McGarry Bowen, one of the largest independent ad boutiques in New York, has given in to its Japanese suitor, according to a story in today's Wall Street Journal. In buying McGarry Bowen, Dentsu will be acquiring an agency with a solid reputation and close ties to big marketers. Its clients include Hewlett-Packard and J.P. Morgan Chase. McGarry Bowen had about $57 million in revenue last year. The deal also comes …
Columbia Sportswear Makes Huge Investment In Retail
It requires diligence to sift through all the negative business news these days in order to find some positive news, but I have done so today, at least this once. Portland's Columbia Sportswear, in business since 1938, is busy executing a retail expansion plan that will result in almost two dozen new stores in high-profile locations by the end of 2009. On Friday Columbia opens a new store inside the Portland airport …
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Newspapers As Aggregators?
Rance Crain, President of Crain Communications, sees an opportunity that might benefit newspapers and his own content-producing media business. The answer, I have come to believe, is for them to become aggregators of information by outsourcing their news holes to others already producing the material. Already, firms such as CNN and Bloomberg are gearing up to offer such services, and niche magazines could supply …
Straight Outta Compton Baghdad
I can hear myself presenting, as if I was on the Army account... "Guys, we need to up the reality. As you know we live in a time where reality TV is king. So, it's important that we too get gritty, we need some dirt on our hands. Let me send a documentary team to Iraq and we''ll put what really happens up on YouTube when we're done. Sound good?" According to Stuart Elliott of the Times, The Army did hear a pitch like …
Hollywoodized Interweb Content
Can a big studio like NBC pare itself down in order to play on the internet? It's a question Cameron Death (pronounced "Deeth") is working to answer. According to Adweek, the new vp of NBC Universal Digital Studio, is busy creating a slate of original programming, from offbeat documentaries to a science-fiction series starring Rosario Dawson. Much of the work will be created either in-house or by 60 Frames …
Dos Equis Gets Freaky With It
According to Ad Age, "The Most Interesting Show in the World" is the event marketing leg of the brand's "Most Interesting Man" contest. Since introducing the campaign two years ago, Dos Equis has seen double digit gains. …
Big Old Pile of Dirty Laundry
Agency.com is pissed. The Omnicom digital shop contends iCrossing raided its staff and its client roster. A Dallas court will now decide the affair. Agency.com is asking for $19.5 million in damages. Here's how the The Wall Street Journal frames the case: Madison Avenue agencies typically refrain airing such dirty laundry. The suit exemplifies the concern in the ad business about a lack of digital-minded talent. The …
Commercials Are Strong. Even DVRs Can’t Take Them Down.
From an ad man's perspective, DVRs are the bane of TV's existence. According to The New York Times, 27% of American households now own one of these hideous devices and use it to fast forward through commercials. Can you imagine? Here's the thing with a DVR though...you have to watch the screen to know when/where to skip commercials. And a new report in The Journal of Marketing oddly claims that ad messages still …
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