Ad agency giant Interpublic, which recently folded its centralized Interpublic Media Group, is expanding, not contracting its corporate-level media initiatives. The centerpiece of the plan is an expansion of the holding company's emerging media lab into other markets were Interpublic agencies and clients can begin to experiment with the impact of new media technologies on consumers in various regions around the world. Originally launched earlier this year in Los Angeles, Interpublic is discussing the launch of labs in London and Tokyo next year. "Japan is a very different media experience than we have here," says one insider, adding, "And Europe is very different too. Text messaging is now more prevalent in Europe than it is here." Like the Los Angeles lab, the new labs would serve a dual function, operating as a showroom for clients, shareholders and the press to demonstrate advanced media technologies, as well as a working laboratory where Interpublic agency executives can glean insights about their impact on consumer behavior. "Our business has changed. It used to be about buying media. Now it's all about the consumer," says the Interpublic exec, not that the lab gives agencies the ability to experiment with emerging technologies in a physical environment where they can test consumer interaction, as well as advertising and commerce applications. Such labs have become popular in academic institutions such as Ball State University's Center for Media Design, or within big media companies like Time Warner, but some agencies have been loath to invest in media technology R&D, which is often difficult to get an immediate return on. While it might seem ironic that Interpublic, the most financially constrained of the major agency holding companies, would be the one to invest so aggressively in the future, the company's board believes it is an imperative if its agencies are to remain on the leading edge of consumer behavior. In the U.S., for example, executives say they are racing against a deadline of 2009, when the U.S. will officially phase out analog television broadcasting and convert 100% to digital spectrum. Interpublic agencies also have a long legacy steeped in laboratory work and media R&D. McCann-Erickson was one of the first sponsors of MIT's famed Media Lab.
Camera, film and photo imaging giant Eastman Kodak Co. has tapped WPP's Neo@Ogilvy as its global strategic media agency, as a result of a joint pitch by the interactive shop and sister media agency MindShare. Neo@Ogilvy, a unit of Ogilvy One, is the digital and direct response media unit formed by WPP in February following the dismantling of mOne unit, which had centralized the interactive media operations of Ogilvy and MindShare. The Kodak win illustrates that the restructuring has not hurt their ability to collaborate. Neo@Ogilvy handle Kodak's new global strategy and digital assignments, while MindShare - Kodak's traditional media incumbent - retains global media duties.
"Pathetic." That's how the head of an influential American lobbying group labeled last week's move by junk-food companies to self-regulate. In a Friday interview, Michael Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said "the real answer will come from Congress," while promising more litigation against individual companies. He pointed to the announcement of government regulation in Britain as a preferable model to failures in the U.S. "The Council of Better Business Bureaus has proven once again that self-regulation simply doesn't work to protect kids from junk-food marketing," Jacobson said. "The initiative it announced earlier this week is pathetically weak and would result in virtually no change in the status quo." The CBBB's Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) announced revisions in the Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising, as well as a new Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative to encourage messages promoting healthy lifestyles. Under the new rules, companies are allowed to present half their total advertising as before, while half must promote healthy activities and diets. But Jacobson objected that "the guidelines for something being nutritious or not are meaningless. For example, all sugary breakfast cereals fit in, and that's 25% of the current kid-vid advertising." Jacobson also charged CARU's standards for ad creative as too lax. "You could have Ronald McDonald riding a bike in the first part--because that's 'healthy'--and then at the end, a bunch of happy kids eating hamburgers." Jacobson added that any country concerned about its children's health "should take steps like Britain is doing now," referring to last week's announcement from Britain's television regulator that it might ban all junk-food advertising in TV programming targeting children under 16. The British Office of Communications also said it might ban endorsements by celebrities and cartoon characters in programs targeting kids under 10. British advertisers say they are outraged by these proposed measures. Jacobson's remarks put him at odds with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), which praised the CARU revisions and new initiative as "major steps forward" in effective self-regulation of children's advertising. Robert Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA, said that "food and beverage marketers are committing large portions of their annual budgets to promote positive social change." Under the leadership of Joan Z. Bernstein, a former director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, CARU has pushed for effective industry self-regulation for over a year. In a February interview with MediaDailyNews, Bernstein said self-regulation was the "desirable" process for combating advertising blamed for childhood obesity. She warned that government regulation would likely lead to protracted court battles--which may be tough for junk-food opponents to win in light of First Amendment issues. Still, Jacobson said "at this point, Congress has to get involved"--noting that the shift to Democratic control will bolster the power of prominent advocates for reform, like Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). He believes election changes make it more likely that Congress will "return to the FTC the authority to issue industry-wide trade regulations"--something the previous Congress refused to do.
Media company Belo Corp. continued to get a big bump from political advertising dollars--$20.7 million--to beef up October revenues. Consolidated revenue for the month increased 9.8% versus last year. Political advertising revenue helped contribute to a 27% gain to almost $83 million in its TV group revenues, versus October 2005. Overall, ad revenue bolted up 29% over a year ago. But TV national spot, which represents about half of a typical station's revenues and includes little political revenues, only grew 3.3% in October versus the prior year. And despite the bump from political advertising, local spot still suffered, down 5.5% in October 2006. The good news for one of the country's largest media companies: another major piece of growth at Belo was its Internet businesses. Advertising revenues were up 56% in October 2006, versus the year before. However, on the flip side, Belo's newspaper advertising revenue slid 6.6 percent.
NBC may be coming back on Sunday and Monday nights. But last Thursday was a reminder that the comeback trail is still a rocky one. Its "30 Rock" comedy--the network's second program about a fictional late-night comedy sketch show--continued to under-perform on its new night. The show pulled in a 2.4 rating/6 share among 18-49 viewers, which is its season average. The show was a super-size version, airing from 9:20 to 10:01 p.m. Its regular time slot will be at 9:30 p.m. following "Scrubs," which will move into the 9 p.m. period, starting in two weeks. Analysts give "30 Rock" until then to form a real determination for its future. "30 Rock" also fared far worse than the show it replaced--"Deal or No Deal"--which has pulled in high 3 and low 4 ratings in the time period. For the top stakes overall, CBS nipped ahead of ABC for the first time this season, with a 5.9/15 to ABC's 5.8/15. NBC came in third with a 4.2/11. Both ABC and CBS had improved performances from the week before, but CBS' gains were better. For instance, in the highly visible 9 p.m. time slot, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" earned an 8.7 rating--a smidge better than the week before at 8.6. But CBS' "CSI" closed the gap dramatically to "Grey's"--the procedural crime drama was up 16% to a 8.0 rating, one of the closest second-place finishes to "Grey's" since the start of the season. As a consolation prize, NBC at 10 p.m. continued to receive top honors for the time period with "ER" at a 5.5. rating. ABC did better with a Barbara Walters special, "30 Mistakes in 30 Years," than with "Six Degrees" in recent weeks--turning in a 4.8 rating. CBS continued its stable turn, with a 4.4 for "Shark" for third place. Fox continued to struggle on Thursday--"'Til Death" did a 1.9 and "The O.C." came in with a 1.7. Overall, Fox earned a 1.8/5 for the night, just edging out the CW at a 1.7/4 and Univision at a 1.6/4.