Jeanne Jennings, an independent consultant with over 12 years of experience in the online, Internet and e-mail arena, believes e-mail marketers can learn a lot from the National Hockey League. It may sound strange, but she's not far off the mark. Jennings suggests that e-mail marketers having trouble meeting their goals examine the steps taken by the NHL to reinvigorate its sport after missing a full season of play due to a strike. She points out that the key element both have in common is that each must offer engaging content to meet its business goals. She suggests that, like …

Marketers looking for cutting edge ideas are turning to New York, where a handful of boutique ad agencies with strange names are turning the industry on its ear. These shops are not brand new, but they are beginning to leave their mark on an industry grappling with how to adapt to the changing needs of clients and consumers. They have names like Strawberry Frog, Taxi, Mother, and Anomaly. Their influence is growing, and there are even those who say the industry hasn't seen anything like this since the creative revolution of the '80s spawned such renegades as Fallon and Wieden …

Ford is responding to threats of a product boycott by a conservative religious organization by pulling ads for its Jaguar and Land Rover from gay publications. The automaker said the move was part of a cost-cutting measure, but it came a week after Ford met with members of the American Family Association. After Ford's decision was announced, AFA chairman Donald E. Wildmon said, "They've heard our concerns. They are acting on our concerns." Ford's decision to cut back the ads has troubled gay rights activists, who pointed out that the company provides the same benefits for homosexual couples that it …

Good news for marketers trying to reach young men: gamers like ads. New research from Nielsen Entertainment on the effectiveness of advertising placed in video games shows that a majority of gamers said relevant advertising actually enhances the realism of games. The news is expected to increase the marketing industry's interest in using video games as an advertising medium, especially since new technological advancements are making game audiences more measurable than ever before. Marketers also like video game advertising because the medium allows them to easily place their products into the action on the screen rather than running a traditional-style …

The title of CMO is getting more and more popular in companies nationwide. If there was any doubt, just look at a study conducted last year by the Association of National Advertisers that found that more than 70 percent of respondents said the marketing function in their organization was being revamped or had been restructured in the past three years. That's the good news. The bad news is that defining the responsibilities of the job are not that easy because the role continues to evolve. These days the job includes a lot more than just handling advertising campaigns and media …

Food marketers are bracing for another potential onslaught of criticism this week as a much-anticipated report on the impact of advertising on childhood obesity is released by the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. No matter what it says, the report is expected to add fuel to a firestorm of debate over whether ads for products like cereal and cookies make kids overweight. Food companies spend $10 billion to $12 billion each year to market Cocoa Puffs cereal, Keebler cookies and other foods to kids, and critics claim some of these ads have contributed to …

There's an old saying that what's old is new again, and that certainly seems to be the case in the world of marketing and advertising. Anyone old enough to remember the days when single sponsorships of TV shows like "The Texaco Star Theater," "Magnavox Theater" or "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" were common, is probably too old to be totally familiar with new media concepts like podcasting and Webisodes. Yet the two now have something in common, as marketers are once again embracing the single-sponsorships idea in these new media forms. "It really is back to the future," said Max Wasinger, senior …

Soft drink marketers could be slapped with a lawsuit this month accusing them of getting kids hooked on caffeine by selling their products in school vending machines. Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola and other top soft drink marketers are expected to be named in the suit, which could be filed in Massachusetts this month. The group behind the effort includes lawyers who made their mark by successfully fighting tobacco companies with class action lawsuits. Also involved is The Center for Science in the Public Interest. The suit is also expected to attack soft drink advertising as being deceptive. The sale of soda in …

PepsiCo's Mountain Dew has taken the concept of branded entertainment to a new level that is so high up that you need a snowboard to come down. In a move that goes way beyond product placement in a movie, the soft drink is financing an entire film project and subtly injecting its brand in the movie. The film is a documentary called "First Descent" that opens this week. It's about five snowboarding stars, and while they won't be carrying cans of the Dew as they whisk down the slopes, viewers won't have to look too hard to spot the brand. …

Local governments are now getting involved in the debate over marketing to children, following the lead established by Congress and federal regulatory agencies, according to the Association of National Advertisers. The trade association said the Health and Human Services Committee of the County Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, held a hearing earlier this week on food marketing to children in which Keith Scarborough, ANA vice president for State Government Relations, testified on behalf of the association. In July, the Montgomery County Council passed a resolution urging food, beverage and restaurant companies to examine their children's marketing practices. The resolution specifically …