Aegis Group Buys Roundarch for $125M

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Tim Peterson in Advertising & Branding, Aegis Group, Agency, Isobar
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Aegis Group acquired digital agency Roundarch for $125 million, the company announced today. Aegis is merging the Chicago-based firm with the U.S. arm of its Isobar agency network to form RoundarchIsobar.

Jeff Maling, Roundarch’s president and chief experience officer, and Geoff Cubit, its president and chief technology officer, will jointly head RoundarchIsobar. Darryl Gehly will continue to serve as president of Isobar U.S. and will report to Maling and Cubit.

“We’re really happy with Isobar in terms of the actual product it was delivering, but what we felt was we wanted a lot more scale,” said. As a result of the acquisition, digital will account for 57 percent of Aegis Media’s U.S. revenue, he said.

The combined agency will house roughly 450 employees—with 250 coming from Roundarch—across offices in Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York and San Francisco. Roundarch and Isobar will likely combine their Boston offices, Morris said, as Isobar has been planning to move to a new space. The Boston office will be RoundarchIsobar’s largest.

Roundarch’s clients include Avis, HBO, Bloomberg Sports, Motorola and the U.S. Air Force.

The acquisition and resulting merger cap an eventful 12 months for Aegis’ domestic business. After tapping Gehly to head Isobar U.S. in March, Aegis expanded Morris’ responsibilities in June to include South America in addition to his North American duties. That change came amid a wider consolidation of the company’s global reporting structure.

NBC Plays Musical Chairs With Winter Schedule

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Anthony Crupi in 30 Rock, Anthony Crupi, Are You There, Chelsea?, Bent, Best Friends Forever, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, Nbc, Networks, Parks & Recreation, Ratings, Rock Center with Brian Williams, Smash, Television, Up All Night, Whitney
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NBC has set premiere dates for the last of its 2011-12 slate, carving out time for two new sitcoms and a hidden-camera series starring Betty White.

The Amanda Peet vehicle, Bent, bows Wednesday, March 21, in one of the toughest time slots on the dial, going head-to-head with ABC’s top-rated Modern Family at 9 p.m. The sitcom will air in two-episode blocks from 9 to 10 p.m. through the next two weeks.

A second comedy, Best Friends Forever, will debut Wednesday, April 4 at 8:30 p.m., leading out of the new reality strip Betty White’s Off Their Rockers. The twin premieres will roll out in the wake of the March 28 series finales of Are You There, Chelsea? and Whitney.

White’s geriatric Candid Camera offering was well-sampled in a special Jan. 16 preview, drawing 12.3 million viewers and a 2.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

While neither show is a hit, Whitney has a much better shot at a renewal than Chelsea. Through 16 episodes, Whitney is averaging a 2.0 in the same demographic, while the Chelsea Handler project has churned out a 1.7 over the course of a half-dozen installments.

NBC also announced that it is returning the cult favorite Community to the Thursday 8 p.m. slot on March 15, pushing 30 Rock up a half hour. That same night, Parks & Recreation will go on a brief hiatus, returning April 19 at 9:30 p.m. after the freshman comedy Up All Night wraps its 24-episode run.

The game of musical chairs doesn’t stop there. On March 7, Rock Center With Brian Williams will move up an hour to 10 p.m., only to return to its 9 p.m. roost on April 11 to make room for new episodes of Law & Order: SVU.

Williams’ show has already moved once, jumping from the Monday 10 p.m. slot to its current home opposite ABC’s Modern Family-Happy Endings unit and CBS’ Criminal Minds. Since bowing on Halloween night, Rock Center has eked out a meager 1.0 in the demographic. (The high-water mark, a 1.7 on Jan. 23, was reached when Williams moderated the debate among GOP candidates Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.)

That Monday 10 p.m. slot is beginning to look cursed. Despite a hefty $25 million promotional budget and a Super Bowl spot, the new musical drama Smash is flailing. After premiering Feb. 6 to 11.4 million viewers and receiving a 3.8 in the demographic, Smash plummeted 40 percent to 6.46 million viewers and a 2.3 rating.

While Smash may prove to be yet another major disappointment for NBC, the show is by no means dead and buried. Of the five new dramas NBC has premiered thus far in the 2011-12 season, Smash is still head and shoulders above the canceled Playboy Club (4.15 million viewers/1.4) and Prime Suspect (4.61 million viewers/1.2). The show is also trending above NBC’s Friday night fantasy/horror mashup, Grimm (5.32 million viewers/1.6), and the exiled Canadian import, The Firm (4.15 million/1.0).

When compared to the previous occupants of the 10 p.m. slot, Smash is still up 130 percent in the demographic (2.3 versus an aggregate 1.0 for Playboy Club and Rock Center). The show also marks a significant improvement over last season’s Harry’s Law, which averaged 6.94 million viewers and a 1.8 in the demographic in its freshman run.

The Smash slot isn’t the only one that seems to be haunted by failure. Thursday nights at 10 p.m. are also a disaster, having been the home to the high-profile flops Prime Suspect and The Firm. Before each show was burned off—The Firm was shuttled off to the Siberia of Saturday night after five episodes—the post-comedy block slot averaged a 1.1 in the demographic.

Moving into the time slot on March 1 is the supernatural drama Awake, which stars Jason Isaacs as a detective who inhabits two distinct realities after surviving a devastating car accident.

If Smash doesn’t survive past its scheduled May 14 finale, it will mark the third strike for Steven Spielberg. The director has had a hand in some of the season’s most disappointing new series, a roster that includes Fox’s pricey dino drama Terra Nova and ABC’s The River.

While Terra Nova averaged 7.6 million viewers and a 2.5 in the demographic, those numbers may not justify a second round of the series, which costs around $4 million per episode to produce. That said, weak ratings for other new Fox dramas like Alcatraz and The Finder could ensure a place for Terra Nova in the network’s fall lineup. 

The River also appears to be a bust, although Tuesday night’s episode was flat versus the previous week. Per preliminary Nielsen data, the third installment of The River averaged 4.78 million viewers and a 1.7 in the demographic, on par with the show’s performance on Feb. 14.

The two-hour premiere of The River delivered a modest 7.59 million viewers and a 2.4 rating in the demographic.


NBC Plays Musical Chairs with Winter Schedule

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Anthony Crupi in 30 Rock, Anthony Crupi, Are You There, Chelsea?, Bent, Best Friends Forever, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, Nbc, Networks, Parks & Recreation, Ratings, Rock Center with Brian Williams, Smash, Television, Up All Night, Whitney
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NBC has set premiere dates for the last of its 2011-12 slate, carving out time for two new sitcoms and a hidden-camera series starring Betty White.

The Amanda Peet vehicle, Bent, bows Wednesday, March 21, in one of the toughest time slots on the dial, going head-to-head with ABC’s top-rated Modern Family at 9 p.m. The sitcom will air in two-episode blocks from 9 to 10 p.m. through the next two weeks.

A second comedy, Best Friends Forever, will debut Wednesday, April 4 at 8:30 p.m., leading out of the new reality strip Betty White’s Off Their Rockers. The twin premieres will roll out in the wake of the March 28 series finales of Are You There, Chelsea? and Whitney.

White’s geriatric Candid Camera offering was well-sampled in a special Jan. 16 preview, drawing 12.3 million viewers and a 2.6 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic.

While neither show is a hit, Whitney has a much better shot at a renewal than Chelsea. Through 16 episodes, Whitney is averaging a 2.0 in the same demographic, while the Chelsea Handler project has churned out a 1.7 over the course of a half-dozen installments.

NBC also announced that it is returning the cult favorite Community to the Thursday 8 p.m. slot on March 15, pushing 30 Rock up a half-hour. That same night, Parks & Recreation will go on a brief hiatus, returning April 19 at 9:30 p.m. after the freshman comedy Up All Night wraps its 24-episode run.

The game of musical chairs doesn’t stop there. On March 7, Rock Center with Brian Williams will move up an hour to 10 p.m., only to return to its 9 p.m. roost on April 11 to make room for new episodes of Law & Order: SVU.

Williams’ show has already moved once, jumping from the Monday 10 p.m. slot to its current home opposite ABC’s Modern Family-Happy Endings unit and CBS’ Criminal Minds. Since bowing on Halloween night, Rock Center has eked out a meager 1.0 in the demographic. (The high-water mark, a 1.7 on Jan. 23, was reached when Williams moderated the debate between GOP candidates Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.)

That Monday 10 p.m. slot is beginning to look cursed. Despite a hefty $25 million promotional budget and a Super Bowl spot, the new musical drama Smash is flailing. After premiering Feb. 6 to 11.4 million viewers and receiving a 3.8 in the demographic, Smash plummeted 40 percent to 6.46 million viewers and a 2.3 rating.

While Smash may prove to be yet another major disappointment for NBC, the show is by no means dead and buried. Of the five new dramas NBC has premiered thus far in the 2011-12 season, Smash is still head and shoulders above the canceled Playboy Club (4.15 million viewers/1.4) and Prime Suspect (4.61 million viewers/1.2). The show is also trending above NBC’s Friday night fantasy/horror mashup, Grimm (5.32 million viewers/1.6) and the exiled Canadian import, The Firm (4.15 million/1.0).

When compared to the previous occupants of the 10 p.m. slot, Smash is still up 130 percent in the demographic (2.3 versus an aggregate 1.0 for Playboy Club and Rock Center). The show also marks a significant improvement over last season’s Harry’s Law, which averaged 6.94 million viewers and a 1.8 in the demographic in its freshman run.

The Smash slot isn’t the only one that seems to be haunted by failure. Thursday nights at 10 p.m. are also a disaster, having been the home to the high-profile flops Prime Suspect and The Firm. Before each show was burned off––The Firm was shuttled off to the Siberia of Saturday night after five episodes––the post-comedy block slot averaged a 1.1 in the demographic.

Moving into the time slot on March 1 is the supernatural drama, Awake, which stars Jason Isaacs as a detective who inhabits two distinct realities after surviving a devastating car accident.

If Smash doesn’t survive past its scheduled May 14 finale, it will mark the third strike for Steven Spielberg. The director has had a hand in some of the season’s most disappointing new series, a roster that includes Fox’s pricy dino drama Terra Nova and ABC’s The River.

While Terra Nova averaged 7.6 million viewers and a 2.5 in the demographic, those numbers may not justify a second round of the series, which costs around $4 million per episode to produce. That said, weak ratings for other new Fox dramas like Alcatraz and The Finder could ensure a place for Terra Nova in the network’s fall lineup. 

The River also appears to be a bust, although Tuesday night’s episode was flat versus the previous week. Per preliminary Nielsen data, the third installment of The River averaged 4.78 million viewers and a 1.7 in the demographic, on par with the show’s performance on Feb. 14.

The two-hour premiere of The River delivered a modest 7.59 million viewers and a 2.4 rating in the demographic.


Liquid-Plumr Double Impact Has Twice the Uncomfortable Innuendo

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Tim Nudd in Advertising & Branding, Clorox, Creative, Ddb, Liquid-Plumr, Packaged Goods, Tim Nudd
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Liquid-Plumr has a product called Double Impact. So, really, what choice did DDB in San Francisco have but to create the innuendo-stuffed spot below with a housewife who daydreams about two plumbers double-teaming her clog by "snaking her drain" and "flushing her pipe." I suppose you have to hand it to the Clorox brand—they just went for it. The view count is climbing toward 1 million, though the brand might be cringing at the comments that are piling up on YouTube. ("It's funny because it's like she was going to get double penetrated," observes one visitor. And that's one of the tamer responses.) But really, what did they expect?

Ad of the Day: Shock Top

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Gabriel Beltrone in 72andsunny, Ad of The Day, Advertising & Branding, Agency, Alcohol, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Creative, Food & Beverage, Gabriel Beltrone
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Rest assured: If the world does come to a dramatic, fiery end in 2012, it won't stop advertisers from hawking their wares.

Extinction-level events have become a popular theme for brands lately, and the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Shock Top beer is the latest to dive in with a new spot from 72andSunny. How do the end times look? A stereotypically slick pitchman strolls through the urban wreckage holding a bottle of the wheat beer, nonchalant about the mayhem unfolding around him. As meteors crater the street behind him, he toasts a Mayan prophet and shrugs off the end of mankind. "You don't care. You're out there doing all the things you always wanted to do." One cell-phone snapshot of a cranky, sharp-fanged alien lizard later, the pitchman is at a post-apocalyptic block party, suggesting you make your last brew a Shock Top.

The ad would have been in production before Chevrolet aired its Super Bowl commercial urging viewers to drive a Silverado pickup truck—not a Ford—if they hope to live through the apocalypse. Both came well after Lynx advised survivalist bachelors to use its Final Edition body spray to lure hordes of scantily clad women to a handcrafted wooden bro-ark to ensure their safety from the flood (and the future of the species).

In other words, steel yourself for more apocalyptic spots, if not the apocalypse itself. Whatever happens, it's pretty clear that the salesmen will last at least as long as the cockroaches.



CREDITS:
Client: Shock Top
Spot: "End of the World"

AGENCY
Agency: 72andSunny, Los Angeles
Creative Director: Barton Corley
Copywriter: Jay Kamath
Art Director: Peter Vattanatham
Producer: Erin Goodsell
Brand Team: Sherri Chambers, Elisa Silva, Ryan Warner
Executive Creative Directors: John Boiler, Glenn Cole
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Director: Matt Aselton
Executive Producers: Mal Ward, Marc Marrie
Line Producer: Eric Sedorovitz
Director of Photography: Marcelo Durst
Production Service Company: Nube Pictures, Argentina
Executive Producers: Jorge di Benedetto, David Preizler

EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Adam Pertofsky
Postproducers: Juliet Batter, Justin Kumpata
Executive Postproducer: C.L. Weaver

VFX
VFX Company: A52
VFX Supervisor: Andy McKenna
Flame Artist: Andy McKenna
VFX Producer: Scott Boyajan

MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN
Music+Sound Company: Noises Digital
Sound Designer: Kim Christensen

MIX
Mix Company: POP
Mixer: Mitch Dorf
Producer: Susie Boyajan

EA to Float Copies of ‘Mass Effect 3′ Into Near Space

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Rebecca Cullers in Advertising & Branding, Bioware, Creative, EA, Out Of Home, Space
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Beginning on Thursday, EA and Bioware will promote their video-game space odyssey Mass Effect 3 by sending copies of the game into near space via weather balloons in New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Berlin, London and Paris. Fans will be able to collect the game well ahead of the release date if they can snag the copies that float back to Earth—assuming they have the necessary hardcore science to guestimate its landing position based on atmospheric conditions (or, I suppose, pure luck). Game industry comic Penny Arcade suggests this marketing decision was made because it was far less lethal than sending the fans themselves into near-space. Another interesting decision this time around was to include the female version of Commander Shepard in the marketing. Though you’ve always been able to choose a feminine avatar for Shepard, she was never featured in any of the cinematic trailers. Check the trailer below to see the FemShep, as she is known, that fans selected over Facebook. After the jump, see the latest cinematic feature with the male version of Shepard, as well as the requisite live-action trailer.



Cablevision Selects Finalists in Optimum Creative Review

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Andrew McMains in Accounts, Advertising & Branding, Amalgamated, Andrew McMains, Cablevision, creative review, Gardner Nelson + Partners, Optimum, Vitro
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Four shops have advanced to the final round of Cablevision’s search for an agency to craft image ads for its Optimum brand. This week, Cablevision executives will brief the shops. Final presentations are slated for late March.

The assignment is new and will complement product-specific ads from current lead agency Gardner Nelson + Partners in New York. Account revenue is estimated at $2 million.

Gardner Nelson is among the remaining contenders. The others are Vitro, which is pitching via its San Diego and New York offices, and New York agencies Amalgamated and Mother.

The cable company’s review committee includes Kristin Dolan, a senior evp and wife of CEO James Dolan; evp of marketing Jon Hargis; and vp of marketing and advertising Joe Leonard.

In its initial request for information distributed by Cablevision to interested agencies, the company cited the “existing heat of the competition” and a need to “find our voice” as reasons for the search. Optimum’s digital TV, Internet access and digital phone offerings compete with the likes of Verizon and DirecTV.

The company’s media business is not in play and remains in-house. Hasan + Co. in Raleigh, N.C., is managing the search. Hasan did not return calls, and the Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision declined to comment.

Swedish Hospital’s Ad Seeks ‘Hot’ Nurses for the ER

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by David Kiefaber in Advertising & Branding, Europe, Job Hunting, Medicine
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Stockholm's South General Hospital is poking fun at the stereotype of sexy Swedish nurses with an ad campaign calling for "TV-series hot" applicants for a summer position in the hospital's ER. "You will be motivated, professional, and have a sense of humour. And of course, you will be TV-series hot or a Söder hipster. Throw in a nurse's education and you are welcome to seek a summer job at Södersjukhuset's emergency department," reads the ad. Of course, there's been a bit of grousing over this. The hospital claims the ads are all in cheeky good fun, and points to the backpedaling statement on its website ("We hope we piqued your curiosity and you want to come and meet us, so we can tell you more about your future as a nurse") as evidence that it's actually looking for someone qualified. Best of luck to them, but it seems counterproductive to run ads that require an immediate apology and clarification. Besides, European nurses deal with enough grabby patients as it is, if Holland and the U.K. are any indication.

Arby’s Shifts Account to Crispin From BBDO

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Noreen O'Leary in Accounts, Advertising & Branding, Agency, Food & Beverage
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They could probably use some "good-mood food" over at BBDO today. Arby’s, a client at the Omnicom agency since the end of 2010, awarded its nearly $100 million account to Crispin Porter + Bogusky without a review.

The move reunites Arby’s new CMO Russ Klein with the MDC Partners agency he hired in 2004, when he was global chief marketing officer at Burger King. Klein left BK in late 2009 and joined Arby’s last month.

“BBDO’s work for Arby’s was exactly what the brand needed at the time,” Klein said of the change. “This transition is about where we are taking the brand and how we are going to get there.”

While no incumbent can be surprised when replaced by an agency that had a previous working relationship with a new CMO, the news follows recent public endorsements of BBDO by Arby’s executives, including Klein. Just last week, Bob Kraut, Arby's svp of advertising and brand communications, publicly acknowledged the brand’s marketing as playing a role in the initial stages of a turnaround at the fast-food chain. Speaking at an Association of National Advertisers’ event, he said BBDO’s new “Good-mood food” tag registered 60 percent awareness in 10 months and that in 2011 the company posted its highest sales increase in 10 years.  

“There’s not much to say. The numbers speak for themselves,” said John Osborn, president and CEO of BBDO, New York. “We’re proud of our contributions to the Arby’s business. We wish the brand continued growth.”

Klein and CP+B had years of initial success with a BK strategy that targeted young men. By the end of the marketing exec’s tenure at the burger chain, however, his partnership with CP+B was marred by controversial ad campaigns, sliding sales and friction with franchisees. Following six quarters of declining sales, BK’s new owners split with CP+B in March 2011 and hired mcgarrybowen in June of that year.

BBDO won Arby’s in December 2010 following a review. The agency replaced sister Omnicom shop Merkley & Partners after declining same-store sales.

Arby’s other marketing partners, Initiative Media and its co-op ad agencies, are not impacted by this shift. Alcone Marketing also remains Arby’s agency of record for creative and print production.
 

Kellogg Creates Totes Amazeballs Cereal in Response to Single Tweet

Posted: 22nd February 2012 by Tim Nudd in Advertising & Branding, Cereal, Food & Beverage, Kellogg, twitter
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Totes Amazeballs might seem like an un-Kellogg-like name for a breakfast cereal. But the company has created it anyway over in the U.K., following a Twitter request from Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess. Explains Burgess: "I heard someone use the expression Totes Amazeballs, and it sounded like something from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I sent a cheeky tweet saying I'd invented a new cereal and that Kellogg's were interested. But within an hour they'd got in touch." A Kellogg's spokeswoman adds: "It all came about a few weeks ago when Tim tweeted his fans about wanting to create a super cereal called Totes Amazeballs. We really try to make the most of Twitter here at Kellogg's, and when we saw the tweet, we knew we had to make something special for him." Alas, they only made one box—for Burgess. (It's a mix of Rocky Road cake, Coco Pops Rocks, marshmallows, shortbread pieces and raisins—apparently a Burgess favorite.) But with fans clamoring for more boxes, we likely haven't heard the end of this story. Full image after the jump. Via Adverblog.

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