Cup of Java

Tuesday AM news bits

Suing over sour milk?- Oakhurst Dairy in Portland is being sued by Monsanto Company, which alleges that Oakhurst's marketing campaign that touts its milk as being free of artificial growth hormones is misleading.

Promotion of Olympic proportions- "Advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi New York will develop the next global promotional campaign for the International Olympic Committee ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the IOC said Monday. The ad campaign, for launch in early 2004, will be based on the "Celebrate Humanity" theme developed for the IOC in 2000 by TBWA/Chiat/Day, a unit of Omnicom Group Inc."

Bringing back the fashionable brands of the 80s- From Jordache to Esprit these companies are returning to the "hip" side of the spectrum. The article says so is Op, but I've always liked their stuff, so I guess I will have to admit to being "uncool" for the last decade. ;-)

Advertising, detergent, and social behavior- "A whole new approach to selling washing powder is about to turn this much-derided advertising genre on its head. But asks Mark Jones, is the public ready to think differently about dirty laundry?"

Coffee and the bean biz- "Seeing how these Web-connected coffee evangelists had driven up their market, the high council of high-end coffee, the Specialty Coffee Association of America, recently invited 50 of them to join. In exchange for insights into espresso lust, these outsiders get inside tours and industry briefings."

Smirnoff advocates moderation in new ads airing in the UK.

Home Depot bogarts tagline-When Home Depot broke its "You can do it. We can help" multi-media ad campaign in February, it struck a familiar note with Sunshine Ace Hardware. That's because the four-chain Naples, Fla.-based retailer has been using the exact same tag for "a matter of years." So, in a case of David vs. Goliath, Sunshine Hardware has filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, Fla., claiming that it "is the owner of all right, title and interest in the mark," according to the lawsuit, which also seeks unspecified damages and an injunction to block Home Depot from using the slogan in its $350 million national campaign, via The Richards Group, Dallas. Atlanta-based Home Depot said it is in "discussions" with Sunshine Hardware and "hopes that a resolution can be reached," according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Sunshine Hardware began selling home improve! ment products in 1964 and uses the tag in local marketing, including on its Web site." Whoops. Talk about someone not doing their job. Don't most agencies run taglines through legal so that this sort of thing doesn't happen? Tsk. Tsk.