| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 NFL Rejects GNC Super Bowl Commercial | | The National Football League has rejected a Super Bowl commercial from nutrition and dietary supplement retailer GNC after Fox Sports officials had approved it. "We sent the spot to Fox... and they cleared it," Jeff Hennion, GNC's executive VP, chief marketing & e-commerce officer, told USA Today, who added GNC was later told by Fox that the NFL rejected the spot. Hennion says the NFL objected because two of the company's products contain two substances on the NFL's banned substance list. GNC argued to no avail that only 3% of the products sold at the chain's 6,500 national locations contain those substances and that the commercial was generic and mentioned no specific products. The NFL also bans ads for gambling, tobacco products and topless dancing establishments. Per the GNC spot, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, "We have told Fox it may not air it in the Super Bowl or any NFL programming." GNC says it will run the spot on other TV networks and across other media platforms. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: In recent years, some NFL players have been suspended by the league after testing positive for banned substances they say came from performance-enhancing products purchased at GNC. Regarding the GNC Super Bowl commercial, the NFL Players Association also complained to the league that the spot should not be allowed to run. | Three Takes: USA Today | Ad Age | Adweek
| | | | #2 Brands, Agencies Speak Out Against Trump's Immigration Ban | | Major brands like Nike, Starbucks, Apple, Kickstarter, Ford and Wall Street companies Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley have have all said they oppose President Trump's executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. Meanwhile the CEOs of four major agency holding companies – WPP, Omnicom, IPG and Dentsu – also spoke out against Trump's immigration order. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: All of these major brands and agencies have employees from a wide-range of countries who can be effected either directly or indirectly so it is not surprising to see them speak out. But speaking out can also lead to some backlash from Trump supporters. A social media campaign has already begun against Starbuck's. | Three Takes: Adweek | Adweek | Media Post
| | | | #3 Snapchat Follows Facebook Ad Tech Model | | The social media platform is borrowing Facebook's strategy to help grow its ad base, Ad Age reports. In conjunction with that, Snapchat is offering a new lineup of ad tech partners that could buy ads through a new automated system. Many of the new partners have been working in Facebook's marketing partner program. Among its new tech roster participants are Kenshoo, Kinetic, AdParlor and Videology. The new platform, called 2.0, is an extension of its Application Programming Interface (API) that was launched last year. Under the new platform, agencies and brands will be permitted to license its API to do their own buying as a self-serve ad tool. Omnicom's Resolution Media, will license the API and become the first media holding company with a direct line to the platform. "Snapchat is totally copying what Facebook did," says one digital agency buyer, but adds, "they now have all the right tech partners to build the platform for them and bring in revenue." | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Buying through the ad tech platform will let brands bid on ad inventory similar to how it's done on both Facebook and Google and allow Snapchat to better compete for ad dollars. This is another move by Snapchat to make the company more desirable as it prepares to file for an initial public offering. | A Take: Ad Age
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| | 3 | | Percentage of decline in fourth quarter 2016 C3 18-49 viewers for combined broadcast and network TV, according to an analysis of Nielsen data by Bernstein Research. Broadcast ratings were flat, while cable ratings were down 3%. Among the broadcast networks, NBC was up 4%, primarily due to Thursday Night Football and freshman hit This is Us. Fox was up 37% helped by World Series viewership. CBS was down 19% and ABC was down 11%. | – Reported by Media Post
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| | ABC Wins With 'Bachelor' | by Michael Malone
ABC won the Monday ratings derby with a 1.8 in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen's overnights, and a 6 share. The Bachelor scored a 2.3, down 4% from last week, while Quantico was down 11% at 0.8.
Fox was next at 1.2/4, as Gotham fell 8% to 1.1 and Lucifer was a flat 1.2.
CBS weighed in at 1.0/4, with repeated comedies leading in to a double run of The Odd Couple at 1.1 and 0.9, then a repeated Scorpion. Odd Couple's last airing was a 1.1.
NBC's 0.9/3 came from Celebrity Apprentice at 1.0 and Timeless at 0.9, both flat.
The CW did a 0.5/2, with Supergirl at 0.7 and Jane the Virgin at 0.3. Both were down a tenth of a point from last week.
Among Spanish-language broadcasters, Univision rated a 0.7/2 while Telemundo pulled a 0.6/2. | |
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| • SIMONE MOESSINGER was promoted to creative director at 72andSunny Amsterdam. She has been with the agency creative team since 2015. She has previously served as a creative director with Anomaly New York. She also worked in creative positions at Wieden + Kennedy.
• STEPHEN MOORE, former senior economic advisor to the Trump campaign, has joined CNN as an economic analyst and contributor. Moore is an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, a contributor to the Wall Street Journal and was previously a Fox News commentator.
• TAMARA HRIVNAK will head global music strategy and business development at Facebook. She was most recently director of music partnerships at YouTube. • OPRAH WINFREY will join CBS news magazine 60 Minutes as a special contributor beginning this fall. Winfrey is a co-owner with Discovery Communications of cable network OWN and is the founder of Harpo Productions, which produces daytime syndicated shows Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, and Rachael Ray. She is also host of her own show on OWN.
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