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.

It will be interesting to see what happens to General Motors' advertising over the coming months. The GM board has been meeting this week to discuss, among other things, a new marketing campaign destined to break over the weekend. Much has been said about a return to old-fashioned "just give 'em the facts" spots instead of sexier mood-pieces, and one ad is understood to feature company chairman Ed Whitacre in a direct plea to the American public to take another look at the company's models. Not encouraging. And look what we'd be giving up. Here's a lovely little film by Modernista for the new Cadillac CTS which - to my mind - does a much better job of "selling" the car than a to-camera address by a 60-something businessman.

Videogame fandom has been in throes of ecstasy over the new spot for Halo 3: ODST, the new release in the long-running Xbox games franchise. We're not surprised. The film, by McCann's TAG unit in San Francisco is a knockout, emotional, exciting and extraordinarily cinematic, even if blasting aliens isn't really your kind of thing. Makes an interesting counterpoint to the trailer which broke last month for James Cameron's much-hyped Avatar movie. By the look of the trailer, that's a movie that looks like a slightly crap videogame. This on the other hand is a videogame that looks like it would have made one hell of a cool movie.

Hmmm. The new British Airways campaign. I'm really not sure about this. There are two spots breaking this week, one for Mumbai Fashion Week, and the other for the great Wildebeest migration through the plains of the Serengeti (see it here). Well, neither is going to persuade this particular customer to snap up a ticket, I can tell you. It's all very picturesque to be sure, but the ads say nothing at all about British Airways that doesn't apply to everyone of 100 other airlines which fly to the same destinations. Rethink needed urgently please BBH.

And finally, a haunting spot to promote the top secret new Mini Roadster launch from Mini, to be unveiled at Frankfurt's IAA motor show next week. The agency is, we think, local shop Plantage. Prepare to be surprised.

In the news this past week: Advertisers

The week's two biggest business stories were both UK-based. The first was the news that Kraft had offered to acquire the British confectionery group Cadbury for around £10.2bn in cash and stock. Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld flew in late last month to deliver the proposal in person to her opposite number at Cadbury, Todd Stitzer. The price represented a handsome 30%-plus premium to Cadbury's share price at the time but was almost immediately rejected by the latter's board as being too low. Piqued by the rejection, Kraft this week decided to make the news of its offer public. The US company is expected ultimately to return with an improved bid, but its first step has been to argue the case for the existing offer. It could also face competition. Cadbury's share price jumped by more than 40% this week in anticipation of a bidding war. US group Hershey, long considered to be an ideal partner for Cadbury, is not expected to watch the world's last potentially available major confectioner get acquired by a rival without putting up some sort of fight. However, it is much smaller than Kraft by market value and would find significant difficulty in raising the cash to fund a higher bid. Nestlé too may choose to join the fray, although that combination would create serious regulatory problems, especially in the UK. As a result, several commentators have now begun to suggest that no rival offer will materialise unless it involves Nestlé and Hershey teaming up to divide the business between them. Despite is strength in other foods, Kraft is currently the smallest of the world's big five confectioners, with brands including Toblerone and Milka. However, a merged group would have a combined 14.8% share of the global confectionery market, putting it at level pegging with Mars following its acquisition of Wrigley.

A day later came news of the agreed merger of the UK operations of mobile companies Orange and T-Mobile, currently the #3 and #4 in a crowded market. T-Mobile's owner Deutsche Telekom has been under pressure for some time to counter flagging domestic performance. It had initially considered a swap of its ailing UK business for a more dynamic operator in its heartland of Central & Eastern Europe, and opened talks with Vodafone and Telefonica O2 as well as Orange. However the deal it has agreed with Orange parent France Telecom is arguably more appealing. Structured as a 50:50 joint venture, the merged Orange/T-Mobile would leapfrog both O2 and Vodafone to become the UK's #1 service with around 28m customers and 37% market share. The groups estimate potential cost-savings of up to E4bn. Combined revenues are likely to top E10bn this year. The two brands will operate separately for at least 18 months following completion, but are then likely to be combined. Orange's Tom Alexander was named as CEO of the merged business, with T-Mobile's Richard Moat as COO. Orange's main rival in France, SFR, is also intent on building its global profile. Parent group Vivendi offered this week to acquire Brazilian fixed line and broadband operator GVT for around E2bn.

Also in France, one of Cadbury's former satellites Orangina Schweppes has opened talks with Japanese group Suntory. Currently Orangina is owned by private equity groups Blackstone and Lion Capital, who acquired the business in 2006 in one of the earlier stages of the break-up of Cadbury's global drinks business. The British group had originally negotiated to sell the business to Coca-Cola, but that deal was blocked by regulators. The acquisition of Orangina Schweppes by Suntory, which is itself also in merger discussions with local rival Kirin, would lead to a significantly enhanced global profile for the Japanese drinks group. Orangina Schweppes had sales of around E1.1bn last year.

Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs made his first public appearance since he received a liver transplant earlier this year. He received a standing ovation when he stepped up onstage at an Apple technology event in San Francisco. Dressed as usual in black turtleneck sweater and jeans, Jobs looked thin and his voice sounded raspy, but he was energetic and enthusiastic. "I'm very happy to be here with you all," he told the audience, and voiced his appreciation to anyone who agrees to be an organ donor. His own new liver, he said, came from a 20-something adult who had died in a car accident. "I wouldn't be here without such generosity," he said. "So I'm vertical, I'm back at Apple, and I'm loving every day of it." He went on to present a selection of new Apple products, including a version of the iPod Nano with built-in video camera, and updated iTunes software which will also offer low-cost ringtones and download lyrics and additional artwork for albums purchased on the site.

Brewer Carlsberg renewed its sponsorship partnership with the UK's Football Association for a further four years. The agreement, which began in 1995, will now run until the end of July 2014. As a result, Carlsberg remains the "official beer" of the England football team and of the FA Cup tournament, and also has exclusive pouring rights at the new Wembley Stadium. The renewal was well-timed. Yesterday, the England team secured its place in next year's World Cup finals with a definitive victory over Croatia, raising hopes of a strong performance in South Africa.

In the news this past week: Agencies

Marketing services group Havas announced a further layer of management in its home market of France. Laurent Habib, already president of corporate advertising unit Euro RSCG C&O, was also appointed to an additional role as managing director of Havas France, coordinating the group's numerous operating units in that country.

Amsterdam Worldwide, the Dutch indie that was the original core of the Strawberry Frog boutique agency, was awarded the brief to launch Opel's new Meriva passenger car across Europe. The agency was already on the GM roster, but this represents its biggest project to-date for the car giant. Meanwhile, AdAge reported that Chrysler has approached a number of other agencies beyond long-time AOR BBDO to pitch for a new creative brief. Crispin Porter & Bogusky - now car-less following the departure of Volkswagen - Grey and Publicis & Hal Riney are among the shops contacted. In the UK, Grey London was reported by Brand Republic to be working on a new "top secret" European brief for Honda. Honda's main UK agency is Wieden & Kennedy.

In other account assignments, US detergent company Sun Products appointed Merkley & Partners to handle creative for lead brand All, acquired from Unilever last year. Sun's Wisk and Snuggle remain with Lowe New York, and media for all brands is currently under review. Verizon spurned agency of record McCann to hand a brief for its new HTC Android handset to its previous creative shop McGarrybowen. Insurance group Aviva has called a review of global media, currently split between several local shops including OMD in the UK. Mediaedge:cia won the consolidated media business for Lloyds Banking Group. Also in the UK, Reckitt Benckiser put creative for its Nurofen analgesic up for review in the UK, in a pitch between longtime incumbent Euro RSCG and Mother; Unilever dropped Lowe London from its Peperami meat snack brand and is asking consumers to contribute a user-generated campaign for the product. Also London's leading museums, including the Tate, British Museum and Natural History Museum, have teamed up to call a bulk review of their media, currently split between several agencies including Total Media and Initiative. It's thought to be the first time the separate institutions have acted in concert to coordinate their marketing. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

In the news this past week: Media

A Chicago businessman has offered to buy the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper for just $5m, and would also assume $20m of the company liabilities. Both big Chicago dailies, the Sun-Times and its larger rival the Tribune, are currently in bankruptcy protection. The Sun-Times has been put up for auction this week and this offer from a consortium led by investor Jim Tyree could be the only one on the table. Like most US newspapers, the Sun-Times has seen advertising revenue melt away over the past 12 months, and it is also still suffering from the after-effects of ownership by convicted fraudster Conrad Black, jailed in 2007 for bleeding cash from what was then the Hollinger International media group. The Sun-Times has posted operating losses each year since 2003, but it was also recently hit with a whopping $600m tax bill, which proved the spur towards its Chapter 11 filing. The group hopes to dispose of the tax charge in the bankruptcy court and emerge leaner and better able to cope with the harsh economic climate. A similar process is underway in Philadelphia, another city whose two major papers, the Inquirer and Daily News, are also in bankruptcy protection. A court will decide on Monday whether to put these papers up for auction as well. In the mean time, current publisher Brian Tierney is wrestling is persuade creditors to accept a heavily discounted payout on their debts in order to avoid a forced sale.

According to the Financial Times, UK terrestrial broadcaster ITV offered the role of chief executive last week to former Sky chief Tony Ball, but has not yet been able to agree terms and conditions. ITV is to some extent over a barrel. The board's first choice, HMV boss Simon Fox, declined the role and two other names on the shortlist drawn up by headhunters were deemed insufficiently appealing to shareholders. However, Ball's appointment could prove controversial. One of his supporters told the FT that, provided a deal can be agreed, Ball would initiate "not a turnround, but a reinvention" of the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster.

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.