In a surprising and quiet move, ABC Television Network has shifted its nearly $50 million a year media business to Wieden + Kennedy from OMD USA, according to executives close to the companies. Wieden + Kennedy already has ESPN, another Walt Disney Co. network, as a long-time creative and media client. ESPN spends $45.6 million in billings, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The business went to W+K without a review. OMD USA has been lauded with awards for its print, online, and TV media work in launching ABC's hit show, "Lost," and has been praised for its work on "Desperate Housewives." The Wieden deal with ABC frees up OMD USA to pursue the CBS Corp. business--estimated to be significantly more than ABC's billings, at more than $100 million a year. Two weeks ago, CBS decided to put its media business into review in the wake of its launch on January 1 as a separately traded public company. CBS split with the new Viacom Inc., which is now its own publicly traded company. Carat USA is the incumbent on the CBS business. George Schweitzer, president, CBS Marketing Group, told MediaDailyNews on January 13: "As you can imagine, we have gotten phone calls from almost everyone." ABC, OMD USA, and Wieden + Kennedy executives didn't return phone calls by press time. ABC's move would make it the third network in three months to either renew its media agency assignments, or put its business into review. NBC re-upped its $140 million media buying business with Horizon Media (Fallon Worldwide got NBC's media planning business) in November. OMD has only one possible problem in participating in the CBS review: HBO. CBS initially said Showtime would be included in the pitch. But executives close to the situation now say that is yet to be determined. Showtime brings a significant piece of the CBS deal. For the first ten months of 2005, Showtime spent $34.8 million. OMD would thus have a conflict keeping both competing pay TV networks. HBO has billings of $67 million in 2004, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Through October of this year, HBO has bought $60.2 million in media. Showtime's media agency is Starcom Media Group, Chicago. Wieden & Kennedy has earned major awards for its creative work for ESPN, Nike, and others. The agency also has a small but growing media division. Other clients include Time Warner Interactive, Coca-Cola/Powerade, Disney Channel, American Honda, and JetBlue Airways. CBS spends more money than ABC to get on its network shows, said a media executive. That's because CBS's TV network shows didn't match up well when in the big unified Viacom family. The now separate Viacom cable networks--MTV Networks, VH1, Comedy Central, and BET--skew much younger that the CBS network shows. Therefore, CBS had to buy other messaging from non-Viacom own TV media. ABC, on the other hand, has older-skewing networks such as ABC Family, and a host of ESPN networks that skew to 18-49 or 25-54 viewers. ABC can get free or barter advertising/promotional time from its Disney-owned cable networks.
A top spot buyer has thrown down the gauntlet, forcefully urging local stations to send all invoices electronically. In a Jan. 10 letter to stations, MediaCom's Anne Elkins said the agency is ready and eager to shift completely away from paper invoicing. "We believe that this is an absolute necessity for doing business now and in the future," she wrote, adding that e-invoicing saves time for both sides and cuts down on errors. Elkins, evp-director of local broadcast, is a member of an industry task force on e-business. The letter follows word that local stations are the most advanced medium--considerably outperforming network TV, the Internet, and others--in terms of setting industry standards for e-business transactions, according to a report by the American Association of Advertising Agencies. Local stations are leading the pack, in part due to a five-year-old e-business initiative by the TVB. Clients, agencies, and stations have all had varying degrees of reticence in moving away from paper communications, ranging from tradition to system upgrade issues to the need to notarize invoices. With agencies and stations moving at different speeds, implementation has been slowed. "Unfortunately, because the stations got some mixed messages from the agencies, they haven't fully embraced it," said Abby Auerbach, evp of TVB. Now, cross Mediacom off that list in the e-invoicing area. "It is an agency goal that we increase the number of stations providing electronic invoices in 2006," wrote Elkins, a participant in the TVB/AAAA joint task force on EDI (electronic data interchange). TVB says about 1,000 stations and 15 major agencies are now sending invoices electronically.
WPP Group is still keen on acquiring part of the Aegis Group. The London-based parent of MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia and MindShare is interested in acquiring Aegis' marketing and media research division Synovate, Martin Sorrell, chairman-CEO of WPP Group told Reuters Wednesday in an interview following a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Sorrell did not disclose whether he has held any active talks with Aegis about Synovate since WPP and U.S. private equity firm Hellman & Friedman failed to make a successful bid to acquire all of Aegis late last year. Under European law, the syndicate is blocked from bidding for Aegis again until May. French financier Vincent Bollore, meanwhile, has been inching up his control of Aegis, as well as rival Paris-based holding company Havas, though he continues to indicate no plans to consolidate or align the two advertising and marketing services companies. But Sorrell's disclosure of continued interest in Synovate is interesting for several reasons. One is that it suggests that Aegis -- or at least parts of it -- are still in play. The other is what it says about how WPP sees itself strategically positioned for the future. "We would have to have a very close look at Synovate. The information we were given I do not think was accurate. I think it was probably very optimistic," Sorrell said in the Reuters interview, implying that the door was still open for acquiring Aegis' research business. "I don't think Aegis will remain independent," he added, even though Bollore, who is also chairman of Havas, and now controls more than 25 percent of Aegis, has said he would like to see Aegis remain independent. The timing of Sorrell's comments is also interesting, because it indicates he is thinking about growing WPP's research portfolio at a time when other major research assets are known to be in play, and when WPP is pushing in new strategic directions. The most notable play is the assets of Dutch research and publishing conglomerate VNU, the parent of Nielsen Media Research, ACNielsen and trade publications like Adweek, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter. WPP's AGB division, operated a TV ratings joint venture with Nielsen outside the U.S., and some observers believe Sorrell might also make a bid to buy out Nielsen's interests in Europe and possibly even in the U.S. if VNU is acquired and broken up. A group of private equity firms currently is bidding to acquire VNU, and a breakup is expected soon. Other interested parties are believed to include radio ratings giant Arbitron, which also has potential joint ventures with Nielsen, as well as TV ratings upstart erinMedia, which has been suing Nielsen and has expressed an interest in acquiring it. However, it also is possible that WPP envisions a move in another research direction: marketing, not media. Synovate, which operates businesses like marketing mix specialist MMA in the U.S., is known more for its marketing research expertise than for media research.
Lawyers, agency execs and a few creative types gathered for an Association of National Advertisers' forum Wednesday, covering legal aspects of advertising as the industry is transformed by technology and new business models. Speakers included attorneys, Justice Department officials, and legal analysts, but it was another jab from consumer advocacy groups that really stuck in their craw, especially since it game immediately following a luncheon. Two prominent ad industry critics -- Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Executive Director Michael Jacobson; and Commercial Alert Executive Director Gary Ruskin -- delivered fiery and warned about ongoing litigation against well-known advertisers, especially food marketers and ad agencies of peddling unhealthy food to kids. The advertising industry, in particular, will be held to account for its "right wing, reactionary views," promised the CSPI's Jacobson, which is suing Viacom and Kellogg in Massachusetts with the hope of obtaining an injunction against advertising unhealthy foods to audiences where 15 percent or more of audience members are under age eight. In the same vein, Commercial Alert's Ruskin, opened his speech by observing that polls show "most Americans really despise what you do." Later, Ruskin said "Americans are tolerant, but they will reach a point where they will say that's it, they've had enough." Twisting the dagger, he later cited polls to the effect that "your industry is not yet as unpopular as the tobacco industry." Ruskin evinced particular concern over paid product placement in shows, arguing that all paid advertising must identify itself as such. Brief notes about "promotional consideration" during widely ignored credits sequences, Ruskin opined, are simply laughable evasions. Worse, he went on, the "subliminal" nature of product placement ultimately leads to a "commercialization of human relationships," with the goal of surrounding every individual with unknowing "corporate shills" -- i.e., their friends and family. He also dismissed an audience member's suggestion that product placement for non-cash benefits like brand alignment might not constitute paid product placement. "We're looking at paid consideration," Ruskin replied. "And that means any consideration at all."
Myths abound about the 40 million American female baby boomers and their buying habits, and companies that want to tap into this lucrative segment need to amend their marketing strategies accordingly, according to new research. A nationwide study conducted for More magazine by research company Frank About Women revealed that as a population segment, females between 40 and 60 years of age are wealthier than any other group of women in America. There are also 71 percent more of them than in the segment ages 20-39, traditionally one of the most coveted by marketers. The study also showed that despite common beliefs, there is no "single female boomer target"--instead, there are four separate and distinct types of individuals within the age group. While the segments appear to be similar in terms of age and income, they are defined by a unique set of social and attitudinal behaviors that influence their buying decisions. The four segments were labeled as "Revolutionaries," "Connection Cultivators," Pragmatic Planners," and "Security Seekers." Combined, Revolutionaries and Connection Cultivators represent 49 percent of women 40-60, and are the key drivers for brands seeking to reach the influential 40+ women's marketplace. "This study clearly demonstrates that these women are looking for new experiences and products to spend their money on. The companies that ignore this market are missing a huge opportunity," said More Publisher Brenda Saget Darling. The survey also revealed that women in the 40-60 age group spend an average of $2500 per month on new products, and two-thirds (67 percent) of women age 40-plus said they are more likely to consider a product represented by women their age. Those same women appear to have significant influence, with 83 percent claiming that younger friends, family members, and co-workers regularly come to them for advice. The study was conducted during the period of August-September 2005, and was based on a nationally representative sample of 1661 women ages 21-60.