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.

Chanel this week unveiled its lavish new ad for Chanel No 5 fragrance. It doesn't have quite the same epic production values as that last film with Nicole Kidman but is, we think, more emotionally effective. In a neat bit of reciprocity, it stars French actress Audrey Tautou, who also plays Mademoiselle herself in the new biographical movie Coco Avant Chanel, opening this week in France and elsewhere. The new ad comes in two sizes, this extended version as well as a shorter 60-second spot. The director is Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, Alien Resurrection), who developed the project with Chanel through his production company Tapioca Films.

Fancy seeing Queen Elizabeth and Abraham Lincoln doing the wild thing? Here's your chance, in a brilliantly conceived and realised animation for German investment manager Bontrust, produced by Optix Digital of Hamburg. You know what? We rank this as one of the most original ads we've seen so far this year. There's a content warning, though, just in case you get offended by seeing banknotes having sex...

We return to the admirably named Adler Chomsky & Warshavsky agency of Israel for another lovely spot for local mobile operator Pelephone. We featured a similarly oddball ad from them a couple of months ago, and this provides a fitting sequel.

And finally, Coca-Cola continues its barrage of new advertising with a cute new spot from Mother London, which really hits that summer spot. A nice little ad which should leave you with a big warm smile on your face. The music is by Calvin Harris, by the way. 

In the news this past week: Advertisers

Having secured the US government's support for his proposed partnership with Chrysler in the US last week, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne transferred his attentions to the European operations of GM. Over the weekend, Fiat's board confirmed that it has authorised Marchionne to try and negotiate a merger of the Italian company's existing automotive operations with GM's Opel and Vauxhall divisions. That brilliant but ambitious plan could create a new global auto giant with revenues in excess of E80bn a year. Fiat's current output of around 2.2m cars a year would be boosted to more than 5.5m. However, significant obstacles remain, not least opposition from labour unions in Germany, Italy and the UK. Marchionne's plans envisage the closure of at least one of Opel's four factories in Germany, as well as others across Europe, and come just before the German presidential elections due this September. Fiat also faces rival bidders for GM Europe, including Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna and Russian carmaker Gaz. 

Meanwhile, a group of hedge funds and private equity investors this week tried to launch a legal challenge in the US against the proposed restructuring of Chrysler which would transfer ownership of a slimmed down business to the UAW labour union and Fiat. These are mostly the same Chrysler bondholders who precipitated the company's bankruptcy last week by rejecting a government offer to buy out their debts at a discount. They still believe they would get more value from breaking the business up. However, in an acknowledgement of just how unpopular these hedge fund managers have become, they initially refused to identify themselves in court. Their lawyer told the judge presiding over Chrysler's bankruptcy that his clients had already received death threats because of their intransigence. That claim was rejected by the court, which also gave its endorsement to the government's handling of the Chrysler situation to-date.

In Germany, Porsche and Volkswagen agreed to merge to create a single group, in a move which aims to resolve the growing friction between different members of the family which now controls both companies. Porsche has steadily increased its influence over its very much larger rival since 2005, building a 51% shareholding by the beginning of this year. However, the relationship has been complicated by tension between Wolfgang Porsche, chairman of the sportscar company, and his cousin Ferdinand Piech, chairman of Volkswagen. Although both men benefit significantly from the steady integration of the two companies, they have in effect fallen out over who gets to be the senior partner. Porsche envisaged a takeover of Volkswagen by his company; Piech saw it the other way around. The situation has been complicated by numerous other factors, such as the huge debt Porsche has accumulated in its steady acquisition of VW shares, and the veto held by the larger company's unions and local government shareholders over any restructuring. This has persuaded the two family factions to call a truce. The structure of the merged group is to be determined by an independent committee which will include representatives from all the different interested parties.

Several US lenders are under pressure again this week as a result of the "stress tests" being conducted by the Treasury on their balance sheets to see how secure they are financially. Full details are expected later today, but at least seven of the leading banks were told they must raise more money. According to advance reports, Bank of America was instructed to generate an additional $34bn - around half its current market value - to shore up its reserves. Among the various options under consideration are the sale of assets, including a large block of shares in China Construction Bank. Otherwise BofA will have to go back to the government for more cash. Wells Fargo was also on the blacklist, needing another $13bn to $15bn. Others include GMAC, Citi and Morgan Stanley. Sitting on the other side of the fence are JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, American Express and Capital One, all of whom seem to have cleared the stress test without fault. Despite the warning issued to several of the banks, the whole group experienced a sharp increase in their share prices, even BofA. Investors see the whole stress test process as a clear sign that the market has reached bottom and is now ready for an upturn.

McDonalds launched a frontal assault on Starbucks in the US this week with a huge marketing campaign to support the roll-out across America of its McCafé coffee bar concept. Virtually all existing McDonalds have begun selling a range of competitively priced premium coffees, frappés and related beverages. The McCafé concept has already proved a huge success in several other countries, especially Australia and Germany. 

Telecoms group Carphone Warehouse is reported to be close to a deal to acquire the UK operations of struggling ISP Tiscali for around £250m. If that deal is concluded Carphone will overtake Virgin Media as the country's #2 broadband supplier with a combined total of around 4.6m subscribers. BT remains the local market leader.

SC Johnson is said to be considering the sale of its small shaving products portfolio which houses the Skintimate and Edge brands. The most likely buyer would be the world's #2 shaving business, Schick Wilkinson Sword. 

British smoothie company Innocent has cancelled its annual summer festival and vowed to use the funds it saves on more traditional marketing. It has sponsored an annual event in London's Regent's Park for the last six years, initially as a free music festival under the name Fruitstock. At its peak, the event attracted well over 100,000 visitors. Last year's Village Fete event, however, saw a sharp drop in numbers as a result of bad weather and a nominal entrance fee.

In the news this past week: Agencies

Chrysler's bankruptcy has had a significant impact on its main agency, BBDO. According to the carmaker's Chapter 11 filing, it currently owes the Omnicom-owned network a little over $58m. Just how much - if any - of that sum the agency will get back depends on Chrysler's bankruptcy court. If BBDO is ruled to be a critical vendor, it might be able to claim back around a third of the total from the US Treasury's ongoing funding package. Meanwhile, the damage to rival Interpublic from what is now a widely anticipated bankruptcy for General Motors will be even higher. In a conference call, IPG's CFO told investors that its McCann, Campbell-Ewald and Deutsch agencies are on the hook for around $150m in total. Publicis Groupe, which manages media for GM through its Starcom MediaVest division is thought to be sitting on an additional $100m or so of debts.

One of the best-known figures in America's Hispanic marketing segment is to launch her own agency later this year. Jackie Bird was the head of Grey's Hispanic agency Wing Latino for almost 20 years until her retirement last year. According to Ad Age, she plans to launch her new shop, Redbean Society, this summer, targeting the female Latin market.

In account assignments, Lowe was handed global creative duties for telecoms giant Ericsson. Lowe Brindfors of Sweden is overseeing the account, supported by local Lowe shops in the key markets of Brazil, India and China. OMD captured the consolidated media account for Sony Playstation, covering Europe, Australia and other territories. UPS called a review of all advertising, marketing and media outside North America, currently managed by McCann Worldgroup. In the US, Mars consolidated media for its recently acquired Wrigley's division with MediaVest, out of Mindshare. Wieden & Kennedy took over creative for Delta Airlines, from Digitas. McKinney picked up creative for Nationwide financial services. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

In the news this past week: Media

The Walt Disney Company agreed to become the third main partner in Hulu.com, the online video service launched two years ago by NBC Universal and News Corp's Fox. Disney's ABC division acquired an equal shareholding in the business for an unspecified sum, and is also committing additional cash towards marketing. As a result, ABC's Lost, Grey's Anatomy and other shows will be available through Hulu from the summer, along with back catalogue material. However, the deal excludes Disney's cable shows such as Hannah Montana and High School Musical. Hulu has also agreed a deal with European content owners Endemol and Digital Rights Group, who will supply a large collection of their own programming for distribution via Hulu. Titles will include British comedy series Green Wing, Peep Show and Doc Martin, none of which have been seen before in the US. There are hopes that this agreement will also lead to the rollout of the Hulu service in other markets. 

The arrival of former Google exec Tim Armstrong as CEO of AOL has led to yet another change at the top of the online company's Platform A advertising network. Armstrong has appointed a former colleague from Google, Jeff Levick as Platform A's president & CEO. That role has already earned a reputation as the least stable in the industry. Incredibly, when he joins in the summer, Levick will become AOL's 4th head of ad sales in less than two years, and the 9th since 2001. He replaces Greg Coleman, who only took up the job in February this year. Coleman himself succeeded Lynda Clarizio (appointed March 2008) and Curt Viebranz (from November 2007).

Toymaker Hasbro is getting into the TV business. It has paid around $300m for a 50% holding in the Discovery Kids cable channel, which now becomes a joint venture with Discovery Communications. The two companies will begin developing broadcast content based on Hasbro's toy and game brands, including Romper Room, Tonka, GI Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony. This is expected to begin airing sometime in 2010, at which point the channel will rebrand to reflect its new ownership structure. In the mean time, in the wake of the huge success of the Transformers movie, Hasbro has also been pushing ahead with movie spin-offs from its products. A second Transformers feature debuts this summer along with a movie based on the GI Joe character.

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.