Carmichael Lynch has promoted Dave Damman to Chief Creative Officer from executive creative director of the venerable Minneapolis agency, which also just happened to launch a new "brand identity," a new logo, a "fully reimagine workspace," and a new Web site (at www.carmichaellynch.com).

The average cost per 30-second spot on prime-time broadcast network TV rose 2% to $116,122 during the fourth quarter of 2011, marking the seventh consecutive quarter in which network costs were either up or flat with the prior year, according to an analysis of SQAD data released this afternoon by TargetCast.

The worldwide smartphone market grew 54.7% last year, powered by sales of the iPhone 4S. Full-year smartphone sales grew at an even faster rate--61.3%--for a record 491.4 million units shipped worldwide. Still, that growth rate was below the 75.7% rate of 2010, according to research firm IDC. Although 2011 marks a slowdown as smartphones proliferate, 2012 is expected to be another double-digit year for growth. By the end of the fourth quarter, one of out every three mobile phones shipped was a smartphone, noted IDC. Many of those of were iPhones. Apple said it sold 37 million of the …

Facebook brands that didn’t do any marketing around the Super Bowl missed out on a chance to get more exposure, according to a

The winners of the Wharton School’s “Tweet Meet” event around the Super Bowl are in, and Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” commercial featuring Clint Eastwood giving a pep talk to Detroit and America, came out on top. Here's the full list of honors: §  Best Word of Mouth:  Will members of the public really love it and will they talk about it online and offline? Winner is Chrysler, followed by Acura Vampires §  Best Creative Excellence:  Is the ad creatively excellent? Winner is Chrysler followed by Kia  §  Best Business Impact: Will this achieve the advertiser’s business objectives? …

The Subway quick service restaurant chain has awarded digital media duties to WPP's MediaCom unit from Publicis' Publicis Modem unit.

A couple of quarters into Super Bowl XLVI, and I am most moved by all the crossing over – not across the field, but between the Super Spots.

For about a third of women watching the Super Bowl, they might as well turn down the sound of Tom Brady's or Eli Manning's play calling. A poll from Hanon McKendry conducted online in January by Harris Interactive among over 2,000 U.S. adults aged 18 and older, says 31% of women and 11% of men will "predominantly or exclusively" be watching the game for the commercials.

Mobile ad exchange Nexage said its platform has surpassed 100 billion ad requests, according to blog post today. In December, the company also launched a private real-time bidding (RTB) marketplace aimed at premium publishers that allows users to set dynamic price floors and optimize performance and preview placements for brand safety. “This 100 billion threshold has meaning in a market that is growing and rapidly maturing; in a market where liquidity is the life-blood of our customers’ business. Most importantly, 100 billion is an outcome of our customers’ trust in us to drive their business forward,” stated the company post. …

Yahoo and Microsoft Thursday announced a trio of updates to Microsoft’s adCenter that included more refined targeting on mobile devices. Advertisers will now be able t tailors campaigns to specific mobile operating systems including iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. For tablets, the platforms include iOS, Android and RIM. The companies also said adCenter’s character limit in ad descriptions has increased to 71 from 70 to better align with industry standards. “With this change, you can more easily import ads from AdWords to adCenter without the need to modify your ad descriptions. This will apply both in the adCenter UI …