The heave-ho at Berlin Cameron...

Apparently the President of Berlin Cameron, William J. (Bill) Grogan Jr, was shown the door a week ago -- we'll see where we get with the PR hack for the back story.

Of course it would be a lot easier if they listed someone to connect with on their website -- but that is expecting too much from a company in the communications business apparently.

Update:

Spoke with Bill's assistant this afternoon -- no one knows anything....there is to be an announcement of some sort in regard to it, but everyone is apparently flying blind there at the moment...typical.

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Our Orphan Culture

As if it wasn't hard enough for creatives in this industry, here comes the Orphan Works bill. The Orphan Works Bill proposes that any visual works that are not immediately identifiable to the author to be considered under the law as if they have no authors, and are not subject to protection from infringement in accordance with copyright laws. Right now, if you make something, it is automatically copyrighted. Now, you have to register the work and pay cash to own it. Get it? This includes you. The fifteen year old kid with hand drawn comics on his MySpace page and grandparents creating retirement center photography magazines, too.

The bill seeks to limit the potential liability of users of orphan works depending on whether they qualify as good faith users. The criteria for this would be a search through these new databased to find the potential copyright holder. Can't find her/him or the image in question? It's yours!

The associated bill has already passed through the House Subcommittee.

The Illustrators' Partnership of America (creators of the video above), oppose the legislation, saying it shifts the onus from the user to the copyright holder. They also call BS on that whole search thing considering that artists may not be registered in specific Copyright Office?certified databases. The Advertising Photographers of America (APA) and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), and others are also calling "foul." Meanwhile, The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) say that while they don't like the bill, it's best to just go with the flow, as other fights are coming up and energy, as well as political capital should be conserved.

Didn't these guys ever hear that if you give an inch, they'll take a mile? Damnnit. Where's Ron "minuscule government" Paul when ya' need 'im? Find out what you can do about this bill HERE.

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DraftFCB Plays To The Penises, Loses The Vaginas

The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl is a British TV show about a high class prostitute and her wonky adventures. So, DraftFCB's explosive billboard seems a bit, erm... off. The new campaign that went up down under to promote the show has caught the eye of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Complaints have rolled in and the board will surely be banned.

One billboard features a clothed woman during the day and then at night, back-lighting on the boards reveal the lady to be in sexy lingerie. Another (pictured above) features a skirt that blows up in the wind to reveal a lady's bottom. Um... "sexy?" This is a girl's ass in bad panties and expensive garters. Not too sexy. It's boring, yan worthy, crude crap. Yawn. Besides that, I've watched the show. It was kind of fun. I didn't feel any sort of misogynistic thing was going on in the least. The character, named Billie Piper, was well formed, loved her gig and owned it. Simple as that. These ads are a total turn off to someone like me, meaning someone with a vaj-jay-jay. Too bad.

Catch this - Stuff reports that "several motorists spotted by The Press were so transfixed by the billboard that they failed to move when the traffic lights turned green."

Points to DraftFCB for creating a traffic stopping ad. Minus points for not having a wit of sophistication to bring to the topic and turning off the ladies to boot. Any girls work on this campaign? Doubt it.

The show is set to launch in the US on Showtime in June. Watch the trailer below.

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Mindless Mumbo Jumbo About The Clios

Adweek is wondering if T.A.G., San Francisco's campaign for Microsoft's Halo 3 will win a Clio. Raise your hand if you know the answer? Du-uh. As the magazine points out the spot has won all the majors including International Andy Awards, the Art Directors Club Awards and, most recently, best of show at The One Show. It deserves it. Don't get me wrong. Adweek seemed unsure for some reason so they sat down Tony Granger (who we know lots of you strongly dislike), Chairman for the Clio Television/Cinema/Digital, to find out. His "effusive" thoughts include:

"I certainly had that voice screaming in my head, 'I wish I had done it!'"

Granger goes on to say that the judges were "really tough on the work." Other yawn worthy highlights (really, why was this piece even penned?) include jury member Bruce Henderson, group creative director at Ogilvy & Mather in New York, saying such wise words as:

"I think there was probably a bit more attention paid this year to the degree to which things were created for the context in which they would be viewed," he says. "After all, it's television, cinema and digital. It's really important to consider the context."

One would bloody well hope so, Bruce! One would hope.

Evan Fry, VP creative director at Crispin in Boulder, said:

"It's pretty clear that students are getting it, potentially more than some agencies."

Well that's a bright spot. The kids still want in! Hot. Okay, no more picking on this piece, but really... talk about taking up brain space.

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Publicis London meeting to slash & burn staff

Publicis is reviewing the agency operations in London as its starts a consultation with the current staff that could lead to shitcanning some staff. It is expected to lead to at least ten people will get the axe if it comes down to it -- which means it probably will come to that conclusion.

The London-based senior suits are meeting with Publicis Groupe worldwide chief executive Richard Pinder next week to discuss the situation. Pinder says there maybe some layoffs but adds that some of the jobs may be relocated abroad.

All of this comes after Publicis retained the $200 million below the line HP account in the EMEA region after a marathon six-way pitch. They lost the advertising account they had held onto for 12 years back in January 2006.

Apparently Publicis promised HP that they'd re-jig the account to make some savings & "streamlining of costs" (read: people reporting to the unemployment line) in order to retain it.

Publicis London suffered a series of losses last year including Asda, MFI and The Post Office, which was a third of its billing. It led to the departure of then chief executive Grant Duncan and UK chairman Tim Lindsay. It later appointed former Vodafone marketer Neil Simpson as chief executive.

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Leo Burnett Dances With The Dragon (Again)

Publicis' Leo Burnett Worldwide is about to purchase its second Chinese firm, which has remained unnamed. Last year, the agency bought marketing firm Yong Yang as a first step to gaining a toe-hold in the $21B market.

Chairman Tom Bernardin told Reuters that:

"You might see one next week. I have a big expansion plan in China. This market and Russia to me are two markets with immediate, big opportunity for growth."

Want to makes some guesses? How about Zi Corporation, a mobile discovery and advertising solutions, whose revenue is up 15% and debts way down this quarter? How about outdoor advertising firm VisionChina Media Inc.? Hmm... Chinese web portal Sohu.com? It's a side step, but the company is huge in the online gaming sector. Their revenue jumped 156% to $84.8 million recently. Who knows?

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The More You Know: VNU

Hi. Did you know that The Clio Awards are owned by VNU Nielsen? We asked a few people and they were ignorant of this big biz fact. Call us slow, yeah? VNUNielsen is the same company that also owns Adweek. Don't worry. No Phillip K. Dick rants here. Instead, so we're all informed, here is a simple list of VNU's advertising related holdings:

- ACNielsen, marketing research firm
- AGB Nielsen Media Research, television audience measurement firm, a joint venture with AGB Group
- Adweek weekly advertising industry publication
- Brandweek weekly marketing industry publication
- Claritas, provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services
- Clio Awards, Advertising and Design festival and award show
- Homescan & Spectra, provides consumer-centric marketing and sales solutions for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry
- IMS, media planning and analysis software for industry and proprietary research
- Mediaweek weekly media (Television, radio, print and outdoor advertising) industry publication
- Nielsen Media Research, Mobile, Soundscan, etc.

See the full list of VNU's holdings here.

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Doremus Bumps Up Sherman

Doremus New York managing director Howard Sherman has taken on the additional global role of president, which is a brand new position at the firm reported Adweek.

Before landing at Doremus, he worked at Howard Merrell & Partners in where he was president and chief operating officer. Sherman has been leading the overlooked agency to several wins this year including Cigna Corp., Adecco, URS and BearingPoint. Doremus New York was up 8.6% from 2006 to 2007 according to AdAge's 2008 Agency Report.

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How The Hell Did That Guy Become My Boss?

At some point, maybe quite often actually, you've asked yourself how it is possible that the fricking moron, that dude who wouldn't be able to figure out how to tighten his jock strap is your boss. How does that shit happen?

Billionaire Carl Icahn has a theory, which Portfolio nicely recounted from his Carl's talk last year at the World Business Forum in New York:

When you were at Indiana University or Penn State or wherever the hell you went - did you join a fraternity or sorority? The president is not necessarily the smartest person in the room, but he/she is nice. The opposite sex likes them. They're always cheering the house on and being the buddy.

Once you enter the real world of business, this person advances. They don't take risks or challenge the status quo. They may never have a great idea, but the boss likes him/her, because there is no threat coming from that quarter. He/She does his work, but they are no rock star. No, genius. He/She plays by the rules. He/She shows up and smiles at the holiday party. Soon enough, he/she has smiled, drank and good time Charlie'd their way into the number two spot. The board likes him/her. Next thing you know, he's the C.E.O or the ECD or the VP of Strategic Planning.

Of course, he/she assigns a #2 who is not that bright, but you know... affable.

"And eventually, we're going to have all morons running our companies. We might not be that far off from that right now."

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Robert Greenberg Vs. Robert Greenberg

R/GA's chairman Robert Greenberg has been thanked along with
influential entertainers for their contributions to New York's entertainment industry by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Weird right? Bob along with the actor Jesse L. Martin (who is on Law & Order) and Rachael Ray.

In other odd and tangentially related news, another Robert Greenberg who is the CEO of Skechers, has his identity stolen by a man in Racine named Lance Coleman. Last month, Coleman pleaded guilty to calling computer company Dell and telling them that Skechers was relocating to an address. Coleman provided Skechers' tax identification number and ordered computers and televisions worth about $44,000 to an address that matched Coleman's apartment. Really, really? That's how your going to go out?

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Addendum: Martin Williams - Have They Lost The Plot?

More on the news that Martin Williams has lost the Cellular South account from a good reliable source.

It's true. Cellular South has kicked MW to the curb and hired its third agency in about18 months. As we mentioned, the client is totes difficult and comes with a skittish CMO who is under enormous pressure to compete with the big boys and y'know how that goes. Forget strategy! Saynora agency!

Meanwhile, Martin Williams will be working on the account for Cargill, which has asked the shop to extend their US corporate brand campaign into Europe. To be fair, we failed to mention some of the agency's other clients including agribusiness, Syngenta, three divisions of Pfizer Animal Health, Marvin Windows and Doors (MW has had the one for 28 years).

Aiight? Alright.

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Ogilvy And Motorola Continue To Roll Around

Ogilvy has expanded its relationship with Motorola, and has been named lead global creative agency of record for the company's Mobile Devices business.

Ogilvy currently handles Asia Pacific, India and Latin America. The new arrangements will tack on Europe, Middle East and Africa as well as North America, which were previously handled by a variety of creative partners. Shelly Lazarus, Chairman and CEO of Ogilvy Worldwide said:

"We are thrilled to once again have the Motorola brand under our roof. We have accomplished great things together with Motorola and anticipate many more to come."

The stapline "HELLOMOTO" will remain.

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The Brits have good taste in food apparently (who knew?)

In a poll conducted for Marketing Magazine by Joshua G2, McDonald's comes out as the most hated brand in the UK.

Of course, regardless of whether a brand has inspired great love or a full-on fatwa, it has at least elicited a definite response from consumers, meaning that not only are they aware of its existence but have strong feelings toward it, neither of which is necessarily a bad thing. (following the mantra "Any publicity is good publicity")

The aptly named Jill McDonald, McDonald's chief marketing officer for Northern Europe, admits that McDonald's is a polarising brand. Despite this, according to the chain, 70% of the UK population say they will eat at one of its restaurants at least once over a 12-month period. (some might argue that "McDick's" has better offerings than typical British cuisine -- discuss amongst yourselves...)

On the flipside an unprecedented number of technology brands appear in the most-loved list, with Nokia taking top spot, iPod third and social networking site Facebook making its debut in fifth.

You can find more here.

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Domino's = bunch of lying bastards

Domino's at the beginning of the year vows to freeze the price of their items through the end of the year -- because they have guaranteed fixed costs on all the ingredients. So guess what happens?

Hell yeah... they raised prices on average $2 a pizza as of last week.

All due to the "growing food crisis" on-going on a global basis -- so it is not always the ad agencies who fuck it up for the brands -- sometimes they are fully capable of doing it themselves.

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F1 Driver slated to pimp Reebok brand

Lewis Hamilton, last year's 2nd place finisher in the F1 circuit in his debut season, is slated to sign a deal to become a "global brand ambassador" for Reebok.

It is expected to be worth about $20 million a year -- not bad scratch for a guy who has been on the world racing scene for only a year.

Hamilton, a sporting megastar in the UK, will join football stars (or "soccer" for the heathens in the crowd) Thierry Henry and Andrei Shevchenko as fellow global ambassadors on the Adidas-owned company.

Traditionally, McLaren does not allow its drivers to seek deals outside its own pool of sponsors, which in addition to Vodafone includes Hilton, Hugo Boss, Santander and Tag Heuer. (I'm sure they'll have to work out a deal for a huge patch on the driver's firesuit.)

However, despite having only one year's track experience in F1, Hamilton is one of sport's most marketable stars, prompting McLaren to make an exception.

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