Recommended Reading

 
Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole 
by Benjamin Barber
Buy it at Amazon 
for less

 DECLARED ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE
Under US regulations, many companies make a public declaration of their actual advertising expenditure, although this may be buried deep in SEC filings or other financial documents. Adbrands tracks these declared figures. 
Rankings link 
(subscribers only)

MULTIPLE SUBSCRIPTIONS
Would your colleagues benefit from their own subscription to Adbrands? All Adbrands subscriptions are for individual use only. If your colleagues also require access, we offer substantial discounts for additional users. One year subscriptions for your colleagues cost just UKP25 (or US$55) per logon provided they run alongside your own full-price annual subscription. We can also offer corporate intranet solutions giving password-free access to all employees companywide from a private doorway page. 
More information 

Dear ${token1} ${token2}

Please note: Adbrands Weekly Update is taking a break next week. Normal service resumes on 7th June.

Our favourite ads this week: 

The new Publicis ad for Renault is an astonishing piece of work, featuring a fairytale giant who sets about fishing for humans with the glittering lure of a brand new Clio. Idea and execution (by animation house of the moment Psyop) are both superlative. Great music as well. 

BBDO New York is responsible for three equally trippy (but much less scary) ads for Brazilian flipflops brand Havaianas. A perfect summer campaign, with stunning colours and a lovely laidback soundtrack. Personally, I can't imagine what my feet are dreaming about right now... 

...but it may be something connected with this Ikea ad from Sweden by local agency Robert & Boisen/Like-Minded, which plays up to every fantasy we men have ever had about Swedish women (presuming of course that we're not married to one, in which case we would be feeling a little nervous). Incidentally, I couldn't work out whether Tony and Billy were the Ikea-names of the furniture items or of that particular character. I think I'll also be buying myself a Groggy... I've no idea what it is but with a name like that it just has to be great.

Finally the new US ad for Unilever's other deodorant, Degree (also known as Rexona or Sure in some countries). Lowe New York's spot may not be as sexy as the Axe/Lynx campaigns, but its re-imagining of the Pamplona bull-run is witty and entertaining. (Sharp-eyed viewers will note the appearance of our old friend, the "Do not attempt" message bottom-right when the grizzly makes an appearance. You may remember that the same message popped up a few weeks ago in the Most Interesting Man spots for Dos Equis, also in a grizzly sequence. Obviously US regulators are generally concerned about the possibility that US viewers may be tempted into going mano a mano with a bear...)

In the news this week: Advertisers & Media

The interactive land-grab reached a climax at the end of last week as several prominent independent digital media houses were snapped up by hungry buyers. As had been expected, WPP sealed a deal to acquire 24/7 Real Media for $649m. That company sells and distributes display advertising to a network of around 950 independent online publishers in the US, Europe and Asia (the latter through a joint venture with Dentsu). It also has a substantial search marketing and inventory management business. Meanwhile AOL agreed to pay around $100m for German network Adtech, which owns the Helios ad serving and email management system. 

However the week's jawdropper was provided by Microsoft, which offered a staggering $6bn to capture aQuantive, the global #1 in online creative and media as a result of its Avenue A | Razorfish subsidiary. The eye-popping price, representing an 85% premium to aQuantive's share price and equivalent to almost 14 times last year's sales, was clearly designed to blow the possibility of any rival bids out of the water. Following Microsoft's announcement, Google (which last month trumped Microsoft by buying the DoubleClick network for $3.1bn) was also said to be negotiating some form of strategic alliance with Salesforce.com, which offers online customer relationship management tools to help sales executives keep track of their client accounts. In other parts of the online world, Yahoo was reported to be in talks to acquire social networking site Bebo for around $1bn, and Amazon bought audiobook publisher Brilliance.

Meanwhile the private equity bonanza continues. Deals announced this week included music group EMI (which accepted a £3.2bn takeover from Terra Forma), US regional mobile phone company Alltel (bought by Goldman Sachs and Texas Pacific for $27.5bn), US financial data-processing company Alliance Data Systems (bought by Blackstone for around $6.4bn), US media group Clear Channel (which agreed a $19.4bn buyout by Bain Capital and Thomas H Lee Partners) and Valentino Fashion Group (the controlling stake in which was acquired by Permira for around $1bn). Back in the world of trade buyers, UniCredit of Italy agreed to acquire smaller rival Capitalia for E22bn. That deal will create Europe's second largest banking firm by market capitalisation (behind HSBC), and the world #5, although the enlarged UniCredit still holds second place by market share in Italy behind another merged business Intesa Sanpaolo.

The battle between Sky and Virgin Media for control of the UK pay-TV sector could become more bitter still (if that were possible), in the wake of unconfirmed reports that Sky is negotiating to strengthen its portfolio with the bolt-on of  the #3 in the sector, broadband operator Tiscali, which owns the HomeChoice service. 

After months of negotiation with US regulators, the Virgin America airline finally received formal approval to launch its low-cost service. As a result of intense lobbying by rival airlines, regulators had denied approval because of Virgin America's close ties to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, deemed to infringe rules on foreign ownership of US airlines. Virgin Group is allowed to retain its 25% shareholding, but Virgin America must make other changes, including the replacement of CEO Fred Reid, who is considered too close an ally of Branson.

In the news this week: Agencies

Already reeling from the loss of two of its biggest accounts (MFI and Asda) in late 2006 and early 2007, and the subsequent departure of CEO Grant Duncan, Publicis London has received another crushing blow with the resignation of executive chairman Tim Lindsay to become CEO of the TBWA UK group. Lindsay's departure is likely to shake the confidence of other key Publicis clients, such as Cadbury, which has already begun to shift part of its business to stablemate Fallon London. Meanwhile another Publicis Groupe subsidiary, PR company Freud, has acquired London advertising agency DFGW. The former Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters will drop its separate identity, allowing the enlarged Freud to offer traditional advertising as well as public relations. Dave Waters, the last remaining founder of DFGW, is expected to stay on as creative director.

Three other UK industry figures are moving job. Steve Harrison, worldwide creative director of Wunderman and founder of its UK arm Harrison Troughton Wunderman, is to take a break from the industry, as is Michael Wall, founding partner of Fallon London and international president for Fallon Worldwide. Jon Claydon, chairman of direct marketer Claydon Heeley, now owned by Omnicom, will also be leaving in the Autumn.

Verizon announced plans to consolidate its mammoth US creative account with McCann Erickson. Most of the business is already housed at Interpublic agencies, although independent Mcgarrybowen had held a large chunk of the business for several years. UK food company Birds Eye, already in the middle of a media review, has asked BBH to repitch for the creative account in competition with AMV.BBDO. Meanwhile, BBH's New York office will take over creative for Miller Lite from Crispin Porter Bogusky. Havas agency MPG New York scored a sizeable victory with the capture of US media for Sears, worth around $740m in billings. Subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

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