Skittles Launches New Website

The Skittles website was formed by Agency.com and combines links to different sites such as Wikipedia and Facebook to increase interaction with users.

For example, if you click on "chatter," it leads you to Skittles' Twitter page. Clicking on "friends" will take you to their Facebook page.

The new website is very similar to Modernista's online page, which was created a year ago. 

Ricardo Zane, president of Agency.com, admits that parts of the new site were modeled after Modernista's site, but also says that this is the first time it has been done for a consumer product. 

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=134946

General Motors Cuts Marketing Spending

The car manufacturer plans to cut marketing spending in North America by $800 million in 2009 as the economy and auto industry continue their downward spiral.

This marketing cut will also include vehicle incentive spending.

In 2008, GM recorded a net loss of $30.9 billion worldwide, with $9.6 billion of that loss being in the fourth quarter.

Although the automaker lost profits in all four of its worldwide regions, the biggest losses were in North America.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/article?article_id=134895

Old Navy introduces new Ad Campaign

This spring, Old Navy will unveil a new campaign featuring several different mannequins, or "SuperModelquins." The campaign will follow the everyday lives of these plastic figures.

The campaign was created and is led by ad agency Crispin, whose other clients include Burger King, Coke Zero and Volkswagen. 

After an ill-rated campaign last spring, Old Navy is hoping this new campaign will appeal to its target demographic, 25- to 35-year-old females.

The ads will focus on promoting the brand's low prices, while constantly thinking about its core consumers. 

The campaign will also make serious use of the Internet, using webisodes and probably Facebook and Twitter.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/article?article_id=134886

Kellogg's Reputation at Stake

According to Vanno, a website that follows about 5,500 companies and people's opinions of them, Kellogg's reputation with consumers has been damaged since firing Michael Phelps.

Vanno uses "gossip, news, opinion and personal insight about companies and their reputations" gathered from consumers to rank businesses. 

Before the peanut butter recall and dismissal of Phelps, Kellogg was ranked No. 9. After the peanut butter debacle, they only fell to No. 16; however, after dropping Phelps, they sank to No. 68. 

Phelps was dismissed from representing Kellogg after photos of him smoking pot were released.

Most of this negative press seems to be associated with the "stoner community."

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/article?article_id=134888

Consumer Spending and Confidence Decreases

As the economy continues its current recession, more and more companies are recording low sales.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index decreased to 25, its lowest level since it started recording in 1967. In comparison, at this time last year the level was at 76. The benchmark is 100.

The future is not looking too bright either. Consumer confidence is not expected to increase any time soon. Consumers are now being very careful with their spending and only paying for necessities.

Due to this low confidence level, retailers are reporting very dismal fourth quarter sales. For example, Nordstrom recorded a 68% drop in fourth quarter profits. 

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/article?article_id=134844

Consumer Spending Driven by Marketers' Predictions

Germany's primary data on consumer and marketing behavior has been released and several unexpected things have been found.

Marketers may unwittingly be riling up consumers and leading them to spend less money. They seem to have already foreseen an economic and marketing crisis and are spending accordingly.

It also appears that brands are being more careful with their spending than discounting companies. 

In a study done by Handelsblatt, it appears that marketing spending is being driven more by internal decisions rather than consumer behavior.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=134854

 

Oscar Ratings Increased

The ratings of the Academy Awards improved this year compared to the 2008 show. The average total viewers increased by 13% with 36.3 million people watching the telecast.

Last year, the Oscars had its worst performance ever, only raking in 32.09 million viewers.

This year's performance was an improvement, but it was still the third lowest-rated Academy Awards show.

The "Barbara Walters Special" and "Oscar's Red Carpet 2009 pre-show" may have contributed to these high ratings, being up 66% and 48% respectively from last year in the target demographic.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=134822

Miller High Life's Sales Increase

The week after this year's Super Bowl, sales of Miller High Life increased by 8.6% compared to the same time last year.

Sales were also up almost 5% in the week preceding the game.

The brewer had several one-second ads that aired during the Super Bowl. The company claimed that it was ridiculous to be spending millions of dollars for a 30-second spot in such a bad economy.

This drew attention to these clipped ads that also ran online. They feature the now-famous beer truck driver yelling the words "High Life."

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/article?article_id=134792

Social Networks' Demographic Age Increases

Social networks like Facebook and MySpace are attracting older demographics as the younger markets diminish.

Facebook has almost 52 million U.S. users as it moves toward an older audience. Currently, the largest demographic on both Facebook and MySpace is the 35-44 age group.

As the networks continue to grow, their younger demographics are deflating and there is not much room left to grow there. 

Despite sharing Facebook with older adults, the college audience still votes it the most popular website on campus, according to an Anderson Analytics poll. 

Due to this older demographic now being on these social sites, marketers have larger budgets to work with sites like Facebook.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=134745

Some Advertisers Bail Out of the Oscars

This year's Academy Awards may have some of the lowest television ratings in the history of the awards ceremony.

As a result, some advertisers are pulling their ads from the telecast. Hyundai Motor America is taking General Motor's usual spot and L'Oreal, who has been advertising during the show for the last five years, has pulled out.

The movies that are up for best picture were very weak at the box office, which traditionally has led to lower ratings and less viewers. The combined domestic gross of this year's nominees was less than $275 million. In comparison, 1998's best picture nominees grossed (domestically) $996 million.

Some argue that the movies have nothing to do with the lack of advertising, but that it is the failing economy that is leading advertisers to cut their ads.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=134752

McDonald's Appearance on 30 Rock Was Not Paid For

When McDonald's and the McFlurry made appearances on a recent episode of NBC's 30 Rock, most people thought it was shameless product placement.

The fast food chain also ran an ad during the episode, which made it appear even more as though its appearance in the script had been paid for.

However, the restaurant and its product were actually written into the script and were not paid for by McDonald's. In the story line, two characters have an argument at a McDonald's establishment. Part of the episode was actually filmed in a McDonald's restaurant.

30 Rock is known for poking fun at the product placement the show is involved in and including it in story lines.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=134689

New CBS Show May Start Trend

The new CBS show, "Harper's Island," may begin a new trend in television. CBS has ordered only 13 episodes of the program and plans to start airing them in April and continue through the summer.

Network producers and advertisers are hoping this kind of schedule will entice viewers to continue watching telecasts through what is usually considered the slowest season of TV viewing.

Normally, the time between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July means a major decrease in viewers.

CBS has taken the unusual measure to not only tell potential viewers when "Harper's Island" begins, but also when it ends. The network is also using online tactics to attract viewers to this new format.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=134739

Out-of-work Copywriter Reinvents the Blog

After Erik Proulx was laid off from Arnold, Boston, he needed a place to vent about his continuing employment woes.

He turned to a blog and soon came up with the idea to transform it into a place where unemployed advertising professionals could link up with agencies that were looking for new employees.

Although the site, Please Feed the Animals, is still currently a blog, Proulx plans to launch it into the networking site by mid-April. It will be free to join and free for agencies to search.

Signed on to help out is web developer Skookum. They will be doing about $30,000-$40,000 worth of work pro bono.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/talentworks/article?article_id=134693

Minneapolis Police to Run Campaign to Change Image

The police force of Minneapolis wanted to improve their image in the community and increase their minority recruitment to better reflect that neighborhood.

They turned to local firm Kazoo Branding to help them make the modifications.

These changes included a new slogan, "To protect with courage, to serve with compassion," and the tagline "Be looked up to." These were put on recruiting posters and supplied at local universities, colleges, job fairs, churches, etc. to increase recruitment.

They also changed the design of the patrol cars to a more traditional look and included the slogan on them.

Ultimately, the campaign was very successful because this year's recruiting class was 50% minority, which is the highest rate in department history.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/article?article_id=134748

Music Branding is Taking Over

This article discusses the history of music branding and how pervasive it has become in today's society.

Technology is constantly changing the role music plays in the branding process. With each new invention, music becomes more and more invasive in consumers' lives.

One example the article discusses is the new National Guard campaign that uses Kid Rock's performance of his song "Warrior" to appeal to the young adult demographic.

The article says that music is such a good branding tactic because it can appeal to people's emotions, which ultimately leads to purchases. It can also be targeted at a very specific demographic.

For the full story, go to http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=134684