| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | Toyota Picks Droga5 to Handle Creative for New Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle
| | | The agency has been tapped by the automaker to handle the car's prelaunch creative campaign, Ad Age reports. This is the first auto account for Droga5. Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles is Toyota's main creative agency, but the brand is looking for "breakthrough ideas" in the digital and social space, according to Kimberley Gardiner, director of digital marketing strategy.
Why This Matters: Never underestimate the power of relationships in the ad business. Droga5 creative chairman David Droga worked on the Toyota account in his previous posts at Saatchi & Saatchi in Asia and London.
A Take: Ad Age
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| | #2 | Seven Agencies Competing for Infiniti's $450 Million Global Creative Account
| | | Semifinalists, according to Adweek, include: Publicis, FCB, Havas Worldwide, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, M&C Saatchi, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which is partnering with incumbent TBWA. In its Request for Proposal, Infiniti says its goal is to be the "provocateur that owns the future of the premium car category by winning the hearts of young-minded premium consumers by featuring seductive styling, attitude, exhilarating performance, emotive design and intuitive technology."
Why This Matters: This is a fairly large account, although small by automotive category standards. Infiniti says while TV ads remain important, it is also looking for alternative approaches because Infiniti cannot outspend its competitors on TV. Look for experiential marketing to play a role.
A Take: Adweek
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| | #3 | Coke, Pepsi World Cup Campaigns Doing Well, McDonald's Ads Lagging
| | | Two weeks into soccer's biggest event, the latest YouGov BrandIndex consumer perception tracking data finds official Cup sponsor Coke has grown its "word of mouth" score by 5%, and "guerrilla advertiser" (non-sponsor) Pepsi has increased brand awareness via its soccer-themed ads by 4%. Official sponsor McDonald's, however, has seen its brand perception or buzz score drop by six points since the start of play.
Why This Matters: McDonald's is running a slew of commercials during the Cup matches but they aren't resonating with consumers, particularly its peel-off sweepstakes spots which it has titled, "Peel. Play. Ole. Ole." and has consumers watching the Cup matches and peeling off stickers on McDonald's merchandise to win prizes.
A Take: WSJ
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#4 Choice Hotels Narrows Creative Search to Two Agencies (Adweek)
#5 World Cup Fever Grips Agencies (Digiday)
#6 Forrester Exec Offers Marketers Advice on Getting Involved With New Devices (Ad Age)
#7 Social Media, World Cup Marketing Fuel Nike Sales (MediaPost)
#8 Tribe Hummus Takes Aim at Main Rival Sabra in Multiplatform Campaign (NYT)
#9 MediaCom Testing Celtra's Mobile Ad Viewability Measurement Technology (MediaPost)
#10 Five Coming Billboard Trends in Out-of-Home Advertising (Media Life)
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|  | • 226.5
Millions of dollars that the video game industry spent on TV commercials in the U.S. during the first five months of 2014, according to research firm iSpot.tv Among the biggest spenders—PlayStation, which spent $59 million, and rival Xbox, which spent $34.7 million.
– Reported by The Wall Street Journal
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| | MBPT Spotlight | New Categories Are a Silver Lining to the CW's Upfront
By John Consoli
What constitutes upfront success for a TV network is subjective. Clearly, taking in 10%-15% fewer ad dollars than the previous year can be problematic for any network, even in a soft marketplace. And that has happened to some of the networks in the current upfront negotiations.
However, upfront success cannot be measured by total ad dollar commitments alone. There are other factors that make a network's outcome a positive one beyond dollar volume.
Case in point is The CW network, which, according to people familiar with the negotiations, took in about 5% less in upfront ad dollars than it did last year—about $390 million—but brought in new advertisers in categories that have not been staples on the network in the past, including auto, financial, fast food and different types of movies.
Some of The CW dollar decline can be attributed to marketers spending less on broadcast TV advertising in general. And some of it can be because the network has been adding more male-skewing shows and older-skewing shows to replace its traditional mostly female-skewing fare. With fewer female-skewing shows, there are fewer places for advertisers who want to reach that demo to advertise in.
But for the most part, that was compensated for by the addition of some new male-skewing shows, The Flash in particular, which drew a sizable amount of interest from media buyers and their advertiser clients.
Moving from an almost totally young-female-skewing network, as The CW has traditionally been, to a more balanced demo network while maintaining audience level and advertiser support is a tricky proposition, but The CW seems to be weathering the process.
"I think it's fair to say that The CW has had a bit of a turnaround," says Brian Hughes, senior VP, audience analysis practice lead at Magna Global. "In the past they were focused on reaching women 18-34 and that wasn't sustainable."
How might the demo/programming shift help The CW's digital strategy? And how has the network's strategy led to more movie ad clients?
For more, click HERE
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| | Fates & Fortunes | • OMAR ACOSTA was named creative director, design at creative agency and content production company 2C. For the past six years, Acosta has run his own boutique studio producing work for brands such as MTV, NBC, Yahoo, Microsoft and Def Jam, among others. Previously, he held creative posts at Microsoft Surface, Prologue Films, Yahoo and MTV Latin America.
• MARK READ was named chairman of WPP agency Wunderman, succeeding Daniel Morel, who will retain his post as CEO. Read is also CEO of WPP Digital and will retain that post. He has been with WPP since 2002. Prior to that, he was a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton. He also worked at WPP from 1989-95.
• CHARLES PINKERTON has opened a new communications strategy agency, Theseus Communications. The new agency will offer communications planning, media planning and buying and search engine marketing services. It will also offer programmatic ad buying. Pinkerton is a former partner at The Media Kitchen. Also, IMIR LEVEQUE, who worked with Pinkerton at The Media Kitchen, will join Theseus as director of strategy. This comes according to a MediaPost report. The agency will be based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
• SHERRI SHEPHERD and JENNY McCARTHY are leaving the ABC daytime show The View. Shepherd has been on the panel of cohosts at the show since 2006. McCarthy joined the show as a cohost in 2013.
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| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
'Big Brother' Steady in Thursday Premiere
The second night of Big Brother's premiere was even with its first, and up two tenths from last summer's Thursday debut. Airing repeats elsewhere, CBS led broadcasters on Thursday night. Fox finished second. Hell's Kitchen dipped a tenth and Gang Related was even with last week. NBC took third place. Both the 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. episodes of Undateable fell 11% from last week, hitting a low for the comedy. At 10 p.m., Last Comic Standing fell 29% to a series low. The return of ABC's docuseries NY Med was down 25% from its debut two summers ago, but drew a series-best 5.5 million total viewers. Earlier, Black Box dipped 14% and Rookie Blue fell 27% from its premiere to tie a series low. ABC finished fourth. The CW aired repeats.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
'Family Guy,' 'Big Bang' Reruns Top Wednesday
Reruns dominated cable on Wednesday night, with a Family Guy repeat on Adult Swim occupying the top spot among cable shows. Two Big Bang Theory reruns on TBS and a new episode of A&E's Duck Dynasty tied for second-highest rated cable show, all earning a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating. Duck Dynasty was down 20% from last week.
For more, click HERE
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| Overnight Ratings: Thursday, June 26
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | FOX
| HELL'S KITCHEN
| 1.7
| 4.9
| CBS
| THE BIG BANG THEORY (R) (8)
THE MILLERS (R) (8:30)
| 1.7
1.2
| 7.9
5.5
| UNIVISION
| DE QUE TE QUIERO, TE QUIERO
| 0.9
| 2.4
| NBC
| HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT (R)
| 0.8
| 3.3
| ABC
| BLACK BOX
| 0.6
| 3.9
| CW
| THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (R)
| 0.1
| 0.6
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| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | CBS
| BIG BROTHER
| 2.3
| 6.6
| UNIVISION
| LO QUE LA VIDA ME ROBÓ
| 1.4
| 3.6
| ABC
| ROOKIE BLUE
| 0.8
| 4.9
| NBC
| UNDATEABLE (9)
UNDATEABLE (9:30)
| 0.8
0.8
| 2.8
2.6
| FOX
| GANG RELATED
| 0.8
| 2.5
| CW
| THE ORIGINALS (R)
| 0.1
| 0.5
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| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | UNIVISION
| QUÉ POBRES TAN RICOS
| 1.2
| 2.9
| NBC
| LAST COMIC STANDING
| 1.0
| 3.2
| ABC
| NY MED
| 0.9
| 5.5
| CBS
| ELEMENTARY (R)
| 0.7
| 3.7
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| | THIS WEEKEND'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • The Real Final Episode of 'Rake' Airs on Fox
Although the network's final episode of freshman dramedy Rake was said to have aired in April, it turns out Fox had one more episode in the can, which it will televise on Friday at 9 p.m. The series stars Greg Kinnear as a criminal defense lawyer who gets in all sorts of trouble, both inside the courtroom and in his personal life. In this final episode, Kinnear's character must defend a client and his mother who both confess to committing the same murder in order to protect each other. The upshot: It's not unusual for a network to burn off episodes of canceled series during the summer. Fox initially had high hopes for Rake; however, the series wound up averaging only 3.7 million viewers and a 0.9 18-49 demo rating in first-run episodes, many of which led out of American Idol on Thursday nights before it moved to Fridays.
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| • House Buyers Bare All on TLC Series
New reality series Buying Naked premieres on TLC on Saturday at 10 p.m. It focuses on home buying in Pasco County, Fla., which has been dubbed "Nudist Capital of America." The series follows real estate agent Jackie Youngblood and her team as they help "in the buff" homebuyers find their dream houses. Clothing is optional for the buyers and most indeed choose to buy in the buff. As the network says, "finding a home for a nudist goes well beyond concerns that come with typical house-hunting," which is why Jackie and her team must bear in mind "hazards" such as countertop height, sharp corners and flooring. Adds the network: "Rug burn hurts!" The upshot: TLC is known for pushing the envelope with some of its reality series, and this one seems like it fits right in with that concept. The network is airing it on Saturday night when more younger folks are out. The question is, will families and older folks who are at home tune in?
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| • 'Reckless,' 'Unforgettable'—Sounds Like Sunday Night on CBS
New drama series Reckless premieres on CBS Sunday at 9 p.m., leading into the third season premiere of drama Unforgettable at 10. Reckless is set in Charleston, S.C., where a litigator from the north and a southern attorney who are attracted to each other must hide their affections during a time when a police sex scandal (not involving them) threatens to tear the city apart. Unforgettable, having aired its first season in the fall, moved to the summer for the first half of its second season last year and averaged a solid 6.7 million viewers, a 1.1 18-49 demo rating and a 1.6 25-54 rating. The series returned for the latter half of its second season in the spring, averaging 7.4 million and a 0.9 18-49 demo rating. The upshot: Since Unforgettable skews old, CBS is leading Reckless into it rather than vice versa. And CBS is also leading younger-skewing Big Brother into Reckless, hoping for some audience flow.
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| Media Buyer & Planner Today
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Phone: 201-314-0424 | Send Email
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