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It's not often we get the chance to bring you an ad from Malaysia. Here's a neat little spot from the local Saatchi & Saatchi for Asia's favourite brew Tiger Beer. Two guys call upon their hidden strengths to settle the question of who gets the last bottle.

Jung von Matt's ad for RWE has generated some controversy at home about the German power giant's green credentials. Greenpeace, for example, sponsored a cutting riposte in which the ad is seen playing on a TV in a town devastated by a meltdown at the local nuclear power station (see it here). Oh, well, you can't win 'em all. Anyway, we like the RWE ad just as it is.

Zig of Toronto has produced a couple of surreal spots for Vinta crackers about an ordinary married couple. Ordinary that is if you happen to be a giant-sized human parrot. Weird and funny. We love the fact that he's called Paul. See also the alternate ad, "Car"

And finally, one of three entertaining promos for the Vancouver International Film Festival from that city's TBWA outpost. You know how it is with arthouse movies. They're not for all tastes. We also like this alternate ad, "Sexuality", which we were going to pick for our lead but thought it might be a bit too... strong... Don't worry, it's safe for work. See also "Disturbing". Enjoy.

In the news this past week: Brands & Advertisers

Heads were rolling at Chrysler Group, in a further overhaul of the new Fiat-led management team. Peter Fong and Michael Accavitti, appointed just four months ago as presidents of the Chrysler and Dodge brand businesses respectively, both left the company. At the same time, the Dodge portfolio has been split in two, with the Dodge Ram pickup truck established as a separate operating unit under the management of Fred Diaz. Ralph Gilles was named as president of the rest of the Dodge Car portfolio. Olivier Francois, already president & CEO of Fiat's Lancia marque in Europe, had his brief extended to cover the Chrysler brand as well, suggesting closer ties between those two brands. Francois also assumes worldwide marketing responsibility for the entire Chrysler Group portfolio. Over at General Motors, Mark LaNeve, VP US sales, quit the company to take up an as yet unspecified job outside the auto industry. Previously VP, North American sales, service & marketing since 2005, his role at GM was reduced after the company left Chapter 11 during the summer.

Further consolidation looks likely in the global beer market. Mexico's FEMSA is reported to be planning the sale of its large brewery business, whose brands include Tecate and Dos Equis. It faces stiff competition at home from market leader Modelo, and elsewhere in Latin America from Anheuser-Busch InBev. Instead the group wants to concentrate on its more lucrative soft drinks and convenience store businesses. The most likely purchaser of FEMSA Cerveza would be Heineken, already FEMSA's distribution partner in the US. Failing that, SABMiller would no doubt be keen to expand its own footprint in Latin America, and could offer FEMSA a more powerful distribution partner in the US.

Merger talks between mobile operators MTN of South Africa and Bharti of India were called off for a second time after the two sides failed to resolve the question of how to divide ownership of the resulting business, which would have become the world's 4th largest mobile operator by customer numbers. The companies are thought to have proposed a dual listing on the Johannesburg and Mumbai stock markets, but this arrangement appears to have been vetoed by both the South African and Indian governments, neither of which was prepared to sanction partial sale of their local jewels to foreign investors. Meanwhile, in Brazil, Telefonica issued a bid to acquire local fixed line operator GVT, trumping an offer already made by its European rival Vivendi.

The Obama effect appears to have cancelled out any anger felt by the world's citizens about where the global credit crunch started, allowing the United States to seize the prize as the #1 country brand in the latest instalment of the Anholt-Gfk Roper Nation Brands Index. Last year, in the final days of President Bush, the US ranked a lowly #7. The ranking is compiled from interviews with 20,000 adults from the 20 developed and developing countries. Rounding out the top five were France, Germany, Britain and Japan, followed by in descending order by Italy, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and, in equal 10th place, Spain and Sweden.

Dell will launch its long-rumoured smartphone handset on the AT&T network early next year. The touchscreen mobile will be built around Google's Android operating system. The company already plans to supply handsets to China Mobile, and is also talking to other mobile operators in the US and Europe. Meanwhile Amazon launched an updated version of its Kindle electronic reader that can download books outside the US. Though offered via local Amazon sites to international customers, it is still dispatched from the US-based Amazon.com. As a result, buyers in the UK, for example, will have to pay a heft additional charge in VAT and import customs on top of the $279 list price. Amazon hopes to be able to launch local versions of the reader at some point next year.

Anheuser-Busch InBev sealed a deal to sell its Busch Entertainment theme park division, which includes three Sea World attractions in America, to private equity house Blackstone for $2.7bn. That arrangement cements Blackstone's position as the world's second largest theme park operator after Disney. It already owns Europe's leading operator Merlin Entertainment, which controls an extensive collection including Legoland worldwide, Madame Tussauds, Alton Towers and the London Eye among others in the UK, and Gardaland in Italy.

Procter & Gamble confirmed a full US launch for Rouge, a customer beauty magazine it currently distributes mainly in Canada. The title originally launched in Canada in 2005, but P&G tested a trial distribution to 2m US households last year. Following the success of that test it will now roll out the new issue of magazine to a total of between and 6m and 7m homes in the US.

In the news this past week: Agencies

Brand Republic reports today that WCRS chief executive Will Orr is to leave the agency. He will not be replaced; instead his role will be split between Engine Group CEO Debbie Klein and WCRS managing director Penny Herriman.

Lori Senecal, who left her job as president of McCann New York in the summer, has joined creative boutique Kirshenbaum Bond as a third partner and CEO, adding her name above the door. That firm now trades as Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners.

The week's biggest account switch was the capture by McGarryBowen of creative duties on Pfizer's Viagra drug, out of McCann New York. Billings are around $120m annually. In Europe, GlaxoSmithKline launched a review of advertising for its pharmaceuticals portfolio. OTC consumer healthcare products are not affected. Internet phone company Skype appointed TBWA\London and Rapp to take charge of worldwide creative and CRM respectively. In the UK, the Daily Mail switched its account from The Law Firm to M&C Saatchi (BBH retains duties on the Mail on Sunday). Mother snatched the global account for Reckitt Bencksier's Nurofen analgesic from Euro RSCG. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

In the news this past week: Media

Media giants Comcast and NBC Universal are in discussions to merge their two businesses to create a mammoth new entertainment giant. Comcast is already the biggest cable TV operator in the US, and also owns a growing portfolio of cable streams, including the E! entertainment channel. NBC Universal is already a major force in the cable sector, and also owns one of the leading - though still underperforming - broadcast networks as well as the Universal Studios movie empire. These developments come as NBCU's two owners, majority holder General Electric and 20% partner Vivendi, look for ways to get value out of a business that has been struggling for several years to recapture past glories. In the most likely arrangement, Comcast would acquire a 51% stake in NBCU, buying out Vivendi and reducing GE to a 49% holding. It would build that shareholding over a period of time, eventually buying out GE altogether.

In a separate development, Universal Pictures named Adam Fogelson as its new chairman, replacing Marc Shmuger, and Donna Langley as co-chair, replacing Peter Linde. Fogelson was previously co-president, marketing for the studio; Langley was head of production. Ron Meyer remains president & COO of parent business Universal Studios, with overall responsibility for theme parks as well as movies. Meanwhile, Rich Ross was named as the new executive chairman of Walt Disney Studios, replacing Dick Cook. Ross was previously head of Disney Channel worldwide. He now heads up all the group's movie production and distribution operations. Universal and Disney both need to improve performance at their movie subsidiaries after a run of disappointing releases.

UK commercial broadcaster Five was reported to be considering a dramatic plan to relaunch as a pay-TV operator funded by subscriptions rather than advertising. Currently, the channel broadcasts free-to-air but is suffering from the same sharp falls in advertising revenue that are plaguing competitors Channel 4 and ITV. Meanwhile, in ITV's long-running but increasingly shambolic management succession saga, Sir Crispin Davis, previously the favourite to become non-executive chairman, withdrew from the race. It is thought that he was concerned about the level of personal publicity such a role would entail.

Moving in the opposite direction, London afternoon daily the Evening Standard is to relaunch next week as a free-sheet, with a greatly increased circulation. The paper was acquired last year from Associated Newspapers by Russian media tycoon Alexander Lebedev, apparently for a nominal sum. Lebedev plans to boost circulation from current levels of around 250,000 copies daily to more than 600,000. Editor Geordie Greig pledged to maintain editorial quality.

Conde Nast pulled the plug on four struggling titles from its US magazine portfolio. The most lamented of the set is Gourmet, arguably the world's most prestigious food magazine, which is being shuttered to allow Conde Nast to focus on its more profitable and broader-based stablemate Bon Appetit. Also going are two of the company's three wedding titles, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, and parenting magazine Cookie. Details magazine was spared the axe, but its publisher was replaced.

Last Thursday evening, American chat show host David Letterman confessed live on air to having had several affairs over the years with women from his production team. He explained that the reason for his confession was that a producer from CBS news programme 48 Hours had attempted to blackmail him for $2m with the threat of going public with the story. A media storm ensued, forcing Letterman to apologise this week to his current female production staff for the press speculation to which they have been subjected, and also to his longtime girlfriend, now wife, for his "stupid" behaviour. Letterman and CBS issued a statement that these affairs predated his marriage in March this year.

Reinhard Mohn, creator of the Bertelsmann media empire, died last weekend at the age of 88. In the years following the Second World War he transformed a small publishing concern originally established by his great-great-grandfather into a extensive media empire, spanning book and newspaper publishing, television and music. He retired from the group's board in the 1990s, passing supervisory control to his wife, Liz Mohn. The family still retains almost full control over the group.

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

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