• Anthony Bourdain Leaves Travel Channel For CNN Gig
    Outspoken TV chef Anthony Bourdain is moving from the Travel Channel to CNN with a TV show set to air in 2013. He will also appear on other CNN program possibly as early as this fall, writes Marisa Guthrie. Bourdain's untitled show will follow a similar eat-in-exotic-places format as his current offering, the Travel Channel's "No Reservations." "But with the support and apparatus of an international news organization behind him, Bourdain will be able to visit even many more global hot spots," according to Guthrie.
  • Tracking The Backlash Against Photoshopping
    In an age when "everybody" is photoshopping images -- from advertisers to magazine editors to women posting head shots on Facebook  -- why is the practice now attracting regulatory oversight, both in the U.S. and such countries as Israel and the U.K.? "Multiple factors include escalating product claims, increasingly manipulated media images, more scrutiny among watchdog groups and mounting political backlash," writes Jessica Seigel. Seigel analyzes the trend with insights from, among others, a "master retoucher" (“Every single company is retouching, even if they say they’re not") and NAD director Andrea Levine, who calls a mascara ad announcing digitally enhanced …
  • Why Networks Are Moving Low-Rated Shows To Fridays
    Friday isn't just a dumping ground for ratings-challenged shows, according to Andy Fixmer and Edmund Lee. "Fridays offer networks a chance to turn the commercial-skipping DVR to their advantage," they write. "The idea with the schedule shift is that viewers, especially the younger ones marketers like, catch up on shows on the weekend, providing a ratings and revenue boost to shows that air on Friday," write Fixmer and Lee. "Studies indicate people replaying shows watch a majority of commercials, compared with live broadcasts when some viewers get a snack or flip channels..." Shows such as NBC's "Community" and Fox's "Touch" …
  • Rodale Brings 'Best Life' Back To Life
    Rodale is resurrecting its men's luxury lifestyle pub Best Life, which went belly-up three years ago. "Rodale is being cautious this time around; Best Life will come out as a 300,000-circulation SIP (special-interest publication) priced at $5.99 for three months starting Oct. 23," according to Lucia Moses.
  • Major League Eating (!) Extends Deal With ESPN
    Yes, we checked, and there really is a Major League Eating, which has extended its deal for Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest through 2017. Financial terms were not disclosed. Great seasonal story, huh?
  • Muse's Forceful Diversity Ad Will Air During 'Pitch'
    In what's a spot-on, perfectly targeted media buy, "one of the most succinct skewerings of the ad industry's lack of diversity" (according to writer Ken Wheaton) will run during this Sunday's episode of "The Pitch," the show in which two ad agencies compete to land a campaign. Wheaton further categorizes the ad, created by multicultural marketing shop Muse Communications: "Stripped of [the] ass-covering, double-speak and overly PR-ed language typically used when the industry talks diversity, it gets right to the point."
  • Mindshare Retains Billion-Dollar Unilever Business
    Mindshare has successfully retained Unilever’s whopping $1.4 billion U.S. media buying account. The CPG giant decided not to go forward with a review of its U.S. media buying work and is nearing a selection for an agency to handle its global media planning chores.
  • Wieden + Kennedy Win Grand Efie For 'Detroit'
    Wieden + Kennedy won the Grand Effie for its “Imported from Detroit” campaign for Chrysler. It was one of 10 finalist; last year Wieden also won for the Old Spice "The man your man can smell like" work. The other contenders, included Leo Burnett/Starcom’s “Mayhem” for Allstate; BBDO’s “Convincing youth not to text” for AT&T; Ogilvy & Mather’s “Watson” for IBM; Bartle Bogle Hegarty/Carat’s “Say it without saying it” for Johnnie Walker; and Ogilvy/MEC’s “The life improvement store” for Ikea. "Imported from Detroit" launched on the Super Bowl last year. Ogilvy won the most Effies overall, with 17. …
  • BuzzFeed Preps D.C. Bureau
    The buzz around BuzzFeed opening a Washington bureau is true. Political Editor Ben Smithconfirms to FishbowlDC that the LOL-laden site is shooting to bring on new blood by summer to get the cat pic operation up and running. Will he poach from his former stomping ground of Politicowhere he still writes a column? "I'm aiming to hire a talented, heavyweight player-coach as bureau chief, someone hungry and well sourced to do great original reporting on the Hill, and to send a reporter or two down after the campaign to cover the new, or continuing, administration," Smith told FishbowlDC. "They're going …
  • New Membership Model Works For National Journal Group
    Nine months ago, Atlantic Media's National Journal Group took the bold step of converting the politics and policy publisher's individual subscription model to one based on membership in hopes of growing revenue and loyalty. The offering was unusual in a few ways: annual fees would go as high as $25,000 for access to various publications and services, but they would be negotiable-and Atlantic Media owner David Bradley even offered to pick up the tab for members if they were having a bad financial year.
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