Forever Chasing Its Action Demo, Mountain Dew Rolls Out Street-Skating Film†

Brand Is Largely Unseen in Documentary About New York Scene

Advertising Age, May 13, 2008 — Mountain Dew makes its return to film production with its new skateboard documentary, "Deathbowl to Downtown," which follows the rise of street-skating in New York's shifting urban landscapes from the '70s to the present. The documentary, which took three years to make, is as much a sports action video as it is a look back at the Big Apple.

Red Robot Helps Crocs Take a New Path†

Branded Online Travel Guide Provides a Platform for Footwear Maker

Advertising Age, May 7, 2008 — To pierce through the ad clutter and really engage your consumers, offer a service, not an ad.

That, in a nutshell, is the logic behind Cities by Foot, a new travel-guide website unveiled today that provides high-definition video presentations of local shops and restaurants in different cities, devised by entertainment and marketing agency Red Robot for its client, footwear maker Crocs.

For Unilever, P&G, No Good Deed Is Going Unpunished†

Damned if You Do: Cause Efforts Become Ammo for the Critics

Advertising Age, May 5, 2008 — Greg Allgood, who directs Procter & Gamble Co.'s Children's Safe Drinking Water program, recently has spent a lot of time demonstrating Pur's purification packets for developing countries that turn disgusting, brown water crystal clear. On one TV appearance last week, he accidentally took a swig from the dirty "before" water instead of the treated water in a clip that made the rounds to "Countdown" on MSNBC.

It's symbolic of the downside companies in the forefront of ethical marketing have faced in recent weeks: No good deed goes entirely unpunished; high-profile stances on social causes can have unintended consequences; and the water is getting pretty murky as "ethical marketing" encourages consumers and activists to delve into corporate policies in... continue reading

Niche candymakers fall in shadow of Wrigley-Mars deal

Chicago Tribune, April 29, 2008 — Henry Rich kept a low profile Monday as he passed out samples of his top-selling mint mojito breath lozenges at the Global Food & Style Expo trade show in McCormick Place, but he knows Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. is on the trail of his tiny business.

Reversing Field, Macy's Goes Local†

Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2008 — The sprawling Macy's on State Street building here was once the home to the premier name in Chicago retailing, Marshall Field's. But about a year and a half ago, Macy's forged one chain with one name and one much-ballyhooed national strategy out of Marshall Field's, Robinsons-May, Kaufmann's and other local icons it owned across the country.

Now, after Macy Inc.'s same-store sales dropped 1.3% in 2007 from the previous year, Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren is changing course. He is ditching the nationwide cookie-cutter approach in favor of tailoring merchandise at the world's largest department-store chain by sales to local tastes.

Starbucks Seeks Jolt From Another Mass Tactic†

Coupons Follow Close Behind Free Samples

Advertising Age, April 21, 2008 — Howard Schultz insists he's returning Starbucks to its roots, but he's doing it with mass-marketing tactics once anathema to the original brand.

The company is estimated to have nearly doubled its marketing spending to $100 million, and last week it began an aggressive coupon program unlike anything in its history, raising questions about its turnaround strategy.

A Star at Toyota, a Believer at Ford

James D. Farley, Ford’s chief marketing officer, says he grasps that Ford is at a crossroads and that it has been on a tortured path over the last decade

New York Times, April 20, 2008 — AT a dinner here at the Bellagio hotel about two weeks ago, the ballroom buzzed with 1,400 car dealers fired up for a turnaround at the Ford Motor Company. With fresh products coming and a new ad campaign in place, they were ready to celebrate an attempted comeback by the struggling Detroit automaker.

But James D. Farley was hardly in a festive mood.

He had been on the job as Ford’s chief marketing officer for all of six months, lured away from a stellar career with the Japanese juggernaut Toyota to inject similar sizzle into Ford.

Lodgers Look to Walk the Eco-Talk

New York Times, April 20, 2008 — ANOTHER town, another night, another lecture from the innkeeper about saving the planet.

To reduce your harmful carbon emissions, we have replaced guest-room bath towels with tea towels and showers with sponge baths. For the sake of the Earth, save energy! Squint! And remember, lights out at 10 p.m.,” the placard on the hotel room nightstand might say.

That’s an exaggeration, of course. But it’s not too far from the attitude that some hotels have projected about the environment — while scolding and annoying their customers in the process.

MindShare Moves Beyond Buying, Planning†

Restructures to Build IP, Create Branded Content and Take On McKinsey

Advertising Age, April 17, 2008 — WPP's MindShare has launched a wholesale restructuring of its business — effectively splitting the agency into four distinct units — designed to move the shop beyond planning and buying, and create new revenue streams from content and intellectual property creation and McKinsey-style business consulting.

The global reorganization, the first in MindShare's 11-year history, comes as at a time when commoditization of media buying is a real threat, as procurement executives and the requirement for transparency in terms of costs have enabled clients to squeeze media agencies' margins to such an extent that many are often left making only a couple of percentage points on marketers' media expenditures — media expenditures that are themselves often flat, or... continue reading

Ford Aims to Wow Key Group: Its Dealers†

Losses, Lack of Hits Hurt Confidence; Stick to 'One' Theme

Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2008 — Consumers aren't the only audience Ford Motor is trying to win over with its new "Drive One" marketing and advertising campaign, which kicked off last week.

The ailing auto maker is also trying to charge up its dealers.

Many of Ford's more than 4,000 U.S. dealers have become frustrated with the company after suffering through years of declining sales and having few hit models to sell besides the Mustang and F-Series trucks.

Their confidence has been further shaken by Ford's big losses in 2006 and 2007 — a combined $15.3 billion — and a series of inconsistent and often fleeting marketing efforts in the last several years that have failed to attract substantial numbers of new Ford buyers.