• Clowns Send In The Lawyers
    The Greatest Show on Earth is claiming improper use of its trademarks, filing a lawsuit to force a beauty products company to fold up its tent on a holiday pitch. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus went to U.S. District Court in Manhattan against Sephora and its parent company, Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA. The suit seeks to stop Sephora advertising which it says uses its trademarks, including the phrase "The Greatest Show on Earth." It also seeks unspecified damages, relating to profits by the San Francisco-based Sephora or lost business of its own …
  • Coming To A Theater Near You: Football
    The National Football League has had discussions with National Amusements Inc. and other movie chains about screening live sports in digitally equipped theaters, according to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. He tells the Reuters Media Summit of talks with National Amusements president Shari Redstone, who screened high-definition broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games two years ago at her Showcase Cinemas in several New England cities. The cinemas brought in vendors to sell hot dogs, peanuts, beer and souvenirs and encouraged fans to loosen up as they would in the ball park. National Amusements is controlled by …
  • U.K. "Esquire" Faces Long Climb Back
    In the U.S., the lesson would seem obvious: Don't chase the tails of the lad magazines. But the UK is different, and for Esquire, the temptation proved too strong after a horde of weekly men's titles began popping up. Without giving up its signature look, Esquire began going downmarket in to compete for the readers who were flocking to the new weeklies and their emphasis on girlie shots and puerile humor. The move was a disaster, as circulation tumbled 27%; but now, with a new editor climbing aboard, the book is looking to find its old self. …
  • Conde Nast Gives Editors More Control Of Mag Sites
    Condé Nast has transferred operations and maintenance of its individual magazine Web sites from its centarlized interactive unit in a move that will give the titles' editors more flexibility. The 27 individual Web sites for titles such as Glamour and Vanity Fair, will now report to John Bellando, COO of Condé Nast, but CondéNet will continue to run the commercial, or destination sites, like Concierge.com and Epicurious.com. And sales functions will continue to be handled by the Condé Nast Media Group. The new structure is a response to the growing development of Condé Nast's individual magazine …
  • Super Bowl Advertisers Take Harder Line
    As Americans are still digesting Thanksgiving turkey, Madison Avenue is gearing up for buffalo wings and a Super Bowl ad frenzy. But this season's Super Bowl negotiations may be rougher than in past years. Advertisers, increasingly empowered as they deal with TV networks, are now showing signs of taking a hard line on price increases for time on the Super Bowl. CBS gets it this time around, and the net has already sold some 30-second spots for "north of $2.6 million,"--at least according to a spokesman.
  • Advertisers Want "LA Times" To Cut Rates
    Several major advertisers want rate cuts on display advertising in the Los Angeles Times due to a drop in the newspaper's readership. Buyers for Macy's, one of the newspaper's largest advertisers, and some big local auto dealers say they will try to leverage the lower circulation figures when they cut their deals for 2007. But despite an 8% daily readership falloff over the past year--and 15% from when the last ad rates were set--advertisers are expecting tough talks. Newspapers don't always see circulation drops as a reason to trim ad rates. Newspapers, as general rule, are …
  • New Targeted Ads Run On TiVo
    TiVo, maker of a popular digital video recorder, has a new "program placement" feature that offers customers the chance to watch a commercial or a promotion for another show after viewing a recorded program. Each time TiVo customers view a recorded program, new menu options will appear, including a brand logo or question asking if the viewer would like to watch promotional content, which can run to two minutes. The feature is opt-in, so that customers can watch products they are interested in and skip the rest. ,br> For advertisers, TiVo is offering to target their ads …
  • Anheuser-Busch Ups Ad Spending, Cable Profits
    Anheuser-Busch says it plans big increases in marketing spending, but network TV probably won't see any of the brewer's budgetary add-on. "We will be significantly increasing our total spent, with revisions in our media mix to reflect the viewing habits of our consumers," says CFO Randy Baker. Said revisions include a "significant shift into cable" and a doubling of digital spending, he adds. He also notes that A-B's target audience now spends about two-thirds of its TV-watching tuned into cable, compared to only one-third a decade ago. The company's heavy advertising during sporting events will remain unchanged, meaning, …
  • New ITV Boss Welcomed By Ad Execs
    The surprise appointment of Michael Grade to be executive chairman at Britain's ITV is welcomed by many in the ad industry, with execs pointing to his commercial background as a good omen for the future of the troubled broadcaster. Stephen Allan is chief executive of WPP's media buying arm Group M, the UK's largest television buyer, controlling almost 30% of spending in the television market. He says the appointment will bring stability to ITV: "The appointment of Grade is an excellent one. He brings a wealth of experience in not only commercial television but in programming in general. …
  • Salaries Up For Media Buyers, Planners
    When salaries for entry-level media buyers ballooned during the dot.com boom in 2000, there was a sense that the good times wouldn't last forever. The party ended with the dot.com bust, which tossed many of them out of work and froze the salaries of those who kept their jobs. Now, six years later, as the ad economy is healthy again, starting salaries for media people are back to where they were at the top of the boom. In some cases, they are above that level. ,br> However, those increases have not tended to work their way up …
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