Clutter Makes TV Ads Less Effective

Sixty-two percent of survey respondents think TV ads have become less effective in the past two years.

Super Bowl XLIV Coverage

Hard hits, small folks and men without pants: Check out all the spots from Super Bowl XLIV, and vote for your favorite and least favorite.

Doritos Wins Battle of SB Buzz

From tweets to texts, consumers weighed in on which ads were best, with Doritos coming out on top in several measures. (Shown: 'House Rules.')

Toyota: A Battered Giant

Last Friday in a hastily arranged press conference, Akio Toyoda, Toyota's president and grandson of the company's founder, made his first formal public apology to consumers, admitting, "We are in a crisis." The car company's image meltdown began on Jan. 21 when it announced a global recall of certain models because of accelerator problems. At the time, the company did little PR damage control while the news media and consumers online set off safety alarms.

P&G Tries an Online Learning Lab

The new venture is designed to help the CPG giant tweak its online tactics in all Web sales venues.

Display Ads Aim for a Banner Year

Can new developments in real-time bidding give search advertising a run for its money?

Initiative Looks Ahead With Prophesee

Initiative has created a social-media solutions division called Prophesee and hired Raquel Krouse (shown) to run it.

Super Bowl TV Advertisers See Online Gains

Advertisers that bought spots in this year's Super Bowl saw a sharp spike in online references relating directly to their brands, according to Prophesee.

Super Bowl Features Record Amount of Ads

Super Bowl XLIV featured a record-setting amount of network commercial time, according to a report issued by Kantar Media.

Barbara Lippert's Super Bowl Critique: In Love With Google

The spot that stole the show during Sunday's Super Bowl was Google's. The simplest of the bunch, it also effortlessly (but so effectively) dug down to the brand's core. It was smart, charming and pure. How pure? It reminded me of the best line from among all of the A-B ads: "I'm getting a case of Bud Light out of a refrigerator made of Bud Light." It was a whole cool love story made of nothing but Google. We just had to follow the demo, made for pennies (perhaps even cheaper than some of the Doritos ads' low-three-figure budgets), that never strayed visually from the Google site itself.

Mindshare Keeps Unilever in U.S., Western Europe

Unilever has elected to keep its U.S. media planning and buying assignment at WPP Group's Mindshare.

The Tweet Hereafter

Just how effective is Twitter as a marketing tool? Some brands sing its praises, others think the service has whistled its last tune.

Bush, Clinton in Pre-Game Haiti Relief PSA

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have filmed a 90-second PSA supporting relief efforts in Haiti.

GoDaddy Won't Screen 'Movies' on Super Bowl

GoDaddy.com said it has pulled a commercial called "Movies" from Sunday's Super Bowl telecast on CBS.

Magazine Push to Roll Out in April

The five rival publishing companies collaborating on a new marketing campaign plan to disclose details of the initiative in March and unveil the effort in April in the pages of their magazines. Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, Time Inc. and Wenner Media are funding the campaign, in the latest example of embattled publishing competitors joining to promote the medium as vital. In addition to print, the push may also have a digital component.

Super Bowl XLIV Coverage

Visit our microsite on Feb. 7 during the game for a live chat among top creatives and to see all the spots from this year's Super Bowl as they become available.

Watching for the Spots or for the Game?

A roundup of polling on this and other pressing Super Bowl-related questions.

Facebook, Microsoft Re-up on Search, Not Display

Facebook has renewed its search partnership with Microsoft; however, the latter will no longer sell display ads for the massive social networking site.

Berlin Cameron Hires Global Brands Chief

Berlin Cameron United, seeking to add multinational clients, has hired Tim Nicholls as president of global brands.

Comcast-NBCU Hearings Begin

Congressional hearings on the proposed $30 billion transaction between Comcast and NBC Universal began today.

Nexstar, LSN Strike Local Mobile Pact

Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced Tuesday (Feb. 9) an agreement with LSN Mobile Local Wireless to bring its 33 local community Web portals to mobile users.

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SportsFanLive Launches Olympic Twitter Page

The sports fan community/social networking site SportsFanLive has launched an official OlympicTweets page, which will aggregate live Twitter chatter from various athletes participating at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, starting on Feb. 12.

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Report: TV Stations Finding Multiple Revenue Streams

TV stations, formerly reliant on on-air advertising for revenue, are finally finding multiple revenue streams, according to a new report released Monday (Feb. 8) from SNL Kagan.

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Sun Life Super Bowl Naming Pays Off

Sun Life Financial's recent deal to have its name affixed to Dolphins Stadium, host to Super Bowl XLIV, paid off big time. The Toronto-based financial firm, which paid $5 million per year for the naming rights, received more than $26 million in media value, according to FrontRow Analytics, a division of Front Row Marketing Services, owned by Comcast-Spectacor.

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Rentrak Adds DISH to Set-Top-Box Ratings

Rentrak, one of the research firms developing TV ratings based on set-top-box data, announced Monday (Feb. 8) that DISH Network's 15 million subscribers will be integrated into Rentrak's TV Essentials audience measurement service.

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Saints 'Super' Win Unseats M*A*S*H

Sunday’s matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints broke the record books, outperforming the prior high set by the series finale of sitcom M*A*S*H in February 1983.

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Survey: Clutter Causing TV Ads to Lack Effectiveness

The bloom may be coming off the TV advertising rose. According to a joint Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research survey of more than 100 national advertisers, 62 percent of respondents think TV ads have become less effective in the past two years. The main culprit cited by respondents was clutter, with 69 percent saying they would like fewer commercials per pod

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The CW Promotes Brian Doherty to SVP, National Sales

Brian Doherty has been promoted to svp, national sales, The CW, the network has confirmed.


Doherty will continue to report to Rob Tuck, evp national sales at the net.

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Record Super Bowl Sell for CBS

Per Kantar Media analysis, CBS’ Super Bowl broadcast topped the previous high-water mark by 2 minutes and 45 seconds

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CNN to Guarantee 'Away' Audience

Less a promo reel than a virtual Baedeker’s guide to the world’s most volatile trouble spots, the video component of CNN’s upfront presentation offers a shifting mosaic of place names and crumbled masonry.

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MSN-Vet Mike Siegenthaler Jumps to UM

Mike Siegenthaler, who most recently led MSN’s Branded Entertainment and Experiences Team (BEET), is making the jump to UM to become executive vp, head of the agency’s burgeoning MOR group.

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ABC Affiliates Decry Migration of Sports to ESPN

ABC’s affiliates are not only in a battle with the network over retransmission fees, but they are also boiling mad that corporate sibling ESPN is being handed live sports events they were initially supposed to carry.

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Zinio Preps Ad Net

As the attention publishers are paying to the app versions of their core titles grows,  Zinio, the digital publishing firm, on Feb. 22 plans to launch an ad network with an unnamed advertiser that will allow for multi-title sales across its publisher clients’ iPhone apps and desktop versions.

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NBCU Fights Olympics Piracy

For the 2010 Winter Olympics, NBC is de-emphasizing its focus on streaming the games live on the Web in favor of short highlight clips. And it’s doing its damnedest to make sure that fans can’t find unauthorized or illegally posted live footage of any events.

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'Baby' Centers Energy On Video-Thirsty Moms

BabyCenter.com has rolled out its first spate of original video content. The Johnson & Johnson–owned site has launched a pair of original series aimed at expectant and new mothers.

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Twitter: Is the End Near?

If you're a marketer who has steered clear of Twitter, your (non)strategy may be paying off! It's possible that this Twitter thing may just take care of itself.

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Bed Bath Line a 'Real Simple' Offer for Women

Real Simple is taking its well-known brand into the home with a new line of household products at Bed Bath & Beyond. The Real Simple Solutions line will be sold in some 1,000 stores starting in March.

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RD Targets Game Fans With First iPhone App

Reader’s Digest is now tackling iPhone/iPod Touch apps—the first of which it says will be for gamers.

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Andrea Wong Exits Top Post at Lifetime

Insiders expected that her days were numbered as early as August 2009, when Disney, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal announced that A&E Television Networks would acquire the Lifetime portfolio

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Facebook, Microsoft Reup on Search, Not Display Sales

Facebook has also agreed to incorporate several of the newer features available via Bing, Microsoft’s cutting-edge search tool

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