According to The Wall Street Journal, research from the University of Wisconsin suggests that shares of Super Bowl advertisers tend to outperform the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index in the week after the game.

Fred Wilson is a VC.

Microhoo!

According to Market Watch, Microsoft Corp. offered to buy search-engine operator Yahoo Inc. for $31 a share, or $44.6 billion, in an effort to better compete with online-advertising juggernaut Google Inc.

Microsoft executives acknowledged that Google is the 800-pound gorilla of the search market and said a partnership with Yahoo would create a stronger rival.

"We're very, very confident that this is the right path for Microsoft and Yahoo," Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in a conference call Friday morning.

In an appeal to Yahoo employees, who are nervous about pending layoffs, Microsoft said it would offer significant retention packages to Yahoo engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.

[UPDATE] This story is dominating the news today. I could point to a million opinions, but I'll narrow it down for the info snackers.

Silicon Alley Insider believes a counter offer from a major private-equity firm may be in the works.

Kara Swisher says Yahoo! insiders were stunned by the public announcement this morning and consider it a hostile bid.

People often emerge from their favorite bar in a good mood, which makes it a perfect time to quiz them.

According to Adweek, Endemol USA and video entertainment site Metacafe plat to do just that with Buzzed, an online after-hours game show. The show will focus on bar and nightclub goers answering a series of trivia questions as they depart popular establishments nationwide.

Erick Hachenburg, CEO of Metacafe said, "Buzzed is a great example of original short-form video content that puts the power of the Internet to good use. It's interactive, engaging and entertaining."

Slated to launch this spring, Buzzed is now in pre-production in cities including New York, Chicago, Miami, Boston and San Francisco.

Phil Mooney has been in charge of The Coca-Cola Company's archives since 1977. In his role as archivist, he has conducted numerous interviews for radio and television including three segments on the Today Show and appearances on The History Channel, the Food Network and CNN. He also writes "Collectors Columns" as a means to keep in touch with collectors and other interested parties.

Now (that it's 2008) he has a company blog.

This is our first Company blog – but definitely not our last. We're starting with the Company's heritage – not just the history, but the love people have for Coke. We'll talk about people who collect Coke memorabilia, the items they collect and the stories they tell. We'll talk about recipes made using Coca-Cola and our other drinks. We'll talk about what's happening today with Coke – and how it relates to things from our past. And we'll talk about the new World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, which just opened last summer.

The most recent post on Coca-Cola Conversations offers behind-the-scenes information on the the making of one of this season's Super Bowl ads.

The best way to implement your vision is to set up your own shop, and that's what two friends of mine have just done. Skylab-B is the new venture of Mike Martin and Grant Holland, a creative team that, both together and separately, have done some kick-ass work at a whole bunch of agencies around the country.

Skylab-B will maintain offices in both LA and Atlanta. Check out their site and their work. This thing could get huge. Good luck, fellas!

[via Monday9am.tv]

[via coolz0r]

I once interviewed at an ad agency that had a manufacturer of corn syrup on its client roster. And while it didn't make a difference in me getting the job or not, frankly, I was really turned off by that because I've read countless times how the abundance of corn and corn-related products in every step of the food chain has done a number on our health. And I'm a guy who's done my share of casino marketing.

I'd forgotten all about that agency until I started leafing through The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What to Do About It by Eric A. Finkelstein and Laurie Zuckerman.

I was sure that in this book, advertising and marketing would get the blame for America's expanding waistlines, but the truth is more complicated than that. The authors examine every aspect of the way we live our lives these days, and how even today's schools, jobs, and government policies have affected our collective health.

If you're looking for a good examination of one major topic in our society, read The Fattening of America. There are lessons to be learned that relate to almost any client you have, or even your own lifestyle. And remember that we in advertising play a role in it all: we advertise the food, the grocery stores, the fast-food joints, the medications, the diet plans and the hospital services.

Special thanks to Anna at FSB Associates who provided me a copy for review.

So is this photo obscene? Virginia Beach police think so.

Police, saying they were responding to citizen complaints, carted away two large promotional photographs from the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Lynnhaven Mall on Saturday and cited the manager on obscenity charges.

Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman, said the seizure and the issuance of the summons came only after store management had not heeded warnings to remove the images.

The citation was issued under City Code Section 22.31, Bernstein said, which makes it a crime to display "obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles." He did not say what was being done with the pictures and when the manager, whose name was not released, is scheduled to appear in court.

Obscenity laws are different in every community. So does a national brand like Abercrombie have an obligation to conform to local standards?

UPDATE 2/5/08: The charges have been dropped.

Today's New York Times looks at what the MicroHoo! deal could mean for "the minnows," a.k.a. valley startups hoping to be acquired.

No one (named in the article) really knows what it means, and people seem to be more concerned about the looming recession. However, the optimists have reason to believe "the recession" won't hurt them.

True believers are likely to ward off recessionary fear with two numbers: 21 and 7. Twenty-one percent of the average American’s media-consumption time is spent online, analysts say, yet only 7 percent of all advertising is online. The hope is that advertising will inevitably shift online and close this gap, whatever the economic outlook.

David t. Jones provides us with his latest Ad Land (the cartoon).

Winners:

• Bud Light "cheese wheel"
• FedEx "pigeons"
• GMC Yukon "myth of Sisyphus"
• Garmin "Napoleon"

Losers:

• Toyota "badger"
• Bud Light "foreign accents"
• Pepsi "Justin Timberlake promo"
• Doritos "mousetrap"

For once, the big game was much much better than the commercials.

Some second half ad rankings...

Winners:

• Cars.com "head shrinker"
• Vitamin Water "Shaq horseback"
• Hyundai "reveal"
• Bud Light "Will Ferrell"
• Amp Energy Drink "nipple charge"

Losers:

• Ice Breakers "Carmen Electra"
• E*Trade "baby talk"

One of the best spots I saw tonight was a local buy from Tobacco Free Florida.

I like this spot because it's all concept. Typically, the spots that air during the game lean heavily on production values, but production values alone will never get the job done.

Well, this year's CareerBuilder spot finished in the middle of the pack on the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter.

Here's more background on CareerBuilder from the Wall Street Journal.

The middle of the pack in the Ad Meter? A 5.15, fully 3.72 points behind the freakin' Clydesdales? This is totally unacceptable. Heads will roll. A complete utter failure, right? Because to CareerBuilder, its ranking on the USA Today Ad Meter is all that matters.

CORRECTION: I just noticed there were 2 CareerBuilder spots in the Super Bowl. The spot above received a 5.64. Another spot called "Firefly" received the 5.15. So there's only 3.09 difference between the Heart spot and 1st Place. That 0.49 makes a huge difference to CareerBuilder, of course. Maybe Wieden won't get fired after all.

Check out Bob Garfield's Monday morning lead:

And advertising people wonder why the public views them with contempt.

The industry's annual showcase Sunday featured commercials that peddled soft porn, sold soda pop as a drug, trivialized charitable causes, ridiculed ethnic Americans, terrified small children and contemplated running over a sissy with a car.

Garfield makes me laugh, even though the cluelessness he points out isn't all that funny.

In other Super Bowl news, USA TODAY assembled 234 adult volunteers in Chicago and McLean, Va., to measure their reactions to ads on handheld meters. They liked A-B's dog and pony show best and the Doritos American Idol imitation least.

GoDaddy makes a habit of making Super Bowl commercials that don't air during the Super Bowl. The spot that did air last night promised viewers more if they'd just click over to GoDaddy.com. According to Ad Age, a record two million people took the GoDaddy challenge.

"For us, because we're an internet company and we sell domain names, there's no way we can really explain what we do in a commercial. We had to get people to our website," Go Daddy founder and CEO Bob Parsons said.

The edgy, though ham-fisted ad -- a parody of sorts on the whole celebrity "upskirt" phenomenon -- didn't curry favor with all viewers. A GoDaddy.com survey asked 160,000 people what they thought of the commercial. Some 17.1% of males disliked the ad; 16.5% of females disliked it. This was OK with Mr. Parsons, because "they still came to the website.

I went to GoDaddy to see the ad so you don't have to. It's beyond bad. But that's hardly surprising coming from a CEO who can't make a 30-second pitch for his core service and doesn't care if he diminishes his brand with bad jokes and unfulfilled teases.

See RBK for behind the scenes action and Super Bowl XXLII gear.

Miller Brewing took out a full page ad in USA TODAY today to congratulate A-B.

This is what it says:

Dude!

Did you really spend $18 million on the big game?

Congratulations on your USA TODAY Ad Meter success, Bud Light. This certainly calls for beer. An award winning beer. A beer with more taste and half the carbs of Bud Light.

A nice cold Miller Lite.

Ninety million plus people aren't going to see this print ad, but for the hundreds of thousands who do, it's a message that works pretty well.

The message I take away is Miller focuses on making beer while Bud prefers to make 30-second adverts meant to appeal to the frat boy within.

[UPDATE] There's more. Miller also released this YouTube video featuring their route drivers chatting around the proverbial beer cooler.

“The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.”

There’s joy in Gotham City today, and more than a little pride, but none of it should be felt by Super Bowl XLII advertisers or their agencies. Last night’s performance was disappointing and instantly forgettable. From heart-warming Budweiser Clydesdales, a viewer created Doritos ad, and Justin Timberlake to Salesgenie.com’s dim-witted stereotypes, another GoDaddy tease, and more stupid cavemen (that’s redundant, right?), it was déjà vu all over again.

Many faithfully followed Cosby’s first law and were delightfully vague: Budweiser’s rejected Hank in a “Rocky”-like tale, a bunch of lizards doing the Michael Jackson “Thriller” dance, Coke’s dueling parade balloons, and Doritos’ undiscovered rising stars. Others broke his law and tried to weave in a promise, albeit in uninspiring ways: E*Trade’s talking and spitting up baby, CarrerBuilder.com’s gross beating heart, Toyota’s ferocious sleeping badgers spot, and Garmin’s Napoleonic trek (Is Garmin a French company?)

A few went directly for the promise, forgoing the creative all together; like DCU’s loans and Claritin’s non-drowsy allergy medicine. But the majority followed tired and true recipes; vague and distasteful (a unibrowed, cashew-scented snacker); simply distasteful (a fat guy strapping jumper cables to his nipples); or on point and implausible (It’s Marilyn Monroe, Shakira and Madonna’s hair that tells their story? Umm, no it’s not. Or . . . Hyundai’s ad for its new Genesis luxury car will strike fear in the hearts of marketers at Mercedes, BMW and Lexus? Puh-lease.)

I could go on and on, but I won’t. It was hard enough trying to watch the sophomoric and formulaic ads during the game. I most surely don’t want to relive them again today. And I guess that’s the point, isn’t it. A one-time, $3 million investment in 30 seconds worth of eye candy should elicit feelings that we want to replay in our minds and in our hearts. It should prime a network of mental associations for something desirable; something valuable. Something we want to investigate further or share with our friends.

A lot of people consumed a lot of food and alcohol last night (and some of us even ate some crow). We also consumed a lot of advertising. But, like the junk food available at most Super Bowl parties, just because we consumed the brands’ advertising doesn’t mean we’ll make them part of our lives. Yes, there were a few worthy creations. But overall, this year’s Super Bowl ad feast was an expensive smorgasbord void of brand-building value. Here’s hoping that Super Bowl XLIII fares better for marketers and for my humble pie-eating New England Patriots.

Adweek upgraded their site design.

There's a new metric in town—how many times a Super Bowl spot gets rewound.

According to The New York Times, in homes with the TiVo video recorder service the commercials got a higher audience than the game.

Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager for audience research and measurement at the New York office of TiVo, said, “There is rewinding and multiple viewing of the ads” on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s one of the few times it happens.”

TiVo’s list of most-watched spots was topped by one of two for E*Trade featuring a “talking” baby; in this spot, the infant spits up at the end of his spiel.

The E*Trade commercial, created by the Grey Global division of the WPP Group, was followed on the TiVo list by one featuring Justin Timberlake, for a music promotion co-sponsored by Pepsi-Cola and Amazon; a spot for Doritos created by a consumer for a contest last year; one for Coca-Cola Classic that spoofed the red-blue political divide; and a spot with Carmen Electra for Ice Breakers Ice Cubes gum.

The results “say something about the TiVo audience in terms of what works to get something rewound,” Mr. Juenger said, listing tactics like humor, celebrities and surprise punch lines.

The iconic VW van is 60 years old this year. DDB Paris is celebrating the fact with a poignant series of throwback ads.

[via Adland]

MyTalkingStain.com neatly extends P&G's Super Bowl spot. You can download a buddy icon, win a prize, revisit the commercial or, wait for it...enter a make your own Talking Stain spoof spot.

I've mentioned before how well Scott Karp wraps his mind around the big media topics of our day. He does it again as he considers the MicroHoo! marriage.

The main problem with Microsoft and Yahoo, looking forward, is that they are not web-native companies — they rely on centralized control models, rather than distributed network models — thus they are not aligned with the grain of the web, which is a fundamentally a distributed network.

Microsoft and Yahoo rely on software lock-ins (Windows, Office, IM clients, web mail) to maintain their user bases — but without distributing any of that value to the network or harnessing the value that the network would give back if they did. As such, they do not benefit from network effects, which is precisely what powers Google — and why Google will likely still beat a combined Microsoft/Yahoo.

Creativity takes us on a video tour of CP+B's Integrated Production department.

While the piece does appear to be more pr than journalism, if you put that aside there is some learning here for people interested in the organizational challenges presented by online media.

[via Agency Spy]

Advertisers are reaching a coveted demographic via lifestyle 'zines with opt-in email newsletters, according to LA Times.

The median household income of Thrillist subscribers, for instance, is $107,000, dwarfing Sports Illustrated's median of $63,605 and Maxim's of $65,710.

"Magazines like Stuff and Cargo have been going under, and we've been taking their place in the market," said Ben Lerer, a co-founder of Thrillist, which recently launched a Las Vegas edition. Lerer said its L.A. edition was projected to reach 45,000 recipients by next December, which would be an 86% jump from a year earlier.

The idea behind e-mail list services is simple. They bring order to the chaotic mass of information on the Web and elsewhere, seize on relevant information -- or things that the services' employees decide is relevant -- and present it via e-mails to subscribers.

"We appeal to people who like to be on top of things but don't have the time to do it," said Gary Foodim, general manager of Very Short List.

Other media companies mentioned in the article with active email subscribers include Daily Candy, Flavorpill, Urban Daddy, Julib and Pocket Change. I'm on the Pocket Change list.

Thanks to an infusion of cash from an Australian holding company, Faris Yakob and his associates at Naked can now buy Bespoke suits, should the fancy strike them.

Ad Age has the story...

U.K. planning agency Naked Communications has been acquired by Australian holding company Photon Group in a deal that includes an upfront payment of $38 million in cash.

The agency, which opened in the U.K. in 2000, has about 200 employees working in eight countries. Its total revenue in 2007 was about $31 million, with the majority coming from the U.K.

In case you're wondering about Photon, Ad Age dedicates another story to the firm they deem "Australia's 'Less Sophisticated' Version of Omnicom."

Steve Rubel calls content a commodity and says the "Attention Crash" is real and that it's only going to get worse. Of course, he wouldn't say those things without offering a remedy.

Enter the Digital Curator.

Information overload makes it difficult to separate junk from art. It requires a certain finesse and expertise - a fine tuned, perhaps trained eye. Google, memetrackers such as Techmeme and social news sites like digg are not curators. They're aggregators - and there's a big difference.

The call of the curator requires people who are selfless and willing to act as sherpas and guides. They're identifiable subject matter experts who dive through mountains of digital information and distill it down to its most relevant, essential parts. Digital Curators are the future of online content. Brands, media companies and dedicated individuals can all become curators. Further, they don't even need to create their own content, just as a museum curator rarely hangs his/her own work next to a Da Vinci. They do, however, need to be subject matter experts.

Rubel goes on to say curators are not editors. I veer off at that point. The act of sifting through vast collections and offering the juiciest parts is, in fact, a form of editing. I'll also challenge his claim that brands need to be "subject matter experts." Not exactly. But they do need to know who the "subject matter experts" are, and then hire them to curate and/or create content. Redken's OutofTown.tv, where they turn to Flavorpill for expertise, is a good example.

If you watched any of last night's election coverage, you've probably figured out that voters are completely unpredictable. And beyond that, this year the conventional wisdom regarding race, gender, age, and religion just can't be applied to this election cycle.

Since voters are consumers, and ad agencies are in the business of trying to figure out what our target audiences want, I decided to take a closer look at whether ad agencies are ready for the changes we're seeing. It's my new column on Talent Zoo.

Here's a preview:

I once worked on an ad for a baby product. As my art director was putting together some comps for internal review, she decided to put a stock photo of a black baby in one ad. There were no ulterior motives, no creative brief mandates—just that the black baby was cute and we rarely saw them in the publications the ad was going to appear in. We thought the ad would “cut through the clutter” as the cliché goes.

Since it's inception in 1998, Denver's Sukle has been pumping out great work. Here's some of their new stuff for Wyoming's anti-tobacco Quit Net.

I know David Burn already did a (very) brief post on this, but in case you missed it, this week was the launch of the new Adweek, or at least the new Adweek Web site. Like much of the ad blogosphere over the last six months, I've been giving my former employer what I like to think of as tough love, but in a post I wrote over at my own blog today, I actually said I think the new site is a step in the right direction. Go to the site, check it out, and tell us what you think. It's a definite improvement over the old site, though, admittedly, if that's the bar, it's set pretty low. The more important comparison is how it stacks up to competitor's offerings. Does this brand have a chance? If no one comments, than I guess that's its own answer.

Man, it's deja vu all over again.

From Adweek:

L.L. Bean has placed creative chores on its ad account into review, a company representative confirmed. Consulting firm Select Resources International, Santa Monica, Calif., will help conduct the search for the Maine-based retailer, sources said.

Our friend Dean Gemmell at BlackLabFive, relating a conversation he had with the previous consultants, had some interesting things to say a few years ago about why a iconic brand like L.L. Bean would possibly need an ad agency.

If L.L. Bean motors through two above average agencies, would it not be wise for a review consultant to suggest a different approach? The agency model is quite effective for many marketers, but old L.L. may not be among them. I'm quite sure their marketing department could handle working with several shops on different projects to reach their many different — hikers, skiers, canoeists, suburban Moms who go for walks — demographic groups. What's more, they're a catalog company that sends me a big, multi-page ad called the L.L. Bean catalog at least once a month. Will another series of ads from another ad agency be the solution? Sweet Nadira even mentioned that an invited agency would need direct mail capabilities. Please, lead me to the agency that will show America's venerable catalog retailer how to do direct mail.

That every copywriter has a screenplay in her desk is a tired, old cliché. If you're one of those copywriters, or would like to be one, consider this insightful Adopt A Writer interview with Nina Bargiel, a Guild member with 17 episodes of Lizzie McGuire to her credit.

Q. What do you think would surprise people about your life as a writer?

A. People are shocked when they discover that I don’t drive a car made of gold and carry a handbag made from orphan babies. Being a writer means zero job security. Every job you’re at has a specific end, whether it’s when the show ends, when your contract’s up, or when the script is complete. You have to work on one thing and look for the next thing. It’s hard to ever sit back and relax because the rug could be pulled out at any time. A lot of people think that if you’re on a successful show that you’re set, you’ll just hop from show to show for the rest of your career. But it’s a lot like musical chairs, and depending on who you know, who’s working, your representation, and the current TV climate, you never know where you’re going to land. For most everyone there’s going to be lean times. My joke is that if you can live with fear, panic, and desperation and manage to be creative at the same time, this is the job for you!

Waste Management. Quick. Do you think Tony Soprano? Or do you think green pioneer?

The New York Times has the story...

“We want all people to think of Waste Management as an environmental services company, not just one that picks up trash,” said Brooke B. Farrell, a vice president of FKM, Waste Management’s longtime advertising agency.

For the last three years Waste Management has been spending $25 million to $30 million a year to run print and television advertisements highlighting the amount of energy it generates from burning trash each year (enough to power one million homes), the amount of acreage it has set aside for wildlife habitats (more than 17,000 acres), the number of trees it has saved by recycling paper (41 million last year).

Until I saw it on TV last night, I didn't know there was an iPhone specific version of Facebook. But there is and Apple wants the MyFaceSpacers to know about it.

Eric Rice is a Silicon Valley based artist and designer.

The chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web using your wireless internet connection.

When I worked at The Integer Group, I launched KTIG, a now defunct internet radio station. I also helped launch an internal wiki for teams working on the Coors business.

But blogs were still new to me back then.

Today, following a bunch of links from The Denver Egotist, I landed on Shopper Culture, an Integer blog which looks to be an outgrowth of Meg Kinney's "Exploration of America's Relationship to Shopping."

I also took note of Create and Connect from Karsh and Hagan, a Denver agency that Integer acquired. Karsh has since been rolled into TBWA by Omnicom, the holding company that owns Integer.

If you're old enough to remember the early 80's, then you may recall that Dr. Robert Jarvik's artificial heart was a really revolutionary invention.

But Jarvik is now under fire for his ads promoting Lipitor. One ad features him rowing. Only it's not him. It's a body double.

As The New York Times reports:

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is looking into when and why Dr. Jarvik began taking Lipitor and whether the advertisements give the public a false impression, according to John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who is the committee’s chairman.

“It seems that Pfizer’s No. 1 priority is to sell lots of Lipitor, by whatever means necessary, including misleading the American people,” Mr. Dingell said.

Lipitor, the world’s single best-selling drug, is Pfizer’s biggest product, generating sales of $12.7 billion last year. But as it has come under competition from cheaper generic alternatives, Pfizer has used the Jarvik campaign, introduced in early 2006, to help protect its Lipitor franchise.

To today's stand-up comedians, drug ads are what airline food was 20 years ago. It's easy to poke fun at 'em. But this is some serious deception. It makes Dr. Jarvik look bad. It makes advertising look bad. That's why Congress is poking around in the issue.

LA Times features Santa Monica agency, Secret Weapon, today.

It seems the SW principals took VW's sage advice to "Think Small" to heart.

The independent Secret Weapon, with 25 employees, has by design at most three clients at any given time.

"I have friends who run big agencies, with 20 clients, and there's always a fire to be put out somewhere," Sittig, Secret Weapon's founder and creative director, said recently. "We're right smack in the middle of our clients' business instead of delegating."

Right now, Secret Weapon has contracts with two companies: San Diego-based Jack in the Box Inc. and the Southern California Honda Dealers Assn.

Dick Sittig and Patrick Adams started Secret Weapon in 1997, when Sittig left ad giant TBWA/Chiat/Day with the Jack in the Box account in tow. He was joined by Adams, a former manager at El Segundo's Team One Advertising, which handles ads for Lexus.

Catharine P. Taylor wants to know what we think of the new Adweek site design.

I'm thinking it might be instructive to compare their remodel to HOW's new upgrade.

In other trade rag news, something funny's happening in the comments on Brand Autopsy's "Would You Miss Advertising Age?" post.