Advertising Age - January 9, 2012

2012

Advertising Age | January 9, 2012 3

THIS WEEK

THAT CHANGED THE GAME

Your guide to highlights from Ad Age and Creativity

or captured the zeitgiest

THE 2012 AD AGE
AGENCY REPORT

H4GOLD

BUDWEISER
EDS

Ad Age’s Agency Report 2012 will cover more than 900 agencies including ad, marketing-services, digital, health-care, media and PR agencies. Make sure your agency is included by completing our questionnaire. Deadline: Feb. 17. Ad Age DataCenter last week emailed questionnaire information to agencies. If your agency needs a questionnaire, download the form at AdAge.com/arq or email AgencyReport@AdAge.com.

STER
JUST FOR FEET
DORITOS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Lenovo is the No. 2 computer maker in the world, but when it comes to brand awareness, it trails rivals.

P. 12

Al Ries writes that too many marketers are trying to say everything with their messaging, but say nothing.

P. 14

YSLER
MASTER LOCK
CBS

MORE ON ADAGE.COM SPECIALE JUMPS TO SALES SIDE

Donna Speciale—who has supervised ad placement for marketers including P&G, Masterfoods and Kraft Foods at MediaVest USA—will join Turner as president of ad sales.

Just 58% of Japanese internet users use social media, which is especially striking since 41 out of the 43 markets ComScore studied had social-media penetration of 85% or higher. JAPAN LAGS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

GM’s rumored advertising sneak play

CONTACT AD AGE

likely to be foiled by network safeguards

Automaker sought to insert cars in other marketers’ Super Bowl commercials

■ BY BRIAN STEINBERG bsteinberg@adage.com

CAN GM GLOBAL marketing chief Joel Ewanick triumph over longstanding TV-network safeguards?

GM has reached out to other advertisers about placing its cars in their Super Bowl spots, Mr. Ewanick recently confirmed to USA Today. Earlier rumors about the effort had suggested that GM was offering a cool $500,000 for the unusual integration.

The result could be a wild “Where’s Waldo”-esque promotion that would send consumers to their fast-forward and rewind buttons to find drive-bys in ads and get rewards like snacks or movies.

We suspect, however, that GM will have to slam the brakes on this idea before it gets very far.

Mr. Ewanick’s notion is fanciful,
daring and creative. But putting it into
practice would not only usurp the
authority of NBC, which is broadcast-
ing the Super Bowl, but also make it
nearly impossible for GM rivals to get
an effective word in edgewise.

NOTSOFAST:

Can GM Global CMO Joel Ewanick overcome network aversion to an automaker’s cars appearing in other sponsors’ spots?

last-minute moves in 2011 to accommodate Chrysler’s two-minute ad starring Eminem.

Having GM cars appear in other sponsors’ commercials would further complicate the situation. Imagine having to figure out where Chrysler might place an ad in the Super Bowl if GM has purchased several minutes of its own ad time and then sprinkled product appearances in something from GoDaddy.com, as a strictly hypothetical example, or even Anheuser-Busch. The assignment would be daunting.

More alarming, at least to any TV-network ad-sales executive, is the notion that sponsors can resell their Super Bowl ad time to others for fun and profit. Every few years, some hoaxster sallies forth bragging that

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