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Decisions, decisions. We had a hard time deciding between two great new stop motion ads, one for Orange in the UK, the other for the Olympus PEN camera, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. As you can see, we chose the Orange ad by Fallon London, promoting Rockcorps, a new scheme whereby users earn rewards like gig tickets in exchange for volunteering to take part in social projects. The stop motion effect is weirdly effective, even slightly hypnotic. But for sheer effort, I urge you to check out this film for the Olympus PEN as well. German agency DSG Dialog Solutions shot some 60,000 still images, developed 9,600 individual prints and selected 1,800 of them for inclusion in this film. An extraordinary achievement.

Condoms often bring out the best in an agency's creative department, um, so to speak. Here's a new spot by McCann Paris for Durex, which shows how even just an empty condom packet can inspire naughty thoughts. Well, you know, they are French...

The UK's Football Association commissioned Dare Digital to come up with this humorous riposte to the celebrated Nike Football ad by Guy Ritchie. That ad, you will remember, celebrated the world of professional soccer with a first person view of the glamour and excitement of the game at Premier League level, with cameos from many of the sport's biggest names. Dare's response offers a slightly more sordid but no less entertaining summary from the point of view of the thousands of adults who play weekend soccer in their local park. Great fun. You can catch up with Nike's original here (middle of the top row). 

And finally, Bartle Bogle Hegarty adapt the celebrated Duelling Banjos sequence from 70s classic Deliverance on behalf of Perfetti Van Melle's Mentos. Great idea, and the pastiche is spot-on.

In the news this past week: Advertisers

The long and often fraught saga of merger negotiations between Porsche and Volkswagen could be nearing a conclusion. Following an overnight board meeting, Porsche's CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and CFO Holger Haerter both resigned today. Wiedeking will receive a E50m payoff. He was already Germany's highest paid executive: last year he earned an estimated E80m salary because of a clause in his contract entitling him to 0.9% of Porsche's annual profits. However he was also perceived to be one of the main obstacles to any successful negotiations with Volkswagen. These are already complicated by the animosity between Porsche chairman Wolfgang Porsche and his cousin Ferdinand Piech, the chairman of Volkswagen and also a director of the Porsche business. The sportscar company's current financial crisis was triggered by the huge debts accumulated in a bold attempt to acquire Volkswagen last year. Michael Macht, previously head of production at Porsche, succeeds Wiedeking as CEO.

The removal of Wiedeking should smooth talks with Volkswagen. However, Porsche's board also gave its full endorsement to a plan drawn up by the two outgoing executives to raise at least E5bn of additional capital by selling a minority shareholding to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). This plan was conceived in order to give Porsche greater leverage in its discussions with Volkswagen. Instead of the outright purchase of Porsche originally envisaged by Ferdinand Piech, the two companies are now likely to agree some form of three-way arrangement whereby Volkswagen acquires management control of the Porsche sportscar business but surrenders a sizeable portion of its own equity to the Porsche family's holding company and the QIA. In addition to its sportscar business, Porsche Holding also controls one of Europe's biggest auto dealership groups, with operations across the region.

Meanwhile, General Motors is considering two "final offers" for its Opel and Vauxhall subsidiaries in Europe. The front runner is still thought to be the joint bid from Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna and Russia's state-controlled lender Sberbank, not least because it has the explicit support of the German government. However, GM is reported to be leaning towards a bid from the Belgian investment group RHJ International, linked to US fund Ripplewood. It has also received a proposal from Chinese auto manufacturer BAIC. The apparent eagerness of multiple suitors to acquire Opel is misleading, warned the Financial Times. "It is a mid-sized carmaker with a tarnished brand that loses money," the FT pointed out. "The only reason Opel has had so many suitors is that governments have guaranteed loans to save the jobs that come with it. Opel's eventual rescue will be nationalisation under another guise." 

Meanwhile in the US, GM has commenced the overhaul of its model portfolio. Responsibility for sales and marketing lies with 77-year-old Bob Lutz, a 46-year veteran of the group who cancelled his retirement to take charge the company's rebirth. Reporting to CEO Fritz Henderson, Lutz's key focus is to differentiate more clearly between the company's four surviving brands. To this end, Buick is being repositioned in the US as a competitor to Toyota's Lexus marque, offering a "soft and luxurious driving experience", whereas  Cadillac will provide an "angular and sporty" rival to German performance imports BMW and Mercedes. Lutz will also oversee the phasing out of Pontiac. Its most popular models, such as the admired G8 sports sedan, are likely to be absorbed into the Chevrolet family.

The latest batch of second-quarter financial results from US banks shows a growing divide between emerging leaders JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, and their more troubled competitors. JP Morgan and Goldman reported soaring revenues and profits for the period from April to June. Goldman in particular is enjoying the benefits from the effective disappearance of its two main rivals in investment banking, Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros. Revenues for the quarter leapt 46% to almost $14.8bn, and net profit exceeded expectations by more than 40% at $3.4bn, more than the firm earned for the whole of 2008. JP Morgan Chase reported a 36% lift in profits to $2.7bn on revenues up 39% to a quarterly record of $27.7bn. 

By contrast, the results for other banks, such as Citigroup, Bank Of America and Morgan Stanley, were at best lacklustre. Citi and BofA also reported quarterly profits, but primarily as a result of one-off gains. Citi's net profit of $4.3bn, for example, was generated entirely by a $6.7bn profit from the sale of half of its Smith Barney subsidiary to Morgan Stanley. The latter unveiled a $159m loss from continuing operations and CFO Colm Kelleher acknowledged that some divisions had become too conservative in the wake of the bank's near-collapse. Late last year, he told the WSJ, "we stared into the abyss", and he suggested some Morgan Stanley traders were still "gun-shy". The WSJ also reported that both Citigroup and the Bank of America are operating under an unpublicised government-imposed "memorandum of understanding" which obliges them to overhaul their boards and hit specific targets on liquidity and risk management or face serious legal penalties. 

Japanese drinks giants Kirin and Suntory confirmed that they are discussing a merger to create a new global giant in foods and beverages with combined sales of almost $41bn. A merged group would control nearly half of the Japanese beer market, around a third of the soft drinks sector, and an astonishing 80% share of the domestic whisky business. It would also have a strong presence in other countries in the region, including Australia, the Philippines and China. The talks have generated considerable excitement in Japan. Unlike their Western counterparts, Japanese companies have until now generally considered mergers to be a sign of defeat, to be countenanced only when one of the two businesses involved is in financial trouble. In this case, however, Kirin and Suntory are both widely perceived to be strong companies. If this merger takes place, it will herald a complete sea-change in Japan's ultra-conservative business culture and is certain to trigger a wave of consolidation among other companies. 

Procter & Gamble was reported to be close to a deal to sell its pharmaceuticals division, with a price tag of around $3bn. Warner Chilcot, a company which specialises in women's healthcare and dermatology products, and private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management were named as the two frontrunners. 

Amazon agreed to acquire online shoes and accessories retailer Zappos for around $900m in stock. The new purchase will join Amazon's growing arsenal of standalone fashion "etail" brands. It already controls general fashion store ShopBop and shoes and bags site Endless.

In the news this past week: Agencies

Japanese marketing giant Dentsu was said to have thrown its hat into the ring as a possible bidder for digital network Razorfish. Microsoft appointed Morgan Stanley two weeks ago to examine strategic options for the agency, acquired as part of the aQuantive group. Annual revenues are around $400m, and Microsoft is said to be incentivising buyers with the offer of millions of dollars of ad inventory across the group's network of sites, including MSN and search engine Bing. An outright purchase by Dentsu would mark the Japanese group's biggest direct involvement to-date in the international marketing services industry. Previous purchases, such as US agency McGarryBowen, have been considerably smaller in value. Other likely bidders include Publicis Groupe, itself already part-owned by Dentsu, and WPP. The latter may find it difficult to raise cash for a bid in the wake of last year's purchase of research group TNS, but Microsoft might be prepared to consider a swap for part of 24/7 Real Media, the digital media unit acquired by WPP in 2007. Omnicom and Interpublic are also reported to have expressed interest in acquiring Razorfish. 

Separately, Jim Kelly, one of the founders of what is now London's RKCR/Y&R, has been appointed as regional director of Dentsu Europe. His brief is to boost the profile of the Japanese giant's disparate collection of agencies in the region, which include the former CDP in the UK and Cayenne in Germany. 

Australian trade paper B&T reported that the country's leading media buyer, independently owned Mitchell & Partners, is in negotiations with WPP over a merger of their respective operations. A combination of Mitchells - which also has management control of Havas's MPG in Australia - with WPP's Mindshare, MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia and Maxus would create Australia's biggest media buyer by a considerable margin, with billings in excess of A$2.5bn.  

RMG: Connect, the worldwide direct and digital network affiliated to JWT, is to be merged into the main agency by the end of this year to form a single integrated offering. The RMG name will be phased out. The latest announcement follows a gradual subordination of what was previously a standalone network. This has led to the departure of several of RMG:Connect's senior management team since the beginning of 2009.

German marketing group Avantaxx, parent to the Springer & Jacoby advertising agency, was forced to deny press reports that it is on the brink of bankruptcy. However, controlling shareholder Lutz Schaffhausen did acknowledge that the marketing services division of the group was suffering from the current recession and that negotiations were underway over some form of restructuring. The announcement followed the abrupt resignation of Avantaxx CEO Norbert Lindhof after only three months in the job, and of Springer & Jacoby chief executive Ercan Ozturk. 

Gary Leih has resigned as chairman & CEO of Ogilvy Group UK in order to pursue personal projects. He was replaced as chairman by Paul O'Donnell, also chairman of OgilvyOne EMEA. The CEO role has yet to be filled; in the mean time, Will Awdry becomes acting managing director.

Ron Bess was named as North American CEO of Euro RSCG, filling a role which has been vacant for almost a year following the departure of Esther Lee. Bess remains CEO of Euro RSCG's Chicago office. Ron Berger, who heads the New York and San Francisco offices is North American chairman.

The revolving door in the C-suite of Draftfcb London kept spinning. The latest abrupt departure is EMEA regional director Alexei Orlov. According to Brand Republic, he has left the agency without a job to go to after just ten months in his position. Last month, Orlov picked Kate Howe to take over as head of Draftfcb's troubled London office.

One of Canada's biggest marketing services groups has become the target of a hostile takeover by its former vice chairman. Quebec-based Cossette Communication is a major force in the local ad industry and has developed a profile in the UK through acquisitions including ad agency MCBD and digital shop Dare. It was jointly run for almost 35 years by business partners Claude Lessard and Francois Duffar, until the latter quit abruptly two months ago, leaving Lessard as sole chairman and CEO. This week, Duffar launched a hostile takeover of the business through investment fund Cosmos Capital. His former friend and business partner Lessard is preparing to repel the attack.

In the UK, COI Communications, which coordinates most of the government's advertising, announced a review of its £210m media budget. Currently, the business is split five ways. Carat is responsible for TV and cinema buying, while MediaCom handles press, i-Level manages digital, Starcom coordinates radio and Posterscope handles outdoor. Now, COI wants to consolidate that roster among fewer agencies in order to maximize effectiveness.

In other account assignments, Bayer and Carlsberg also kicked off reviews of their global advertising and media portfolios; alternative telecoms supplier Tele2 launched a review of pan-Euro media; Warburtons called a review of UK advertising, out of Bartle Bogle Hegarty; Iglo frozen foods appointed BBDO to European creative; Audi is reviewing creative in France, out of DDB; Daimler shifted its huge media account for Mercedes and other brands in Germany from PHD to Mediaedge:cia; Heineken appointed Euro RSCG for the US market. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

In the news this past week: Media

US broadcast network CBS signed up as one of the key content partners to On Demand Online, a video streaming service launched by cable giant Comcast which aims to rival the growing popularity of Hulu.com, the service jointly owned by Fox, NBC and ABC. Until now, CBS has relied mainly on its own inhouse services TV.com and InnerTube, but they trail far behind Hulu in viewers.

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the UK's state-controlled broadcast service, reported strong results for its most recent financial year, with revenues breaking through the £1bn barrier for the first time. The company's chief executive also said he was confident that a deal would be announced "within weeks" regarding a proposed joint venture with struggling commercially funded broadcaster Channel 4. That arrangement, which has been under discussion since November last year, is expected to pool both companies' cable TV assets. Separately, Channel 4 is also understood to have agreed terms to merge its advertising sales team with that of Sky. The resulting joint venture will represent around 38% of the broadcast TV market, compared to ITV's 46% share.

In yet another sign of the hard times afflicting the US magazine market, McGraw-Hill put its prestigious Business Week title up for sale. Several companies are said to have expressed an interest, including Time Warner, but some commentators suggested that McGraw-Hill would be lucky to get anything more than a nominal price. Ad revenues for the business magazine sector have been in virtual freefall since the first half of 2007. Business Week has been the worst hit, with pagination down by 46% over that period, but its rivals have not fared much better. Fortune and Forbes are down 37% and 39% respectively, and Newsweek by 45%. 

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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