This seems to be becoming a weekly occurrence. From The New York Times: The TJX Companies, the retailer that operates the T. J. Maxx and Marshalls discount clothing chains, has joined the ignominious list of companies that have had sensitive customer financial data pilfered by identity thieves. Yesterday the company, based in Framingham, Mass., said that as early as 2003 and during most of last year, an intruder had …
Ze Frank Goes To Hollywood
Spencer Morgan's New York Observer article on internet video star Ze Frank is highly informative. Here's some of what I learned by reading the piece: Mr. Frank has high powered Hollywood agents and will soon have a deal. United Talent Agency owner Nick Stevens said to him, "We’ll do this, we’ll do that, we’ll pump that area." DreamWorks is laden with waterfalls and free ice cream. In March of 2001, Mr. Frank was an …
Razorfish Extends Global Reach
Can interactive shops continue to grow and challenge traditional ad agencies for ownership of the big idea? Are I-shops capable of leading creative or merely executing and implenting it? If you're rooting for interactive, good news came today when Avenue A/Razorfish announced that it has secured a 19.4% stake in a Japanese interactive shop called Digital Palette, which is part of Dentsu, Japan's biggest ad agency. …
From A City Of Idealists Comes An Agency With Attitude
According to Ad Age, Shine Advertising of Madison, Wisconsin, could not simultaneously meet Bob Parson's creative demands and live with themselves. A little more than a month after winning the GoDaddy.com account, independent Shine Advertising has resigned, citing irreconcilable creative differences. The shop also renounced responsibility for the GoDaddy work that will appear during the Super Bowl. What might have …
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K-Fed’s “Rappin’ Patty” On Superbowl Sunday
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.), in what may be a first for the paper, is running a piece on K-Fed. Nationwide Mutual Insurance has tapped Kevin Federline, soon-to-be ex-husband of pop star Britney Spears, to star in its 30-second Super Bowl spot, a move that guarantees the insurer acres of free publicity. The spot, which will run in the game's third quarter, is set up to look like a rap video featuring Mr. …
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Soft Minded CEOs Rule The Roost
"If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect." -Ted Turner USA Today is running a feature today on the thickness of CEO skin. PsyMax surveyed 13,000 employees, including 242 CEOs, to determine which ones were resilient, thick-skinned and good at taking criticism. PsyMax called it being tough-minded. Among non-management workers, 83% had those qualities. Among those promoted to supervisor or foreman, 78% had those …
Koerner Cuts Ties To IPG
Interpublic has shuttered its Consumer Experience Practice and lost one of the most frequently quoted Madison Avenue media experts--Stacey Lynn Koerner--in the process. According to Media Daily News: Launched in May, the Consumer Experience Practice was the brainchild of long-time Interpublic media research diva Stacey Lynn Koerner, who left Initiative to assemble a team of elite thinkers with the goal of developing …
Screen Size Matters
The National Association of Television Program Executives, a.k.a. NATPE is conducting its annual conference this week. Naturally, AdAge sent a reporter. Here's a slice of what he heard: The only thing holding up the explosion of the mobile phone content and advertising business continues to be the lack of interested viewers, panelists bemoaned at the second annual NATPE Mobile conference here. Currently, 20% of all …