5 Blogs Before Lunch

General Motors is ending its relationship with Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods has a lot of endorsement deals--American Express, Nike, Tag Heuer, etc. etc. But going forward, he'll have one less paycheck coming his way as GM, citing the difficult economy, and Tiger, citing his desire to spend more time with his family (how much time does it take to shoot a commercial?) have called it quits.

The automaker had a nine-year relationship with Tiger Woods, with his recent five-year deal valued at $40 million.

Source: Advertising Age

Pepsi Ends Relationship With BBDO--The End of An Era

BBDO has been Pepsi's advertising agency since before most of us have been born.

But that's all over now that the account for Diet Pepsi has been shifted from BBDO to TBWA\Chiat\Day, ending a 48-year relationship and one of the most enduring partnerships on Madison Avenue.

During its time with Pepsi, BBDO created some of the most iconic campaigns seen in the ad industry.

A few examples:

• BBDO created the Pepsi Challenge blind taste test against rival Coca-Cola.
• In 1963 launched the Pepsi Generation campaign which positioned Coca-Cola as the older, stale brand and paved the way for the catchy 1980s slogan "Pepsi. The Choice of a New Generation".
• BBDO used celebrities to promote the brand over the years, including Cindy Crawford, Ray Charles, Britney Spears, Michael J. Fox, and Michael Jackson--who famously caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial.

The move coincides to the huge revamp of Pepsi's image, including its recent new Pepsi identity and packaging.

Source: Brand Republic

Jerry Yang's Departure Memo To Yahoo! Employees

Yahoo!'s Jerry Yang has agreed to step down as CEO of the Internet giant, and return to his role as "Chief Yahoo!."

Yang founded the company with David Filo as a Stanford student in 1994.

Shareholders blame him for standing in the way of Microsoft's effort to buy the company for $33 a share. Yahoo! closed at less than $11 Monday.

Here's Yang's memo explaining his departure to employees.

Additional stories at The New York Times, CNN/Money

BMW Turns (To) Grey

BMW has consolidated its US regional advertising accounts in to Grey West, San Francisco. Grey was the incumbent for the Western region, and now will handle advertising, interactive, direct and promotional marketing for four BMW regions, Eastern, Central, Western and Southern, as well as the previously-owned (used car) business nationwide.

BMW spends about $80-90 million a year on regional advertising.  GSD&M, Austin Texas handles the national account for BMW corporate.

Sources: Adweek and  Brand Republic

Microsoft Is Switching Agencies for Zune. Batter up: Crispin Porter + Bogusky

After creating the critically panned ads starring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, as well as the subsequent, and just as critically panned "I'm a PC" campaign, Crispin Porter + Bogusky has been handed the...ahem, critically panned Zune advertising business.

Microsoft spends about $40 million on ads supporting its Zune music player, which has struggled to find an audience.

A friend recently joked at the lack of Zune adoption this way: "Someone on the train this morning had a Zune. I wasn't aware they existed anywhere besides store shelves."

Crispin will handle a holiday Zune push set to break in the next few weeks, said Adam Sohn, the brand's director of marketing.

From Adweek: "They have a lot of credibility working with upstart challenger brands, and in the MP3 space that's what we are," battling Apple's far more popular iPod, he said.

Levi Strauss Names Agency Finalists

More details of the Christmas holiday-timed creative review for the Levi Strauss business. Levi's has always been considered a plum account--not only because of the $80 million media spend, but because of the opportunity to create some amazing work.

So, it is no wonder that the likes of Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy & Mather, Wieden + Kennedy and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners will be pitching. New York shop Anomaly is also in the pitch, along with Chiat Day's Cutwater, which is helmed by Chuck McBride, who created some legendary work for the jeans maker when he was at Foote Cone & Belding San Francisco, as well as project work at Cutwater/Chiat Day. Incumbent Bartle Bogle Hegarty has chosen not to defend the U.S. business (they still handle Asia and Europe for Levi's).

Adweek reports that client executives briefed the shops last month, and final presentations are slated for early December.

Recent Cutwater work for Levi's:

 

Bob Isherwood Leaves Saatchi & Saatchi after 22 years

Bob Isherwood has quit his role as worldwide creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, thus ending a 22 year relationship with the agency. Twenty-two years at the same agency is a remarkable achievement, given the average stay is typically 18 months or less.

Advertising Age cites the reason as a need to have "more than one life in my lifetime."

Isherwood has been at Saatchi since 1986 (the year I began in advertising), at Saatchi's Sydney office. I met Isherwood (he'd hardly remember a young AE from California) on a business trip. He was an agency creative director then, and has been worldwide creative director and a member of the network's executive board since 1996.

One of Isherwood's significant achievements will also be his belief that Saatchi & Saatchi was an ideas agency, not an ad agency, going so far as to remove the word "advertising" from the agency's nameplates around the world.

Advertising Age notes that his is departure from the agency, which is led by Worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts, breaks up one of the longest-standing leadership teams in the agency business. Isherwood originally brought Mr. Roberts to the agency having worked with him as a client, and their friendship extended beyond business -- Mr. Roberts was best man at Mr. Isherwood's wedding.

Yahoo! + Microsoft Still A Possibility After Yahoo! and Google Deal Squashed Bt Antitrust Issues

Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang has said a deal with Microsoft is still an option after Google walked away from its advertising deal.

Google and Yahoo! abandoned their advertising deal after the US Department of Justice informed the companies that it would file an antitrust lawsuit to block the agreement if it was implemented.

More: Associated Press

Delta Buys Northwest. But What's in it for Consumers?

Delta's purchase of Northwest is in the final stages. The combined company will create the world's largest airline and marks the end of the Northwest brand. It is being reported that the combination of the two airlines will serve more than 375 worldwide cities, more than any other airline, and employ around 75,000 people worldwide.

Richard Anderson, chief executive of Delta said: "With much of the work to bring our airlines together well under way, the new Delta will be at the front of the pack in achieving the benefits of consolidation and is well positioned to navigate the tough waters ahead in a difficult economy."

What's missing from all of this information? No mention of what consumers will get from the deal. This is becoming common dialog among airlines--survival first, customers last. Once the industry has sorted itself out from its long, long financial decline, it will be interesting to watch which airlines return to paying attention to their customer's first--how successful they will become for it.

The Quaker (and his Oats), The Cap'n, Aunt Jemima and the San Francisco Treat Say Goodbye to Element 79 and Hello to Goodby

PepsiCo has divested itself of it relationship with Chicago agency Element 79, and switched its advertising accounts for Quaker Oats, Life, Cap'n Crunch, Aunt Jemima nd Rice-A-Roni to San Francisco agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

The selection comes after Quaker shifted creative duties on its rice cake snacks, including Mini Delights and Quakes, from Element 79 to Omnicom's Juniper Park in Toronto, reassigned Gatorade to TBWA\C\D and Tropicana to Omnicom's The Arnell Group in New York.

Source: Adweek