from Crain's Chicago Business: ATA Airlines has agreed to turn over its Midway Airport operations to Air Tran Airways Inc. for $87.5 million as part of its restructuring and filing for Bankruptcy Court protection Tuesday. Subject to approval by the city of Chicago and the Bankruptcy Court, AirTran will assume ATA's flight operations, gate leases and routes at Midway, as well as arrival and departure slots at New …
Suit Migrates To Agency-Side. Personal Shopper Needed.
The NY Times reports today that Karen C. Francis, with Harvard MBA and 20 years of client-side service, will be named Publicis & Hal Riney's chief executive. from the article: The migration of brand marketers to agency executive suites, once rare, is becoming less so as agencies seek to remake their business models to meet the challenges from clients anxious to find nontraditional approaches for reaching …
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Times Message To Bloggers: Extract Vitamin A Directly From Sun
Madison Avenue ponders the potential of web logs says Times. The lead: "WEB logs have had an astonishing season this year, enough to freckle the faces of bloggers who do not, as a rule, get much time outdoors. Although political blogs have received the most attention, advertising agencies and communications professionals are using blogs to create discussion about ideas within their industries." Nat Ives, the …
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Grey Is The New Gold
On Sept. 13, WPP announced it would buy Grey for $1,005 a share or $1.52 billion. According to AdAge, Grey Global Group will now pay its chairman-CEO, Ed Meyer, as much as $87 million cash when WPP Group buys Grey. And Mr. Meyer gets to keep his job. The cash payments don't include Mr. Meyer's Grey stock and stock options, worth about $351 million based on this morning's valuation. That's $438 million for the …
Wired Keeps It Fresh
You, Back To The Deli. You, Back To The Grill.
McDonald's, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based fast food purveyor has moved its Oven Selects business from roster shop Leo Burnett, back to DDB Chicago. DDB is also a roster shop and the former agency on the account. The Oven Selects line includes Crispy Buffalo Chicken, Beef 'n' Provolone, Leaning Tower Italian, two New York Reubens -- one with turkey, one with corned beef -- and the turkey sandwich with bacon, lettuce …
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Agencies In Strange Places: First In A Series
One of my favorite pastimes is railing against elitism, wherever I happen to find it. The ad industry is bloated with it. TV is better than print is better than direct is better than promotions. New York is better than Chicago and L.A., but Minneapolis, Boston and San Francisco are where it's at. Unless you work in Richmond, Portland or Austin. Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Bend, Oregon and meeting with …
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What The _____?
Intersticials are the flash-based commercials that keep you from the page you actually want to view until the intrusive messaging plays out. Here's the root of the now widely used industryism: interstice \in-TUR-stus\, noun; plural interstices \in-TUR-stuh-seez; -suz\: 1. A space between things or parts, especially a space between things closely set; a narrow chink; a crack; a crevice; an interval. 2. An interval of …