• by December 2, 2003

"AGENCY BIG SHOT TO JOIN A&E" - The Riff teased you with that headline on Nov. 24 and now we can tell you who it is and why there was so much intrigue surrounding the move. As it turns out, Mel Berning, president of broadcast at MediaVest is leaving to take over ad sales at A&E. The reason the Riff couldn't tell you when we first learned the news, was that MediaVest was still a finalist in Coca-Cola Co.'s mega media pitch and Berning didn't want to jinx it by announcing his departure in midstream. Now that MediaVest has won the business, Berning's jumping ship to take the A&E sales job, and not a moment too soon. A&E's ad market luster has waned in recent years and A&E management has been looking for a rainmaker on the order of Joe Abruzzese, the former CBS sales chief who has breathed new life into the sales organization at Discovery Networks. Meanwhile, Berning's departure has set off a game of musical chairs at other agencies. Donna Speciale, executive vice president in charge of national and local broadcast at Grey's MediaCom unit, is leaving to take Berning's job at MediaVest. That's a big loss for MediaCom, considering the agency just promoted Jon Mandel to be its global buying officer. To fill that gap, MediaCom promoted Peter Olsen to take Speciale's job from senior vice president-director of national broadcast.

PLAN GLOBAL, BUY LOCAL (AND CONSOLIDATE ALL MEDIA EXCEPT FOR DIGITAL) - Did anyone else notice the paradox in McDonald's marketing team's explanation for consolidating its Big Mac of a media budget at OMD. On the one hand, the burger monger said the assignment was designed to gain worldwide media buying efficiencies and to fuel "greater innovation, creative and cross-border media opportunities." On the other hand McDonald's marketing czar Larry Light assured that franchisees would continue to "make local ad buying decisions" as they have in the past. And if that didn't seem contradictory enough, the company also appears to be waffling over exactly how much of a consolidation the announcement actually represented. While OMD will handle "all of the basic media responsibility," McDonald's global brand guru Dean Barrett noted that the fast food marketer would continue to utilize the services of other "partners" including Starcom. Starcom, in fact, retains digital media and field marketing responsibilities. Meanwhile, aside from the climate, the Riff wants to know why the entire Starcom MediaVest management team is holed up at an off-site meeting this week somewhere in Florida?

AMID THE DEMOCRATIC DIN, DEAN EXCELS AT MEDIA SPIN - Based on a metric prized highly by Madison Avenue - media impressions - Howard Dean is clearly the Democratic frontrunner for a Presidential nomination. A year before Americans will vote for a president, Dean is leading his closest media rival - John Kerry - by a margin of two-to-one. Of course, the candidates have yet to make significant advertising buys, so the media impressions we're talking about there are the free kind - PR. During the month of November, Dean generated 2,906 press mentions among the major media outlets archived by Factiva, a joint venture of Dow Jones and Reuters that compiles news content. By comparison, Kerry accumulated only enough media clips - 1,678 - to secure what presumably might be a vice presidential candidacy. But former general Wesley Clark - whom many believe would make for a more ideal ticket with Dean - wasn't far behind with 1,469 clips. Meanwhile, distant runners Al Sharpton (683 media hits), Dennis Kucinich (630) and Carol Mosely Braun (343) will need to put their spin machines into high gear if they expect to close the gap. The Riff will be keep an eye on that, as Factiva plans to publish a Democratic candidate "Media Visibility Index" monthly through the Democratic National Convention in July.

                    Media Hits 
Howard Dean              2,906  
John Kerry               1,678 
Wesley Clark             1,469 
Dick Gephardt            1,329 
John Edwards
1,249 
Joe Lieberman            1,225 
Al Sharpton                683 
Dennis Kucinich            630 
Carol Moseley Braun        343 

Source: Factiva Media Visibility Index. November 2003.

WINNIE THE POOH AND JOHNNIE COCHRAN, TOO - An attorney best known for defending O.J. Simpson on murder charges is going to be handling Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too. The Slessinger family, which owns the rights to the Pooh characters, has hired high-profile celebrity attorney Johnnie Cochran to take over its royalties suit against Walt Disney Co. In the decade-old suit, the Slessingers have accused Disney of shortchanging the family on license fees and royalties generated by Disney movies, TV programs and merchandise based on the characters.