| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | NBCU Concludes Upfront Sales
| | | Comcast CEO Brian Roberts during an earnings call on Wednesday said that NBCUniversal has completed its "most successful" upfront and that ads for NBC's primetime programming garnered a 12.5% cost-per-thousand increase over last year. NBCU CEO Steve Burke said the company's cable networks also got sizable price hikes in the 10%-13% range. Burke said volume was up 10% for broadcast and about 5% overall. Helping with pricing and volume was strong demand for NBC's Sunday Night Football, as well as its new Thursday night primetime package.
Why This Matters: NBC is the last broadcast network to complete its upfront negotiations in what has been a major positive for all the networks in what was a significant sellers' market. And NBC, like most networks, had to even turn some business away, making sure to keep enough inventory for the scatter market.
Three Takes: B&C | Adweek | Ad Age
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| | #2 | Stonyfield Targets 'PokeStops'
| | | The yogurt brand has teamed up with mobile ad firm Aki Technologies to target 10,000 PokeStops via apps that consumers use in conjunction with playing Pokémon Go. PokeStops are the virtual landmarks where players collect characters and points in the game. When players open one of the targeted apps, a Stonyfield ad will direct them to a nearby store where they can buy the brand's yogurt.
Why This Matters: Stonyfield doesn't spend a lot of dollars on traditional advertising, but felt this four week digital campaign was "a no brainer idea," says Liz Daube, director of digital marketing. In doing so, they are circumventing working specifically with Pokémon Go sales folks who are partnering with chains like McDonald's to create official sponsored locations. And Stonyfield through Aki is collecting lots of consumer data surrounding the players of Pokémon Go.
A Take: Adweek
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| | #3 | Dasani, Subway Launch Clean Water Campaign
| | | The Coca-Cola-owned bottled water brand and the sandwich chain are partnering to promote a clean water campaign, MediaPost reports. For every bottle of Dasani sold in 2,200 participating Subways by Aug. 31, the chain will donate 30 cents up to $125,000 to World Vision, a humanitarian group that is the largest non-governmental supplier of clean water around the world. Subway has posted a video on YouTube that explains the program and is promoting it on social media. Donations can also be made via a special website.
Why This Matters: This is yet another example of different companies coming together to market themselves in a joint effort. In this case, they are not looking to directly promote sales. However, surveys have found that more and more consumers, particularly millennials, look very favorably on companies that invest in and work for social causes.
A Take: MediaPost |
| #4 Under Armour Builds Retail Muscle (Adweek)
#5 Twitter 2Q Ad Revenue Up 18% (Adweek)
#6 Ad Lessons Learned From Dollar Shave Club (NYT)
#7 TV Stations Take Heat for Political Ads (B&C)
#8 Storytelling Still Important in Marketing (Ad Age)
#9 Dove Billboards Criticize Sexist Rhetoric (Adweek)
#10 Social Media Spending Grows (MediaPost)
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Percentage of U.S. and U.K. mobile phone users who say that brands using emojis in their messaging is "fun," according to a survey by mobile app engagement provider Appboy. Some 18% think it is "normal," while 13% say emoji usage is "relatable." On the other end of the spectrum, 12% describe it as "childish" and 11% say it is "inappropriate."
– Reported by eMarketer |
| | Ratings | Big Win for NBC Convention Coverage
By Michael Malone NBC's America's Got Talent did a flat 2.2 in adults 18-49, while its coverage of the Democratic National Convention scored a 1.3. That gave NBC a 1.9 rating, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 7 share. On ABC, a Bachelorette special called Men Tell All did a 1.4 (the last couple original Bachelorettes have scored 1.9s), while DNC coverage drew a 0.7. That led to ABC's 1.2/4. Fox had a 0.7/3, with Hotel Hell at 0.9, up a tenth of a point, while Coupled was a flat 0.5. CBS did a 0.6/2, with a repeated NCIS before Zoo's 0.8 was up a tenth. Political coverage scored a 0.4. On The CW, Whose Line Is It Away drew a 0.4, up a tenth from its last airing, and Mad TV premiered at a 0.3. For more, click HERE |
| | Fates & Fortunes | • NICOLAS BIDON was named CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at GroupM's programmatic ad unit Xaxis, where he will oversee strategy and operations. He was previously CEO of another GroupM unit, Plista, and also served as managing director of Xaxis U.S. Prior to joining GroupM, he was director of brand display for EMEA at Yahoo. Succeeding Bidon at Plista was JANA KUSICK, who was named global managing director. • GUNNARD JOHNSON was appointed to the newly created position of head of measurement science and insights at Pinterest. He was most recently head of quantitative ad research at Snapchat. Prior to that he was ad research director at Google and before that, senior VP of marketing science at WPP's dedicated Ford unit Team Detroit. • Interpublic Group is restructuring it to executives at integrated marketing agency Golin to a CEO team structure rather than being headed up by a single CEO. FRED COOK, previously chairman and CEO, will keep his CEO title but will become part of a four member CEO group that will also include JONATHAN HUGHES, MATT NEALE and GARY RUDNICK. Hughes will be CEO in charge of Golin's international business. Neale will be CEO overseeing vision. While Rudnick will oversee operations. The new structure will begin on Jan. 1. • SCOTT VOEGE was named senior VP, group account director at the Greenville, S.C., office of Erwin Penland. He was previously an account director at McKinney. Prior to that he was with Leo Burnett. • EDUARDO SUÑOL was promoted to VP, Telemundo News Digital, where he will oversee the daily news digital operation and the integration between digital and the Telemundo news division. He was previously executive producer of digital and social media for Telemundo News. This new role expands his duties. Prior to Telemundo, Suñol was a news producer at ABC World News.
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