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So who do we have for our last four Ads of the Week of 2008? First up is a bizarre Brazilian spot for Volkswagen's Space Fox by Almap BBDO. Actually, despite what you might think the ad is suggesting, the Space Fox isn't a hybrid like the Prius or that little dog fish guy. It's simply "anything you can imagine". Makes you wonder if the hybrid dog-fish concept was originally part of a pitch for the Toyota Prius that didn't get accepted. 

You know by now that we like a bit of cool animation here at Ads of the Week, and so we were rather taken with this short film conceived by US agency Goodby Silverstein for software company Adobe and executed by UK animators Nexus. Although you wouldn't guess it from the lack of branding, the film was created entirely with Adobe's Creative Suite 4 software.

This spot for French washing machine company Brandt dates back to the end of last year, but we've only just caught up with it, and it's too good to miss. DDB Paris is the agency. Looks like the ad must have been a lot of fun to shoot. Especially the shower scene.

And finally, JWT New York have produced a series of oddball spots for Cadbury's Swedish Fish candies. Amusing and also educational, if you didn't already know how to pronounce and spell the Swedish for "Yes" and "No". We like this ad best, but you can catch up with the others on the accompanying website AFriendYouCanEat.com. See you next year!

In the news this past week: Advertisers

"The current recession may turn out to be the longest and most painful downturn since the Great Depression" of the early 1930s. That was the opinion of a panel of more than 50 economists assembled by the Wall Street Journal. "For the household sector, this will be the worst event we've had in the post-World War II period," said Bruce Kasman of JP Morgan Chase. The consensus appears to be that the downturn will continue to deepen until June 2009, at which point the global economy will flatline for at least the rest of the year before beginning to make a recovery in 2010. Corporate profits aren't expected to be hit quite as badly as in previous recessions; instead consumers will take most of the brunt of this slump, especially in the US, because of job losses and rock-bottom house prices. 

But there are obviously plenty of unpleasant surprises still waiting to be uncovered, and these could add to the severity of the downturn. The latest is the almost incredible pyramid fraud perpetrated by "investment manager" Bernard Madoff, who managed for years to swindle vast sums out of some of the world's most sophisticated investors. The SEC described this con as "a stunning fraud of epic proportions".  Madoff himself told investigators that total losses are as high as $50bn. The exact sum has yet to be confirmed, but even at the current estimates it is already five times larger than the accounting fraud that brought down telecoms company WorldCom in 2002. With depressing irony, several of the banks which had managed to side-step the worst of the subprime bond meltdown - including HSBC, Santander and BNP Paribas - have emerged among the biggest losers from the Madoff swindle. Some wealthy individuals and charities are said to have lost literally all their savings. If only he'd kept some of the money himself, it might be possible for the victims of the fraud to get it back. Instead, it looks like Madoff simply used cash entrusted to him by new investors to pay out supposed profits to previous participants, while the actual funds in which the money was supposed to be invested continued to generate huge losses. 

The fate of America's domestic auto industry is today still hanging in the balance, a week after the rejection by Senate Republicans of a proposed bailout plan. One of the main sticking points was the refusal by the big three US manufacturers and the UAW labour union to reduce pay and terms for Detroit's workforce to the same levels as in factories operated by foreign car makers such as Toyota and Nissan. The bill was blocked mainly by representatives from southern states where most foreign car makers have located their facilities. "We simply cannot ask the American taxpayer to subsidize failure," said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. As a result of the bill's rejection, President Bush indicated that he might allow Detroit to tap into the $700bn bailout fund already established for banks - a move he had previously resisted - in order to postpone any further catastrophe until after he has left office. So far, though, no concrete agreement has been reached. The clock is ticking, with GM and Chrysler both indicating that they will have to file for bankruptcy before the end of the month if no funding is available. The Wall Street Journal reports today that Chrysler will cease all manufacturing tomorrow for at least a month, and that it has reopened merger talks with General Motors. See also General Motors, Ford, Chrysler profiles on Adbrands.net.

In the UK, Andy Bond, CEO of Wal-Mart-owned supermarket group Asda, had some interesting comments about the changing nature of current consumer purchasing in his stores. "This won’t be a recession where it's a blip and then people return to how they were," he said at a seminar. "Anyone waiting for things to get back to normal is mad." He said the nature of the downturn was reflected in subtle changes in buying patterns. Sales of gimmicky Christmas gifts for adults had entirely collapsed, and that there had been a sharp upswing in sales of home-dye hair kits - a cheap alternative to a retail haircut - and of frozen foods instead of chilled ready meals. The most popular grown-up gift this winter, Asda said, will be a jumper. "We are moving into an area of the frivolous being unacceptable and the frugal being cool," said Bond. "A whole new consumer generation will come out of this." See also Asda profile on Adbrands.net.

Meanwhile, Apple's share price has fallen sharply since the company announced that CEO Steve Jobs will not deliver the keynote speech at the next MacWorld conference in just three weeks' time. It will be the first time since he returned to Apple in 1997 that Jobs has missed the conference. Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller will appear in his place. No satisfactory reason was given, but the company said that trade shows were no longer important to its plans and that it will not participate in future MacWorld events. The late notice of the change prompted renewed speculation over Jobs' health. Famously, he survived pancreatic cancer several years ago, but was recently seen to have lost a considerable amount of weight, and his public appearances since then have been few and far between. Time magazine commented that the news of Jobs' absence from MacWorld "was about as shocking as hearing that Barack Obama would be skipping the Inauguration and sending Joe Biden in his stead". See also Apple profile on Adbrands.net.

Lenovo, the Chinese computer manufacturer which owns the old IBM PC business, said it was in acquisition talks with an unidentified third party. This is believed to be Brazil's largest PC maker, Positivo, which has a 20% share of its domestic computer market. Lenovo needs to reduce its reliance on corporate customers. During 2007, it slipped behind Asian rival Acer which became the global #3 in the computer sector as a result of its acquisition of US company Gateway and Packard Bell of Europe. In a different industry, British Airways and Qantas said their merger talks had ended without agreement because of differences on terms. BA is expected to pursue a merger with Spanish airline instead. See also Lenovo, British Airways profiles on Adbrands.net.

Interbrand published its ranking of the world's top 15 luxury brands by estimated value. It's slightly unfortunate timing considering the current downswing. Certainly it will be interesting to see how values have changed by this time next year. For 2008, Louis Vuitton held sway at the top of the table with an estimated value of $21.6bn, more than twice the #2, Gucci, which was valued at $8.3bn. Chanel took 3rd place with Rolex and Hermes placed 4th and 5th respectively. See the full report here. See also LVMH, Gucci, Chanel, Rolex, Hermes profiles on Adbrands.net.

Innocent Drinks has appointed its first externally sourced marketing director. Previously marketing responsibility had been held by co-founder and brand director Richard Reed, and overseen by inhouse head of creative Dan Germain. This has led to a typically unorthodox approach to marketing. Over the last couple of years, Innocent has become notorious for calling and then cancelling formal pitches for its advertising account. Thomas Delabriere will join the firm as marketing director in March 2009. He is currently marketing director at Walkers. See also Innocent profile on Adbrands.net.

Girls, are you looking for the perfect last -minute gift for the man in your life? Look no further - Burger King has just launched its first fragrance, Flame, described as "the scent of seduction, with a hit of flame-broiled meat". Buy it now online at FireMeetsdesire.com or at selected New York retailers. Mmmm, tasty! See also Burger King profile on Adbrands.net.

In the news this past week: Agencies

Following on neatly from that Burger King story, their agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky was named by US creative industry magazine Creativity as Agency of the Year. It called the shop a full-service agency in the truest sense and rhapsodised: "In the modern age of advertising, CPB, love it or hate it (and the agency is unrivaled in the amount and intensity of antipathy it arouses) came to represent the New Ad Agency, the idea-centric, media-inclusive, integrated creative factory whose brand campaigns feed from and create popular culture." See also Crispin Porter & Bogusky profile on Adbrands.net.

Advertising Age reports today that Omnicom is preparing to announce a layoff of up to 3,500 jobs across all of its subsidiary agencies, equivalent to around 5% of its total workforce. It is not known yet which units will be most badly affected, but BBDO is expected to feature strongly as a result of Chrysler's troubles and the transfer of the US Pepsi account to stablemate TBWA. Brand Republic said today it expects a similar announcement from WPP in the New Year. See also Omnicom, WPP profiles on Adbrands.net.

There were a few end of the year account assignments. Wieden & Kennedy was confirmed as the new creative agency for Levi's jeans in the Americas. L'Oreal transferred media for its recently acquired YSL Beaute fragrance portfolio from MPG/Havas Media to ZenithOptimedia. Draftfcb picked up creative duties on the US petfood portfolio of Del Monte Foods. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. See also Wieden & Kennedy, Levi's, L'Oreal, ZenithOptimedia, Draftfcb, Del Monte profiles on Adbrands.net.

In the news this past week: Media

Following last week's story that struggling UK broadcast network Channel 4 might be merged with the commercial arm of the BBC, new reports emerged this week that Bertelsmann-owned RTL has begun to draw up plans for a bid. Bertelsmann already owns Channel 4's rival broadcaster Five. See also RTL profile on Adbrands.net.

Meanwhile in France, the board of the country's state-owned television network formally approved plans to stop showing advertising after 8pm. All evening advertising on France Televisions will cease on January 5th; all other advertising on public television will end before 2011. The move, championed by President Sarkozy, has been widely opposed by television and radio staff and opposition parties, who are concerned about increased government influence over broadcasters. The public service will now be dependent on state funding, while privately owned broadcasters - including several of Sarkozy's personal friends - are expected to enjoy a substantial uplift in income, although this will be partly offset by new taxes.

Time Warner promoted Evelyn Webster to CEO of its UK publishing division, IPC Media. She was previously head of the company's women's weeklies unit, IPC Connect. Sylvia Auton remains chairman of IPC, as well as group EVP at Time Inc, and will move to New York. She also oversees other Time Inc businesses including regional home interests group Southern Progress. See also Time Inc profile on Adbrands.net.

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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