Large corporations that wish to make podcasts available to their consumers are generating new revenue streams for the rights holders. The Wall Street Journal looks at one such deal between an agency and a major label.

San Francisco-based Rock River Communications Inc. has struck some of the first deals to license major-label content for podcasts. Rock River, which specializes in making the mix CDs sold at the check-out counters of retailers like Gap Inc. and Williams-Sonoma Inc.'s Pottery Barn, is creating a series of promotional podcasts on behalf of corporate clients including DaimlerChrysler AG and Ford Motor Co.

Chrysler and Ford pay Sony BMG Music Entertainment -- the joint venture of Sony Corp. and Germany's Bertelsmann AG -- a flat fee, which the companies decline to disclose, for the right to distribute the podcasts for a year, regardless of how many or how few copies are downloaded. Users can keep the programs on their personal computers or MP3 players indefinitely.

"What we're doing with podcasts is taking the King Biscuit Flower Hour notion of sponsored content," says Rock River President and Chief Executive Jeff Daniel. "It's a patronage model."

Business 2.0 asked 50 of the brightest minds in business how they do what they do - and how you can cash in on their advice in the year ahead. Here's Crispin Porter + Bogusky CEO Jeff Hicks' response:

Make Your Brand Part of the Conversation

There are three things I think about the most when it comes to making it as a marketer these days. The first one is there's no amount of money I can pay to get my commercial in front of you, because you can powerfully edit what you spend time with. So my job as a marketer is no longer to interrupt, but to produce content that is so relevant, interesting, entertaining, and involving that my best consumers won't want to live without it.

The second thing is understanding that instead of brochures and trade shows, marketing now really begins with the product. Great companies are investing a lot of time and attention into trying to make products that market themselves.

The last piece is that user-generated content has made it possible for consumers to own your brand, and if they don't, you're not doing your job. The brands that are adopted, blogged about, and parodied the most are the ones that are going to win because they're involved in the evolution of pop culture. If you're scared to have your brand played with, you're going to be left behind.

David Wen at The Ranch posted an interview with David Baldwin, ECD at McKinney in Durham, NC. Here's my favorite bit:

Q. Is it hard going from Copywriter to Executive Creative Director? What new challenges/responsibilities does being an ECD entail?

A. You have to realize that you have a new job. Your job is to create culture and possibility rather than to ‘write.’ I’ve always called it a transference of joy. You have to take joy from seeing someone else create a great idea and then either help make it better or get out of the way if you can’t.

Having grown up in Atlanta, I've always had a soft spot for Home Depot. Seriously. I remember shopping at their first store. They were known for having good service. The founders of the company were known for being down-to-earth, and now that they've cashed out they've given back to the ATL community in numerous ways.

So John Wagner's recent experience there, along with lots of other things I've heard and read about Home Depot, have led me to think that it's a brand that has lost its way.

What happens when brands stray from the core values they attempt to live up to? What role does advertising and marketing play? It's the subject of my new column on Talent Zoo. Check it out. I hope you enjoy it.

UPDATE (1/3/06 8:50): Man, talk about timing. I wrote the TZ column 4 days ago. On the way to work today, I hear the news that Bob Nardelli, CEO of Home Depot and the person most associated with HD's recent corporate culture change, is out as of today. I'm influential, baby ;-)

The Philadelphia Inquirer is sending 17 percent of its newsroom staff packing today.

The New York Times has some reactions from staffers.

“The guillotine has finally fallen,” said Dawn Fallik, 36, a medical reporter for The Inquirer who has been at the paper for four years and will be laid off. “In a way, it’s kind of a relief. I loved being a reporter, and I hope to continue writing,” Ms. Fallik said, “but I’m open to something completely different.”

Jeff Shields, a reporter who covers gambling said, “Newspapers have not shown a whole lot of economic promise, so for me this is a chance to look around and maybe become part of a more dynamic business model. This could be the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Should Fallik and Shields be reading about themselves in the Times today, they needn't look far, for there's an article in the Technology pages about Google's quest for exceptional people.

Google has always wanted to hire people with straight-A report cards and double 800s on their SATs. Now, like an Ivy League school, it is starting to look for more well-rounded candidates, like those who have published books or started their own clubs.

Google’s growth is staggering even by Silicon Valley standards. It is constantly leasing new buildings for its overflowing campus here and opening offices around the world.

Google has doubled the number of employees in each of the last three years. Even though the company now has about 10,000 employees, Mr. Bock says he sees no reason the company will not double again in size this year. That would increase the number of hires to about 200 a week.

To summarize, laid off journalists with a book to their credit might benefit greatly by sending a copy to the recruiters at Google.

Brandweek is running a bit of a scare piece on a new crop of companies offering à la carte marketing services.

Companies like Spot Runner, PayPerPost, PayPerClip, Current TV, BrightCove, BrandWizard, Google's AdSense for radio and newspapers, and, yes, YouTube, now offer cheap, fast, online commercial creation, media placement and public relations services without the need for a traditional full-service agency. And they come at a fraction of the cost of Madison Avenue. Call it the commodification of creativity.

The article points out that it's not merely firms with limited means that are looking for new sources. Major clients are already experimenting with nonagency commercials. Alka-Seltzer, Frito-Lay, the NFL and Chevrolet have all commissioned spots created by amateurs to run on Super Bowl day, for instance.

So, should agency types be shaking in their Kenneth Cole boots? Not just yet. These firms are not the new Craigslist--the company blamed for upsetting the newspaper industry's classified advertising cart. While there may be certain areas of the agency business that can be commodified, creativity derived from strategic insight isn't one of them.

Jim Stengel, Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble on the Attraction Economy:

If you can create marketing that makes a difference in someone's life, then that's the gold standard. To reach that standard you have to be authentic. People really can see through you when you're not. Consumers care about who is behind brands and products. This is why your values matter. You can't do something just because you have to grow share by ten points or make your boss happy. You need a deeper sense of purpose and commitment.

[via Diablogue]

I'm not the target market, but a lot of the recent Sprint/Nextel work has made me chuckle. Like this spot. And I don't laugh much at what comes on TV randomly.

But according to Adweek, Sprint/Nextel is looking to consolidate its account at one agency. There's $1 billion at stake:

The client is seeking a "fresh approach" and "new thinking" to drive its business, the rep added.

"It's really about regaining our competitive momentum," said the rep.

Well, OK. I guess clients figure that a big-time review is the best way to agitate all those ad agency dots.

Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) looks at Turner Broadcasting's success developing online media properties, something its Time Warner brethren have not had an easy time with.

Turner has developed two of the top Web sites in all of Time Warner: CNN and CNN/Money, a joint venture with Time Inc. Atlanta is no Silicon Valley, but being away from the glare hasn't hurt the venture.

And now, on its midtown campus here, across the street from the building where Cable News Network was born, Turner has set up a small team to develop more Web businesses. Many of the ideas for new Web ventures originate within the company's ranks and Turner management has given the team broad license to experiment.

In recent months, the team has launched ACC Select, a subscription site which airs Atlantic Coast Conference basketball games along with other college sports; CNN Pipeline, a subscription-based online news video service; and another such service, Very Funny Ads, which shows humorous television commercials. This month, the company plans to launch SuperDeluxe, a site with original short-form comedy clips.

"We're building businesses outside our core that allow us to compete for other pools of money," says Turner Entertainment Group President Mark Lazarus.

The article makes the point that Turner's low-cost, quick development cycles and focus on niche audiences has helped it outperform rivals. Put another way, to succeed on the web Turner stopped thinking and acting like a big TV network and started thinking and acting like a group of geeks in a garage.

Okay, I'm Paul Revere and the message I'm delivering on my daring midnight ride is a resounding call-to-arms: America, the porn industry needs your help!

According to the New York Times, for every dollar Americans spent buying tickets to Hollywood movies last year, they spent about 90 cents viewing sex movies in various formats. Sound good? Well, it's not.

The sex-related entertainment business grew in 2006 by just 2.4 percent, roughly the rate of inflation, to just under $13 billion.

Because most of the industry is privately owned, accurate numbers are hard to come by. But in one part of the industry where there is independent reporting of sales — sex movies sold over cable — there are indications of a slowdown.

JupiterKagan Inc., a media and technology market research company, said it expected that sex movies sold either as pay-per-view or on-demand would grow over the next decade at only half the pace of overall paid-for programming on cable.

Daily Mail reports that Kate Moss is starring in a Burberry campaign for the tenth time. In this iteration, she shares the page with sons of famous rock stars.

The campaign's images, shot by Mario Testino were inspired by Cecil Beaton, the iconic society photographer who famously captured the artists, rock stars and royalty of his time.

Scotsman.com says the Metrosexual trend is fading away while a new more manly trend is emerging.

In recent years many men have ditched their expensive power tools for even more expensive moisturiser, and some blokes are more likely to rhapsodise over organic fettuccini drizzled with Tuscan olive oil, than the latest souped-up rally car leaking engine oil.

The coming year, according to leading fashion and social commentators, will see the remorseless rise of the Retrosexual, as many men tire of the complexity of city culture and go back to basics.

This article leads me to ponder Burt's Bees place in the market. The company sells Hand Salve and other cremes to men, but it also has a decidedly backwoods brand story.

While social networking in all its forms has bred a lot of new websites, and media hype to go with it, the beginnings of a shakeout seem to be in order.

On Wednesday, Seattle-based Jobster announced it was laying off 60 people -- 40% of its staff. Jobster is a job board/career networking site (think Friendster for jobs) that has yet to make a penny in profit despite pulling in $48 million in venture capital money. With LinkedIn fast becoming the career networking site of choice, Jobster, the beneficiary of a lot of fawning press (imagine that in the web world!) seems to be losing steam.

So I think you'll start seeing more Web 2.0 startups flame out the way so many early web ventures did in 2000 and 2001. It's what happens to shooting stars, I guess.

Meanwhile, our friends at Talent Zoo are stepping up plans to expand--proving that you can grow a web-based business without $48 million in VC money.

AdAge reports on some changes in the upper echelons of Y&R.

Y&R's new CEO, Hamish McLennan, started 2007 with a bold move: announcing the departure of Michael Patti, vice chairman and worldwide creative director. In a terse, four-sentence press release, the agency announced today Mr. Patti left effective Dec. 31.

According to industry rumor, the agency had agreed to a hefty severance package in the event that he was fired from the agency. In fact, one Y&R insider said WPP made a payout in the millions of dollars to cover the cost of his severance.

"This exemplifies what Hamish is all about," the insider said. "In the new Y&R, there's nowhere to hide. You've gotta deliver."

The Wall Street Journal is also carrying the story.

Mr. Patti, known as a passionate creative talent, sometimes clashed with Y&R executives and clients.

Given that Burger King, Ford Motor Co.'s Jaguar, Computer Associates and Sony Consumer Electronics have all departed under Patti's watch (and Ann Fudge's watch), changes needed to be made. That's business.

Dorito's Crash The Superbowl promotion is one of a growing number of Consumer Generated Content campaigns currently underway.

Kristin Dehnert, the consumer who generated the content above says, "I'm a Location Manager and Scout for commercials as my paid day job but my true passion is writing and directing. My dream is to make directing commercials and feature films my new day job."

Which leads me to my point—"make your own commercial" ideas are generally not about hearing from the consumer, rather they're about seeing work from aspiring creatives.

A blogger named Spocko is making the headlines today. Spocko posted audio clips of inflammatory racist comments made by DJ's on a Disney-owned radio station (KSFO in San Fran). Recently, Disney's lawyers forced Spocko's ISP to shut the blog down. Spocko retailiated by alerting KSFO advertisers that they've been sponsoring what many people would call hate speech against Muslims.

Of course, the audio has been posted and re-posted all over the Web. (Check it out at BoingBoing .) Surely, Disney's lawyers must recognize that the cat's out of the bag.

On one hand, the right-wing rants are inflammatory and just dumb; on the other, free speech is free speech. Sticks and stones, you know?

So I'm sitting here watching Who Killed The Electric Car?, a documentary about GM's EV1 electric car, which was produced in the late 90's. About 18 minutes into the movie comes a discussion of the TV ads (one shown above) and print work done by Hal Riney.

One of the former EV1 marketing executives interviewed traveled around America and saw the consumer buzz building around the car. In the movie, she says:

"We'd sit down with Hal Riney or marketing executives from GM and say, "How Much?" "How Far?" "How Fast?" These are the 3 questions we're getting. Please put them in the advertising. It's not rocket science. And they'd go back and do the exact opposite."

Still another person says, ""We never saw a TV ad with an electric car scampering
up a hill with a good-looking man or woman draped across it. That's how they sell cars."

Not to advocate triteness, but it's an interesting point. Any new product, as the EV1 truly was, has a learning curve. Go back and look at the early 80's Apple print ads from Chiat/Day and you'll see long copy, multi-page ads about what a personal computer can actually do.

But in "Who Killed The Electric Car?", the creepy, mysterious Riney EV1 ads are revisited, and you have to wonder if Saturn should have insisted on the basics when introducing an electric car. A better strategy might have been to position the cars as just as performance-capable as a gas-powered car, not some radical, mysterious alternative. Perhaps a truly effective ad campaign might have stimulated the demand that was under GM's radar.

Tom Asacker's GuruBBQ is gaining traction. In his latest vlog episode, he makes 7 predictions for 2007. They are:

• A big slowdown in the growth of blogging
• Plaid is the new black
• A new medical conditions known as Wii. D.D. will arise
• TVs, computers, cell phones, cameras, radios, MP3 players, and vibrators will all converge into one must-have high-tech device
• More and more large advertisers will play the bored creative masses for fools, soliciting advertising creative on the cheap in exchange for a few cases of beer and a mention in really tiny letters during the commercial airing
• Staples will incur a massive recall of Easy buttons
• Google will release a new service called Google Everything

BusinessWeek takes a look at the various ways companies embed messages in video games.

But beyond running crass advertisements on billboards written into the gaming landscape, many game developers now accept product placements for milk, DVDs and other wares, embedding them deep into the game's software codes. You'd need the type of secret tips and tricks long circulated for unlocking special powers and other bonuses.

Other companies are charging real-world dollars for the privilege of gaining magical powers and better equipment for virtual characters, leading to complaints the companies are exploiting gamers who already pay $60 or more for the most popular titles.

Veterans of the $7 billion U.S. video game market defend the corporate co-option of the techniques once solely the realm of techies: If Hollywood has been employing product placement and other unconventional marketing tricks for years, why not the game industry?

First, Time made 'You' its "Person Of The Year." Now, Ad Age has named 'The Consumer' Agency Of The Year.

From the lead article:

From an agency perspective, there are exactly three ways to look at the rise of consumer control. The first view is like something out of the Book of Revelation -- all conquest, war, famine and death. Happily, the ad industry, thanks to countless foretellings of the death of the 30-second spot and pretty much every other Madison Avenue institution, by now has gotten used to apocalyptic visions of its future, so this will mean minimal leaps out of windows.

The second way of looking at this is to pretty much reject the notion that there's any fundamental change at all. This is perhaps best espoused by Euro RSCG New York Executive Creative Director Jeff Kling, who responds thusly to the suggestion that consumers could one day unseat agencies at the right hand of marketers: "I think the idea that this represents a threat to ad agencies is patently absurd and drummed up to have something interesting to discuss. I don't know anyone who fears for his job. Companies have always wanted to gain control over what's said about them. It used to be letters to the editor; now it's consumer-generated content. Advertising has the same role it's always had, and managing and leveraging all that content that's out there is classic creative direction."

We arrive rather dialectically at the third way: an acknowledgment that there are lessons to be learned but those lessons don't necessarily herald the end of the ad agency as we know it.

If you think Ad Age is simply following's Time lead, Jonah Bloom explains that the editors were already leaning that way when Time published its Person of the Year issue. Plus, it was the 2nd choice anyway; if the whole Wal-Mart/Julie Roehm thing hadn't blown up last month, DraftFCB would've won.

I swing by Sally Hogshead's blog on occasion. She doesn't post much, but when she does she lets it fly.

Since May, I’ve been letting my career rove to and fro. Consciously, I chose to make no plans or goals, do no outreach or inquiry, and instead, simply respond to the clients and opportunities that presented themselves.

This experiment led me to people and places and possibilities that I’d normally never encounter. I became a brand manager for a celebrity, outlined a new book concept, developed two reality TV shows, and created a new kind of speaking program that’s marketing + entertainment. And that was just October.

While I don’t often recommend being a spectator to your own career, at certain points you have to consciously choose to roam. Your career is robust. Don’t overprotect it, or shelter it, or underestimate it. Don’t let it get too precious.

A career, like most things in life, can’t be simultaneously developed and preserved.

Radical Careering is, of couse, a self-help book. Its very purpose is to get you to stretch. While it's heartening to see the author of the philosophy live her message, it's also hard to believe that it might work in one's own life. For instance, doing no outreach and just letting what comes come, would most likely result in disaster (at least economically) for me and just about everyone I know. Yet, being open to possibility is certainly great advise.

Bottom line, to be a successful radical careerist, one must be fearless and one must believe. It works for Sally Hogshead, and without question she believes it can work for you.

Old school packaged goods company P&G is looking for a fresh approach and there are few better places to find it than in Northwest Portland.

The New York Times interviewed the Wieden + Kennedy creative team behind the new Old Spice camapign.

“Previous generations loved Old Spice and had a more emotional attachment to it,” said Monica Taylor, an art director at Wieden & Kennedy who is one of two creative directors on the account. “I remember my dad using it; it was such a deep, rich brand.”

Mark Fitzloff, a copywriter at Wieden & Kennedy who is the other creative director on the account, chimed in: “If you put Nikes on your feet, you’re making a statement. If you’re using Old Spice, you’re not. Procter wanted to see if they could change that.”

“Our timing was good because this is a moment when everyone appreciates authenticity, when retro is not necessarily a bad word,” Mr. Fitzloff said. “So we can say, ‘You can either be authentic or trendy.’ ”

I have yet to see all the work in this campaign, but the ad above doesn't do much for me. It seems like a tame response to Axe (as does the above quote) and there's nothing "authentic" about that. I'm not faulting the creative team as much as I'm questioning the strategy. It seems needy and unbecoming for an established brand to play in this sandbox.

[UPDATE] AME Info looks at one such buzzword. "Engagement continues to be the hottest buzzword in advertising. Everyone wants a piece of it. Or better yet, to own it."

Well, maybe not. Edward E. Whitacre Jr., former CEO of SBC Communications and now head of a newly super-sized AT&T, seems to have flip-flopped on the net neutrality issue. In 2005, he said Google and Yahoo were "nuts" for expecting free use of his company's network to deliver their content. But now, according to the LA Times, he's saying that AT&T will not sell premium delivery of Web content for the next two years.

AT&T was forced to agree to treat all online content the same to gain Federal Communications Commission approval of its purchase of BellSouth Corp. The $86-billion deal, which the FCC unanimously approved Dec. 29, makes AT&T the dominant phone company in 22 states, including California, and the nation's largest provider of high-speed Internet service.

Advocates of network neutrality requirements now contend that if a behemoth such as AT&T can build its data highways without charging websites for faster delivery of video and other bandwidth-devouring services, so can other providers.

Between Macworld and the Consumer Electronics Show, both going on this week, we're going to see a lot of new gadgets, doodads, and gizmos that will combine the power of video with the Internet, along with the services that will sell them to consumers.

Like this bit from Sony:

Sony revealed Sunday a system that will allow viewers of its Bravia flat-panel TV sets to access broadband video content, some of it in high-definition (HD).

The Bravia Internet Video Link system will be offered on most new models of Bravia TVs and can be accessed at the push of a few buttons on the remote control. The service is populated with a number of programmed broadband video content channels and initial partners include AOL, Yahoo and Sony-group companies Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony BMG Music and online video site Grouper.

So companies like Sony will attempt to control it all: Make the content, and then offer it only to people who own Sony TV's at home.

And that's just the beginning. Steve Jobs takes center stage tomorrow. This is Geek Week in America. Start saving your $$$$, you've got a lot of stuff to buy soon.

According to the Charleston Post and Courier, Augusta-based Morris Communications--the publisher of 27 daily newspapers, several lifestyle magazines, visitor magazines, books, outdoor boards and more--has gone to court to protect one of its brands.

In a lawsuit filed this week, Morris Publishing Group alleges that Pink! "virtually mirrors, and in some cases, directly copies" their title Skirt!

The lawsuit alleges that the owner of Pink!, Hilton Head-based Millen Publishing Group, mimics many aspects of Skirt!, including its size, the kind of paper it is printed on, its style of artwork and its one-word title ending with an exclamation point.

Millen Publishing denied the allegations.

I can pick up both titles for free at various pizza joints, coffee shops, etc. No question, the two compete for the same advertising revenue and seek to deliver like-minded content to their readers. I don't know about this lawsuit though. It seems like bullying from Morris (the firm with deeper pockets). Plus, what ever happened to besting an opponent on the playing field?

The Wall Street Journal is running a piece on BrightLine, a 15-person Manhattan firm that takes ideas for traditional ads and figures out how those concepts can function in venues such as video on demand and digital video recorders.

Tweaking traditional ad ideas for on-demand services is a niche specialty, falling somewhere between traditional media planning and marketing services -- but one that is increasingly in demand. Because traditional ad firms are more accustomed to developing ads for TV and print, the rapid growth of new commercial formats is creating an opportunity for firms like BrightLine to help marketers figure things out.

For example, BrightLine worked with another small ad firm, The Viral Factory, on a video-on-demand promotion for Unilever's Axe body spray in late 2005. The Viral Factory created a four-minute humorous video featuring a mock news broadcast about a fictional town called Ravenstoke, where men were doused with Axe body spray to help attract more women to the town. BrightLine decided the clip would work as part of the VOD programming offered by Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, and arranged for insertion of the video in the on-demand menu.

With all the brands desperate today to unleash a viral video on the Internets, I think it might be instructive to look at a brand that's been viral offline for decades.

No ad agency had anything to do with the creation or perpetuation of the Gatorade dunk. Maybe this should be the definition of what viral is? Something can only be viral if uninstigated consumers create meaning around the brand. Everything else is just advertising.

[via Where's My Jetpack]

News Net 5 in Cleveland, Ohio reports on one retailer's desire to capitalize on an Ohio State victory (that did not happen) in last night's championship game.

Macy's made a losing bet on the Buckeyes and now has T-shirts that stores can't sell, proclaiming Ohio State college football's national champions.

Three of the department stores in Columbus had the merchandise ready to go in case the Buckeyes won Monday's title game in Glendale, Ariz. But the Buckeyes suffered a painful 41-14 defeat to Florida.

Full-page ads in The Columbus Dispatch on Sunday said the stores would open at 11 p.m. to offer the "new champion apparel" to fans after the game.

The loss prompted at least one major retailer to put its usual Buckeyes gear on sale. Kohl's ran full-page newspaper ads Tuesday congratulating the team on its season -- and advertising half-off on all Ohio State athletic apparel.

Market Watch reports on a professional association's attempt to use millions of dollars in advertising expenditures to overcome prevailing economic trends.

The National Association of Realtors is launching a $40 million advertising campaign to encourage Americans to buy houses amid the ongoing housing slump.

The Realtors' campaign includes $26 million in television advertising, about double what the group spent in 2006.

The ad campaign comes as the U.S. real estate market is weathering a prolonged downturn. The Realtors' latest data show sales of existing homes down 10.7% over the past year.

New homes sales, meanwhile, have fallen 15.3% in the past year, according to the latest government figures.

The Realtors said the new ads will run more than 8,750 times on national television and radio between January and November. They'll run more than 25,000 times on local radio stations.

David Utter, a staff writer for Web Pro News, looks at another Web 2.0 acquisition by Yahoo.

Bix. Flickr. Delicious. Upcoming.org. Webjay. Konfabulator. Jumpcut. SearchFox. They all have something in common with MyBlogLog: a big check from Yahoo in exchange for the companies.

MyBlogLog is a social network that lives on blogs, mostly. Many sites, like Scott Karp's Publishing 2.0, display a MyBlogLog widget that shows the names and pictures of recent member visitors.

For Yahoo, the question that will need to be answered is what to do with MyBlogLog and all of their other little purchases. Will Yahoo emerge from 2007 as a mobile powerhouse with tons of tightly integrated social media technology?

Engadget is all over the MacWorld story of the day/year--the June 2007 release of Apple's new iPhone.

As expected, it's a beautifully designed device. It features a 3.5-inch screen, and the highest resolution screen Apple has ever shipped, 160ppi. Other features include a built in 2 megapixel camera, speaker, mic input, and an iPod connector. It works with any IMAP or POP3 email service. iPhone's mobile browser runs Safari—the first fully-usable browser on a cellphone.

The 8 Gig model will retail for $599 and include a two-year service plan from Cingular.

Today, P&G launched Capessa.yahoo.com, an online community for women. This is P&G's first stab at consumer-generated content in the digital space. Here's what they're saying, as quoted in Businessweek:

"This is not about selling products. It's about better understanding of consumers and learning about their needs and habits," said P&G spokeswoman Robyn Schroeder. "The more we learn about these consumers, the more it will allow us to create better products for their needs."

The site was created by ZizzoGroup.

The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) looks at one prominent media company's scramble to become a player in marketing services.

Meredith Corp., whose magazine titles include Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, is spending an undisclosed sum to acquire Los Angeles-based digital-ad agency Genex and Arlington, Va., word-of-mouth-marketing firm New Media Strategies.

The acquisitions follow Meredith's purchase of Los Angeles-based interactive-marketing agency O'Grady Meyers, whose clients include Nestlé, last April. The latest deals are the strongest signal to date that Meredith -- confronting slowing growth in its core publishing and television businesses -- is broadening its focus to include marketing services, one of the fastest-growing parts of the advertising industry. Even after these purchases, the Des Moines, Iowa, company is still on the prowl for other acquisitions to round out its marketing-services offerings, says Stephen Lacy, Meredith's president and chief executive.

"We believe the marketing services area will have a faster growth rate than either of the two traditional-media businesses," Mr. Lacy says. Meredith owns 26 magazines and 14 TV stations; publishing accounted for about 80% of the company's $1.6 billion in revenue for fiscal 2006, which ended June 30.

Once upon a time there was a divide between editorial and advertising. No more.

According to Ad Age, Joe Pytka--the most famous commerical director on earth--will deign to direct a spot conceived by a consumer of NFL football.

Gino Bona of Portsmouth, N.H., is the winner of the NFL's promotion that gave fans the opportunity to determine one of the league's 30-second spots that will run next month in Super Bowl XLI.

Mr. Bona, who works as a sales director at the Garrand & Co. marketing firm in Portland, Maine, traveled to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., in November to pitch his idea to a panel of judges. Under the tagline "It's hard for us, too," Mr. Bona's idea described several scenes of fans' reactions as the Super Bowl comes to an end. After the game, fans pay season-long bar tabs and console one another as they struggle with the fact that there will be no more NFL games for another seven months.

The NFL received more than 1,700 submissions by fans for the promotion. It was backed by a national TV spot from GMR Marketing that first aired Nov. 5.

Mr. Bona will be flown to Los Angeles next week to be on the set for the commercial. He also receives a prize package that includes airfare to South Florida for himself and a guest -- along with two tickets to Super Bowl XLI.

Amsale Aberra, a 52-year-old couture wedding gown designer -- and a native of Ethiopia -- is the new spokesperson for the MKX, Lincoln's first entry in the compact crossover wagon market.

According to The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.), Ms. Aberra's New York-based wedding- and evening-dress house, claims annual sales of about $30 million. The Amsale label is in the same league as Vera Wang, another high-end wedding-gown brand.

Lincoln wants to be the universally likable luxury brand -- the Oprah Winfrey or Ralph Lauren of the automotive world, brand executives say.

"We have a different set of values," says Lincoln Marketing Manager Mike Richards about other auto makers. "Our customers are not concerned about shouting about their success. Lincoln is not arrogant or boastful."

Initially, the commercials featuring Ms. Aberra were slated for the minority media and certain urban markets. But Lincoln later decided to include the Amsale ads in Lincoln's general market ads, shown on prime-time television.

People love to bust on McDonald's. There's a long history of activism against the global burger dispenser. Ronald McHummer, the latest comer adds a subversive twist to their protest—a make your own McD's sign game.

Here's why they're bothering:

McDonald's often emphasizes its "long-standing global commitment to environmental protection and leadership." So why did they give away 42 million toy Hummers in Happy Meals? The fast-food chain that helped make our kids the fattest on Earth cut a deal with General Motors to sell future car buyers on the fun of driving a supersized, smog-spewing, gas-guzzling SUV originally built for the military. Use the Ronald McHummer Sign-O-Matic™ to say what you think of this misguided marketing marriage.

Yep, a promotion gone wrong. I hate when that happens.

[via Jetpacks]

Associated Press reports that Cisco is not taking Apple's new iPhone announcement well.

Nor should they. Cisco has owned the rights since 2000 (note the circle R in the graphic above).

Three weeks ago, Cisco's Linksys division put the trademark to use, releasing an Internet phone called "iPhone" that uses the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

Cisco said Tuesday it had been negotiating for several years with Apple over a licensing agreement but that Apple lawyers had not signed and returned the final contract.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."