So...Martin Sorrell spoke to Bloomberg TV's Trish Regan to share why he thinks Rupert Murdoch is the Martin Sorrell of the media business. In a video interview speaking about Murdoch's $80 billion bid to buy Time Warner, Sorrell said: "When Rupert moves, he usually moves successfully [ed. Ahem, except when he buys MySpace]. So I wouldn't -- it would be very foolish to bet against him. So I would say the deal has a lot to offer. It creates a very powerful combination -- U.S. cable and sports, obviously TV and film globally. HBO is a really interesting asset that …

LA-based agency HelloDenizen is at it again. Following its successful Tiny Hamster Eating Tiny Burritos self-promotional video, the agency is out with Tiny Birthday For A Tiny Hedgehog. The video is exactly what you would expect. It's a miniature birthday party for a little hedgehog who is joined by some friends, two hamsters. The three sit at a table and devour the tiny little cakes in front of them. The video has 1.2 million views since its release July 8.

Agencies beware! Marketers rejoice! Appropriately named IQ Agency is out with a multiple choice quiz, entitled the Agency IQ Test that allows marketers to rate their ad agency. Questions center on an agency's focus on paid, earned or owned media; content marketing; the handling of integration; style of delivery; propensity to be safe, risky or original when it comes to creative; knowledge of trends and more. Scores of the ten-question quiz can then be shared via LinkedIn or Email. The quiz is fun but it's no joke. It asks some very serious questions and just might get you thinking, as …

Well this certainly tops all the agency recruitment efforts we've ever seen. Seeking the "world's most creative mind," San Francisco-based video marketing company, Virool, is launching a global creative talent search. "Launching" is the key word here. The Virool "Race to Space" calls for creative minds to generate their most original space-themed video campaign. The winner will "boldly go where no agency or brand has gone before" hopping aboard an all-expenses paid trip aboard the Virgin Galactic's first commercial space flight. It's valued at $250,000. That's some sweet coin and we wonder if the winner will bargain for the cash …

Way back in 1994 when the World Wide Web had marketing prognosticators predicting the death of traditional advertising's less-than-exact methods of ROI and the rise of internet-based ROI nirvana, who would have thought 20 years later, we're still pretty much doing things the same way and have yet to perfect the science of ROI. While we may never truly get there, a rising class of ad agencies-that is performance marketing agencies--think they are close to reaching that nirvana. There aren't many mainstream agencies of this ilk out there but LA-based KPI Boutique has recently launched a new model that's based …

In reaction to Facebook's secret experiment, which attempted to manipulate people's moods by filtering negative and positive posts to see whether it would make a person happy or sad, Dutch ad agency Just launched a campaign that urges people to quit Facebook for 99 Days. To do so, they have launched the 99 Days of Freedom Web site on which you can create a personalized countdown clock and see if you can make it 99 days without Facebook. Of the project, Just's Art Director, Merijn Straathof, said: "Like a lot of Facebook users, many of us were bothered by reports …

We never had the chance to say it, but TTI Floor Care's Hoover, Dirt Devil and Oreck did, having just awarded New York-based Johannes Leonardo its advertising account. Get it? A vacuum cleaner account awarding its business to an agency that understands the art of the suck? As is always the case, the win followed the installation of a new CMO, Alan Gravely, who joined TTI in March. Gravely is TTI's first CMO. Of Johannes Leonardo, Gravely told "Ad Age": "We were impressed with all the agencies we spoke with, but we were blown away by Johannes Leonardo. Johannes Leonardo …

There are a lot of things ad professionals do when they go down the elevator at night, but they usually don't involve things that go, well, bump in the night. But that's exactly what Bil Bungay, founder of UK agency BMB, did when he bought a famous haunted house and turned it into a bed and breakfast. Bungay purchased the house used to film the British poltergeist movie, "When the Lights Went Out," and turned it into a B&B. The house is said to be the site of one of the UK's most violent hauntings with such occurrences a "small …

Move over, Don Draper. There's a new Mad Man in town. Well, not exactly in town if we're talking about New York -- but as we all know, New York isn't the only place where advertising greatness occurs. Ever heard of Chicago? Yeah, Chicago. It's a really big city in Illinois and, yeah, they have Mad Men too. One such Mad Man is Bill Maloney, who worked in Chicago ad agencies during the 50's and 60's. Now a Honolulu TV and radio producer, Maloney is out with a new book, "Windy City AdMan," which recounts his time at BBDO, Foote, …

Five years after Connecticut-based private equity firm Mill Road Capital helped take Canadian-based ad agency Cossette private, Mill Road is putting the agency up for sale, saying it "has decided to explore strategic alternatives for the company's North American assets." Mill Road took the then-public agency private in 2009 -- with the formation of mini holding company, Vision7 -- when a bit of a feud erupted between partners Claude Lessard and Francois Dufar. Lessard prevailed. Of the sale, a statement read: "Vision7 management is supportive of the review and is playing a major role in the process. While the company …