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Our favourite ads this week: 

No doubt you remember Diageo's viral film for its Smirnoff Raw Tea variant, which took the form of a music video by a group of preppie white East Coast college boys (if not see here). For new variant Smirnoff Green Tea, the company has unleashed another faux rap act, Boyz N The Hillz from Beverly Hills, who offer a California-ised riposte to their Eastern rivals. Tofu, not clams, in their chowder. The new film is not quite as clever as its predecessor, at least to these UnAmerican eyes (West London rather than West Coast, y'all), but amusing nonetheless. 

Levi's has grabbed its fair share of industry column inches this week with what is claimed to be a first - an ad which comes in both straight and gay versions. Entitled Change, it depicts the seismic effects created by the act of pulling on a pair of Levi's Jeans. Try the "straight" version first, and then click here for the same-sex revision.

Mars has allowed TBWA\New York to develop an unusually quirky campaign for its Skittles confectionery. The latest instalment is this surprisingly poignant ad, known as Touch. It's not quite what you'd expect from those brightly coloured little sweeties, but certainly sticks in the mind. Also, click here for the previous ad in which a man puts his unfeasibly long beard to dextrous use. What are those Skittles guys on?

GlaxoSmithKline's over-the-counter weight-reduction pill Alli has enjoyed enormous success in the US since its launch in May. However the drug does have one rather unpleasant occasional side-effect - described only very slightly euphemistically by GSK as "anal leakage". This has prompted a tidal wave (so to speak) of jokes from stand-up comedians, and now the first knocking ad from a competitor. Leptopril is a real product from manufacturer Generix Laboratories, and claims to be an alternative to Alli which avoids "leakage". This very cheaply produced (but genuine) ad for Leptopril puts the argument in a nut-shell, and has proved an enormous viral hit. Those of a sensitive disposition might want to skip the slightly graphic denouement...

In the news this past week: Advertisers & Media

Unilever announced another huge restructuring. The consumer goods giant has been struggling for years to arrest declines in its traditional core markets. Although it has enjoyed great success with a few key products, such as Axe/Lynx and Dove, performance in many of the other sectors in which it operates remain flat at best. The latest retreat is the decision to put its entire US laundry detergents business - which includes brands such as All, Wisk and Snuggle - up for sale. Despite some success with the introduction of liquid detergents in the 1990s, Unilever's share has steadily fallen in the face of aggressive competition from P&G, sinking below 13% by the beginning 2007 (compared to P&G's near-63%). Whoever buys the business will take over as the new #2 in the sector. Dial, owned by German group Henkel, and Church & Dwight are the two most likely buyers. Church & Dwight already owns the oral care division which Unilever put up for sale in 2003. The Anglo-Dutch group also plans to cut another 20,000 jobs worldwide. It had already announced a complete overhaul of its UK operating business, where around half of its senior management positions were cut, including several members of the marketing team.

Kraft too is wrestling with market share erosion. The US food giant announced improved 2Q profits but CEO Irene Rosenfeld acknowledged that the company is still suffering from falling market share in half of the categories in which it competes in the US. She promised a $400m investment in new products, packages and advertising campaigns, but sell-offs are also likely to be on the cards.

No such worries for Nokia, which further consolidated its position as the global champion in mobile phone handsets. It announced sales of over 100m units in the second quarter of 2007, more than all three of its largest competitors combined. According to data from from market monitor IDC, Nokia's market share is now as high as 37%, its best performance in four years. At the same time, struggling US group Motorola has been overtaken as the global #2 by Samsung. The Korean company achieved share of 13.7%, compared to Motorola's 13%.

DaimlerChrysler completed the sale of an 80.1% shareholding in Chrysler Group to private equity group Cerberus Capital Management. At the same time, Cerberus appointed former Home Depot chief Bob Nardelli as chairman & CEO of Chrysler. Long-serving Chrysler head Tom LaSorda remains president.

Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo was reported to be in exclusive talks to acquire Packard Bell, a leading European rival now owned by Hong Kong businessman John Hui. Lenovo is currently the global #3 in the PC sector behind HP and Dell as a result of its purchase of IBM's computer division . However it faces increasingly stiff competition from Taiwanese company Acer, currently ranked #4. In other deals, Jones Apparel Group agreed to sell the Barneys fashion store chain to a Dubai-based investment fund (rather than to rival bidder Fast Retailing of Japan). Blockbuster, which is trying to fight off competition from fast-growing online rival Netflix, agreed to acquire MovieLink, the web-based movie download service established by a consortium of major studios.

In the news this past week: Agencies

Interpublic delivered its best set of financial results for several years for 2Q 2007. For the quarter, the group reported an 8% increase in revenues compared to the same period in 2006, and net income which almost tripled to $121.5m. The group gave credit to several significant new business wins, especially Deutsch's capture of the GM Saturn account. That performance helped Interpublic to a much improved first half loss of $2.7m, compared to a loss of $128m for 1H 2006. Even so, there are clouds on the horizon. The departure of other GM accounts such as Buick and GMC, as well as some creative and all international media work for Johnson & Johnson will begin to make an impact on financial performance in the second half of the year.

Wrigley consolidated its global creative with Omnicom's DDB and BBDO networks. (Grey and Leo Burnett previously handled the business in some regional markets). BBDO retains the company's sugar-free products including Eclipse, Extra, Orbit and Winterfresh as well as Altoids mints. DDB will take on the mainstream portfolio including Juicy Fruit, Airwaves, LifeSavers and Sugus candy. In other assignments, InBev placed global creative for Beck's beer with Lowe. New Balance trainers called a review of its US creative account, held by Boathouse. Lexus placed African-American marketing with Walton Isaacson. In the UK, Nintendo shifted creative from Leo Burnett to independent Karmarama. Phone giant BT transferred media and communications planning out of its inhouse division and into Mediaedge:CIA. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

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Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands