If you're a big time TV creative at W&K and you make $500K directing Super Bowl spots, stay where you are. People like you may be working a dying business model, but you've got a long way to fall from your ivory tower-like perch. For the rest of us, "new" media, such as the Internet, continues to evolve and gain traction. Check out these stats from market research and advisory company Outsell (courtesy of MarketingVOX):

U.S. advertising spend will grow 5.8 percent in 2007, with online advertising spend growing 18 percent - faster than for any other major medium

Advertisers also plan to increase search engine advertising spend 39 percent - the most of any major online method –

The share of TV/radio/movie ad spending will decline about 3.5 percent in 2007.

They both plead not guilty in court today.

The Interference & Cartoon Network folks are the ones who have some 'splaining to do...not these guys. These guys probably responded to some Craigslist ad looking for "brand ambassadors" in the hopes of getting a little extra cash.

An update from The Boston Globe:

Friends of the local artist accused of spearheading Wednesday's bomb scares said he was warned by an executive at a New York guerrilla marketing firm as early as 1:25 p.m. on Wednesday that their advertising campaign had incited panic in Boston.

An advertising executive at Interference Marketing Inc. instructed Peter Berdovsky to keep quiet while police scrambled across the metropolitan area responding to a series of bomb scares. Berdovsky sent an e-mail to friends at 1:25 p.m. telling them not to talk about the marketing scheme to promote the animated television show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" on the Cartoon Network.

"My boss from the Cartoon Network’s ad agency just called -- she is asking that we pretty please keep everything on the DL," or down low, wrote Berdovsky, according to a copy of the e-mail provided to the Globe.

Does anyone know anything about Interference?

If you become a "brand ambassador" for some viral/guerrilla marketing firm, do you sign some sort of contract? If you do something illegal as part of the job, as it appears these guys might have, who's liable?

I mean, you don't get paid much, or maybe you're paid per event, but there are some serious legal bills involved for these 2 Boston dudes, and I'm wondering who's going to pay.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Interference web site only contains this statement:

We at Interference, Inc. regret that our efforts on behalf of our client contributed to the disruption in Boston yesterday and certainly apologize to anyone who endured any hardship as a result. Nothing undertaken by our firm was in any way intended to cause anxiety, fear or discomfort to anyone. We are working with Turner Broadcasting and appropriate law enforcement and municipal authorities to provide information as requested and take other appropriate actions.

The New York Times lists the most litigious U.S. companies of the decade. Microsoft is king, followed by Cendant, Altria/Phillip Morris, Best Western, Dunkin' Donuts, Lorillard Tobacco, Levi Strauss, Baskin-Robbins, Chanel and Nike.

The story looks closely at one of the most iconic brands in American history--Levi Strauss--and the trouble the privately-held San Francisco company has maintaining the integrity of its classic butterfly mark.

United States Patent and Trademark No. 1,139,254 is not much to look at: a pentagon surrounding a childlike drawing of a seagull in flight.

But the design for a Levi’s pocket, first used 133 years ago, has become the biggest legal battleground in American fashion.

Levi Strauss claims that legions of competitors have stolen its signature denim stitches — two intersecting arcs and a cloth label — for their own pockets, slapping them on the seats of high-priced, hip-hugging jeans that have soared in popularity.

So Levi’s is becoming a leader in a new arena: lawsuits. The company has emerged as the most litigious in the apparel industry when it comes to trademark infringement lawsuits, firing off nearly 100 against its competitors since 2001.

This whole, uh, sordid affair, is a huge cautionary tale for anyone thinking of leaping into a new job. BusinessWeek has a good story detailing how things began--and ended for Roehm during her tenure at Wal-Mart.

As fall approached, the deadline for the agency review was looming. On Oct. 15, Wal-Mart finally settled on one of Roehm's top picks, DraftFCB (IPG ). At the time, both Roehm and agency chief Howard Draft were unaware that someone at his firm had placed an advertisement in an industry publication, celebrating the clinching of several awards. The ad featured a lion mounting its mate with the tag line: "It's good to be on top." Not surprisingly, the ad did not go over well inside Wal-Mart. Roehm thought: "Oh my God. This is the last thing we need." (Wal-Mart would ditch the agency three days after firing Roehm.)

Even small triumphs were turning to ashes. Roehm had helped conceive a TV ad for the Christmas shopping season. It featured a middle-age couple opening presents. The woman, sitting on the husband's lap, opens a box to reveal a red silk nightgown. With his teenage kids and in-laws looking on, the man grins happily. His wife loves the gown. And Wal-Mart, says Roehm, loved the ad. At first, anyway. Then, she says, the company got word of a complaint from a consumer who saw the ad while watching Desperate Housewives; shortly after, the ad was pulled. Roehm couldn't believe it. "With a company as big as that," she says, "you are never going to satisfy 100% of the people."

I can speak from experience here--and I also once worked for hicks in a southern town--if you're looking to take a new gig, always, always do your due diligence on a company, its leadership, its culture--and research everything you can find out about a company aside from its press releases. Roehm screwed up on the job, but her biggest screw-up was taking the Wal-Mart job in the first place.

The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) is reporting that San Francisco interactive-ad firm AKQA has sold a majority stake to private equity firm General Atlantic LLC.

While there's nothing new about an agency acccepting large wads of cash for a partial or full buy out, there is a unique twist to this transaction.

AKQA Chief Executive Tom Bedecarre said, "The best solution was to work with someone who is not in our business but who is willing to be a long-term partner and help us grow."

[emphasis added]

For a new podcast on Radio Talent Zoo, I interviewed Jeff Chester, the director of The Center For Digital Democracy and the author of Digital Destiny: New Media And The Future Of Democracy.

Telecom companies, The 4A's, and other organizations are continually lobbying Congress to relax rules and regulations that control the media. Jeff works the opposite site, advocating legislation that protects consumers from invasive marketing intiatives and domination by big media oligarchies. We had a fun chat. I'm not sure everything Jeff describes has come to complete fruition, but he's got some very real concerns.

The podcast is about 20 minutes long. We talked about Turner Broadcasting's marketing promotion that turned into a terror scare; what Jeff calls the advertising industry's "chilling goal" to deliver personalized ads wherever consumers go; advertisers' reluctance to accept industry safeguards; the incredible inadequacy of websites' privacy policies; and the advertising industry's "shameful" lack of corporate and social responsibility.

Give it a listen. I hope you enjoy it.

The Boston Globe shares more details about the two guys arrested in Boston and how they came to be involved:

In a State Police report, investigators say that Berdovsky told them he met a man in Brooklyn last November who asked him to participate in a "promotional stunt" and steered him to Interference. The company promised to pay Berdovsky and Stevens $300 each to install 40 of the signs around Boston. A marketing company official, whom Berdovsky identified as Adrienne Yee, sent him an e-mail listing the "do's and don'ts" of where to place the signs. Target areas included train stations, overpasses, "hip and trendy areas, high traffic areas of high visibility."

Berdovsky told police they put up the signs in two waves, 20 about two weeks ago, then a second wave of 18 Monday night into Tuesday. The second wave -- Berdovsky called it Boston Mission 2 -- was photographed by a third person, identified in court papers as Dana Seaber . Seaber, 27, has not been charged.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Interference, Inc, Sam Travis Ewen, is in hiding and refuses to talk to anyone. Now THAT's truly guerrilla.

Sometimes a company succeeds and advertising has nothing to do with it. Instead, market conditions, political favors and an insatiable appetite for their product create wealth on a scale that is hard to fully comprehend.

ExxonMobil is such a company. According to USA Today, ExxonMobil earned $39.5 billion last year, making it the most profitable year by any company in history.

That figure is 13 times greater than Google's profit for the year and three times more than Microsoft earned. To put the numbers in human terms, ExxonMobil generated $75,150 a minute--more than what 90% of Americans earned all year.

Zack Brown at the U.S. Public Research Group said, ExxonMobil should use its record profits to fund clean energy. While I couldn't agree more, it seems ExxonMobil is doing quite well marketing the dirty energy the developed world is negatively hooked on.

GM will introduce Robot 2407 on Sunday during a 60-second Super Bowl slot. Yesterday the automaker debuted a 30-second preview on YouTube. But the inanimate object found "his" voice on the internets over a month ago.

Here's "his" first post from December 30th.

ROBOT 1397 THINKS I AM CRAZY FOR STARTING A BLOG. HE SAYS THEY ARE "SO HARD TO KEEP UPDATED." LATER FOR THAT. AFTER WATCHING EVERYONE ELSE HAVE FUN I WANT TO JUMP IN. HERE AT GOTO ROBOT I WILL BLOG ABOUT WHAT I DO DAY IN, DAY OUT ABOUT MY JOB. MY JOB IS THE MOST AWESOME JOB IN THE WORLD.

The TV spot is from Deutsch, LA and SWAY Studio, a visual effects shops. I'm not sure where the ghost writer on the blog works.

What happens to the t-shirts of the team who loses the game tonight? That's easy. They get shipped care package style to third world countries. The New York Times sheds light on this uniquely American brand of philanthropy:

The other set of championship gear — the 288 T-shirts and caps made for the team that did not win — will be hidden behind a locked door at Dolphin Stadium. By order of the National Football League, those items are never to appear on television or on eBay. They are never even to be seen on American soil.

They will be shipped Monday morning to a warehouse in Sewickley, Pa., near Pittsburgh, where they will become property of World Vision, a relief organization that will package the clothing in wooden boxes and send it to a developing nation, usually in Africa.

This way, the N.F.L. can help one of its charities and avoid traumatizing one of its teams.

“Where these items go, the people don’t have electricity or running water,” said Jeff Fields, a corporate relations officer for World Vision. “They wouldn’t know who won the Super Bowl. They wouldn’t even know about football.”

The gear is flown, along with school and medical supplies, into a major city. It is then driven to one of the villages where World Vision staff members work. They distribute the shirts and caps at a community center, about two per family.

Feed the world, NFL. Go Bears.

Need a guide to today's Super Bowl ads? USA Today has one (broken down by brand name).

As you can see, A-B has nine spots running during the game. That's over $20,000,000 in jacked up CBS airtime.

Adweek created a new Super Bowl blog and recruited several luminaries from Adlandia to contribute to it today.

One luminary, direct marketing guru Seth Godin, (who coined the term "permission marketing" ) says today's media game isn't about "selling anything, per se."

Instead, it’s about creating a short little movie that spreads. Yes, it’s permission marketing. Permission marketing because viewers are asking for the ads, they want the ads, they look forward to them. BUT, we’re not watching them because we want to buy or even to learn (the way, say, Google ads work). We’re watching because we want to be in on the joke, to have something to share.

In other words, people want to avoid being labeled cultural illiterates come Monday morning. Personally, I revel in my cultural illiteracy. But it doesn't apply to football. I like football.

Timing is important in business, as it is in life. Which is why I take my hat off to Anheuser-Busch for launching Bud.tv tomorrow--the day after the Super Bowl. The effort would be impressive any day of any week, but it's even more so on a day when everyone (not just industry types) are talking about advertising.

Here's how The New York Times Magazine describes the project:

Bud.TV may be a marketing venture at heart, but it is marketing sotto voce. The shows’ plots won’t revolve around the quest for the perfect beer and a beautiful woman to share it with. Characters won’t declaim the virtues of Budweiser’s freshness at every opportunity. The site won’t be cluttered with banner ads. Anheuser-Busch executives are banking on a more subtle connection. Attach a brand name to something cool, something entertaining, and that elusive young man (and to a lesser extent, young woman) may check out Bud.TV’s offerings again and again, send them along to friends, even take a stab at creating his own minifilm for the site. Cultivate that warm, fuzzy feeling about Budweiser, and the company may cement the loyalty of the existing customer, or better, woo the uncommitted or hard-to-reach drinker to a Bud Light or a Michelob or a Peels malt-liquor beverage.

Bud.tv is being overseen by Jim Schumaker, a 26-year veteran of A-B and the brewer's vice president of digital marketing and branded entertainment.

The project is the most ambitious content play by a big brand since the 1950s when soap operas were introduced with the express purpose of selling homemakers on packaged goods. Now, Bud.tv moves A-B beyond the producer role. A-B is the network.

The above quoted passage talks about subtlety. The magic here is the fact that Bud.tv needn't laden itself with gratuituos pitches because the channel is the ad.

Bud Light opened the game strong with three commercials. The first, "Rock, Paper Scissors," I didn't care for, but the other two were funny.

Coca-Cola ran three spots in the second quarter, all of which were well done. The brand's Black History month spot may have been the best of the three, given the historic nature of today's game. Although, it's hard to find fault with the Grand Theft Auto remake, which journeys back in Coke time to the big "I'd like to teach the world to sing..." productions.

I also like the Doritos consumer generated spot, which I've previously posted on.

[UPDATE] High Jive finds the Black History Month spot from Coca-Cola "painfully contrived and expected."

"Federline...fries!"

There was no winner in the fourth quarter. It was pretty much one poor spot after the next. Mercifully, it ended on a semi-decent effort from a fan (with an assist from Pytka).

[UPDATE] Participants in USA Today's real-time consumer focus group, saw things much differently. They loved the crabs that carry away an ice chest of Bud. The spot which aired at the start of the fourth quarter was the most popular spot of the evening, in fact.

...but rather in New York Magazine.

I'll have to take time to digest this one. It's 6,000 words long, or so.

Ad Age is reporting that Chuck McBride's proposed splinter group will be less one creative superstar.

Wieden & Kennedy creative director Hal Curtis, who heads creative for the agency's Coca-Cola account, will not be joining a planned startup involving his former creative partner, Chuck McBride.

Executives familiar with the situation said Mr. Curtis was offered an increase in salary and more responsibility following discussions with Wieden President Dan Wieden.

According to the Washington Post, parties responsible for last week's viral marketing "bomb scare" have a hefty price to pay for their actions.

Turner Broadcasting Systems and a marketing company have agreed to pay $2 million compensation and apologize for their advertising campaign that caused a widespread terrorism scare.

The agreement with several state and local agencies resolves any potential civil or criminal claims against Turner and Interference Inc., said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

As part of the settlement, $1 million will be used to reimburse the agencies and $1 million will be used to fund homeland security and other programs. Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner Inc., and Interference Inc. also will issue a public statement accepting full responsibility and apologizing for the incident.

"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." -Jeff Hicks

If we are to believe Crispin's CEO, Second Life is in the winner's circle.

Boston Business Journal writer, Lisa van der Pool, examines the convulsions being felt throughout Adlandia. She says traditional advertising agencies are facing a difficult paradigm shift--the need to evolve their businesses to accommodate for all things digital.

"Our digital group used to be a department. Now, they are right at the center of the agency, digital guys are imbedded into every account," said Fran Kelly, CEO of Arnold, which now has 100 digital experts in its 600-employee workforce in Boston. "Arnold will really morph into a digital marketing company over the next two to three years. Digital used to be on the edge of what we do. Now it's more and more at the heart of what we do."

"The fact of the matter is that it's all about digital today. Every ad agency in the country needs to get comfortable with it," said O. Burtch Drake, president and CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies in New York.

"I don't know if 2007 is the threshold year per se, but it is conclusive that the Internet has changed everything -- that's absolutely conclusive," said Joe Grimaldi, CEO of Mullen. "Our eyeballs are there and our engagement is there. The smart companies are the companies that have been changing all along."

Of course, Boston's Hill | Holliday made quite a statement last year by changing their brochureware--still the industry standard--site to a blog.

Super Bowl spots take months to create. Or not.

According to Lewis Lazare, Chicago's Element 79 put one together in a hurry for their client Frito-Lay. Creative Director, Phil Gant, at the agency all of a week, went to Chief Creative Officer, Dennis Ryan, with his pitch a mere eight days prior to the game.

Gant, who had been chief creative officer at BBDO/Chicago, wanted to do a commercial showing groups of people in different settings watching the game. As the commercial progressed, we would see that all the people were African Americans. A message would appear on screen asking "Who's winning?," followed by the answer "We all are," before a final reminder to "Enjoy the game."

Ryan was immediately taken with the concept. Within an hour, Ryan had sold the spot to Element 79 client Frito-Lay. That left Gant just days -- about four, give or take -- to get the spot made and approved by Frito-Lay, CBS and the NFL.

Of course, the spot isn't going to collect any trophies in the south of France. The Coca-Cola Black History Month spot was called "painfully contrived and expected" by one informed observer. Yet, I prefer that execution over the one above. Still, it is a wonder that Element 79 moved as fast as they did.

A year ago in this space we decided to help an aspiring copywriter develop his spec book. Today, that aspiring copywriter works as an editor for Gawker Media and gets ink in The New York Times.

Ben Popken is an unlikely consumer crusader.

The power of blogs never ceases to amaze.

The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) examines a new kind of reporter attending Fashion Week in New York City--the retail blogger, whose aim is to drive traffic to stores where the latest fashions are available for purchase.

Ken Downing might look like any other reporter at the New York shows. But he's the fashion director at Neiman Marcus, the Dallas-based department-store chain that caters to well-to-do shoppers. Starting today, Mr. Downing will post his reviews of around 18 shows at New York's fashion week on the Neiman Web site. They're part of a new marketing tactic that a small but growing number of retailers are using to help boost sales of designer clothing, which has been a bright spot in a dismal apparel market.

But unlike other media covering the shows, these commentators are in the awkward position of reviewing their own suppliers -- and their aim is more to boost sales rather than offer impartial critique.

Irene Done points to a story in LA Times, about a Consumer Reports finding that people like McDonald's coffee better than Starbucks coffee.

Consumer Reports magazine said today that in a test conducted at two locations of each emporium, its tasters found McDonald's coffee to be "decent and moderately strong" with "no flaws." On the other hand, the Starbucks brew "was strong, but burnt and bitter enough to make your eyes water instead of open."

The March issue of the magazine, due out Monday, thus advises, "Try McDonald's, which was cheapest and best."

No matter how much McDonald's revels in its win of the taste test, the company might be hard-pressed to use it in promotions. Consumer Reports, which takes no advertising, strictly prohibits companies from using its findings in ads.

Ms. Done says she has no love for Starbucks' straight cup of Joe. "The puddle of water/gas/oil in my driveway is preferable to Starbucks coffee." She goes on to say the secret of their success is "the latte, stupid," which, of course, buries much of the coffee taste under a reservoir of dairy.

Let's look at ad blogs ourselves for a moment. Shall we?

Steve Hall tells Shedwa that the work ad bloggers do is important.

We have a huge impact. Ad Age reads us (by us, I mean all ad blogs) because they don't want to miss anything. In one sense, we do a lot of early reporting for them. Uncover new trends, stories, scoops which then sometimes find their way onto the pages of Ad Age. I'm not saying we're a replacement but a welcome addition that fleshes out what's going on in the industry.

Ariel Waldman examines her motivations for blogging:

1. Because I read 200-600 blogs a day on average already for work

2. I now have an excuse for shit-talking ("Blogging is all about transparency, and you're just transparently an asshole")

3. You can only read so many Scoble blogging-blunders until you completely lose it

4. It's like I'm the only girl at a comic book convention

5. I needed another reason to make my coworkers give me weird looks

Lastly, Adjab (a Weblogs Inc. site) calls it quits.

It's important to point out that a blog retirement is not a blog failure. Here at Weblogs, Inc. we are continually honing our network to be the best content engine for readers and bloggers both. In part, that means figuring out how to divide our resources that, sadly, are not infinite.

p.s. Steve Hall says Ariel gets invited to participate in memes because she looks good in pictures. Jetpacks comes to her defense with, "Steve is wrong. I tagged you not only because you're the slow kid on the playground, but you are the slow kid who can write." Amen, Jetpacks.

Ervin Peretz, a 37-year-old Google programmer, just might be a genius.

He opened Terra Bite Lounge, a coffee shop in Kirkland, WA that has no prices for any of the food or drinks it "sells." Instead people volunteer money if and when they choose. Those who do pay simply put whatever they want into a drop box.

According to Seattle Times:

The idea emerged during a booze-fueled debate in a Saigon bar, where Peretz and a colleague had traveled to blow off steam after a period of long hours at work.

Peretz argued that people are essentially good, but can be influenced by their environment. If people see good, they'll be good.

Peretz isn't worried that people will abuse Terra Bite. There's enough money to fund the honor system, and enough honor, too, he said.

I love the idea that business can be a vehicle for social change. So many people start a business to make money. Then that's what it is--a business set up to make money. But a business set up to solve a problem or to encourage enlightened behavior...that's powerful stuff.

[via Blog on a Toothpick]

It's nearly impossible to do something creative with stock footage. But it looks like Zimmerman found a way.

From the NYT:

Zimmerman Zimmerman Advertising, an advertising agency that is part of the Omnicom Group, is selling stock advertising and online buying for TV, the Internet, print publications, radio, direct mail and in-store ads.

The automated system it is offering to advertisers, called Pick-n-Click, is currently available only for automotive advertisers and has 150,000 components —like voice-overs, video footage and text options.

AutoNation, a franchise group of 331 car dealers, has signed on as a customer. Zimmerman plans to expand the site’s ad offerings to other retail areas like home furnishings within the next few months.

“You find out at 10 p.m., your competitor is running an intense sale on something,” said Michael Goldberg, chief marketing officer for Zimmerman. “You can go into your arsenal of work and select something to combat that and program it to run the next day. All in five minutes.”

One of the truly interesting things here is that a big, creative ad agency is behind this development. I can see it coming from a tech startup or what have you, but this agency is consciously cutting into its own services to be a first mover in this new area. Talk about living the Who Moved My Cheese? ideal...

Hal R. Varian, professor of business, economics and information management at the University of California, Berkeley explains "Kaizen, the practice of continuous improvement," in today's NYT.

Kaizen doesn’t just mean a business should keep trying new things. Rather, it refers to a disciplined process of systematic exploration, controlled experimentation and then painstaking adoption of the new procedures.

The most successful online businesses are built on kaizen, though few of those who carry out the testing would recognize the term, since many of those who created these online businesses were in grade school in the 1980s.

The online world is never static. There is a constant flow of new users, new products and new technologies. Being able to figure out quickly what works and what doesn’t can mean the difference between survival and extinction.

Jeff Jarvis interviewed scholar and author David Weinberger on camera at Always On in Manhattan last week.

Beet.tv has the full transcript of the interview.

Here's one bit from the Cluetrain conductor that I enjoyed:

Entering a conversation in order to influence it is almost always a corrupting influence on a conversation, although there are exceptions.

I spoke with David briefly at SXSW in 2003. He seemed like a good guy.

According to today's WSJ (paid sub. req.), Agency.com in the U.K. has been hired by Ikea to make print and outdoor ads, in addition to the digital work the shop already handles.

It is possible that Agency.com could make TV spots in the future, an Ikea spokeswoman says.

Other digital agencies are starting to gain some traditional work, as well. AKQA of San Francisco has been appointed the main agency for Yell.com. Glue, an Internet agency owned by Aegis Group PLC, is one of three agencies on a shortlist for Eurostar, the train service between London, Paris and Brussels

I've always held tightly to the belief that she who has the best ideas wins. Naturally, great ideas can (and should) eminate from every corner of the business.

Don't let Google fool you--we still need designers, but I posted this back in February 2007.

How would you like to work with me? And my agency?

Partners + Napier in Atlanta is looking for an Art Director, full-time. Someone with a bit of experience who's ready to step into a Senior role.

I could give the usual blah blah blah about what we're looking for, but here's the deal: we have about 15 people total in our Atlanta office (more in Rochester, NYC and Toronto) and we do a lot of project work for UPS, Kodak, Philips, as well as a few clients we're AOR for. We all work very closely with each other--I've worked at a bunch of agencies and this is the first place where creatives and AE's really seem to work together--and like each other.

If you're conceptual, have a good eye for design and typography, we'd love to speak with you. We have some great designers on board so we need someone with more advertising art direction experience. We're good, but we're not Goodby. There's a lot of collateral, print, and interactive, a bit of broadcast down the road, and of course we're seeking more new biz all the time. And, if you've got the time to help us find some little places that want some kick-ass ads that'll raise the shop's profile and yours--so much the better.

I'm not the hiring manager on this, but I'll be sure to pass your stuff along and make sure it's looked at. And unfortunately, we can't relocate anybody (yeah, I know, it blows), so you'd preferably be here in Atlanta or planning to come here.

Still interested? E-mail me at dgoldg@mindspring.com. Thanks!

[This Just In video via Blogumentary]

Gadget Hunter is offering this tailgate-inducing device for $39.95. The license plate frame stores up to four separate messages, or one long message up to 120 characters.

[via Trend Hunter]

According to Drudge Report, a client's head has rolled in Cartoon Network land.

Here's a slice of an internal email sent today by Jim Samples to his colleagues:

I am sure you are aware of recent events in which a component of an Adult Swim marketing campaign made Turner Broadcasting the unintended focus of controversy in Boston and around the world. I deeply regret the negative publicity and expense caused to our company as a result of this campaign. As general manager of Cartoon Network, I feel compelled to step down, effective immediately, in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under my watch.

[via Make The Logo Bigger]

"Some people got hopes and dreams;
Some people got ways and means." -Bob Marley

The ad above is the work of creatives at Exit 10, an agency formed by ex-Eisnerites 11 months before the end of Eisner.

[UPDATE] Click here for more recent work (for CSX Railroad) from Exit 10. Apparently drunk college students have been wandering the tracks getting hurt and killed, so the transport company needed a relevant PSA.

Today, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President. He also unveiled a very well-designed website.

With home page links to Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, a blog, and other things to come, we're getting a good look at brand-building in 2007. And with at least 15 people actively running for President, you won't see better (and possibly worse) examples of the melding of old and new media and marketing than you will in politics during the next 18 months.

It's gonna be a wild ride, if you're into that sort of thing.

Wal-Mart is going green. The company, which is often criticized for its labor practices, is getting serious about sustainability. The truly interesting thing here is how this initiative perfectly fits their corporate culture, for sustainability pactices, when properly implemented, will lead to reduced costs and increased profits.

Speaking in London on Feb. 1, Wal-Mart President and CEO Lee Scott said:

"Sustainability 360" takes in our entire