Stuart Elliott of The New York Times spoke to MDC Partners CEO Miles Nadal, a man he calls "The Monty Hall of Madison Avenue." He also spoke to some of the agency heads in bed with MDC. “The really talented, creative people don’t like being told what to do,” said Jonathan Bond, co-chairman of Kirshenbaum Bond in New York, who with Richard Kirshenbaum sold 60 percent of the agency to Mr. Nadal in 2004. “I don’t know …
Honda Gives Up The Funk
Sometime last fall, the crew at RPA switched the Honday Odyssey's theme song from Foghat's "Slow Ride" to P-Funk's "Give Up The Funk." I can't find the spot online, although you can see the earlier Foghat version at RPA.com. Given that the spot is not online, I present George Clinton on David Letterman circa 1986, care of YouTube. It's hard to imagine Dr. Funkenstein is endorsing a minivan. The very idea would have …
Shakira Fans Click Play
Los Angeles Times looks at the record industry's foray into consumer generated media (and what it can do for their star generated media). Last year, Epic Records held a contest offering fans a chance to help create a video for Colombian pop diva Shakira. The contest yielded some 500 submissions of fans lip-syncing and booty-shaking in extremis that were spliced together by a professional editor to create a single …
Kevin Roberts Just Wants To Connect
Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi and author of Lovemarks, quietly entered the bloatosphere last month with a Blogger site called KR Connect. Earlier this week he regaled us with tales of visiting actual record stores. Yes, this hep cat is old school. Whilst the music business goes through incredible turmoil, I’ve recently visited two of my favorite independent music outlets, Real Groovy in Auckland …
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Air Leaking From Vonage Tires
According to Wired, a federal judge today will decide whether to give Vonage an extra 120 days to appeal his ruling that the internet phone provider be barred from operating after a jury decided it had infringed on several Verizon patents. The ban would prevent Vonage from using technology to connect its online customers to the internet and would effectively put the company out of business. The Washington Post says …
Selling Chocolate Bunnies
Suzanne Powers, Executive Director, Strategy and Business Development, TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York was quoted by USA Today for a story on Easter-time brand promotions. Trend watcher Suzanne Powers says marketers are trying to associate brands with feel-good family time and occasions. "These times are few and far between, and marketers are trying to insert their brands," says Powers, executive director, strategy and new …
All Green All The Time
According to The New York Times, Discovery Communications, the cable channel operator, plans to start a 24-hour channel focused on eco-friendly living, as part of a push into the rising environmental movement. The company, based in Silver Spring, Md., will next year rebrand its Discovery Home Channel with a name that has not been selected but will reflect its position as the centerpiece of an initiative called …
Just Like Sugar, Kind Of
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) looks at a truth in advertising dispute between marketers that is anything but sweet. A battle between makers of artificial sweeteners stands to turn bitter next week, as a trial begins over what a judge has termed a veritable "sugargate." The fight pits Merisant Co., the maker of Equal and NutraSweet, against health-care giant Johnson & Johnson, which sells market-leader …