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$100 Mil. Audi Eyes 4 Shops
CHICAGO Audi of America has confirmed that four agencies are contending for creative chores on its domestic advertising account. Estimated
billings are $100 million. Incumbent McKinney, a Durham, N.C.-based Havas shop, is defending against Publicis Groupe-backed Bartle Bogle Hegarty,
Publicis' Fallon in Minneapolis and independent Venables, Bell & Partners in San Francisco, the client said. No outside consultants are involved and
Audi looks to complete the process by year's end. Media chores, mainly handled by WPP Group's MediaCom, are not in play. McKinney has handled the
account since 1993. An agency representative referred questions to the client. The review follows the May appointment of former Mercedes executive
Scott Keogh as the company's chief marketing officer. Recent Audi ads have showcased Quattro all-wheel-drive system performance and use the tagline,
"Never follow." A spot for the Audi Q7 showed the SUV traveling through a city, with images of Audi-built racing cars reflected in the windows of
nearby buildings, visually linking the vehicle to its brethren. Text reads, "Big can be beautiful. Powerful can be efficient."
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Feds to Launch Obesity Study
NEW YORK Federal regulators said they would study the link between media and advertising and childhood obesity. The research linking childhood
obesity with media and advertising "troubles me as a parent and as chairman of the FCC," according to Federal Communications Commission Chairman
Kevin Martin. "Small children can't weed out marketing messages from their favorite show, especially when marketing campaigns feature favorite TV
characters like SpongeBob and Scooby-Doo," Martin said Wednesday. Martin spoke at a Capitol Hill event as he, Sen. Sam Brownback (R.-Kan.) and FCC
commissioner Deborah Tate announced a task force to study media and children's health. The FCC will publish the group's findings "to summarize what
we've learned, encourage best practices for the industry and continue to educate America's parents," Martin said. The task force will meet throughout
2007, Brownback said.
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Hancock Unveils Branding Push
BOSTON John Hancock Financial Services is launching a multimedia campaign themed "The future is yours" that attempts to show how the company
helps consumers fulfill their life promises. Longtime Hancock agency Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos in Boston crafted the ads. The client said
the effort, which targets adults 40 and older, illustrates the evolution of the brand following the completion of its 2004 acquisition by Manulife
Financial. The new work consists mainly of intimate vignettes of people telling their personal stories. The company said the ads eschew fear-based
messages (such as what could happen if one doesn't invest wisely) for more positive themes. "That is what today's John Hancock stands
for--understanding life promises and empowering people to fulfill them," said Donna Driscoll, client svp, brand marketing and corporate
communications. Hancock said ad spending would exceed $30 million.
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MLB Tries Integrated Campaign
NEW YORK Major League Baseball will break a campaign today in which Tommy Lasorda travels the country encouraging people to watch the
playoffs, which begin Oct. 3, and the World Series, which starts Oct. 21, even if their favorite team is not involved. The campaign theme, "Real fans
don't hide in October. They celebrate it!" was created by McCann Erickson in New York. It includes three TV spots, print, radio ads and MLB's most
"extensive postseason online media buy," according to a league official. MLB put the ad spend at $10 million. That includes 12 percent devoted to the
online element, about $1.2 million. TV will run through October during games on Fox and ESPN, as well during sports and entertainment programming on
cable networks. In the spots, Lasorda, who has been with the Dodgers organization for almost 60 years, travels to different MLB cities wearing a
tuxedo and using "tough love" to help despondent fans whose favorite teams are not in the playoffs.
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Advertising Week: NBC Exec Stresses Accountability
NEW YORK In an age of rising demand for targeted, accountable advertising, NBC is "ready and anxious to partner up with measurement
[companies]," according to a Sept. 28 keynote talk by Alan Wurtzel, president of research and media development at NBC Universal. More than a
half-century after Adweek sibling Nielsen Media Research began tracking television viewing, "Nielsen metrics still aren't ready for prime
time," he deadpanned from the podium of an American Association of Advertising Agencies and ARF Consumer Engagement Conference. "If they can't do it,
we're going to seek partners who can." In summer 2005, network management asked its research division to develop alternative metrics, Wurtzel
explained. To date it has entered into partnerships with New York-based IAG Research and Simmons BehaviorGraphics.
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