Diesel Underwear Viral Sends Web Surfers Into Tizzy

Traffic to Swedish Apparel Maker’s Site Jumps Fivefold as Consumers Try to Get Their ‘15 Megabytes of Fame’

By Emma Hall

Published: May 14, 2007

LONDON (AdAge.com) — Two gorgeous, crazy girls steal an underwear collection, kidnap a sales manager and lock themselves in a hotel room with their victim for five days.Read the whole story

Facebook, Friendster Offer Free Classifieds

by Gavin O’Malley, Monday, May 14, 2007 6:00 AM ET

MOVE OVER, CRAIG. FACEBOOK ON Friday said it would add free classified ad-listings to its popular social networking site. The new service, dubbed Marketplace, poses a potential threat to a number of companies–from Craigslist and newspapers to Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com. Also on Friday, Friendster announced that it had added classifieds through a partnership with Olx.com.

Marketplace will allow Facebook’s some 22 million active users to create classified listings in four categories: housing, jobs, for sale, and “other.” Users will be able to limit the exposure of their classifieds to individual networks such as immediate friends and coworkers.

 

Microsoft Takes Minority Stake in CareerBuilder

THREE YEARS AFTER CAREERBUILDER.COM BECAME the exclusive job search engine for the MSN Careers Channel, Microsoft has purchased a minority equity stake in the company, which is also owned by Gannett, Tribune and McClatchy. Separately, MSN and CareerBuilder announced an extension of their strategic alliance, making CareerBuilder the exclusive content provider to MSN Careers through 2013. CareerBuilder will pay MSN up to $443 million to be its exclusive job search engine. The dollar value of Microsoft’s equity stake in CareerBuilder was not disclosed.

Organics Watchdog Group Claims Victory Against Wal-Mart

Accused Retailer of Misidentifying Products but State, USDA Finds No Violation

By Jack Neff

Published: May 09, 2007

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — A Wisconsin group that accused Wal-Mart Stores of misidentifying organic food products is claiming a victory as a result of a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture to the giant retailer. But Wal-Mart believes the group is blowing things out of proportion.Read the whole article

McDonald’s Unveils Global ‘Shrek’ Movie Promotion

‘Milk-and-Apples’ Effort to Also Hype Burger Chain’s Healthful-Eating Choices

By Kate MacArthur

Published: May 08, 2007

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — After nearly two years of hype and months of criticism from watchdog groups, McDonald’s Corp. today unveiled details of its promotional deal with Dreamworks Animation’s “Shrek the Third,” calling the global effort its “biggest-ever” for apples and milk and a launching pad for its children’s marketing platform.

The global campaign, which launches May 11 to support the film’s May 18 theatrical release, will appear in 100 countries through October. The multimedia promotion includes talking Shrek-themed Happy Meal toys (in eight languages), collectible glasses and a website where children can earn points for digital rewards by logging in how much physical activity they have done.Read the whole story

Consumers Eat Up Meat Marketers’ Gourmet Branding

They May Not Know What Angus Is, Exactly, but Diners and Shoppers Shell Out for Higher Quality

By Kate MacArthur

Published: May 07, 2007

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Quick: what’s Angus — a cut of beef or a bovine breed?

When Hardee’s asked the question four years ago, many respondents didn’t know. “They weren’t really sure, but they did know it was better quality,” said Brad Haley exec VP-marketing for parent CKE Restaurants.

Read the whole articleRead the whole article

Nissan Tripped Up by Middling Marketing

Profits Drop for First Time in Eight Years as Sales Fall in Top Markets

By Jean Halliday

Published: May 07, 2007

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — Nissan has lost its marketing magic. Nissan Motor Co. President-CEO Carlos Ghosn confessed at a recent Tokyo press conference that

 

 

though the automaker’s models are well-received by consumers, the Nissan and Infiniti names fall “somewhere in the middle of the pack” when it comes to brand strength. He seemed to be committing to a marketing push to solve the problem: “Building our brand power is critically important.”Read the whole story

AmericanIdol.com Snares One-Third of TV Traffic

See How Visits to Broadcast Sites Match Up With Nielsen Ratings

By Abbey Klaassen

Published: May 04, 2007

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Everyone knows “American Idol” is a juggernaut, but consider this: Last week AmericanIdol.com owned a third of broadcast’s online market, nabbing 33% of all traffic to broadcast-TV-show websites, according to Hitwise.Read the whole article

MICROSOFT EYES SEARCH GIANT IN PROPOSED TAKEOVER

The NY Post has the exclusive story this morning: Microsoft has once again approached Yahoo!, asking the Sunnyvale based search portal and content destination to come to the table and negotiate a friendly takeover by Microsoft.The same report values Yahoo! at $50 billion; the interest by Microsoft is said to be serious to the point that world renowned bankers Goldman Sachs are advising Microsoft on the deal.

If the deal comes to fruition, the takeover would be one of the largest corporate takeovers in American corporate history, and likely the largest ever in the Tech sector.

It’s also interesting to observe the continued attempts by the any one but Google crowd attempts to win marketshare, from Ask’s bizarre viral marketing efforts (The Algorithm advertises above urinals), country specific deals such as Testra’s tie up with Microsoft’s NineMSN destination in Australia, to even this story now. It certainly is a strange time when Microsoft accuses Google of anti-competitive behaviour one day, then activily seeks to acquire a leading competitor for the sole purpose of trying to compete with Mountain View based uber company the next.

Read the whole article

Dolan Family Gets Cablevision Back

For $23 Billion, Company Goes Private Again

By Andrew Hampp

Published: May 03, 2007

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Fourth time’s the charm for the Dolan family, which has finally got its deal to buy Cablevision Systems, the company it founded in 1973. The deal is worth more than $10.5 billion in cash, and with debt amounts to a total price of about $23 billion. This is the Dolan family’s fourth attempt at buying the company from its public shareholders. However, the deal still needs to be approved by those shareholders.Read the whole article