Spark, which previously served as ConAgra Foods’ digital agency, has won all of the packaged food company’s U.S. media planning and buying business, sources said. The account had previously been handled by WPP Group’s MediaCom. Reps at the media arm of Publicis Groupe’s Starcom MediaVest Group unit declined comment and those at the Omaha marketer could not immediately be reached.
Where to start? Benicio del Toro's spiked Billy Idol locks? Chris Pratt in a Michael Jackson leather jacket with an elderly Walkman? A raccoon wielding the very latest in tactical firearms atop a talking tree?
Funny how Alex Bogusky is still seeing opportunities where brands and agencies are missing them. Case in point: A recent tweet to Liberty Mutual urging the insurance company—whose Winter Olympics ads are all about overcoming setbacks—to make a commercial about Heidi Kloser, the U.S. skier who was badly injured the day before the Sochi Games began.
As the lodging industry grapples with Airbnb, TripAdvisor and other locally oriented services, major hotel brands are increasingly taking a back seat to the surrounding neighborhoods. “Our facility is no longer the destination,” said one hotel executive. “Now we are a portal to the community around us.” About half of travelers want to explore the local area while on a business trip, according to a 2013 survey released this week by Millward Brown. For business travelers, “discovery” now ranks higher than “escape” or “indulgence,” per the survey.
We're deep into the third month of the 2014 Winter Olympics—that's how long they've been going on, right?—and the Games' gazillion sponsors are still rolling out TV spots in hopes that at least some viewers are still glued to their screens. One of the prevalent themes this year has been kids getting inspired by Olympics athletes, often with heartwarming results. (The other major trend: AMERICA.) To promote its Galaxy line, Samsung, "the official smartphone partner of the U.S.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is celebrating its 50th anniversary with its biggest in 25 years. Lucia Moses takes a look at how the one percenters spend their money.
Venables Bell & Partners has prevailed in Reebok's global creative review. As lead agency on the brand, the San Francisco-based shop succeeds DDB. Reebok spends an estimated $50-60 million in media globally each year.
Brands with real-world appeal have been faux-criticizing social media for years—often in social media—by suggesting that you get off the damn phone already and take stock of your actual surroundings and the actual people in it. Coca-Cola is the latest to do so with the amusing video below, advertising a (presumably fake) product called the Social Media Guard, which is basically a giant, human-sized, Coke-red dog collar. This gizmo will possibly stop you from checking your phone every eight seconds, though actually it seems like you could still take a selfie if you wanted to.
When you use Old Spice hair products, your hair is capable of anything. First, it leaps off your head—that's a given. Then, as we've seen, it either hits on women at work or skillfully operates claw machines on the boardwalk to retrieve lost children. Now, though, it reveals its most impressive talent to date—playing all the best-loved Huey Lewis and the News songs on the keyboard.
If 2014's battle cry for women is "Love who you are" (see all the "real women" campaigns out there), then weight-loss brands need to tread lightly in their marketing. Weight Watchers has done that in a body-positive way with its new spot featuring Jessica Simpson. The opening lines are a hit. "This body made two amazing little human beings. I love this body and what it's capable of, no matter what size," she says.
