Please note: If you are attempting to view these ads shortly after receiving this mailout on a Thursday, you may find that the video streams run slowly because of heavy simultaneous demand from other Adbrands subscribers who have also just received the same email. Please wait for the ads to load before pressing play, or try again later. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Yahoo's new $100m worldwide advertising campaign broke this week, featuring as its centrepiece this rather appealing spot from Ogilvy New York. I'm not sure whether Yahoo's reinvention under new CEO Carol Bartz will really take off, but this attractive little ad certainly gives it a decent chance.

Saatchi & Saatchi Australia is behind this brilliant viral film promoting Toyota's rugged light trucks. This is a country for hard men only, and nothing soft gets in. Manbags? Croissants? Metrosexuals? Nah, mate, we don't want them.

BETC Euro RSCG in Paris comes up trumps once again with another classic ad for pay-TV channel Canal+, here promoting its talent for original content. A really excellent idea, well executed, with inimitable Gallic style. Wonderful.

And finally, a lovely piece of animation conceived by Ogilvy Argentina for Coke Zero, in which the no-cal soda successfully transforms a bleak medieval world into a truly happy kingdom.

In the news this past week: Advertisers

Unilever consolidated its position in the cleansing and deodorants categories by agreeing to acquire the personal care division of US company Sara Lee. As a result, Unilever will add to its collection a broad portfolio of European bath and deodorant products including Sanex, Duschdas and Radox, as well as Brylcreem hair styling products and Zendium toothpaste. Purchase price is E1.275bn, for a portfolio with combined sales of around E750m a year. Sara Lee is also seeking a buyer for its household products division, which includes worldwide brands such as Ambi-Pur air fresheners and Kiwi shoecare.

General Motors' Saturn automobile business faces almost certain closure following the collapse of a rescue plan agreed over the summer with dealership group Penske Automotive. Penske had offered to acquire the Saturn brand, but not its manufacturing plants. Instead, the company intended to outsource production, initially to GM for two years, and then to Renault of France. However, Penske and Renault have been unable to agree terms for this arrangement, forcing the dealership group to abandon its plans for Saturn. As a result GM said that it will immediately begin the process of winding up the business.

British Airways is to begin charging economy and club class customers for the right to reserve specific seats on all flights. The charge for domestic and short-haul flights starts at £10 for economy, rising to £60 per seat for Club World. The charges will take effect from next week. BA needs to find new ways of generating revenues to make up for a dramatic plunge in profits. It is also considering the sale of ad space on boarding cards.

According to figures from the IAB and Pricewaterhousecoopers, internet advertising expenditure in the UK overtook TV for the first time ever in the first six months of 2009. Digital was the only medium to demonstrate growth, with total spend for the half of £1.75bn, up almost 5%. By comparison, TV adspend is estimated to have fallen by more than 16% to around £1.65bn. The total market was worth £7.5bn, down almost 17%. As a result, digital advertising now accounts for 23.5% of the total market, compared to 21.9% for television. However, despite sharp declines, press still constitutes the single largest medium, with a total 29.5% share of the market, split between display and classified.

UK regulators gave Kraft six weeks to submit a formal offer for British confectioner Cadbury or walk away. The American company is widely expected to return with a slightly more attractive bid. However, Cadbury shareholders would be wise not to hold out for a big improvement in terms. A rival offer from Hershey or Nestle looks increasingly unlikely, and many of Kraft's own shareholders, including legendary investor Warren Buffett, have said that the US food group should hold firm to its original offer.

Kenneth Lewis is to retire as CEO and president of Bank of America before the end of the year, and will also resign as a director. Over the past decade, Lewis transformed what was originally a small regional lender into the country's biggest financial institution by assets. But his acquisitions of troubled mortgage lender Countrywide and failing investment manager Merrill Lynch proved controversial, and BofA is still struggling to deal with huge losses on consumer loans and poor investments inherited with those purchases. In a statement, Lewis said the decision to retire was his and his alone. Friends suggested that he was fed up with the criticism that has dogged him since the Merrill Lynch takeover.

Mobile service O2's exclusive two-year hold on the iPhone in the UK is to come to an end next month. Both Orange and Vodafone are understood to have negotiated terms with Apple to make the handset available to their customers. Orange will be able to offer the phone to customers before Christmas; Vodafone will have rights to market the iPhone from early 2010.

Meanwhile, Orange's parent company France Telecom was the subject of worrying domestic headlines following the suicide of a 51-year-old executive, who became the 24th employee of the company to have ended his life in just 18 months. Unions and some opposition politicians blamed the company's recent restructuring programme for creating undue stress among staff, and called for the resignation of CEO Didier Lombard. The group's supporters were quick to point out that, though tragic and senseless, the number of suicides was more or less in line with France's national average, which is the highest in Western Europe. Nevertheless France Telecom vowed to introduce new measures to help staff deal with the pressures of work.

England's Football League is looking for a new title sponsor after failing to agree terms for a renewal of its arrangement with Coca-Cola, which has been in place for six years. The current arrangement will end at the close of the current season in Spring 2010.

Donald Fisher, founder of the Gap clothing empire, died this week at the age of 81 after a battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife and co-founder Doris, and three sons. 

In the continuing consolidation of the global pharmaceutical industry, US group Abbott Laboratories announced that it would buy the drug division of Belgian conglomerate Solvay, with whom its already co-markets several products. The price-tag is around E4.8bn. Solvay's pharmaceuticals arm had revenues of E2.7bn in 2008. The deal is intended to expand Abbott's footprint in Europe, and also reduce its reliance on top-selling product Humira. Separately, Johnson & Johnson took an 18% shareholding in Crucell, a Dutch biotech company which hopes to develop a vaccine that will counter all future strains of influenza by targeting a small strand within the virus structure that does not naturally mutate.

In the news this past week: Agencies

Omnicom announced the creation of Omnicom Digital, an umbrella company which will coordinate the group's various interactive subsidiaries, which include Organic, Agency.com and Critical Mass, as well as units of the Rapp, Tequila and Proximity networks. Organic's founder and chairman Jonathan Nelson was named as CEO of the new entity.

In account assignments, Crispin Porter & Bogusky had a great week, collecting full creative responsibility for the Gap account (out of Laird + Partners), as well as Diageo's Jose Cuervo tequila (from JWT). Carlsberg was said to have kicked off a review of European media, as has fashion group Burberry. Breadmaker Warburtons appointed RKCR/Y&R. Chrysler handed a brief for its new Dodge Ram truck to Richards Group. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

In the news this past week: Media

The management succession plan at the UK's main commercial broadcaster ITV was left in tatters following the company's decision to end talks with prospective chief executive Tony Ball. After several weeks of negotiation with the former Sky boss, ITV's board felt unable to accommodate Ball's demands for a salary and benefits package worth a reported £30m over five years. Ball was the sole remaining candidate for the role. Of the three other executives short-listed by headhunters, two failed to win the approval of the board, and the third, HMV chief Simon Fox, turned the job down. In an additional and potentially even more damaging development, the company said that executive chairman Michael Grade would no longer stay on in a non-executive role, and that he too would leave as soon as his successor could be found. As a result, the company's two most senior positions are both effectively vacant. ITV's board will now focus its attention on appointing a new chairman, whose first job will be to restart the search for a chief executive. Former Reed Elsevier chief executive Sir Crispin Davis and former Channel 4 and BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop are among the favourites for the chairman role.

Andy Brent, group marketing director for UK pay-TV operator BSkyB, has left the company after just 12 months. No further details were forthcoming, but Sky enjoyed one of its most productive years on Brent's watch, with subscriber numbers jumping by close to half a million. His duties are being managed by brand marketing director Robert Tansey until a replacement has been confirmed.

As always, if you haven't already done so, please confirm your subscription to the free Adbrands Weekly Update by clicking here or on the link at the foot of this email. Thank you for your assistance! 

Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands

Forwarding this email to colleagues? No problem at all. The more the merrier as far as we're concerned. But we're also very happy to take that responsibility off your hands if you'd prefer it. Just drop us a line by return email with the addresses of your colleagues and we'll add them to our list. There's no charge, and don't worry, we won't send them anything else.