• by John Gaffney , May 9, 2002

Competition Riffs: I used to work for a guy who claimed that the economy was like a toddler: moody, occasionally brilliant and just beyond your control. I thought about that this week. This was the kind of week that turns an ad economy. That’s because competition drives advertising, and this was a great week for competitors. We saw Coke and Pepsi prepare to go at it over new flavor line extensions. We saw Blimpie declare war on Subway. And Colgate Palmolive decided it would take on P&G’s Crest brand in the teeth-whitening category. If you’re a media pro, fostering competition is beyond your control. The economy is too. All you can do is be ready when the next competitive fires start. These three developments alone will throw tens of million of ad dollars into the marketplace. They will feed print pages, spot TV, outdoor and radio. They will make other businesses in their categories take another look at their ad plans. Is D’angelos sandwich franchise going to react to Blimpie? Will Cadbury Schweppes respond to Coke and Pepsi? Competition is a much better barometer for the economy than any Alan Greenspan speech, in my book........

Wrassslin’ Riffs: Here’s how the World Wrestling Federation responded to ratings drops over the past few years: it hired Dennis Rodman as a competitor; it hired Mike Tyson as a referee; it hired Jesse Ventura as a referee. Its new plan is much more professional. After renaming itself World Wrestling Entertainment, it announced a new line of brand extensions that essentially creates two divisions, one for Smackdown, another for Raw. There’s that competition issue again. You can even compete against yourself as a brand. Love it or hate, it the WWE is a major sports franchise that delivers kids. Let’s see if it can do better in that quest........

Heavy Metal Riffs: I’m f***ing tired of the Osbournes already. And MTV has them for two more years. It was a brilliant idea that’s bound to spawn a dozen weak competitors, giving birth to a new category: “burnt-rock star TV.” Here’s next season’s lineup, folks: The Richards, starring Keith and former supermodel wife Patti. Followed by The Little Richard Show. Awompompalubomalombamboom!