• Adweek, Wednesday, November 23, 2005 11:45 AM

Most marketers get their ideas from either their own people or from the ad agencies they hire to create and execute marketing strategies. But in an unusual twist, Johnson & Johnson has turned to the media companies that will be carrying their ads for inspiration. The company asked for suggestions for its "Having a baby changes everything" campaign from Time Warner, Viacom, and NBC Universal, and Time Warner's initial concepts were used in three commercials. The atypical move illustrates J&J's ongoing interest in going beyond its traditional ad agencies to complete unique deals with media providers. "We're trying to piece together a lot of what's changing in the media landscape, get the different media channels working together more," said Brian Perkins, J&J's VP of corporate affairs. He added that he expects J&J's individual brand managers to start looking at more cross-media creative deals with media giants. "I think this is more the model of the future. We're encouraging this from our agencies and our media partners," he said. "Our pharmaceutical people and our medical device people are embracing this kind of change as well." J&J spends $1.3 billion a year on advertising, and up to $28 million on its corporate image work, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Read the whole story at Adweek »