Visa has cut its global media review to two shops already on its roster, with OMD and Mediaedge:cia besting Aegis and incumbent Starcom MediaVest Group to make the final round, insiders say. The credit card brand's global media spending is about $650 million, with $440 million in the U.S. last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. When Visa talked about the review last summer, it said it wanted to consolidate global media planning and buying chores at a single agency or holding company. One person familiar with the review says it is now "down to the numbers," i.e. the …

In another sign of the newspaper industry's weakness, McClatchy says its October revenue fell almost 10% due in the most part to declining real estate and car ad sales. The publisher brought in ad revenue of $181.6 million for the month, down from $201.6 million a year ago. Owner of 31 dailies including "The Miami Herald" and "The Sacramento Bee," McClatchy said national ad revenue was off 8.9% while classified fell 19.6%. "We have seen continued declines in advertising revenues, particularly in the California and Florida newspapers, which have been affected by the downturn in real estate," …

Calls to cut back on junk-food ads to children and the lead-paint scare that has led to the recall of millions of toys has yet impact the two biggest kids TV networks. In this pre-holiday period -- the time when toymakers spend nearly half of their annual budgets -- Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network are pretty much sold out, the result of a robust upfront. Jim Perry, executive vice president at Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, says the recall occurred too late to dent his take. "The recall had no affect on toy dollars," Perry says. "The upfront …

The writers strike has made media buyers more wary about the efficacy of TV ads. They are pondering the possibilities in the weeks ahead and in the first quarter of 2008 of possible reallocation of budgets. "The strike has clearly challenged us to approach the TV world a little differently over the next weeks," says Eric Blankfein, senior vice president-channel insights director at Horizon Media. '"We are looking to provide our clients with alternatives in reaching their audiences at a crucial time of year." He adds that retailers are so focused on their fourth-quarter results "that we …

Bank of America has put the media portion of its ad account into review, insiders say, putting OMD's hold on the business in jeopardy. The financial services giant spent $250 million in U.S. measured media last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, with an overall global marketing spend of roughly $600 million. One Bank of America spokesperson says "it's premature to discuss any future marketing plans," but they may well be disclosed this week. Prometheus, a unit of OMD, snared the account in 2005 when B of A decided on a "holding company solution" via Omnicom. It is …

Takeda Pharmaceutical, the maker of diabetes drug Actos, has rolled out a new ad campaign aimed at taking advantage of a rival's woes. The move comes following a safety warning issued for GlaxoSmithkline's Avandia and full page ads are running in local and weekly newspapers nationwide. "If you have type 2 diabetes, Actos has been shown to lower blood sugar without increasing your risk of having a heart attack or stroke," the ad says -- a swipe at Avandia, which the Food and Drug Administration announced must carry a "black-box warning" that it may increase the risk of …

Microsoft has started a review for a new consumer-related creative assignment worth $300 million. Among those pitching are Interpublic's McCann Erickson -- agency of record for much of the company's business -- and MDC's Crispin Porter & Bogusky. "We are soliciting input from various agencies, including McCann Erickson, for a new upcoming consumer-oriented assignment," a Microsoft spokesman says. "It doesn't affect any current assignments." Media for the new assignment will be handled by Universal McCann, he adds. Microsoft spent more than $912 million on marketing last year, with most of that through McCann, and the software behemoth is …

If the writers' strike eventually takes away original episodes of their favorite TV shows, more Americans are apparently willing to just pick up a book rather than watching whatever might be on the boob tube. According to a survey by Mindshare, 25% of those polled say that if their favorite show isn't on, they probably will read a book or magazine. That was the most popular response, followed by 13% who say they will watch whatever they find, and the 12% who would watch DVDs or videos. Less than 10% say they will spend more time on the …

Starbucks is trying its first national TV campaign in an attempt to get more folks into its U.S. stores after a 1% drop in traffic. The traffic decline has the company's executive suite worried, and they are running a prime-time TV campaign between now and Christmas, while telling district managers to spend more time in stores and cut back on the variety of drinks served. But they pin most of the blame on rising gasoline prices, the real estate meltdown and other economic woes. At the same time, competitors like McDonald's -- which has built coffee into …

Couch potatoes who get their phone service via cable TV will be able to see who is calling. Some operators are testing a feature that displays the name and number of an incoming caller in a corner of their boob tubes. Cablevision Systems is offering the feature in several of its areas and says that as of today, it will be available to all 3 million of its New York area customers. Comcast has the service in one market, which it won't identify but plans to expand elsewhere. Time Warner Cable offers it in several areas. At …