| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Old Navy Ditches Celebrities | | The apparel retailer is revamping its advertising creative approach and will no longer use celebrities like Amy Schumer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Elizabeth Banks in its ads. The three-year celebrity campaign is being replaced by more products-driven ads. "It's time to move on to something new," says chief marketing officer Jamie Gersch, who was appointed to the post in October. The new campaign is titled "Hi, Fashion," as in hello fashion rather than "high" fashion, Gersch points out. Old Navy will air about five different sports through the summer with both 15- and 30-second versions. Ad Age reports that most of the shorter spots will run on digital and social sites. Chandelier Creative did the TV and radio creative for the new campaign, while Old Navy's internal team handled the social component. The budget is expected to be the same as the $130 million Old Navy spent on measured media last year. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Old Navy has been the leader among the Gap Inc. brands but Gersch believes the funny lady campaign has run its course and a new approach to reach consumers needs to be undertaken. She says the new spots, although based more on the apparel itself, will still include a fun and upbeat theme. | Two Takes: Ad Age | Adweek
| | | | #2 Accenture Targets Digital Agency Business | | Accenture Interactive, the digitally-focused agency inside consulting giant Accenture, is continuing its expansion by acquiring more agencies and opening new offices, Digiday reports. AI says it has grown its staff by double-digits in the last year to 13,000 employees globally, and claims close to $3 billion in global revenue. A majority of the clients, at least right now, are also clients of parent company Accenture. AI last November purchased Karamarama, the third-largest U.K. agency and more recently said it will acquire German digital agency SinnerSchrader. It also owns IMJ Corporation in Japan, AD Dialeto in Brazil, Reactive in Australia and tech studio Chaotic Moon in the U.S. Brian Whipple, AI CEO who has a background that includes Hill Holliday and RAPP, says, "We have an agency culture that has the luxury of Accenture's footprint to get a warm introduction [to CMOs]." | | WHY THIS MATTERS: The traditional ad agency holding companies are mixed in their concern about consultancies getting into the traditional ad agency business. IPG CEO Michael Roth has acknowledged the competition and potential threats to business on several occasions. However, Havas leader Yannick Bollore has said consultancies don't feel like much of a threat. | | A Take: Digiday | | | | #3 Buyers Have Issues with Private Marketplaces | | Brands and agencies are investing more via private marketplaces (PMPs) with the goal of getting better inventory in these invite-only auctions, but that doesn't always happen, even when buyers pay a premium, Digiday reports. Charlie Fiordalis, chief digital officer at Media Storm, says insufficient inventory is a big issue when it comes to PMPs. "Sometimes there is not enough inventory for us to bid, especially when we run campaigns in a very short period of time," he says. "In that case, we need to be good friends with the publisher and say, 'Can you please prioritize our deal ID and clear our X impressions in the following three days? It does take some manual work." Problems of matching up data with orders can also become an issue. As can lack of media buyer verification methods that are necessary to hold publishers accountable. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: As programmatic usage grows by brands and agencies and more advertising is bought via exchanges both open and private, these wrinkles in the systems need to be worked out. And it behooves the publisher/sellers of the inventory to take the lead because glitches in the system can mean less advertising sold to annoyed buyers. | | A Take: Digiday | |
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| | 5 | | Percentage of increase in TV sports viewership in 2016, including live plus same day, time-shifted viewing and live plus seven day audiences, according to a report by Pivotal Research Group based on Nielsen data. Without the Summer Olympics, however, it declined by 3%. | – Reported by Media Post
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| | NBC Tops Tuesday as 'This Is Us' Spikes | by Luke McCord
NBC finished tops among broadcasters in primetime Tuesday with a 2.3 rating/8 share among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnight numbers. The Voice was even at a 2.6, while This Is Us rocketed up 16% to a 2.9. Chicago Justice lost 7% to a 1.3.
CBS finished in second with a 1.3/5. NCIS, Bull and NCIS: New Orleans were all steady at 1.6, 1.3 and 1.1, respectively.
ABC placed in third with a 1.0/4. The Middle was down a tenth to a 1.4. American Housewife and Fresh Off the Boat were flat at 1.4 and 1.1. The Real O'Neals dipped a tenth to a 0.9. People Icons debuted to a 0.5.
The CW (0.7/3) beat out Fox (0.6/2) for fourth. The CW's The Flash fell two tenths to a 0.9, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow shaved off a tenth to a 0.5.
Following repeats of New Girl and The Mick, Fox's Bones matched its past telecast with a 0.7.
Spanish-language broadcasters Univision and Telemundo each earned a 0.6/2. | |
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| • LILY NEUMEYER was appointed head of development for Viacom's MTV and VH1 networks. She was previously head of development for VH1. Prior to joining VH1, she was VP of nonfiction and alternative programming at A&E Network.
• MEGAN SHEEHAN was named group creative director at The Martin Agency's New York office. She was previously creative director at FCB and has also held art director positions at EnergyBBDO, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Saatchi & Saatchi.
• JOHN BERNBACH has joined search engine marketing company Ai Media as chairman. He spent more than 20 years at DDB, the ad agency co-founded by his father Bill and had been serving as an advisor to Ai Media in his role as CEO of The Bernbach Group. • JEAN FREEMAN was promoted to chief operating officer of Los Angeles-based, independent agency Zambezi. She succeeds Chris Raih, founder of the agency who is assuming the role of president and will concentrate on new business. Freeman has been with Zambezi for eight years and is also a majority owner.
• RANDY JONES was named director of programming at Travel Channel. He was most recently a developer and showrunner who supervised several Scripps Networks Interactive programs. Travel Channel is owns by Scripps. He has also produced content for several broadcast and cable networks.
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