5 Blogs Before Lunch

Macy's goes on the attack, suing Martha Stewart for its J.C. Penney deal

A month ago we posted the news that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia had inked a deal to sell housewares at J.C. Penney. It sounded like a great deal for Penney's and MSLO, but it seems to have made Macy's feel like a jilted bride.

And there is nothing like a mega conclomerate's scorn.

Macy's is now suing MSLO in New York State Supreme Court claiming the deal with J.C. Penney violates the terms of an exclusive deal to sell MSLO products at its stores.

The J.C. Penney deal involves opening store-in-store Martha Stewart shops inside most of its stores beginning next year. MSLO products at Macy's are scattered througout their Home departments, and are a valuable draw for the retailer.

Let the mud-slinging begin.

Source: USA Today

Mark Cuban partners up with Ryan Seacrest, AEG and Creative Artists Agency to reimagine HDNet into AXS TV

If Oprah can have her own television network, so can Ryan Seacrest.

He, along with events promoter AEG and talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) are partnering with billionaire Mark Cuban to essentially take over his existing network HDNet. The new network will be called AXS TV (pronounced "access") and will be a pop culture and music cable channel that is expected to debut in June.

Reports are that the network's programming will rely heavily on live lifestyle and live entertainment content from the music assets of AEG, and the "A-list connections and production capabilities of Seacrest." Cuban will still lead the venture.

The Hollywood Reporter suggests that the venture is “virtually” a 50-50 partnership between Cuban and the new partners.
 
Seacrest, CAA and AEG have been pitching the network concept for some time. At one point there were reports that the group was in talks to take over VH1 Soul, a little-watched spinoff of MTV Networks' VH1 channel.

HDNet has been around for about a decade, and is currently in a reported 25-35 million homes, through distribution deals with DirecTV, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Charter and Dish. Those numbers are still small, with the big cable networks in 100 million+ homes.

Seacrest’s shingle, Ryan Seacrest Productions (which produces the ubiquitous Khardasian franchise among other projects), will have a production commitment with the new venture. Ryan Seacrest Media, a holding company separate from RSP, is the investor in AXS.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last spring, Seacrest insisted whatever deal he and his partners at CAA and AEG struck, it “will not be the Ryan Seacrest channel … it will not be branded with my name or my face. My role would be to hope to provide content for them, but primarily it would be an ownership role.”

Source: AXS.tv press announcement

Shatner, The Priceline Negotiator, meets his demise--advertising style.

For the last 14 years, William Shatner has overacted as the "Priceline Negotiator" in the advertising for the discount travel site.

His character has become a cultural icon and helped elevate recognition of the brand as a discount-price bidding system for hotel bookings.

But now, Priceline wants to focus on a broader strategy beyond negotiated bidding, and that means Shatner's character must go. The brand needs to find a way to shift focus from what it has deeply impeded in consumer's minds, and give people a different reason to care about it.

The first step to brand rejuvenation? The Priceline Negotiator must meet a fiery death--advertising style.

Shatner’s final ads for the company will see him attempt to save vacationers as a bus comes dangerously close to falling from a bridge. Before the end, Shatner continues to attempt to advise customers on how to get reduced prices. “Save yourself –some money,” Shatner says before he meets his apparent end on the bus. The ad is in-character for both The Negotiator, and for Shatner's own acting style known for his over-the-top delivery. The octogenarian (he turned 80 last March) perfected overacting throughout his lengthy career--from his character as Captain Kirk on Star Trek to his portrayal of T.J. Hooker and Denny Crane on Boston Legal. Yep, he knows how to milk a line and steal even the most mundane scene.

But it is just that ability to draw attention to himself that has nesessitated the transformation of Priceline's "The Negotiator" to become yesterday's newspaper as it shifts from a name-your-price model to a fixed-price approach.

Yep, Shatner's Negotiator was just too good at representing the old approach.

“The challenge is harder to get people’s attention than it used to be. … So we decided to do something really over the top to get the message across,” Priceline CEO Christoper Soder told the AP.

All parties have left a Shatner return a viable possibility--perhaps in the same way Jack, the Jack in the Box clown, returned after his own fiery explosion in 1980.

Ah, the magic of Hollywood.

McDonald's and HarperCollins partner to bundle reading books inside Happy Meals

In the U.S., childhood obesity opponents have been pressuring McDonald's to deliver healthier Happy Meals to kids by trying to ban toys inside unhealthy meals.

In the U.K. childhood literacy advocates are manipulating McDonald’s in a different way, by partnering with them to hand out around nine million popular children’s books with its Happy Meals for a month. It is part of a new partnership with publishing house HarperCollins aimed at getting books into the hands of families and to support parents in reading with their children.

From now until early February, McDonald’s will offer its Happy Meals customers copies of the much-loved Mudpuddle Farm series of books by Michael Morpurgo, former children’s laureate and War Horse author.

The announcement follows research released by the National Literacy Trust in December which revealed that almost four million children in Britain – one in three – do not own a book.

Jonathan Douglas, Director of The National Literacy Trust, commented: “Our recent research showed that one in three children in this country don’t own a book, which is extremely concerning as there is a clear link between book ownership and children's future success in life.  We are very supportive of McDonald’s decision to give families access to popular books, as its size and scale will be a huge leap towards encouraging more families to read together.”

Families will be able to take home copies of favourite titles including ‘Mossop’s Last Chance’ and ‘Martians at Mudpuddle Farm’.  Each book comes with a finger puppet to help parents bring the stories to life for their children, and to encourage children of all reading abilities to use their imagination and create their own tales.

Hey HarperCollins, how about rolling out a similar campaign in the U.S.?

Source: National Literacy Trust

Designer Yves Béhar, and One Laptop Per Child launch the XO 3.0 helping underpriveleged children gain access to a modern education.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) provides affordable laptops to underpriveleged children from around the world, allowing them to use technology to gain access to a modern education. The non-profit program currently reaches more than 2.5 million students and teachers in 42 countries.

Marvell Semiconductor a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, and OLPC are dedicated to helping every child in the world gain access to education. Their most recent effort is the XO 3.0 – a low-cost, low-power, rugged tablet computer geared for classrooms in the fartherest outreaches of the globe.

The chief industrial designer for OLPC is Yves Béhar, the legendary founder of fuseproject whose bright green design of the XO-3 tablet has grip-friendly rubber case that folds back to reveal a scratch resistant, sunlight-readable screen. Power comes from the solar cell contained in the tablet cover, hand cranks or other alternative power sources. The XO 3.0 also has an Avastar Wi-Fi system-on-chip. 75,000 units already are on order, and will ship out in March 2012.

“Marvell is committed to improving education–and the human condition-around the world through innovative technology for Smartphones, tablets and a myriad of new cloud-delivered services. Partnering with One Laptop Per Child is one way we can deliver a revolution where it matters most-to benefit children in some of the poorest places on the planet,” said Tom Hayes, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Marvell, and a member of the OLPC advisory board. “Marvell has been with One Laptop per Child from the start, and we’re doing whatever it takes to help the organization realize its mission of providing meaningful educational opportunities to the 500 million school-aged children around the world.”

It is tablets like these that will be dropped by helicopter into remote villages as part of an research project by Professor Sugata Mitra into machine learning, that will test if people can teach themselves to write and use the internet without instruction. The project could revolutionize literacy programs around the world.

Great design and technology, matched with a social conscious. We can think of nothing better.

Sources: DWR blog,

A little pigtailed girl named Wendy's is taking over the world, one foie gras burger at a time.

Wendy's is about to pass Burger King in U.S. sales, trailing only McDonald's who sits high on the fast-food heap. And while a lot of credit for the shift in market share can be attributed to Burger King's failure in the marketplace, much can be said for Wendy's aggressive changes too.

There's a lot going on under that red pigtail right now. Wendy's recently changed the formula of its trademark square burgers--softening the edges a little bit and coming out with Dave's Hot 'N Juicy--a sandwich named after its founder (who had named Wendy's after his daughter). The company also spun off its Arby's brand, and is focusing more on the burger business, is thinking about adding a breakfast menu (again) and has just recently re-launched in Japan.

In Japan, Wendy's is introducing sixteen dollar foie gras hamburgers. Yep, that's a Wendy's burger with a slab of foie, and costs ¥1,280, or about US$16.43. Wendy's is also offering its Japanese patrons an Avocado Wasabi hamburger and a Truffle and Porcini Grilled Chicken sandwich.

This seems like a good strategy of testing some innovative novelty sandwich concepts akin to the gourmet burger joints proliferating urban strongholds in the U.S.--places like Five Guys, Super Duper Burger, Elevation Burger and Umami Burger.

We're rooting for the pigtail!

Sources: Daily Finance, Eater and MarketWatch

The Velvet Underground surfaces to fight for Andy Warhol's banana

Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground have been tight since 1965.

The band, founded by Lou Reed and John Cale, have been inextricably linked to Warhol since they formed an artistic collaboration in 1965. A couple of years later Warhol who designed the banana illustration for their legendary “The Velvet Underground and Nico”  album. The group would perform at Warhol's New York studio, the Factory, and in his traveling light show, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.

But now, the band members are suing The Andy Warhol Foundation, accusing it in a federal lawsuit of infringing the trademark for the banana design. The foundation has been licensing the banana to third parties such as a company who makes covers for the Apple iPad and iPhone.

The Warhol Foundation claims it has a copyright interest in the design, as it was created by Warhol. The band says that the design can’t be copyrighted because it’s in the public domain, as the banana image Warhol furnished for the illustration came from an advertisement that was in the public domain.

The situation is messy in that the banana appeared on the album cover without a copyright notice and over the years no one sought to copyright it.

“The banana design is a significant element of Velvet Underground’s ongoing licensed merchandising activity,” the group said. Use of the design as a trademark by the band “has been exclusive, continuous and uninterrupted for more than 25 years.”
Because the image is so closely associated with the band, the Velvet Underground claims in the suit that the foundation is trying to “decieve the public” into thinking the band gives their approval to products that carry the image.

The case is The Velvet Underground v. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, 12-0201, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Sources: Businessweek, Washington Post and WSJ.com

Goodbye AT&T

When I was a little kid, I remember my parents were given one option for telephone service—renting rotary dial telephones from the telephone company—the only telephone company—AT&T. Then in 1974 “Ma Bell” was deemed a monopoly, and divided up into Baby Bells by government order in 1984. Our service changed its name to Pacific Bell, but still there was little else that changed—including the lack of choice as to who supplied our telephone service.

Of course, times have changed. The Baby Bells are AT&T once again, and AT&T has become even bigger than it once was. The other change, of course, is that we have options of who to get our telephone service from. Cable companies now can supply phone service to my house, and a growing number of households are forgoing landlines all together—opting for a mobile service option.

So, after knowing no service other than AT&T, it was a big moment when I decided to untether myself from Ma Ball. My decision to use Verizon for my mobile devices had been easy. They had a reputation for better reception than AT&T, and I liked the idea that after 30 some odd years, I had an option to NOT go with AT&T. But I remember my hesitation as I called Comcast Cable recently to inquire about their home telephone service. The feeling was akin to moving out of my parent’s house to go away to college—I was excited by the opportunity for freedom, but afraid I might make wrong decisions, and be worse off than with Ma Bell.

Thankfully, two actions made my decision easy.

1). Comcast Cable is expert at customer service, and oozes a mission of “customer first” in its culture.

2). AT&T on the other hand, clearly plays lip service to customer service. They have a shallow, corporate tone and customer service system—only that only works well when you are a monopoly and your customers have no other choice than to take what you give them.

The folks at Comcast sent me emails while we talked on the phone, and followed up at every step of the way. My service guy, Michael, even pointed out several items that people sometimes miss in the contract—just so I wouldn’t be surprised later on. The service appointment was scheduled online, the tech arrived on-time (with an advance call to let me know he was nearby) and his supervisor called afterwards to make sure everything worked out as I expected.

As for AT&T, they required me to sit by my phone for 30 minutes to wait for a confirmation call so I might register online. To reach a phone representative I needed to set aside a minimum of an hour of my day as they transferred me from representative to representative, and being cut-off several times as they transferred calls (yes, they are a phone company so you’d think they’d know how to transfer a call). Then I received the ultimate insult after I switched my service. I received a letter from AT&T addressed to “Dear Customer” to thank me for my patronage.

“Dear Customer?” you’d think their system could find the name on my account---an account that I had faithfully kept up-to-date for over 30 years. In fact, over the years I’ve had over a dozen accounts with AT&T—business accounts, fax lines, phones at vacation houses, etc.

But to AT&T I was “Dear Customer.”

When you contact an operator at AT&T, they are trained to read from a script: “How may I provide you with excellent service today…”

I’m afraid there isn’t time enough in the day to list all the ways AT&T could improve their customer service. But the first item on the list would be to stop paying lip-service to the concept of “customer first” and start doing the work necessary to genuinely deliver quality service.

Companies like Comcast, and Apple have found a way to embed customer service into their mission. It is time AT&T does the same.

The Next Big Small Brand

The Next BIG Small Brand is a contest awarding small food businesses with branding, design, and marketing services. For the past two years, the contest has been focused on New York, but now it expands its focus to San Francisco, where local judges include, Sam Mogannam (Bi-Rite), Olga Katznelson (Postcard Communications), and Chad Robertson (Tartine). The past New York winners were Kombucha Brooklyn, and Sweet Loren’s, The winners received PR services, retail placement, event opportunities, and kitchen equipment.

You have until February 5th to enter

Print Magazine opens America's National Design Competition to art directors, designers, illustrators, photographers, and typographers

Print Magazine and F+W Media’s 2012 Regional Design Annual has announced its all for entries to it's America ’s National Design Competition. The RDA, now in its 32nd year, is a survey of graphic design in the United States. The competition is dedicated to finding the most innovative designers and recognizing their influence on upcoming design trends.
 

The winning artists’ work will be included in the December 2012 Regional Design Annual issue of Print. In addition, the winning designs will be featured in the RDA online gallery for up to one year and will become a permanent fixture in the RDA online competition archive. The winning work will also be showcased live at the HOW Design Conference in the Design Awards Gallery.
 
The deadline for entries is February 1, 2012. The fee for a single entry is $65. The fee for a campaign (3 or more pieces in a submission) is $90. The competition is open to any art director, designer, illustrator, photographer, or typographer working anywhere in the 50 states or the District of Columbia .

Odd Couple: P&G and Panda Express team up to create Tide Dry Cleaners

The folks behind Panda Express, the ubiquitous Chinese fast food chain, and Proctor & Gamble--P&G the company who defines consumer package goods, are teaming up in the franchised dry cleaning business.

Procter & Gamble launched its dry-cleaners franchising venture a year ago and now has six outlets in Ohio and Kansas. They feature drive-through concierge service and customer access to 24-hour lockers and drop boxes, with cleaning machines looking like large orange boxes of Tide.

But the connection to the folks at Panda Express takes the business to a whole new level, with a partner who knows a thing or two about taking a fractured brand marketplace and pulling together a successful chain. For their part, Panda Express Co-Chief Executives Andrew and Peggy Cherng see the opportunity to bring the same chain-venue principle to clothes.

"There isn't any consolidation in this particular industry," Andrew Cherng said to The Los Angeles Times. "There is no McDonald's of dry cleaners. We see this as an opportunity."

The first of the franchised shops, under the name Tide Dry Cleaners, opened this week in Henderson, Nevada--a Las Vegas suburb. The company plans to open as many as 200 shops nationwide in the next five years.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the $9.2-billion dry-cleaning industry is made up of nearly 39,000 establishments across the country, according to the research group IBISWorld. The market is highly fragmented, with the top four companies generating 2.5% of total revenue. More than 90% of dry cleaners have only one facility.

Now that's what I call a green-field opportunity.

An IPO for Michael Kors

Clearly, I live in the technology bubble.

It seems I am constantly hearing about IPO's (Initial Public Offerings) of companies like Groupon, and Zynga, and Yelp, and LinkedIn (and the persistent Facebook rumors).

But I shamelessly admit missing the IPO of Michael Kors--and his fashion empire.

Kors is now listed on New York Stock Exchange. It shares opened at $25, up 20 percent from their offering price of $20 and brought in $944 million for Mr. Kors and the other selling shareholders. The company itself did not raise any money in the IPO according to The New York Times' DealBook. They report that Kors sold about $117 million worth of stock on the deal, and maintains a roughly 8.6 percent stake that is worth some $400 million. At its current stock price, the company is worth about $4.6 billion.

Source: DealBook

Advertisers run from TLC's "All-American Muslim" following pressure from conservative Christian group

Lowe's, the home improvement company, decided to stop advertising on a reality TV show featuring Muslim Americans. The show, called "All-American Muslim" airs on TLC, which is owned by Discovery Communications. The show follows the day-to-day lives of five Muslim American families in Dearborn, Michigan.

The company says they received pressure from a conservative Christian group that lobbies companies to promote "traditional, biblical values."

Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb said the company had a "long-standing commitment" to diversity and pulled the ads only after the show became "a lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives." She said that other companies had also removed their ads from the show.

The conservative group claims that more than 60 companies that it emailed, from Amazon to McDonald's, have also pulled adds from TLC's All-American Muslim.

Laurie Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the Discovery Network and TLC Network, declined to comment on whether any companies besides Lowe's had pulled their ads. "We stand behind the show 'All-American Muslim,' and we're happy the show has strong advertising support."

Martha Stewart and J.C.Penney strike a deal, and hatch a plan for an Apple -esque retail concept

Over the years, Martha Stewart has danced with retailers KMart and Walmart (among others). Now, the company is hitching its wagon to J.C. Penney.

JCP, who has been looking to ways to shift its fortunes, and re-invent itself, is announcing that it will spend $38.5 million for a 16.6 percent stake in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The deal comes with The company also has asked for two seats on the Martha Stewart board.

As part of a 10-year partnership, J.C. Penney will introduce online and in-store areas dedicated to the Martha Stewart brand. And, most interestingly, the in-store areas will featured specially trained employees who will dole out tips and advice not un-similar to Apple's Genius Bar concept (according to NYT DealBook).

Of course, the Apple-esque concept is no surprise given that  J.C. Penney recently hired Ron Johnson as CEO--the man who helped create the mystique surrounding Apple's successful retail operations. Johnson also is a former Target executive.

J.C. Penney also recently hired Target's top marketing executive, Michael Francis, as its new president. In addition, the company announced last month that it hired two of Johnson's former Apple colleagues, Daniel Walker and Michael Kramer, to serve as chief talent officer and chief operating officer.

The partnership is no doubt good news for J.C. Penney and Martha Stewart who has seen losses in eight out 10 of its most recent quarterly sales. And for its part, J.C. Penney has not kept pace with its retail sector--with sales at stores open at least a year dropping 1.6 percent, while those at Macy’s and Kohl’s rose 4 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

DealBook reports that Martha Stewart expects to earn more than $200 million from the arrangement, including royalty payments, design fees and advertising commitments. The company will continue its existing partnerships with other retailers, like Macy’s and Home Depot.

Additional source: U.S.A. Today

Instead of disrupting the market, the U.S. Postal Service is digging itself a deeper grave

The U.S. Postal Service is in big financial trouble. The mass adoption of the Internet, and delivery competition like FedEx and UPS has made the current postal service far less necessary than it has been.

Like any large organization facing extinction, they can either disrupt the marketplace with change from within, or let other forces put them out of business.

I always like to point to Apple as a company that knows how to disrupt itself before others disrupt it. The laptop disrupted the desktop, the iPad is disrupting the laptop and the iPhone. And, they did a pretty good idea of disrupting another industry—Music, with its iTunes service.

As traditional “snail mail” heads to irrelevancy, the U.S. Postal Service clearly needs to reinvent itself by re-creating its value to the marketplace—it needs to disrupt itself.

Instead, the organization is doing what many failing companies do—cut customer service to save money and stave off short-term losses. This isn’t going to work for the USPS, and hasn’t worked for any other large organization (think Kodak, American Airlines, Blockbuster, Circuit City, etc.)

Facing bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service is pushing ahead with unprecedented cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery and eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day.

While saving an estimated $3 billion, will prove counterproductive, pushing more of America's business onto the Internet to send letters, pay bills, etc. It will also turn off businesses who currently rely on the post office for speedy delivery—think about Netflix's DVDs-by-mail, and newspapers and time-sensitive magazines delivered by postal carrier to suburban and rural communities.

"Over time, to the extent the customer service experience gets worse, it will only increase the shift away from mail to alternatives. There's almost nothing you can't do online that you can do by mail." said Jim Corridore, analyst with S&P Capital IQ, who tracks the shipping industry.

The USPS says that the organization is enacting these changes as it is waiting for Congress to grant it authority to reduce delivery to five days a week, raise stamp prices and reduce health care and other labor costs—more adjustments that will prove counterproductive.

So, if the USPS continues on this track, and fails to reinvent itself by providing GREATER not LESSER customer value, perhaps the private sector will step up and find ways to replace the Postal Service all together. I think it would be great to see FedEx or UPS step into the role of low-cost letter delivery, or perhaps an entrepreneurial upstart may appear—a la how Jet Blue, Southwest and Virgin America are disrupting the airline industry while United and American die a slow death.

Electric car maker Aptera Motors pulls the plug

"We're at a place with the economy where people are wondering: what is the future of the American dream? Where are the jobs for the next generation coming from? When supposedly you can build it and buy it cheaper overseas, why do people continue to build and innovate here in the U.S.? On multiple levels, we hope Aptera addresses those questions." —Marques McCammon, Aptera’s Chief Marketing Officer

Aptera Motors wanted to bring a new electric sedan to market. The plan was to get a $150 million loan from the Department of Energy, and raise matching funs to qualify for the loan.

The company had started in 2006 with a three-wheeled electric car, but shifted gears a year ago with a plan to build a four-door electric sedan that would get the equivalent of 190 miles per gallon of gas.

Sadly, the California company was unable to riase the need money, and has closed its doors, and laid off its employees.

"A lot of people on the West Coast thought they could do the industry better. But the reality that has set in is that these are capital intensive industries, and it's difficult," Aptera CEO Paul Wilbur told The Associated Press on Friday. "It's scared a lot of investors in the space right now. We have a million sympathizers, but when it comes to writing a big check there aren't many of those around."

New York Writes Itself: taking words heard on the streets, and translating them into letterpress art. Because when it comes to New York, you can't make this shit up.

The Art Directors Club will host NEW YORK TYPES, a letterpress art exhibition translating real words heard by locals on the streets of New York into quotes and stories visually presented on the walls of the ADC Gallery by some of the city’s leading letterpress artists.

The exhibition will run December 15, 2011 through January 6, 2012, is presented in collaboration with New York Writes Itself, a new ongoing series of creative productions fueled by the people of New York, and ad agency Leo Burnett New York (www.lbny.com)

NYWI is a new type of media platform designed to connect the people of New York with the city’s creative community. The foundation of NYWI is a website that acts as a running archive called ‘The Script’, where people can write down these New York moments.  Locals registered as “scribes” can submit short-form content like unique quotes, characters, and scenes they witness in New York.

‘The Script’ is then open to the city’s creative community who can use it as inspiration to re-create as writing, art, music, short films, photography or whatever they like.  The project will aggregate different kinds of real-time inputs from the people of NYC to generate interesting and entertaining content that will appear all around the city.

“New York Writes Itself is a project for every New Yorker.  It’s a celebration of the many different voices that make walking our streets an experience that is never the same twice,” said Max Goodwin, cultural architect, Leo Burnett New York.  “We are thrilled to partner with ADC and the Letterpress community to present New York Types.  This exhibition is an example of how New York Writes Itself connects the gritty everyday New Yorkers with the city’s creative community to share the unique and wild stories happening every day in our great city.”

Penn State hires Ketchum for communications crisis management of child sex abuse scandal

The Board of Trustees of Penn State University has hired a crisis communications specialist to help them deal with the brand reputation crisis brought on by the child sexual abuse scandal connected to the school's football coaches, and university administration.

The school has hired the massive Ketchum, owned by the Omnicom Group on November 6, a day after a former football coach was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of eight young boys over a 15-year period.

Ad Age reports that Ketchum assisted with a press conference two days later during which the vice chairman announced that the school's head football coach, and its university were stepping down.

From Ad Age:

It's likely that the connection between the PSU board and Ketchum was made through an existing or former agency client. Ketchum is better known as a consumer PR shop rather than a crisis-communications firm, but it has a team of around 50 crisis executives domestically. It's understood that a few team members are currently on the ground at PSU's campus.

Consumers answer the "Call of Duty" with first day sales topping $400 million

Actvision, the makers of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" can now claim the trophy for the biggest video game first-day launch ever--with $400 million in sales, and of over 6.5 million units sold in the U.S. and the U.K. in the 24-hours after the game's release.

The company took a big risk on the launch, which makes up one-third of the company's $4 billion in annual revenue. Activision's strategy is to focus on releasing fewer titles, and banking on each of them being big hits. The "putting most of our eggs in one basket" strategy is a risky one, but one that (at least in the short-term) has paid off for the company.

Activision releases game titles similar to the approach that movie companies releases feature films--hoping for a big launch day, then hyping the big first-day numbers to stimulate immediate follow-on sales.

"We believe the launch of 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories," Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said.

This strategy is all well and good, until one of their big title release misses the mark and shatters revenue projections, or when a title can't hype 1st day sales to stimulate follow-on numbers. Risky business, but one with big rewards if it works.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Starbucks to open new chain of Juice Bars, hoping to encourage a daily detox, as well as a daily caffeine fix

Starbucks is planning to launch a new brand with a health and wellness focus, in a head-on attack to Jamba Juice. The cornerstone of the new effort comes from the acquisition of Evolution Fresh, a small Southern California-based upscale fruit and vegetable juice maker, for $30 million. The new retail concept is set to launch in 2012 an will have a new name (yet to be announced).

Evolution Fresh juice is currently in grocery stores such as Safeway, Costco and Whole Foods on the West Coast. The company offers juices such as tangerine and organic ginger limeade. Starbucks plans to extend the distribution of the new brand to more retailers, including its own cafes. Starbucks also plans to open juice bars next year that will sell the Evolution Fresh brand as well as health foods.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said that acquiring Evolution Fresh is an important step toward entering the $1.6-billion premium juice business and the $50-billion health foods market. "Our intention is, over time, we would have a national footprint of juice stores positioned for health and wellness," Schultz said in a conference call.

The new chain will "redefine the super-premium juice category and experience" and offer a "wholesome portfolio" of food and beverages, Starbucks said. Starbucks will replace PepsiCo's Naked brand juices in their coffee shops with Evolution Fresh beverages.

Source: WSJ and the Los Angeles Times

Nickelodeon to launch primetime programming for working moms. Set your channel favorites to "NickMom"

Nickelodeon is launching a new slate of evening programming targeted at moms. Apparently, the Mom's witching hour(s) is 9pm to 1am--after they come home from work, and settle the kids into bed (or doing homework).The old fashioned broadcast networks used to call this "primetime" with programming for the entire family.

For decades, specific women's targeted programming existed during the day--from soap operas to Oprah, but now networks are acknowledging that women, like men, are working during the day, busy afterwork with family duties, and don't settle in to watch television until after 9 pm.

Lifetime, Oxygen, and Bravo know that women are watching at these hours, and now Nickelodeon wants to steal a sub-segment of this audience and is targeting moms with their "NickMom" block.

Nick is catering to an audience of women aged 40 and under, especially mothers who watched the channel when they were children. The Wall Street Journal reports that about 25% of mothers today watched Nick when they were kids, according to Nielsen.

Programming is said to include a "Real Mom" reality show and a show called "Double Mom," where a comedian takes a mother's place for a day.

The network is also considering the airing of old episodes of "The Brady Brunch" with pop-up bubbles showing what Carol Brady and other characters were really thinking. The idea is to create content that "appeals to the sense of humor that mothers share," says Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon Networks.

Time for an upgrade: Ford offers a software fix on a flash drive for MyFord Touch users

The Ford Motor Company has been using a digital-dashboard-control system—called MyFord Touch in many of its models the last couple of years. And now, it is time for an upgrade.

Just like an upgrade to your PC's operating system, or new version of computer software, Ford can now upgrade dashboard controls in existing vehicles, without you having to buy a whole new car to get the latest gadgetry.

Of course, Ford doesn't want to upgrade your dashboard too often, or you'd never want to buy a new car. So, in the case of MyFord touch, they waited until there were enough complaints--and a drop in consumer confidence in the brand, before they offered the upgrade.

The MyFord Touch upgrade, contained on a flash drive, will be sent to customers early next year. The look and feel of the digital dashboard which controls functions like the radio and climate controls allows drivers to use a touch screen display, or voice commands to control the system. More than 1,000 screens in the system have been redesigned to be less cluttered and easier to use, with the screen's virtual buttons responding twice as quickly, and the voice-recognition system working more rapidly.

Speaking of rapid response, the new system can be upgrade by the car's owner (or by a dealer if you wish) in a matter of minutes, using a flash drive.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the software fix is in response to massive complaints by Ford owners. They report that consumer complaints about MyFord Touch have dragged down Ford's standing in some widely followed surveys of vehicle quality. Consumer Reports earlier this year withdrew its recommendations from the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX, citing difficulties using MyFord Touch. The magazine in late October said Ford's overall reliability ranking fell to 20th place from 10th place, in part because of MyFord Touch.

If only they had listened to their customers earlier, or better yet, improved the system themselves without waiting for a barrage of complaints, Ford would be in better shape than it finds itself now--playing catch-up with a software fix.

Wells Fargo to launch Abbot Downing, the bank for the 1%

Wells Fargo is set to open a new bank for those with $50 million to invest. You know, what the Occupy movement calls "the 1%." The bank will be called Abbot Downing, named after a 19th century custom carriage builder who catered to the wealthy.

The timing of the launch could not be worse from a public relations standpoint.

Just as Wall Street is under attack for its lack of attention to the 99% of Americans who DON'T have $50 million, the country's fourth largest bank has just announced plans to open a specialized firm with $27.5 billion in client assets and about 300 people on staff-- including psychologists and staff dedicated to building family genealogies to cater to the super rich. The first branch is set to launch in April 2012 in Chicago. If successful, WFB will open Abbot Downing branches in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Scottsdale, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Naples, Jacksonville and Palm Beach.

Financial institutions are looking for new, profitable segments in which to invest, on the heels of the financial crisis caused by the lending institutions, and the increase in government oversight banning fees deemed to be anti-consumer.

Consumers are still looking for a bank who will put customers first.

Hulu pulls its "for sale" sign off the front lawn. Now what?

For anyone who's put their house on the market over the last couple of years, you know the feeling--the anticipation of multiple bids and an immediately sale, tempered by the reality of price slashes and no offers.

The owners of Hulu have had a similar experience.

Back in June, the online-video site put itself up for sale, only to see rifts between them and potential buyers on the value of future rights to stream television shows over the Internet squelch any possible deal.

Yesterday, they announced they are taking themselves off the open market.

Hulu is owned by News Corp., Walt Disney Company, and Comcast's NBCUniversal--along with a private equity partner and employee shareholders.

They, along with Netflix, seem the most likely to take over our broadcast television viewing habits and merge the three screens--television, computers, and mobile devices giving consumers the on-demand access they deserve.

Sadly, both Hulu and Netflix have not found the magic strategy that will propel them from minor market disruptor, to market leader. Netflix is struggling with business models as it is forced to pay for second-rate streaming deals and continues to anger its consumer base with seemingly careless pricing and packaging shifts. Hulu's fight is with the studios that own them--those flighty executives who sit in Hollywood pulling flower pedals ("I love Hulu, I love you not. I love Hulu, I love you not...) deciding whether streaming free content to consumers is a good idea. And the cable companies--well, they want NOTHING to do with the likes of Hulu and Netflix, and try to stop their advances at every corner.

Clearly, consumers want affordable choice, and the ability to view content on three screens. If a company can get the entertainment executives, and the cable companies out of the way, they might just have a chance at rabid consumer adoption, loyalty, and revenue.

In the meantime, Hulu needs to pull that for sale sign off the lawn, and go back to creating a great business.

"Since Hulu holds a unique and compelling strategic value to each of its owners, we have terminated the sales process and look forward to working together to continue mapping out its path to even greater success," the owners said in a joint statement Thursday evening. "Our focus no rests solely on ensuring that our efforts as owners contribute in a meaningful way to the exciting future that lies ahead for Hulu."

We wish them all of the luck in the world.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

PepsiCo turns to yogurt as it begins "snackifying'' beverages and "drinkifying'' snacks

PepsiCo has been trying to accelerate the growth of their nutrition portfolio, aiming to more than double its revenue from nutritious drinks and snacks to $30 billion by 2020.

Currently, most of PepsiCo's sales remain skewed toward less healthy products, and they still rely heavily on their beverage unit, which is under-performing rival Coca-Cola.

Part of the company's nutrition strategy involves "snackifying'' beverages and "drinkifying'' snacks. They're creating products combining fruit, grains and dairy, recently launching a fruit purée in the U.S. that's thick enough to be a snack, and an oatmeal-based drink in Latin America.

On the diary front, PepsiCo is turning to yogurt. They plan to create a joint venture with German dairy company Theo Müller Group, and launch a new brand in the U.S. The yogurt market in the U.S. has roughly doubled in the past decade.

The venture is expected to be unveiled in coming weeks.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Wikia hires new CEO and SVP of Marketing, and expects big growth

Wikia, the famous user-generated web publisher founded by Jimmy Wales, has a new CEO and SVP of Marketing.

The company says that the decision to hire Craig Palmer and Jennifer Betka will have a dramatic impact on the brand and strategic direction of the company.

Launched in 2004, Wikia has over 275,000 communities where people collaboratively pursue their interests and share their knowledge on the web. Using Wikia, anyone can form new communities around any subject they love or participate in existing communities. With over five million pages of content, Wikia attracts more than 50 million global unique visitors per month and is a Top 50 Internet site according to Quantcast.

“Craig is a perfect fit for Wikia’s next stage of growth, which will rely on efficient processes that can help us rapidly scale our community, revenue, and profit,” says former CEO Gil Penchina, who led the company from a 10-person startup in 2006 to the popular network it is today. “Craig’s history of building successful businesses in content, online media, and technology makes him well-equipped to lead Wikia.”

"With Craig and Jennifer’s vision and leadership added to our already stellar executive team, Wikia is going to move fast through the next growth phase,” says Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikia and founder of Wikipedia. “We're ushering in a
new standard of user experience, welcoming the person who goes beyond the 'like' button to generate something of value to themselves and their communities."

Apple iPhone 4 prototype thieves are convicted, but can keep the money they made on the sale.

Way back in 2010, a prototype of Apple's iPhone 4 was accidentally left at a bar. The prototype was "found" by two twenty-something student technology geeks who decided to sell it to tech-blog Gizmodo for $5,000. Gizmodo published the photos, much to the chagrin of Apple executives. When Steve Jobs officially introduced the device months later, he famously quipped, "Stop me if you've already seen this,"

And now, on the heels of the introduction of the next generation iPhone--the iPhone 4S, the tale of the wayward prototype has come to end. Twenty-two year old Brian John Hogan, and Sage Robert Wallower, 28, have pleaded no contest to misdemeanor theft of lost property. The pair was sentenced to one year of probation and 40 hours of public service. They also must pay Apple a total of $250 in restitution, but are allowed to keep the $4,750 they made on the sale to Gizmodo.

And, despite efforts of a special police task force who kicked in Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's door in search of evidence, no charges have ever been filed against anyone at Gizmodo.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Improbably, the iPhone 4 wasn't the last Apple prototype to lose its way. Just last month, the San Francisco Police Department said it accompanied Apple representatives to a local resident's home as the company looked for another wayward device. The machine was lost just before Apple announced the iPhone 4S upgrade.

NOT SO FAST! Netflix does an about-face and qwickly retires "Qwikster"

Netflix, who recently announced they'd be forming a separate brand called "Qwikster" for customers who wanted to receive DVD's instead of streaming video, has retracted its strategy and announced that Qwikster is dead-before-arrival.

From the Netflix blog this morning:

"It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs. This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster."

We all make mistakes, and Netflix seems to making its fair share of them as it sorts through which corporate strategy will get them ahead of the curve, and atop the heap of entertainment delivery systems.

It was only a few weeks ago that Netflix announced a plan that would’ve seen Netflix essentially splitting in two, with Netflix.com devoted to streaming videos while DVD rentals would head to a new site, called Qwikster. Public outcry was immediate. Netflix was criticized by its base for disrespecting them ("we're not good enough for the Netflix brand--they think we're old fashioned and out-of-date for viewing DVD's), and slammed by brand critics for a ridiculous name..."Qwikster" not Quickster"--sounds like "Friendster"--the failed social networking site.

And this latest move has already been called "another head-spinning development for Netflix, which has managed to enrage millions of customers in the past few months thanks to site redesigns, price hikes, and then its bombshell plan last month for Qwikster."

So, while this is an embarrassing fumble for Netflix, we respect their willingness to qwickly quickly change course on a massively public corporate mistake. Consumers desperately need a new entertainment model, and we wish Netflix much luck in finding its way.

JCPenney hires-away Target's CMO, and makes him President

JCPenney has a new President. Michael Francis, who was CMO of Target Stores up until this announcement is joining the struggling retailer as it tries to find its way into the next generation of retailing.

He will be responsible for all merchandising, marketing, planning and allocation, product development and sourcing.

Francis has been at Target for a decade, so he surely understands secret sauce to growing a successful brand. From partnerships with designers such as Michael Graves, Liberty of London, and Missoni, to successful advertising campaigns that converted Target from a cheap discounter of little relevance to one of the most respected brands in retail (cheap-chic)--Target is by most measures a huge success.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for me to get back to department store retail. I began my career working on the sales floor of the State Street Marshall Field's store in Chicago," Mr. Francis said in a statement. "It was there where my passion for retail began and my understanding of the power and potential of the department store was formed."

Source: Advertising Age

Remembering marketing-man Arch West, who created Doritos...by scattering chips at his gravesite

It is easy to disassociate big brands with the individuals who created them. How often do we think about the man who conjured up the idea for Doritos, for example.

Well today, to mark the passing of Arch West who created Doritos, we remember the man who imagined the best-selling tortilla chips in the U.S. and introduced Americans to a flavor called Nacho cheese.

West, died September 20 at age 97, was a marketing vice president at Frito-Lay in the early 1960s who created what was called "little bits of gold" in 1966 as companion chips to Frito-Lay's "Fritos" and "Cheetos." They of course continued the rhyme, calling them "Doritos." Doritos' nacho cheese flavor, debuted in 1972 thanks to Mr. West as well.

The chips were aimed at the youth market, marketed as "the with-it chip." Doritos became Frito-Lay's second-biggest seller, behind Lay's potato chips. As with most corporate executives, West received no financial benefit for the huge success of the chip--which now sells more than $1billion worth of chips per year.

The creator of Doritos was from Franklin, Indiana, graduated from college, and became a cheese salesman. After serving as a gunnery officer in the Navy during World War II, he took a job as a food marketer at Lever Brothers. He worked on marketing campaigns for Jell-O.

According to West's daughter his family has plans to toss Doritos chips into his gravesite "before they put the dirt over the urn."

Source: WSJ.com and

Meg Whitman to lead Hewlett Packard

You may have heard that Meg Whitman has officially been named the CEO of Hewlett Packard.

This sounds like a good thing for HP. a company who has struggled for years to find its way post Hewlett and Packard. Carly Fiorina. Mark Hurd and Leo Apotheker made valiant efforts, but they seemed more like bureaucrats than visionaries.

And HP needs a visionary right now.

Or at least someone with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Just as Steve Jobs did to Apple upon his return after three failed CEO's nearly ruined his company, HP needs someone to come in an shake things up--not in a managerial, cost-cutting way, but with true visionary style.

If Whitman can do to HP what she did with eBay, she will be seen as a good investment.

Hopefully, she'll take an entrepreneurial, visionary approach to the job.

Ray Lane executive chairman of the company said in a statement, “We are at a critical moment and we need renewed leadership to successfully implement our strategy and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead. Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution. She is a strong communicator who is customer focused with deep leadership capabilities.”

Glenn Beck boycotts Levi's over a "shocking" ad that is "glorifying revolution"

Glenn Beck has been boycotted by the following advertisers:

GMAC Financial Services

ConAgra

Geico

Procter & Gamble

Progressive Insurance

Roche

Sanofi-Aventis

Radio Shack

Men's Wearhouse

Sargento

And now, it is Glenn Beck's turn to boycott a company for its advertising.

Beck, on his radio show, denounced Levi's for a recent ad campaign that he said promoted progressivism (the new word for liberalism) because it contained images of young people rioting and marching. Although he seems to have not noticed the images of the same young people standing silently at the ocean's edge, playing music, and swimming calm (or are those things progressive too?).

Beck said that he found the commercial "shocking" and described it as "glorifying revolution." He took issue with one scene of a young man standing off with riot officers, which he said urged confrontations with the police. He compared the scenes to "European socialists marching" and "a Palestinian kind of march."

“I can’t believe I’m saying this," he said. "I love Levi’s. Never again, Levi’s, never again will you get a dime from me. I know you’re not disappointed. Never again. I won’t wear your stupid red tab."

Ooh, "red tab"--does that mean they're communist too?

Swiss Labor Rights Group Wants George Clooney to Stop Nestle from Using "Slave-Like Labor" to Make its Nespresso Coffee

Actor George Clooney has been endorsing Nestle's Nespresso coffee company for years.

Now, a Swiss labor rights group is asking him to stop his endorsement due to what Solidar Suisse says are the company's exploitation of coffee pickers in Nicaragua. The group is attempting to convert Nestlé to using fair trade coffee.

The fake commercial features a Clooney look-alike nearly getting flattened by a falling piano, then getting impaled by a generic Espresso sign. "Sorry, George, that's what it feels like to be exploited as a coffeemaker," the narrator says. "Nespresso is one of the most expensive coffees but sadly is not fairly traded. George Clooney can change this. Please write to him at solidar.ch."

According to Daily Finance, Nespresso has denied the spoof's claims, offering in a statement, "We have been committed to responsible coffee sourcing and we intend to defend Nespresso's integrity and reputation."

Interview Magazine hires a very well-connected young man

It seems that Interview Magazine has a new reporter. “I will be interviewing Daphne Guinness, who is an old friend of mine. Ralph Lauren, people like that. John Galliano.” says the latest employee of the magazine founded by Andy Warhol.

Who is this well-connected reporter?

His name is Peter Brant Jr. a 17-year-old attending Greenwich (CT) High School.

A young savant?

Well no. He's just well connected.

You see Peter's father is Peter M. Brant an American industrialist, businessman, entrepreneur, art collector, movie producer and avid horseman who's worth an estimated $2.4 billion. Peter Jr.'s mom is supermodel Stephanie Seymour.

According to Women's Wear Daily (WWD) Brant said his media studies have pretty much been nil. “Besides having a 45-minute chat with Charlie Rose in Vienna about how to interview someone. That’s about it,” he said.

Oh, did I mention that Interview Magazine is owned by Brant Publications, Inc.

Clearly, it pays to be born well-connected.

Walmart re-introduces Holiday Layaway program, made popular during the Great Depression

There is a specific, and large population of the United States who buys based on two factors: need and price.

This is Walmart's sweetspot.

Understanding the needs of their target audience, the company who touts "everyday low prices" is bringing back a holiday layaway option from October 17 through December 16 to help its customers buy items for the Christmas season.

Layaway--made popular during the 1930's Great Depression, is becoming a helpful tool to those squeezed by the current Great Recession. The program allows shoppers to pay over time, interest-free, and pick up their merchandise when it's paid in full.

The company steered away from pay-as-you-go plans back in 2006, but has decided to bring them back to help its mostly lower-income customers who've been most affected by the recession's high unemployment and rising price of consumer goods.

"We're always looking for ways to ease budget strain for our customers, and we know this holiday season brings with it additional financial pressure," said Duncan MacNaughton, chief merchandising officer at Wal-Mart's U.S. division. "This was a key component that our customers asked us for."

It is a return to the basics for Walmart, who has suffered nine straight quarters of declines at its U.S. stores. In addition to the layaway program, Walmart stores will launch price cuts on dozens of holiday toys down to $15. The company also said that it will start selling some holiday merchandise two weeks earlier than a year ago in an effort to jumpstart the buying season.

Source:  DailyFinance:

Is Google making Zagat relevant again, or vice-a-versa?

It was just announced that Google is buying Zagat--once the be-all-and-end-all in restaurant reviews. Their thin guidebooks have ranked restaurants and guided executives, urbanites and executive assistants since 1979. The reviews are crowdsourced by a group of 350,000 "surveyers."

But now, Zagat will be swallowed up whole by Google in order to boost its presence in the Daily Deal, and local content sector. They tried to buy Yelp a few years ago by dangling a four-star price of $500 million in front of them, but Yelp walked away from the deal.

Zagat and its 30-point scale has grown from a two-page typed list to a global empire with millions of loyal readers. However, the company has struggled to keep up with the shift of content to the Internet, arrived exceeding late to the social media party, and has a slew of competitors to deal with.

Google needs the content, but needs to keep the Zagat brand alive and relevant in order to generate traffic. As a company with a reputation for buying companies and then letting them die on the vine (anyone remember Picasa?) let's hope the Zagat brand grows and flourishes under Google.

I, and Tim Armstrong, have hope for AOL

In a completely unscientific poll, I've only found two unwavering optimists who think AOL will be a 21st Century phoenix and rise up to be great again. The first is me (an AOL user for 15 years)--the second is CEO Tim Armstrong.

There may be others, but most of what I see is pessimistic headshaking, and confusion around Armstrong's strategy.

The thing I like about AOL right now is Arnstrong himself. He strikes me as someone who has a disruptive vision. and a true passion for the goal.

The problem is, Wall Street, and Main Street don't like to see the mucky murkiness that's involved with change. Wall Street wants profits, and Main Street wants immediacy. Armstrong currently is delivering neither.

A source for a New York Post article said of AOL:  "It doesn't help to be doing a turnaround in public. They could be more bold and take more risks."

The goal seems clear--to re-build AOL into the next great Internet media empire. But the path to greatness can have potholes, and it can take awhile.

At a time when Armstrong is investing millions into content and partnership deals, most media companies are shedding their expensive journalists like a winter coat at a Fourth of July picnic in Texas. The company lost $11.8 million in Q2, and the stock price is headed in the wrong direction.

Armstrong said a turnaround would take until 2013.  That means that he hopes to be given permission by Wall Street and Main Street to stick with his strategy without showing returns while still being a public company--something painful to watch (and a bit unheard of in American business), but for the risk-takers, a potential long-term positive investment.

I say we need to give Armstrong a chance to tear apart the old AOL, and create a 21st Century Disney and the 21st Century CNN all rolled into one. CNN Money calls him a "romantic" for envisioning such a company. I call him a visionary.

What visionaries and romantics have in common if they are successful, is the willingness to take risks. And rebuilding AOL is a giant risk. Armstrong is investing in Patch--a nationwide network of local newsites, and Huffington Post--essentially buying Arianna Huffington's ballsy muscle to creating a great editorial staff. But building costs money--a lot of it. And profits are going to lag investments. There is only hope and optimism tied to AOL profitability.

Of course, the best aspect of risk is the potential rewards it can reap. I wish Armstrong and AOL the best, and will be a Superfan while they're doing it.

Source: CNN Money

What will the fashion world do without Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony?

The announcement that Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were getting a divorce shook the world of fashion.

Fashion?

Yep, you see Anthony and Lopez have a line of clothes together that is about to launch at Kohl's.

Forget staying together for the children. Stay together for fashion!.

Lopez has long been in the fashion business, selling Jennifer Lopez branded items for over a decade. Her fragrance business alone has generated over $1billion.

Women's Wear Daily is reporting that the launch of two clothing and accessories lines by the couple will go on as planned.

Well, almost as planned.

The duo will no longer be promoted as "the first celebrity couple to simultaneously design collections for one retailer," and the lines are now being advertised as two separate collections.

A contrite Murdoch takes out "We are sorry" newspaper ads

The News of the World hacking scandal continues to rock the News Corp empire of Rupert Murdoch.

He's had to close the newspaper, fire executives (with others resigning) and watch the future of his empire (the BSkyB satellite deal) go down in flames. The heir to the business, his son james may be tried in criminal court, and his company's stock has taken a beating in the stock market.

And now, Murdoch has had to publically apologize in full-page newspaper advertisements for what he calls "serious wrongdoing" by News Corporation and News of the World.

The ads appear in London's Daily Mail, Financial Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Sun and Times. It must be a bitter pill that the newspaper mogul is apologizing within the pages of competitive newspapers.

 "We are sorry. The News of the World was in the business of holding others to account. It failed when it came to itself." says Murdoch in the ad.

There is a follow-on ad scheduled this weekend which will reportedly outline the steps that News International will take to try and win back the public's trust.

Source: HuffPo

Beauty emergency? 1-877-Sephora to the rescue

Everyone knows what to do in a medical emergency: dial 911.

Now, Sephora wants you to dial 1-877-Sephora for a beauty emergency.

Yes, the beauty retailer is launching a Same Day Beauty Delivery Service when you're fresh out of Clinique, Fresh, Make Up For Ever, or Bumble and Bumble.

The service is available in New York City and accepts orders during the hours of 8am and 11am for delivery between noon and 9pm that same day. There's a $15 delivery charge (less than the price of a taxi to the shop), and a $50 minimum order.

Deliveries are made in a black-and-white Sephora branded Mini Cooper.

Source: Stylist

The IPO market may be running on Dunkin's

Most of the IPO news has been arond technology businesses--Groupon, LinkedIn, Pandora, Zynga, etc.

But what might catch America's appetite might be all-American blue-collar brand Dunkin' Donuts heading to the public markets.

The owner of Dunkin’ Donuts--who also owns the 31 flavors of Baskin Robbins, is looking to raise as much as $460.6 million in a stock offering, by selling 22.25 million shares (that's about 1.8 million dozen in donut-speak).

The company is currently owned by investment groups Bain Capital Partners, the Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners who acquired the company from Pernod Ricard.

I'll take a dozen shares to go, please.

Source: NYT DealBook

Nike is giving Michael Vick a second chance

In the country of second chances, Michael Vick is today's superstar.

The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback fell from grace in 2007 and served jail time for his role in a dogfighting ring, but returned to the NFL in 2009. Now he is back on top with a new endorsement deal with Nike.

Apparently, Nike feels comfortable swooshing (pun intended) Vick's history under the rug.

"We have re-signed Michael Vick as a Nike athlete," Nike said Friday. "Michael acknowledges his past mistakes. We do not condone those actions, but we support the positive changes he has made to better himself off the field."

NFL contracts, and marketing endorsement deals are all about money, of course. And when Vick makes corporations money, Vick is forgiven. Similarly, Nike stuck by Tiger Woods during his infidelity scandal.

Organizations look to fans as a gauge of forgiveness (and money-making potential).Vick's jersey sales are at the top of the heap. He's ranked sixth in NFL jersey sales, behind squeaky-clean New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

This Week in Social Networking Transitions: MySpace and Friendster

Two major transitions happened in social networking this week.

You may have caught the first--MySpace being sold to an ad-targeting company with an investment from Justin Timberlake (insert "I'm bringing Sexy Back" joke). The new owners have a goal to use the site as an ad-serving platform fueled by a music community driven by its new Creative Director--Mr. Timberlake.

A second major transition happened when Friendster shifted its social networking/dating site (which was long-eclipsed by everyone from Match.com, to Facebook, to yes, even MySpace) into a social gaming portal.

Say What?

Yes, Friendster, who was one of the pioneers of social networking but was sold to a social gaming company last year who knew they needed to make drastic changes to the site in order to allow it to survive. They're now trying to convert their customers from dating to social gaming.

From their new CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah: "Friendster reinvents itself as a social gaming destination that enables its users to create multiple avatars, play games and enjoy rewards; I hope that all of you will wish us luck and continue to support us in our new reincarnation. The new Friendster is not perfect and we will continue to add new games and features such as localization and rewards over the next few months"

If you have any questions as to how they plan to transistion this target audience, or why they're still calling themselves "Friendster," please contact Genesh at ceo@friendster.com

 

KFC hires a Chief Chicken Officer

The often ceremonial titles of Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Creative Officer, and Chief Customer Officer have been handed out in corporate board rooms looking to shine a light on strategic company goals.

So, for the company which used to claim "We do Chicken Right," the title of "Chief Chicken Officer" seems like a no-brainer.

KFC says the CCO will act as a spokesman for the roll out of the chain's new Cook Certification Program, a quality-control program positioned as a way to maintain Colonel Sanders' high standards.

Aaron Person is the man assigned to be the Chief. He'll star in the company's advertising, and in videos designed to reiterate how to best prepare the chain's original fried-chicken recipe.

KFC may need a Chief Chicken Officer, especially if the CCO can sort through their dual-headed and rather confusing strategy of grilled vs fried. There's no doubt that KFC has confused consumers over the years with their attempts to broaden their appeal and cater to more consumers. In their attempts to stay competitive with more health-conscious alternatives, they've lost their focused brand image.

BP tries (once again) to resuscitate its positive brand image

During the Gulf oil disaster in 2010, BP used media (advertising and PR) disastrously--only hurting their reputation by overtly trying to sway public opinion of their role in the disaster, spinning yarns that few found believable.

They eventually slipped away from public view--proving that going quiet can prove more effective than going on defense.

Now, BP is launching a new television campaign in the UK--a country more tolerant of BP's role in the Gulf disaster than Americans. The campaign is in support of their sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics and is a typical feel-good piece designed to make consumers warm to the company's positive values.

Under a tagline of "London 2012 fueling the future" BP highlights its efforts around carbon footprint offsets, and bio-fuels, while showing Chariots of Fire-like imagery of British Olympians and Paraolympians.

Granted, Ogilvy & Mather London had an Olympic-sized task to try to improve BP's image in 30-seconds, did they succeed by tugging at consumers emotions with disabled athletes, inspirational music and imagery and an environmentally friendly message? I might still be too jaded to believe their message is still anything but spin.

BP may think otherwise: "We thought now people were in the mood to listen to message about the Olympics. We had to be thoughtful about the project and the brand, and to get the voice right. I’m confident people will see BP in a positive way," according to Duncan Blake, director of brand at BP.

Image source

Martha Stewart channels her inner 10-year old in "Martha & Friends"

Martha Stewart, who describes herself as "a teacher" is launching a new online animated series for kids called “Martha & Friends.”

The twenty six webisodes will feature an animated verision of Martha as a 10-year old (paging Dorian Gray). She'll be her crafty self, and has even found room for her two dogs in the series. And, apparently her personality translates directly to animation--with what Vator.tv calls an amazing feat..."the animation team managed to make even a ten-year-old Martha Stewart appear frigid and domineering."

The episodes will air bi-weekly starting today on Marthaandfriends.com via AOL Kids. The website also includes games, project ideas, and a meet-the-characters section.

The MySpace Yard Sale has a Buyer

MySpace was sold to News Corporation for $580 million six years ago, when the social networking site WAS social networking.

Now that the site has become all but irrelevant, it has put itself up for sale with an asking price of $100 million.

But as they say, anything is only worth what others are willing to pay for it, MySpace may be accepting a bid from Specific Media for around $30 million to $40 million (The Los Angeles Times reports a $35 million deal has been reached).

Specific Media is a an ad-targeting firm, who as part of a deal, is asking Myspace to layoff more than half of its staff of about 500 people (a number which two years ago was around 1,400 employees). The Wall Street Journal reports that News Corp may retain a small stake in the site once the deal is closed. There are also reports of a couple of other bidders, including Golden Gate Capital and two groups involving MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson.

Specific Media's interest in MySpace appears to be in giving the company access to data about Myspace users to be used for ad targeting. The WSJ.com also reports that it also would transform the firm into a media company with its own ad space to sell instead of simply an online ad technology firm that brokers ad space on behalf of other websites.

Source: WSJ

The Ying and Yang of Cigarette Warning Labels

The Food and Drug Administration has unveiled new warning labels for cigarettes.

New rules mandate that 50% of packaging be covered in labels depicting the negative impact of smokes.

I can think of no other industry which is required to sell against itself like cigarettes. Now 50% of labels sell cigarettes, and 50% sell against the purchase and use of tobacco.

The new labels are the first adjustments to warnings by the FDA in more than two decades, and require compliance by cigarette companies in the U.S. by mid-2013. The new labels replace the smaller, text-only warnings with images like a man with a tracheotomy hole and a mouth filled with rotting teeth.

And while the FDA claims the labels will have a significant public health impact by decreasing the number of smokers, critics say that graphic images are probably not as important as raising the price [of cigarettes] or eliminating them from the work place

The new warning labels are part of The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed in 2009, which gave the government authority to regulate the marketing and labeling of tobacco products.

Source (and more label images) at Huffington Post

Who owns Geeks? Best Buy says they do.

Best Buy's Geek Squad has been a huge success--giving customers access to gadget and technology experts, also known as Geeks.

But do they own the term?

They seem to think so. At least in marketing and trademark circles.

The world's largest electronics chain recently threatened legal action against Newegg.com, saying that its "Geek On" advertising slogan sounded too similar to Best Buy's "Geek Squad."

In true Geek fashion, Newegg took to the social web and responded by posting the cease-and-desist letter on Facebook--prompting a Best Buy consumer backlash for trying to commandeer a common word that in the Wall Street Journal's words "has enjoyed a bigger metamorphosis than the ugly duckling."

Best Buy says it is simply defending its Geek Squad trademark against overzealous competitors. "It is not just the word geek, it is the word geek with orange and black coloration" that puts Newegg over the line, says a Best Buy spokeswoman. The company isn't just going after Newegg. It has disputed more than a dozen geek-themed trademarks in the past decade including "Rent a Geek," "Geek Rescue." and "Speak With A Geek."

Apparently, they even sent a letter to a Wisconsin priest who had put "God Squad" in a logo reminiscent of the Geek Squad's on the side of his Volkswagen beetle, the same kind of car driven by Best Buy's repairmen. After some "friendly" conversations between priest and big-box giant, the priest removed the logo.

"I was extremely surprised. We were just doing this as a way to spread the gospel in a humorous way," says the Rev. Luke Strand, who says he has "tried to move on."

Best Buy also objected when "Chuck," an NBC comedy about a computer savant who becomes entangled in espionage, wanted to use "Geek Squad" as its setting. The character wound up working for a "Nerd Herd" tech-support service at retailer "Burbank Buy More."

To us, Best Buy is being a bit of a dweeb--not a Geek.

Source: WSJ.com

Chrysler, the "Imported from Detroit" brand is now officially owned by the Italians, as U.S. Treasury sells its stake to of Fiat

It's official. The U.S. government is shedding its stake in Chrysler, selling the last 6% of the company to Fiat for $500 million -- a deal that gives the Italian automaker majority ownership of Chrysler.

“As Treasury exits its investment in Chrysler, it’s clear that President Obama’s decision to stand behind and restructure this company was the right one,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in a statement. “Today, America’s automakers are mounting one of the most improbable turnarounds in recent history – creating new jobs and making new investments in communities across our country.”

So, how will this affect Chrysler's positioning as "Imported from Detroit?" Will the critics tack on "...with profits headed to Italy?" Japanese and German cars (Toyota, Honda, BMW, etc.) made in the U.S. do not get credit as "American" cars, so will Chrysler be able to hold on to its "American" car company status, while it is owned by Fiat?

American consumers appear loyal to the roots of the company, rather than corporate ownership. The purchase of Budweiser by InBev appears to have done little to tarnish Bud's American Patriot persona. And Ben & Jerry's hangs on to its Vermont heritage despite being owned by British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever.

Perhaps the "Imported from Detroit" theme was one of the smartest directions they could have gone.