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There are some advertisers for whom the unveiling of a new ad has become something resembling a global event. As a result of past successes such as "Balls" and "Play-Doh", Sony is one such Occasion Brand. The new spot by Fallon London is certainly impressive, featuring the world's biggest zoetrope, a 10-ton update of those Victorian parlour devices that were the first inventions to replicate a moving image for personal entertainment. Here it presents football superstar Kaka's ball control skills for an audience of fascinated Italians. Yet somehow, we feel the new spot lacks some of the wow factor from previous Sony ads. Oh well, you can't get a perfect 10 every time, can you.

Another superstar brand is Johnnie Walker, for whom Bartle Bogle Hegarty has created a succession of striking films over the past four or five years. The new spot, Crossroads, is different again, haunting and amusing at the same time. What does it mean? Who cares. Just enjoy the ride.

Equally haunting, but in a rather more poignant way, is this PSA by Ogilvy New York for the Environmental Defense Fund. It's less of a commercial per se than the visual record of an installation by paper artist Tim Godsall. It's a truly brilliant idea, one of the most original we've seen in some time.

And finally, a spectacularly silly spot from The Viral Factory which illustrates various alternative uses for Samsung's new Ultra Touch mobile handset. I don't care how tough you are, I defy you to not say "Ahhhhh!" at least once during this two-minute extravaganza.

In the news this past week: Advertisers

Two automobile companies lurched another step closer to bankruptcy. Following General Motors' announcement that it would no longer support its Swedish subsidiary Saab, that company filed for protection from creditors while it attempts to restructure, find a buyer, or persuade the Swedish government to provide financial aid. It hopes to be able to deliver a new business plan within three weeks. In the UK, light commercial truck manufacturer LDV was also cut loose by its owners, Russia's Gaz group, and could also be forced into administration. GM - which reported losses of $30.9bn for 2008 today - is expected to deliver a restructuring proposal for its European arm Opel in the next few days, and this too could involve the business being forced into the arms of national governments to avoid closure. Opel has already said it needs at least E3.3bn in fresh capital in order to survive. Some financial analysts have suggested that German group Daimler would be the most obvious buyer for Opel. However a Daimler spokesman suggested that the group would not be willing to consider such a move. 

Over at Honda, in an announcement that mirrors a similar recent management shake-up at Toyota, the Japanese manufacturer said that its current president-CEO Takeo Fukui will step down in June 2009, to be replaced by Takanobu Ito, currently senior managing director. Several other senior officers also changed roles.

As expected, Royal Bank of Scotland reported the biggest loss in UK corporate history, totalling more than £24bn. Statutory pre-tax losses were even higher at almost £41bn. RBS hopes to persuade the UK government to inject another £25bn of capital funding while also guaranteeing some £300bn of the bank's higher risk investments. In the mean time, the group will embark upon a major restructuring programme which will involve cutting more than £2.5bn of costs through the sale of assets. RBS says it will withdraw from or significantly reduce its presence in 36 of the 54 countries in which it now operates. Instead it intends to refocus on its domestic operations, on the US and Ireland.

Citigroup is thought to be close to a deal to convert preference shares held by the US government into common stock. That could lead to the government holding as much as 40% of Citi's equity. Insurance giant AIG, already 80% state-owned, is also thought to be negotiating for yet another bailout as it struggles to raise cash by selling off its assets. It is expected to report further huge losses for 2008, and will probably be broken up into three or four separate companies, each under government control. Meanwhile Merrill Lynch uncovered an additional $500m of losses for 2008 which it had failed to spot only last month when it warned of a total loss of $27.1bn. Actually, the company now says, the figure should have been $27.6bn. No wonder confidence in banks is so low when they can't get their numbers right from one month to the next. 

In France, two of the country's biggest mutual banks, Caisse d'Epargne and Banque Populaire, are to merge to create what will become the country's #2 retail bank after Credit Agricole. The two banks are already joint owners of struggling French investment bank Natixis.  

Despite the widespread economic gloom, some companies continue to defy the downturn. This week's "Recession? What recession?" star is the Danish toymaker Lego, which reported extraordinary performance for 2008. Revenues grew by almost 19% to the equivalent of E1.3bn, while net profits jumped by almost a third. The company said it had experienced double-digit growth in almost all markets, with especially strong performance from its Star Wars and Indiana Jones playsets. German consumer products and adhesives giant Henkel also reported strong performance.

Another Danish company in good shape is Carlsberg, which widened its international partnership with Mexican brewer Modelo. Carlsberg will launch Modelo's popular Corona beer in nine new Eastern European countries including Russia. It already distributes the Mexican beer in several other markets including Italy and Singapore. The alliance could become increasingly significant. Modelo is attempting to find ways of getting out of its existing relationship with Anheuser-Busch, which owns half of its shares but has no voting power. Modelo claims that the takeover of Anheuser by InBev gives it the right to reacquire these shares. Also this week, Carlsberg launched the world's most expensive beer, Carlsberg Vintage No 2. Jet-black in colour, with an espresso-like foam, the beer comes in a strictly limited edition of just 600 bottles, each of which sells for around E250. According to Carlsberg, its aroma has "hints of tar and ropes, which come from the peat-smoked, Scottish malt, which has been transported from Scotland solely for this brew".

Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch concluded a deal to sell the US arm of its Canadian brewer Labatt. This sale was requested by regulators as a condition of the purchase of A-B by InBev. The buyer is private equity fund KPS Capital Partners, which also concluded two other deals this week, bolting on niche brewer High Falls Brewing Company as well as local license for the licence for Seagram's Cooler Escapes and Seagram's Smooth from Pernod-Ricard.  

Panasonic announced plans to start selling white goods such as washing machines and refrigerators in Europe. It is the first time the company has made its household appliances available in this region. The group feels that its credentials in "green" technology, such as low power consumption, will help it win market share in the region. It is already well-established as one of the leaders in the field in its domestic market, where its appliances have until recently been marketed under the National brandname. It is phasing out that brand in favour of the Panasonic name

Unilever named Keith Havelock as its new EVP, global ice cream. He was previously president, Unilever North America. His successor will be named in due course.

In the news this past week: Agencies

WPP's Kantar Group research division announced a major restructuring programme designed to integrate recently acquired market research giant TNS with its existing businesses. TNS will in effect be carved up. Its custom research divisions will be merged with Kantar's existing Research International subsidiary under the new name of TNS Research International. The media intelligence and media research arms will be split out and combined with Kantar's existing units to form Kantar Media TNS. This will comprise three international operating arms of Kantar Media Intelligence, Kantar Audience Measurement and TGI Global, as well as a single integrated company offering all three services in the US. TNS Worldpanel will become Kantar Worldpanel, and other group subsidiaries will be consolidated to create dedicated Kantar Retail and Kantar Healthcare divisions.

Omnicom scored the biggest account win of the year so far, capturing the global media account for HP from Publicis-owned ZenithOptimedia. Billings are estimated at around $1bn. Omnicom has yet to specify how the account will be managed on a country-by-country basis. The group operates two media networks, OMD and PHD, as well as a small collection of separate local units. It is understood that PHD will take over the account in several markets, including Australia. Separately, Omnicom's Rapp network collected direct and digital marketing duties for HP's technology solutions division. As a partial consolation for Publicis Groupe, its MediaVest network was awarded all regional media buying for cable giant Comcast, on top of national buying, which it already held. The latest assignment effectively doubled MediaVest's Comcast billings to $500m. Meanwhile Starcom MediaVest was awarded European media for BlackBerry, out of Omnicom's OMD, but was put on review for the $200m global Activision Blizzard software account.

In other account assignments, Bartle Bogle Hegarty captured global creative duties for Coca-Cola's Sprite brand. Spanish tourism body Turespana reappointed Havas Media MPG for global media. Nokia handed joint responsibility for global digital to US agency R/GA and Aegis Group's worldwide Isobar network, with local implementation managed by Wunderman. For all other appointments, subscribers can access the full Adbrands Account Assignments database here. 

BBDO's standalone digital agency Atmosphere BBDO is being absorbed into the global Proximity Worldwide network, also aligned with BBDO. Atmosphere will retain a separate presence under the new name Atmosphere Proximity.

British PR guru Matthew Freud, whose Freud Communications is now 49%-owned by Publicis, has acquired a 3% shareholding in M&C Saatchi, making him the single largest shareholder after the agency's four managing partners.

In the news this past week: Media

Peter Chernin, group chief operating officer at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, will leave the company when his contract expires this summer. The departure is not entirely unexpected. It has been clear for several years that Murdoch intends his son James to replace him as head of News Corp. Meanwhile Chernin, who also leads all News Corp's US-based film and television businesses, is keen to establish a career as an independent movie producer. He is also thought to have clashed with Murdoch over the purchase of the Wall Street Journal last year, as well as the group's continuing involvement in the newspaper business. Despite the current woes of the newspaper industry, Murdoch is rumoured to be considering bids for two more of the country's most prestigious titles, the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. 

As if to underline the precarious nature of newspaper publishing in America, the company behind the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, filed for bankruptcy protection this week. Several other regional publishers are expected to follow Philadelphia Media Holdings into Chapter 11 protection over the coming weeks. Hearst Corp has said today that it will be forced to close the San Francisco Chronicle "within weeks" unless it can make substantial cost cuts. The Chronicle is the 12th largest US newspaper and the largest daily in Northern California, but it has posted significant losses since 2001. Hearst is already urgently seeking a buyer for another title, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 

Microsoft could be an unlikely saviour of Project Kangaroo, the web TV service that was to have pooled the content libraries of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Plans for Kangaroo were blocked two weeks ago by UK regulators, who said that it would hinder competition in the video-on-demand market. According to UK trade magazine Revolution, Microsoft is considering the launch of its own VOD service in the UK, and is in talks with broadcasters to secure content. The company's recently appointed UK managing director Ashley Highfield was originally the architect of the BBC's extraordinarily successful iPlayer catch-up service, and was also MD of Kangaroo before joining Microsoft.

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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