| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Walmart Shifts Media to Haworth | | The giant retail chain has named Haworth Marketing & Media to handle its $2.1 billion media advertising account, Ad Age reports. In a memo, Walmart's U.S. chief marketing officer Tony Rogers said the new agency will hand media planning, buying, brand integration strategy, strategic marketing partnerships, and marketing in entertainment. Haworth, which is 49% owned by agency holding company WPP, replaces Mediavest, effective Jan. 31. Walmart had earlier announced it was dropping Mediavest. Haworth previously handled the Target media account but lost it last April to WPP's GroupM, which set up a dedicated agency Arrow Partners to prevent any conflicts within WPP. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: It apparently pays to have friends in the right places. Michael Francis, who is now consulting for Walmart was previously chief marketing officer at Target when Haworth worked with that chain. After Target, Francis was CMO at Dreamworks Animation and also brought in Haworth as media agency there. | | A Take: Ad Age | | | | #2 Honda, TurboTax Return to Super Bowl | The automaker and the tax software firm are both returning with commercials in the Super Bowl telecast, Ad Age reports. Honda will promote its 2017 CR-V with creative produced by RPA in Super Bowl LI. Last year Honda ran a 60-second spot for its Ridgeline truck. TurboTax will run a Super Bowl spot as part of a broader campaign with the slogan "Relax There's TurboTax" and promote a new live video connection to a TurboTax expert. This year's spot will run 45-seconds. The campaign kicked off during the New Year's college bowl games and in NFL telecasts. It will be the fourth consecutive year TurboTax is in the Super Bowl.
| | WHY THIS MATTERS: While the Super Bowl is usually a destination for many auto brands, so far Honda is only the second automaker to confirm buying an ad. Kia is the other. Toyota and Mini have said they are not coming back, while Audi, Buick, Hyundai, Jeep and Acura, which ran 2016 Super Bowl ads have yet to announce plans. | | Two Takes: Ad Age | Ad Age | | | | # TV Commercials Include Muslims | Recent ads from assorted major American brands have prominently featured everyday Muslim men, women and children, as marketers seek to portray their companies as all consumer inclusive, The New York Times reports. Among the companies are Amazon, Honey Maid, Microsoft, Chevrolet, YouTube and CoverGirl. The ads were all apolitical in nature and focused on themes of community and acceptance. Mona Haydar, an American poet and activist who appeared in a recent Microsoft commercial with a variety of community leaders, including a transgender teenager, says it was "a glimmer of hope in the midst of a greatly traumatic year for Muslims. Her hope is that the commercial "normalizes the narrative that we are just human beings."
| | WHY THIS MATTERS: Several agency execs likened these commercials to a decision by mass marketers to cast same-sex couples and their children in ads for the first time in 2013 and 2014, making inclusion and acceptance a priority over potential criticism from some customers. And it also seems several brands want to make statements to President-elect Donald Trump who wants to initiate a Muslim registry and ban some Muslim immigrants. | | A Take: NYT | |
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| | 54 | Percentage of female internet user consumers who purchased a product after seeing it recommended by influencers in a sponsored post, according to a survey from influencer platform Bloglovin. Conversely, however, 37% said they have unfollowed an influencer because they post too much sponsored content.
| – Reported by eMarketer
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| | 'Bachelor' Opens Strong, 'Celebrity Apprentice' Not So Much | By Michael Malone
With a fairly robust premiere of The Bachelor, ABC won the night with a 1.8 score in adults 18-49, per Nielsen's overnights, and a 6 share. NBC tallied a 1.3/4, CBS a 1.2/4, Fox a 0.9/3 and The CW a 0.3/1.
The Bachelor premiered to a 2.1, off a tenth from last winter's premiere. Special Jimmy Kimmel Live: Here For the Right Reasons did a 1.1.
On NBC, the premiere of The Celebrity Apprentice, with Arnold Schwarzenegger hosting and Donald J. Trump in the exec producer ranks, scored a 1.3. Its season debut two years ago was a 2.0. LeBron James game show The Wall rated a 1.2.
CBS' Kevin Can Wait was a flat 1.4 while Man With a Plan grew 9% to 1.2, before 2 Broke Girls increased 8% to 1.3. The Odd Couple was a flat 1.0 while Scorpion too was level at 1.2.
Fox's MasterChef Celebrity Showdown posted a 0.9 across prime.
CW reran the iHeartRadio Music Festival. | |
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| • MEGYN KELLY is leaving Fox News to anchor a new one-hour weekday daytime show for NBC News. She will also anchor a new Sunday evening news magazine and will be a regular contributor to NBC News' political and special events coverage. Kelly has been with Fox News for more than a decade and has hosted The Kelly File, which is cable television's second most-watched news show. • KATHY CHEN has left her position as Twitter's managing director for China. Chen's role in heading up the social platform's Hong Kong office was to cultivate relationships with Chinese advertisers. She says Twitter's advertising base in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan has grown 400% in the past two years, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Twitter is expected to keep its Hong Kong office open but is not planning to replace Chen.
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