Inside the black box: What big
Publicis is
falling short

brands are spending on Google
on ad pact
From BP’s boost in June to AT&T’s massive iPhone
outlay, internal doc reveals what marketers drop on search

What big brands spent in June

with Msoft

$10 MILLION

;BY MICHAEL LEARMONTH mlearmonth@adage.com

$3.6 million in the month of June alone, according to an internal Google document obtained by Advertising Age. That pushed BP into the upper echelon of search advertisers, in a league with Expedia, which spent at least $5.9 million in June, Amazon, which spent at least $5.8 million, and eBay, which spent at least $4.2 million.

This is a significant outlay, even for BP, which spent $94 million on advertising in 2009, and $78.7 million in the first six months of 2010 alone (excluding

$8.08

$3.59 MILLION spent by BP at the height of the spill crisis

Failing to meet spending
promises made as part of
deal to acquire Razorfish

BEFORE BP COULD STEM the oil gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, it unleashed $100 million in ad spending, largely on network TV, to stem the damage to its image. But it also started spending heavily where it had never spent much before: buying ads in Google’s search results.

How much did BP spend on search? In two months, BP went from spending very little on search advertising—about $57,000 a month—to becoming one of Google’s top advertisers, dropping nearly

; BY KUNUR PATEL kpatel@adage.com

6.67

5.95

5.85

4.25

3.30

2.46

2.29

2. 19

Expedia
A m azon
Apollo Group
A T& T M obility
BP Corp.
eBay
ADT Security
Livin g S ocial
JC Penney

See GOOGLE on Page 20

June spending

Marketing world girds for an ‘uneven’ recovery
Lifts in spending, jobs, sales quell double-dip recession fear—but wobbling lies ahead

; BY JACK NEFF jneff@adage.com

A SPATE OF BETTER-than-expected reports on consumer spending, jobs and retail sales last week appeared to take an edge off many fears of a double-dip recession.

That’s the good news.

The not-so-good news is that, despite
the return of tepid gross domestic prod-
uct growth late last year, some mar-
keters, such as Procter & Gamble Co. and
Target Corp., seem to be girding for an
extended period of low growth, high
unemployment and more conservative
spending patterns for years into the
future. And big developing markets such
as China and India, which grew robustly
right through the recession, may be on
the brink of slower growth.

ALSO INSIDE

How Obama is struggling to articulate path to recovery Why we can’t expect Gen X to save the economy

PUBLICIS GROUPE IS having trouble meeting its media-spending commitment to Microsoft, according to several people familiar with the situation. The third-largest agency-holding company entered into the commercial agreement last summer when it bought digital agency Razorfish from Microsoft. Execs put the commitment at “a couple hundred million dollars” annually for ad inventory.

Publicis, parent to media agencies Starcom Mediavest Group and Zenith Optimedia, could face a penalty if it fails this year to meet the spending levels committed to Microsoft search and display. Such a penalty would ostensibly up the cash commitment on the Razorfish sale, though it’s yet unclear if Microsoft will opt to levy such a hefty fee on one of its biggest customers, especially when Microsoft was tasked with providing quality inventory on its end of the deal.

Publicis acquired Razorfish for $286.8 million in cash, totaling $544 million, including stock. According to one executive close to negotiations, Morgan Stanley, the bank represent-

See DOUBLE DIP on Page 23

See P. 23

See MICROSOF T on Page 20

A REPRISE FOR JINGLES ON MADISON AVENUE

; ANDREW HAMPP ahampp@adage.com

SEEKING ORIGINALS:

McCann launched in-house label StayU for Holiday Inn and launched artist Kyle Andrews in a global ad push.

THE DEATH OF THE JINGLE has been greatly exaggerated. But for awhile, it was understandable if you needed to check its pulse.

In the 2000s, the trend of licensing pop songs from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s in lieu of creating an original 30-second branded melody picked up a lot of momentum. From Led Zeppelin and Lou

Brands and ad agencies are rediscovering the power of original tunes in advertising campaigns.

Reed to Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney, no major artist was above lending his music to sell cars, watches, lingerie or coffee. Meanwhile, a whole crop of indie bands relied on the likes of Apple, Converse and Bud Light to help launch singles and create new revenue streams in lieu of dwindling album sales.