source of traffic for some large websites, according to analytics firm Hitwise. It seems inevitable that, given Facebook's sheer scale (180 million registered users and counting), it would at some point start referring a lot of users to some sites, but the development is surprising. Web users go to Google to figure out where to go next; they go to Facebook to, well, hang out.

Facebook gets a little more than a third of Google's unique visitors in the U.S. (50 million vs. 149 million in January, per ComScore); since last summer, registered users have been growing at a double-digit rate. But since the beginning of the year, Facebook has become a bigger referring site than Google to a number of sites, including gossip sites PerezHilton.com and Dlisted, mom site CafeMom, Evite, video site Tagged.com, and, yes, Twitter.

Read more.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
More TV ads project images of racial harmony
http://www.sfgate.com/

Ever see an inner-city schoolyard filled with white, Asian and black teens shooting hoops? Or middle-aged white and Latino men swigging beer and watching the Super Bowl on their black neighbor's couch? Or Asians and Latinos dancing the night away in a hip-hop club? All it takes is a television. Yes, that mesmerizing mass purveyor of aspiration, desire and self-awareness regularly airs commercials these days that show Americans of different races and ethnicities interacting in integrated schools, country clubs, workplaces and homes, bonded by their love of the products they consume. Read more.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Despite Pressure to Shed Search, Yahoo Ties It to Display
http://adage.com/

For the past year, Wall Street has clamored for Yahoo to do something about its search business, a distant No. 2 to Google. But Madison Avenue hasn't been so sure that's a good idea. And now Yahoo is binding its search business more tightly to its market-leading display-ad business. Read more.

Monday, February 9, 2009
Ad Industry Cut Another 18,700 Jobs in December
http://adage.com/

The U.S. advertising and media industry slashed 18,700 jobs in December, bringing industry job losses in this recession to 65,100. The industry cut staffing 3.9% from the time the recession began in December 2007, according to Ad Age DataCenter's analysis of figures released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ad industry employed 1.59 million people as of December. Read more.

Monday, February 2, 2009
Super Bowl ads took violent, sentimental turns
http://www.sfgate.com/

With the country deep in a recession during Super Bowl XLIII and needing a laugh, the advertisers instead gave us a snow globe in the testicles. There was also a guy who got hit by a bus, an electrocution, a golf club to the head, a horrible ski accident and a low-level executive who gets thrown out a fourth-story window, crashing to the ground below. And that was just in the game's first quarter. Read more.

Friday, January 23, 2009
Publisher Rethinks the Daily: It’s Free and Printed and Has Blogs All Over
http://www.nytimes.com

Amid the din of naysayers who insist that newspapers are on the verge of death, a new company wants to start dozens of new ones — with a twist. The Printed Blog, a Chicago start-up, plans to reprint blog posts on regular paper, surrounded by local ads, and distribute the publications free in big cities. The first issues of this Internet-era penny-saver will appear in Chicago and San Francisco on Tuesday. Read more.

Friday, January 9, 2009
Alcohol Ads Go From on the Toilets to In the Toilet
http://news.yahoo.com

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave their final approval today to an ordinance that bans new contracts from allowing alcohol advertisements on City property, such as newspaper racks, kiosks and public toilets. The ordinance however, exempts current long-term contracts with JCDecaux and Clear Channel because of unusual punitive clauses barring action by the City. These companies will be allowed to continue alcohol advertising under current contracts for "Out of Home" or "Street Furniture" ads. Read more.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008
FedEx Opts Out of Super Bowl Advertising
http://www.cnbc.com

FedEx will not run a Super Bowl ad for the first time in 12 years, according to a posting on the company Web site Monday. Director of advertising Steve Pacheco cited difficult economic times as the reason the company will not buy a spot. "As a country, we are in unprecedented economic waters. And as a responsible employer of more than 290,000 employees and contractors worldwide, there is a time to justify such an ad spend and a time to step back," Pacheco wrote in the Monday blog post. FedEx has advertised in 18 Super Bowls since 1989. Read more.

Monday, December 15, 2008
Ad Clutter Hurts Brand Reps, Numbs Users
http://www.marketingvox.com

Like Times Square, without all the fun Nearly 30% of online adults will immediately leave a website if they perceive it as cluttered with ads. And over 75% of those that remain on cluttered sites pay less attention to the ads there, reports Burst Media (via MarketingCharts). The survey of 4,000 web users, undertaken to better understand consumer perceptions relating to ad clutter, found cluttered sites not only annoy the audience, they diminish ad effectiveness and ultimately do a disservice to the publisher, advertiser and visitor, Burst Media said. Read more.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Retailers Shrink Ad Spending During Holiday Sales Period
http://www.adage.com

Retail chief marketing officers are trimming budgets rather than trees this holiday season. A study from BDO Seidman found that marketing and advertising spending at many of the nation's retailers have been cut during what is the most-important sales period of the year. While the results are certainly not shocking -- we are in a recession, after all -- a number of retailers, including Kohl's and JCPenney, had pledged to increase or maintain budgets as they look to attract wary consumers. Read more.

Monday, December 3, 2008
Target Zeros In on iPhone
http://www.adweek.com

Facebook apps are so yesterday. Target is pushing into new frontiers as one of the first brands to build an application for the iPhone. The Target Gift Globe mimics the holiday tradition of the snow globe. After downloading it, users shake their iPhone, producing an on-screen snowfall that clears to reveal a gift idea from the retailer. Users can tap through to visit Target's site and buy the item or find a store nearby. San Francisco shop AKQA created the application for Target after the retailer discovered the majority of traffic from its mobile site, launched this spring, came from iPhones. Read more.

Monday, November 24, 2008
Riding Obama’s Coattails, Making a Buck Along the Way
http://www.nytimes.com

BARACK OBAMA may have figured out a way to stimulate the economy even before taking office: by being elected. Merchandise commemorating, celebrating and — in some instances — practically canonizing Mr. Obama is being sold by companies large and small, institutional and entrepreneurial, familiar (Time Inc.) and not so (the American Historic Society). Consumers have already spent perhaps as much as $200 million on Obamabilia, two months before he will be inaugurated as the 44th president and another tidal wave of tchotchkes will be unleashed. Read more.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Amazon One-Ups Santa Claus With Frustration-Free Packaging
http://www.adage.com

It's a question Andy Rooneyesque in its banality and in the seeming futility of raising it -- how can most packaging, especially electronics packaging, be so terrible? Hard, sealed plastic packaging is a hassle at best. At worst, it's downright dangerous. Never mind the mental anguish, clamshell attacks actually do result in injury. As Wired noted in its "Why Things Suck" issue, 6,500 Americans were admitted to hospitals in 2004 after losing a fight with a blister pack. Read more.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Digital Ad Firms Strong Despite Economic Woes
http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Digital advertising firms in San Francisco, booming in recent years, have yet to see business suffer. But they are bracing for a possible slowdown. Analysts, meanwhile, predict ad agencies offering Internet-targeted services will continue to see that business grow at a slower rate, and will fare better than traditional advertising companies over the coming year. Read more.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Seventeen Bay Area Firms Enter "Best of San Francisco" To Highlight Creative
http://www.marketwatch.com/

The International Advertising Association (IAA) -- West Coast Chapter today announced that 17 Bay Area agencies have entered its "Best of San Francisco Show," to show off their best creative and highlight the talents of their people. The Best of San Francisco Show will take place on October 29, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, at Adobe Systems Incorporated, located at the corner of Townsend and 7th Street. Details and entry forms can be found at www.iaawest.org. Among the firms entering this year are AKQA, buderengle, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, DDB, Doremus, DraftFCB, Duncan/Channon, Eleven Inc., godfrey Q and partners, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Heat, McCann Erickson, Oracle (in-house creative group,) Swirl, The Hive Advertising, Venables Bell & Partners and Y&R. Read more.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Cindy Sheehan Campaign Launches Media Blitz in San Francisco
http://www.marketwatch.com/

Today, the Cindy for Congress Campaign, dedicated to electing Cindy Sheehan to Congress to replace Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), announced a full scale media blitz throughout San Francisco's 8th Congressional District. The campaign confirmed that 360 television ads, 1,243 radio ads and print advertising in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Bay Guardian and The Bay View had all been coordinated to appear with direct mail and door tags distributed to voters throughout San Francisco this week. Read more.

Monday, October 6, 2008
It's Not Always About Ad Pages for Some Magazine Publishers
http://adage.com/

While most magazine publishers continue to depend heavily on print, today at the American Magazine Conference they heard from a panel of publishers that are going well beyond the page. Some 60% of U.S. revenue at IDG Communications, the publisher of titles such as Computerworld and GamePro, comes from outside print, such as MacWorld Expo and other even more narrowly targeted events, said Bob Carrigan, CEO, during a panel about reshaping magazines' model. Read more.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Today’s Lesson: Selling Teenagers on Benefits of Milk
http://commercialfreechildhood.org/

The sponsors and creators of a popular long-running campaign are about to get schooled. Classes at three high schools in California will be spending the next six or seven weeks developing ideas for the “Got milk?” campaign, which is sponsored by the California Milk Processor Board. In a kind of academic version of “The Apprentice,” the classes will function as if they were advertising agencies, responsible for research, strategy, creative concepts, media plans and account management. Read more.

Monday, September 22, 2008
More Advertisers Seek to Block Yahoo-Google Pact
http://www.marketwatch.com/

The World Federation of Advertisers, which says it represents 55 national advertiser associations worldwide, said it has asked the European Commission to block the partnership, which is expected to get under way next month. Although the advertising partnership will only affect Web sites in North America, it is under review by antitrust regulators in Europe and Canada in addition to the Justice Department and several state attorneys general. Read more.

Monday, September 8, 2008
Levi’s, Unbuttoned and Out of the Closet
http://www.nytimes.com/

DECADES ago, networks titled shows for the sponsors that paid the bills, among them “Kraft Music Hall,” “Schlitz Playhouse of Stars,” “Camel News Caravan” and “Colgate Comedy Hour.” Now, a familiar apparel label is teaming up with a cable channel to lend its name to 30 weeks of “unbuttoned” programming. Read more.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Ad targeting based on ISP tracking now in doubt
http://www.sfgate.com/

It sounded like a winning proposition — free money — for Internet access providers. By tracking their subscribers' personal Web surfing habits, they could help deliver ads targeted to the consumers' interests, and claim a share of the burgeoning online advertising market dominated by Internet search companies. But those efforts to sniff out consumers' interests are running into the ditch. A slow-building privacy storm moved in on NebuAd Inc., the Silicon Valley startup that can facilitate the Web tracking. And its potential partners, the Internet service providers, failed to make the case that they should be in the ad business at all, rather than simply being the pipes that pass Internet traffic back and forth. Read more.

Monday, August 25, 2008
America’s Commercials at the Olympics
http://www.nytimes.com/

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Does an Advertiser Know You Clicked on This Story?
http://www.sciam.com/

Monday, August 11, 2008
What Obama Can Teach You About Millennial Marketing
http://adage.com/

Baby boomers and Gen Xers declared mass marketing dead long ago. We live in a world of fragmented media surrounded by cynical consumers who can spot and block an ad message from a mile away. But what Gen Xers and boomers may not realize is that the unabashed embrace of select brands by millennials, from technology to beverages to fashion, has made this decade a true golden era of marketing for those who know what they're doing. And when it comes to marketing, the Barack Obama campaign knows what it's doing. Read more

Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Investors flock to online advertising market
http://www.bizjournals.com

Digital media investors continue to target online advertising as a potential pot of gold, even as a weak economy threatens ad spending. Though many investors say online advertising is oversubscribed, the industry is still growing because of two factors: the massive adoption of high-speed Internet and the migration of dollars away from print and broadcast media. Read more

Monday, July 28, 2008
Ex-Googlers Debut Cuil, A(nother) Anti-Google
http://www.marketingvox.com

A mutiny of ex-Google employees, and one from IBM, launched Cuil ("cool"), a search engine whose name comes from the Gaelic word for "knowledge" and "hazel," reports the BBC. Founders include ex-Googlers Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier; as well as Tom Patterson, who worked on search and storage technologies for IBM. Read more

Monday, July 21, 2008
Goodman Marketing Partners takes a Top International Creative Award at 2008 Summit Creative Awards
http://www.istockanalyst.com/

Goodman Marketing Partners (GMP), a full service marketing company in San Rafael, CA, is a silver winner in the 2008 Summit Creative Awards® competition for its creative work for Autodesk. "We're honored that our work has been selected for inclusion among some of the top creative firms in the world," says Carolyn Goodman, founder, president and creative director of GMP. Read more

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
P&G's chief marketer retires
http://www.sfgate.com/

The marketing chief who directed about $8 billion a year advertising products such as Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste and Gillette shavers is stepping down, the Procter & Gamble Co. said Tuesday. Global marketing officer Jim Stengel, 53, will retire from the company — the nation's biggest advertiser — in October after 25 years. P&G said Marc Pritchard, 48, will take over global marketing on Aug. 1. Pritchard is 26-year company veteran who is currently president for strategy, productivity and growth. He previously was president for global strategy and before that, headed P&G's global cosmetics business. Read more

Monday, July 7, 2008
Big-name brands booking ads on Facebook
http://www.sfgate.com/

Throw a stapler at a Facebook friend, courtesy of Microsoft Office. Become a fan of Victoria's Secret Pink to discuss favorite bra colors. Show off your love for Slim Jim snacks with a virtual poke. With millions of users riveted to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, big-name brands are venturing into the newly charted territory of social media advertising, seeking to unravel the real opportunities from the flurry of hype. Read more

Monday, July 1, 2008
Marketers Join the (Gay Pride) Parade
http://adage.com/

Steve Roth June is Gay Pride month, the kickoff to scores of LGBT Pride parades and festivals across the country. Gay Pride month commemorates the Stonewall Riots that began on June 28, 1969, a pivotal moment in the fight for gay rights. "Pride," as it's known in the gay community, has evolved many times and in many ways since then, and so has the role of corporate America in it. Participating in Pride can be a great marketing tool for many companies, but only if done smartly and as part of a larger, well-integrated marketing communications program. Read more

Monday, June 23, 2008
America Has Spoken: In Google We Trust
http://adage.com/

The most reputable company in America: Google, which toppled Microsoft from the top perch in the 2007 Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient study released today -- and sent it tumbling all the way down to No. 10. But what should be even more eye-opening to the companies rounding out the top 10 -- which include Johnson & Johnson and General Mills -- and the rest of the list is that Google's victory shows that a company that spends nothing on advertising can still be the most positively perceived by consumers. Read more

Monday, June 16, 2008
California Comes Out With a Marketing Niche
http://adage.com/

When California opens its doors to same-sex nuptials this week, it will be a boon for its economy and savvy marketers. The wedding industry pumps billions into the coffers of retailers, hotels, florists, bands and caterers each year, with the average price of wedded bliss now tallying $28,704, according to the Wedding Report. Read more

Friday, June 13, 2008
Bill seeks to turn down sound on TV ads
http://www.sfgate.com/

Fed up with TV ads so loud that they send viewers scrambling to hit mute on their remotes, a Bay Area lawmaker is pushing a new bill that would force federal regulators to ratchet down the volume of commercials. The proposal was introduced this week by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, and it isn't winning her any friends in the broadcasting or advertising industries. But Eshoo's House colleagues are warming to the idea, which could address a daily annoyance for millions of TV viewers. "I've had it with these loud advertisements," said Eshoo, who said she was motivated after being jolted by one too many ear-splitting ads. "If I'm not close to my remote control to push the mute button, it practically blasts you out of the house. It's that annoying. And it's totally unnecessary. Read more

Monday, June 9, 2008
How Agencies Are Helping Their Clients Help the Environment
http://adage.com

What started as a low rumble as marketers began talking about green issues has grown to a rather loud din. And as marketers recognize the best business practices of sustainability, they more frequently turn to their marketing partners for guidance. These are some agencies coast to coast that are helping fuel the green machine. Read more

Monday, June 2, 2008
Even Google Has to Advertise
http://adage.com

Google has built the most powerful brand in the world with nary a bit of brand advertising. But as ads for Google Maps crop up on buses in San Francisco and trains in Chicago, it's clear the company is willing to shell out ad dollars to grow a product that's key to both local and mobile search. The branding push promotes the service's transit features and comes at a time when Google is courting brand advertisers to buy online display ads, TV and radio. Incidentally, its own campaign focuses on the one medium Google hasn't dabbled in selling: outdoor. Read more

Monday, May 26, 2008
Crocs Outfits Young Travelers, Deploys Them Across Globe
http://www.marketingvox.com/

Crocs, Inc. has launched Cities by Foot, a "travel video guide" where young Crocs-wearers record their adventures in six major cities: Aspen, Denver, Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Francisco and Vail. In the style of E! Network's travel show Wild On!, the hosts visit restaurants and other attractions while sharing trivia about the area. Their feet, ensconced in varying pairs of Crocs, enjoy frequent close-ups. Read more

Thursday, May 21, 2008
Nvidia Selects Cutwater
http://www.adweek.com

Nvidia today confirmed that it has hired Omnicom Group's Cutwater for creative and media chores. Estimated billings are $30 million. Derek Perez, director of communications for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based manufacturer of high-tech graphic cards and related technology, said the agency's first work would break in the second half of the year and include both business-to-business and business-to-consumer outreach. Read more

Thursday, May 8, 2008
Goodby, Silverstein agency celebrates 25 years
http://www.sfgate.com

The best advertising tells the truth. But, if truth be told, the 1989 campaign for Skippy dog food had a bit of an assist. As Jeff Goodby, the co-founder of the San Francisco ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, recalls the events, the client that had the Skippy brand at the time, Heinz Pet Foods, believed Skippy looked better than the competition. So the ad people dumped a can of the other stuff into a dish - and left it standing in the shape of a can. The Skippy dog food was arranged in a far more appealing fashion, more like "beautiful beef stew or something," said Goodby. Read more

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Google, Mobile Marketing Association Pursue Differing Ad Standards
http://www.clickz.com

When the Mobile Marketing Association last week issued guidelines for mobile ads, one thing stood out. Four proposed banner ad formats differed in size from Google's mobile image ads, which were shown off publicly for the first time last week. Which begs the question: will the emerging mobile channel suffer from the lack of standard ad formats? Mobile marketing experts contacted by ClickZ News don't think so. Read more

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
"Got Milk" Gets Extreme Web Makeover
http://www.adweek.com

While the California Milk Processor Board's "Got milk" campaign has been a trailblazer offline, the effort has remained decidedly behind the times online. Unlike its cleverly crafted TV spots, GotMilk.com has remained the epitome of "brochureware" -- a site that serves up static information extolling product benefits. The Milk Board hopes to change its staid online image with an overhauled flashy Web site set to launch today. The venue attempts to combine health information and entertainment in a single destination. Read more

Thursday, April 17, 2008
San Francisco Reaches Out to Immigrants
http://www.nytimes.com

The city of San Francisco has started an advertising push with a very specific target market: illegal immigrants. And while the advertisements will come in a bundle of languages -- English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese -- they all carry the same message: you are safe here. In what may be the first such campaign of its kind, the city plans to publish multilanguage brochures and fill the airwaves with advertisements relaying assurance that San Francisco will not report them to federal immigration authorities. Read more

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