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Our favourite ads this week: 

A selection of great ads this week. The new spot for Smirnoff (top left) from JWT is a stunner, only loosely connected with vodka (at least to these eyes) but a remarkable piece of epic film-making and CGI. 

Mother New York has unveiled two gorgeous new ads for Dell's "Colors" range of laptops which herald a new (long overdue) era in PC design. This one (top right) is bright and colourful - but see also the retro new-wave "Engine" ad complete with Devo backing track). 

How can anyone not love this tie-up between Burger King and The Simpsons Movie (bottom left), in which Homer messes up an ad for the new Whopper? Crispin Porter & Bogusky are partly responsible along with the Simpsons animation team. 

Finally, this great ad (bottom right) by BBDO New York for Cingular - dating back a few months to before the mobile service rebranded as the AT&T Mobility - is one of seven spots up for a commercials Emmy. (BBDO won last year for Fedex "Caveman", and also has two other spots nominated this year). Just like life in my household!

In the news this past two weeks: Advertisers & Media

After three months of tense negotiation, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has succeeded in acquiring publishing group Dow Jones and its flagship title The Wall Street Journal. News' $5.6bn offer had already been accepted by the Dow Jones board but still faced opposition from the controlling Bancroft family. The family's holdings are widely spread between more than 130 separate individuals, but together amount to more than 62% of Dow Jones' voting equity. By Tuesday night, more than half the family shareholders had pledged their support for the News offer, giving Murdoch a comfortable majority.

Octogenarian media mogul Sumner Redstone, executive chairman of Viacom and CBS Corporation, appears to have crossed another name off his Christmas card list. This one is arguably the most significant to-date: his daughter Shari, also until now his likely successor in the family business. Shari Redstone is currently vice chairman of both CBS and Viacom, as well as president of National Amusements, the privately owned family company which controls both media groups as well as a worldwide cinema chain. However according to press reports, she and her somewhat cantankerous father have argued over plans for succession. Apparently, Sumner Redstone was angered by Shari's assumption that she would automatically replace her father as chairman upon his death. The row appears to have been so severe that lawyers are negotiating for Shari's departure from all three family-controlled companies, as well as the repurchase of her 20% holding in National Amusements. Redstone's son Brent is already out. Sumner bought back his shares at the beginning of this year after Brent sued his dad for trying to shut him out of the family business. The elderly investor has a long history of falling out with senior colleagues, most recently Viacom CEO Tom Freston, sacked in 2006. Earlier that year, Redstone also issued unprecedented public criticism of superstar actor Tom Cruise, whose erratic behaviour he blamed for the comparatively disappointing performance of the third Mission:Impossible movie, released by Viacom's Paramount division.

The cable segment of US TV buying season "upfront" wrapped up two weeks ago, showing a similar improvement to that already demonstrated by the main broadcast networks. Total advance sales for the cable networks weighed in at around $6.9bn, up around 6% on last year's $6.5bn. The big five broadcast networks pre-sold inventory worth around $9.1bn, up around 5%. 

General Motors regained its position as the world's biggest carmaker in the second quarter, having lost that title in the  three months from January to March - for the first time in 75 years - to rival Toyota. GM's April-June sales were 2.4m vehicles, while Toyota's were 2.36m. However the latter remains narrowly ahead for the full half-year, and is expected to hold that lead for the year as a whole, predicting unit sales to December totalling 9.34m, above GM's 9.2m. Meanwhile, Ford appears to have changed its mind regarding the future of Volvo. The auto giant is already involved in negotiations to sell its Land Rover and Jaguar brands, but originally said it would hold onto the Swedish marque. That decision is now likely to be reversed, with BMW identified as one possible buyer for Volvo.

Energizer Holdings, which owns a broad portfolio including Energizer batteries and Schick/Wilkinson Sword shaving products agreed to acquire Playtex Products for around $1.2bn. Although its name is most widely associated with women's underwear, Playtex bras and panties were sold several years ago. Instead Playtex Products specialises in personal care products including Playtex tampons and diapers, and Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic sun care. The purchase opens a new front in Energizer's battle with main competitor Procter & Gamble. Meanwhile, US pancake restaurant chain IHOP has acquired casual dining rival Applebee's for $2.1bn, and billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, who owns the Arby's chain, has said he is ready to launch a bid for #3 hamburger business Wendy's.

According to press reports, Nestle and PepsiCo also held meetings earlier this year to discuss a merger. Apparently, the discussions were instigated by PepsiCo, but Nestle pulled out over concerns that Pepsi's portfolio of carbonated beverages and salty snacks was at odds with its own emphasis on healthy eating. Franco-Spanish tobacco group Altadis, whose brands include Gauloises, Gitanes and Ducados, agreed to a E13bn takeover by Imperial Tobacco of the UK. The latter is best-known for its Lambert & Butler and John Player Special brands. 

British media group EMAP has appointed bankers to investigate a possible sale or break-up of the whole group. The company is the UK's largest consumer and business magazine publisher and also has an extensive presence in radio, but has been struggling for several years to recover from the after-effects of an over-ambitious expansion into the US and France. Private equity group Apax was among the first confirmed bidders, offering £1.3bn for EMAP's business communications division. Meanwhile Carlyle private equity offered up to $10bn for UK cable operator Virgin Media. That bid seems to have prompted US media tycoon John Malone also to throw his hat into the ring, although his Liberty Media vehicle has yet to make a formal offer. Rubbing salt into its wounds, Virgin's main UK rival Sky unveiled resilient annual results despite the bitter PR war over the Sky free-to-air channels. The Murdoch-controlled company also announced a £125m agreed acquisition of Amstrad, the former UK computer pioneer whose biggest business is now to make set-top boxes for Sky.

Finally, the US Securities & Exchange Commission opened an informal investigation into the online postings of John Mackey, CEO of publicly quoted organic foods retailer Whole Foods Markets. From 1999 until last year, Mackey used the pseudonym "Rahodeb" to contribute to various online forums including Yahoo Finance, posing as an ordinary investor. In this guise, Mackey lavished praise on the performance of his own company, while also knocking rival Wild Oats Markets. On several occasions, he sought to boost Whole Foods' share price, while also attacking its rival's as over-rated. "Rahodeb" claimed that Wild Oats' management didn't know what they were doing and that the company had no future. Yet earlier this year, Whole Foods agreed to acquire Wild Oats for a handsome $565m. Mackey also used his alter ego to deflect personal criticism. Responding to another forum user's jibes at his photo in Whole Foods' annual report, Mackey - under his pseudonym - responded: "I like Mackey's haircut. I think he looks cute!"

In the news this past two weeks: Agencies

Publicis Group is effectively to merge its Saatchi & Saatchi and Fallon advertising brands, in an attempt to fix localised but contrasting problems in the US and UK. Fallon's US flagship has suffered a string of account losses since 2004, despite repeated changes of senior creative management. However its London office has enjoyed a spectacular run of success. By contrast, Saatchi's London office is struggling to find a replacement for CEO Lee Daley, who left in the Spring, and also recently lost its flagship Toyota account. However, its US office is in boisterous good health. By aligning the two brands, Publicis hopes to match Fallon's strength in London with Saatchi's local weakness, while bolstering Fallon US with the creative resources of Saatchi New York. Both brands will continue - for the time being at least - to operate separately. However the combined business will be known as SSF Group, and will be led by Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts. Pat Fallon remains chairman of Fallon, but will now report to Roberts, rather than Publicis Group managers. He will effectively retire at the end of 2007, taking on instead the title of chairman emeritus. In Europe, Fallon London's managing partner Robert Senior becomes chief executive of SSF Group UK.

Meanwhile, Campaign magazine reported that Publicis Group management was attempting to persuade Matthew Freud to take on the role of CEO of Publicis UK, also currently without a leader. Freud is the founder of PR group Freud Communications, of which Publicis Group acquired majority control in 2005. Publicis was also linked to a possible bid to acquire multi-national guerrilla marketing agency StrawberryFrog, although discussions were said to have stalled. Ad Age reported that the Amsterdam-based shop had been talking to possible buyers, although Frog's CEO Scott Goodson denied the business is for sale. Publicis also extended the footprint of its Digitas digital marketing subsidiary. Following the purchase in June of France's Business Interactif, the group has also acquired acquired China's largest independent interactive marketing agency, Communication Central Group. This new subsidiary becomes Digitas Greater China.

There was a big sigh of relief at Interpublic following the news that the marketing group's Universal McCann subsidiary had retained media duties in the US and Canada for Johnson & Johnson. A loss could have been catastrophic, and in fact IPG added to its business by taking over J&J's US print buying, previously handled by Omnicom's OMD, as well as overall responsibility for Japan. However the group lost virtually all other worldwide media, much of it previously handled by IPG's Initiative. Carat was the main winner in Europe, while OMD added Latin America and much of Asia. J&J also formally split out a brief for communications planning in the US, which is being shared between independent agency Naked, JWT (which handles several of J&J's consumer healthcare brands) and a new Interpublic unit, Sandbox, comprising senior planners from Universal McCann, Initiative, R/GA and Momentum. 

In other assignment news, Crispin Porter & Bogusky muscled onto Ogilvy & Mather's turf by winning a creative brief for long-time Ogilvy client American Express. CPB will take over the account for American Express Open, a card service for small businesses, said to be worth around $100m in billings. Unilever is said to have launched a global review of its worldwide ice cream business, asking group roster agencies DDB and Lowe to join the pitch against incumbent McCann Erickson. Premier Foods of the UK appointed Starcom MediaVest to its consolidated media business. Frito-Lay moved its Lay's and Cheetos brands out of BBDO and into Element 79 and Goodby Silverstein respectively. Pernod Ricard called a review of its global media account (and was reported today by Campaign to have handed global creative for Jameson whisky to M&C Saatchi, though neither party has yet confirmed that appointment). For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

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Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands