Round and round and round we go

+ New Study from Euro RSCG Worldwide Probes Mind and Mood of Ad Professionals And Those Thinking of Entering the Industry.

An overwhelming 80% of ad professionals (and 49% of students) agreed that at most agencies, the clients are more powerful than management. The fact that nearly half the students agreed suggests that they aren't entering the field blindly, but other client-focused questions showed them to be far less aware than professionals of the downside of some client relationships.
A very substantial 74% of professionals agreed that a big problem with working at an ad agency is that management is too often unwilling to stand up for their own people if it means taking on the client. Somehow, well over one-third of students (39%) have managed to get the same idea. Almost two-thirds (64%) of professionals agreed that the big problem with working at ad agencies is the lack of respect shown by clients-a view shared by 28% of students.

The results are interesting. I'm sure that the views of students will change as they get more "real world" experience. I participated in this study, because I found it interesting. And since I had some free time to fill out the questions too. Although I wonder of the effectiveness of the way they did their research too, since the questions were given the choice to respond as "strongly agree", "somewhat agree", "not yes or no", "strongly disagree", etc. But I suppose that those responses are as effective as any other- especially for an online format. The article (press release) is worth a peek anyways.

+ Marketers press for product placement in magazine text. I cannot believe that this is actually something that a marketer would think would be good. As it's mentioned in the article by an unnamed editor in chief, "'Without a visceral relationship with the reader, it's not going to work," this editor said. "Don't be getting in the middle of that" with product placement. "My reader's gonna say, 'What's this [expletive] for?'" Which is so true. As "Time Inc.'s Editorial Director John Huey stated in a brief statement prepared for Ad Age, "Crossing the line is not good for the reader. It's not good for the brand. And it's not good, in the end, for the advertiser. The notion that 'everybody else is doing it' is not a compelling argument to us." " And that is the complete truth. Doing such not only brings down the brand of the advertiser but the brand of the magazine, which could have disasterous results like drop in readership, etc. I cannot see this being a good thing. All it will end up doing is pissing off consumers.

+ Have you seen the new Miller For President ad? Seems like a "me too" kind of thing. View at Miller Brewing site here.

+ Smart Cars revving up for 2006 push in the US. The car,a subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, is going to be positioned as an alternative to the BMW subsidiary Mini. No agency has been chosen yet to handle the account but, "advertising agencies Merkley + Partners of New York, which represents Mercedes-Benz in the United States, and Springer & Jacoby of Hamburg, Germany, which has the Mercedes account in Europe, are said to be competing for the Smart account. Other competitors are Kirschenbaum Bond & Partners and Berlin Cameron, both of New York." They are going to have some tough work ahead of them to compete with CP+B's advertising for the Mini.

+ IKEA sees the benefit of regional/local advertising vs. creating a global approach. Smart, very smart. "Despite persistent rumors, denied by Ikea, of a global media review, Mr. Larsson said that a more international approach to marketing is a long way off. "If we could find one message on a global basis it could be effective, but so far there are different needs in different countries," he said. "We have been in Sweden for 60 years and China for only four or five, for example." Mr. Agee agreed. "Our feeling is that retail is local. It is important to take advantage of local humor, and the things on people's minds." "