| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Relationship Compromises Army Review | | The competitive review of the U.S. Army's agency marketing contract – said to include an estimated $4 billion in ad spending over a 10 year period – has been compromised due to a conflict of interest by an employee from incumbent agency IPG's McCann and the U.S. Army director of marketing. Reports by Adweek and MediaPost say it was brought out that James Ortiz, director of marketing at the Army Marketing and Research Group, was having an alleged romantic relationship with the former U.S. Army group account director at McCann. IPG's McCann is participating in the account review along with two other holding companies – WPP and Omnicom. An anonymous tipster sent information to both WPP and Omnicom saying McCann was being provided information helpful to winning the review. McCann has held the Army account since 2005. When the Army Marketing and Research Group learned of the situation, it reassigned Ortiz and began an investigation. McCann says its employee was reassigned from the Army account in October. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: This is a major spending account so there is a lot at stake. And now the review will be watched closely to see in what direction it heads. As MediaPost reports, "The latest Army review has been a long and winding road with a few bumps along the way. The military branch had initially intended to launch a review in 2015 but then delayed, giving McCann an extension. The formal review kicked off in January of this year. This summer McCann was cut from the process but successfully protested and was reinstated in September." | | Two Takes: Adweek | MediaPost | | | | #2 All Publicis Agencies To Share Offices | | The agency holding company says that as part of its ongoing attempt to streamline its operations around the world, that each of its agencies will combine offices in six major U.S. cities – New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta and San Francisco – Adweek reports. In those cities, every Publicis Groupe-owned agency will be housed in the same building. Publicis says the move is being made to "better serve our clients through deeper collaboration, cross-agency sharing and insight." Publicis agencies include Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, BBH, Publicis Worldwide, Spark Foundry, Starcom Worldwide, SapientRazorfish, DigitasLBi and MSLGroup. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Publicis Group has been restructuring its operations over the past two years, combining some of its media agency operations and creating four global "solutions hubs." And it has publicly stated a goal of cost-cutting. While agencies under the same holding company umbrella traditionally had remain separated because of potential client conflicts, the philosophy today is moving toward more leniency in that regard. Still, the agencies involved must be careful not to raise concerns among clients when agencies with competing clients are located in the same building. | | A Take: Adweek | | | | #3 FTC Investigating Deceptive Influencer Practices | | The Federal Trade Commission in recent months has contacted 21 popular social-media stars over posts on Instagram that endorsed brands, The Wall Street Journal reports. Government regulators say financial rewards by brands to these influencers, even if they are not asked for by the stars, can run afoul of deceptive marketing rules if they are not publicly disclosed. Among the stars contacted by the FTC are supermodel Naomi Campbell, Pretty Little Liars actresses Shay Mitchell and Lucy Hale, along with other reality TV personalities. Influencers are supposed to mention in their social media posts whether they are paid to endorse a brand or not. FTC attorney Michael Ostheimer says, "There are tons and tons of endorsements out there. Some people are making adequate disclosures. Some are not." | | WHY THIS MATTERS: The FTC doesn't want brands misleading social media users that stars are using their brands on their own volition when they are actually being paid. While it doesn't dictate the exact wording for disclosures in the influencer posts, the FTC says if influencers simply write "#ad" or "#sponsored" in their social media post to indicate a business relationship, this would suffice. Instagram this summer rolled out a template for influencers that places the label "paid partnership" at the top of the post. But the FTC's Ostheimer says that label isn't particularly noticeable to a reader. | | A Take: WSJ | |
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| | 214.9 | | Total dollars in billions that will be spent on U.S. media advertising across all platforms in 2018, according to eMarketer projections. That total will grow to $251.9 billion by 2021. | – Reported by eMarketer
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| | NBC Wins Despite Football Fumble | by Michael Malone
NBC scored the win in Thursday prime, putting up a 2.0 with Thursday Night Football leading the way, and an 8 share. CBS was next at 1.5/6. But it wasn't a great night for the NFL. Football Night in America dropped 21% to 1.5 on NBC and the game, Denver versus Indianapolis, fell 28% from last week to 2.1. On CBS, The Big Bang Theory slipped 7% to 2.6 and Young Sheldon was off 9% to 2.0. Mom rated a 1.4 and Life in Pieces a 1.1, both shows flat. SWAT climbed 11% to a 1.0. ABC did a 0.9/4. Olaf's Frozen Adventure posted a 1.4 and Disney Prep and Landing a 1.1. Repeats followed.
Fox was at 0.7/3. Showtime at the Apollo tallied a 0.7, as did Taraji's White Hot Holidays. The CW scored a 0.3/1. iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2017 did a 0.4 and was followed by a repeat of Whose Line Is It Anyway? Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision did a 0.5, while Telemundo did a 0.4. | |
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| • MICHELLE KUNKEN was named executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi New York. She joins from Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal where she held the same position for several clients. She also held creative roles at Arnold New York and at Tierney Philadelphia.
• DENISE WONG has left here position as president of George P. Johnson, according to an Adweek report. She was named president of the agency in 2012 and has overseen its nine North America offices from Los Angeles. Prior to that, she held executive roles at agencies including Grey, G2, JWT, Ogilvy and DDB.
• DONNA PEDRO was appointed chief ethics officer at Ogilvy & Mather. She assumed the new duties while continuing her existing role as worldwide chief diversity and inclusion officer at the agency. She succeeds Joe Panetta in the new role following his death last January. She's been with Ogilvy since 2007.
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| Technology Leadership Summit
February 28 – March 1, 2018 | Raleigh, NC
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