NBC's Olympic Test: Counting All the Games' Viewers†

Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2008 — NBC Universal plans to use its coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games to launch a new system for measuring viewership across an array of different media, including video-on-demand, cellphones and the Web, as well as traditional television. NBC hopes the new system — which will be offered to advertisers at the start of the new fall season — will give it ammunition to persuade advertisers to buy ad time on newer media such as VOD and cellphone video.

Adidas Bets Big on Beijing†

Wall Street Journal, July 3, 2008 — When it comes to China, sportswear giant Adidas AG thinks bigger is better.

At midnight Friday, the company will open its biggest store in the world here. The long, glass-clad rectangular building reflects Adidas's ambition to use China as a battleground to overtake rival Nike Inc.

Altruism Meets a Weak Job Market†

Wall Street Journal, July 3, 2008 — Mike Stewart is putting off law school in favor of teaching in Washington, D.C., for the next two years. Katherine Atwill, an Ivy League graduate, stopped interviewing at consulting firms in favor of teaching in the Bronx.

Young people like these are part of the growing ranks of college graduates who, amid a worsening job market, are contributing to a surge in applications and enlistments at public-service agencies like Teach for America and the Peace Corps.

Generation Gab†

Brandweek, July 2, 2008 — For those who think media fragmentation and niche marketing have redefined marketing permanently, here's something to chew on. What if the microscopically splintered youth demo out there right now—recent college grads on down to kids riding the bus to preschool—ends up gelling, melting and solidifying into a uniform power bloc of consumers? And what if, contrary to popular wisdom, they're not self-important, undisciplined individualists riding on digital highs, but a team-playing, risk-averse group that fosters familial bonding? All this would mean that Gen Y actually looks a lot more like, well, AARP. It would mean that the billions of dollars'worth of microtargeted marketing being created right now just could be a . . . waste of time? Then what?

Cliche No More: CMO Club Gets Colorful New Member†

Unilever's Simon Clift on Stengel, Torture Tests and Marketing's Filet Mignon

Advertising Age, June 30, 2008 — Simon Clift has been Unilever's chief marketing officer for more than two years, but he freely admits he only really began doing the job a couple of months ago, thanks to a corporate restructuring that has had him drop his line-management duties as president of personal care.

As full-time CMO, Mr. Clift is getting in touch with his touch points, as some of his peers might say. But he just couldn't resist a mocking drift into CMO speak during an interview in the Carlton Hotel during the International Advertising Festival at Cannes last week as he bandied about terms like "challenges" and "new-media environment." He stopped, smirked and then added: "Oh my God! I've become a cliche."

Brands Adjust to Media Fragmentation

One way media synergy might pay off

eMarketer, June 27, 2008 — Marketers have long focused on segmenting consumers, to approach them via the media channels and destinations they use most. But in many markets, media fragmentation has made reaching a large enough audience increasingly difficult.

Actor Sparks BK-Card Freakout†

Chain Gets Big-Time Buzz When 'House' Star Talks Up 'Ultimate Celebrity Perk'

Advertising Age, June 23, 2008 — Burger King got a deluge of publicity after the blogosphere picked up on a London Times interview with "House" star Hugh Laurie, who told the paper his celebrity perks include getting good tables and his "Burger King gold card."

Mr. Laurie was referring to the prepaid, lifetime "crown card" bestowed on a few carefully selected celebrities such as Jay Leno, Jennifer Hudson, George Lucas and Robert Downey Jr. There's one hitch, however: He doesn't actually have one. Some people will do anything to get a free lunch.

The Post-Soccer Mom†

Brandweek, June 23, 2008 — Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce—and, while you're at it, hold the Dodge Caravan carting the cartel of kids to the soccer game. Hold the culinary classes, too, and those oboe lessons for junior. In case nobody noticed, that mythical '90s personage known as the Soccer Mom is no longer with us. The domestic superwoman who balanced family and checkbook, put Bill Clinton in the White House twice—and, lest we forget, was the demographic darling of brand marketers everywhere—is gone.

Nothing Sells Like Celebrity

Where stars end and products and pitches begin has grown less and less discernible in the era of the human billboard.

New York Times, June 22, 2008 — EARLY last year, marketing executives at Totes Isotoner, a Cincinnati company that had spent the previous 30 years churning out a reliable lineup of humble umbrellas, crowded around a computer and listened to a teenage singer from Barbados named Rihanna breeze through a tune titled, appropriately, “Umbrella.”

The song, not yet released, had commercial, jingle-ready lyrics and a stick-in-your-head hook: “You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh.” Totes, which hadn’t deployed celebrity endorsements since the former N.F.L. quarterback Dan Marino hawked its gloves more than a decade earlier, was smitten. “Umbrella” became a corporate rallying cry, with the song drifting through Totes’ offices at all hours.

How to Win the Hearts and Minds of Hispanic Customers

Marketing Profs, June 17, 2008 — With the Hispanic population in the US expected to surpass white non-Hispanic inhabitants by2030, marketers are scrambling for ways to tap into growing spending power while generating oyalty to their brands.

The challenge they face is to move beyond simply pushing established products or services.

Success requires a consumer-centric approach that hinges on offerings that are relevant to the target population.