After just eight months, Wendy’s has dumped its latest ad campaign under pressure from franchisees that have been asking for more product-centric ads for nearly a year. The chain finally responded, losing its “red-wig” ads and moving some creative duties on its $435 million account from Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi to MDC Partners’ Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners.

A new product-based campaign from Kirshenbaum will begin airing next week with “It’s waaaay better than fast food. It’s Wendy’s” as the tagline. “Through the past year, we’ve learned more about each agency and ourselves, how to manage two different partners,” says Bob Holtcamp of Wendy’s. “Kirshenbaum Bond definitely are taking a bigger role in that the idea we presented today was really generated by them.”

The scrapped commercials that featured men in red Wendy wigs rolled out during last year’s season finale of “American Idol,” and while the company said it generated attention, it did nothing to boost sales.

Actually it just looked stupid!

Via: Media Daily News

“SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’S” SETH MEYERS toted an “SNL on Strike” sign while joining about two dozen other show-business writers on a picket line Tuesday, but offered up optimism that the “Hollywood” strike would be short-lived.

NBC continued Tuesday afternoon to promote an all-new episode of “SNL” starring “The Rock” and singer Amy Winehouse for Saturday–and Meyers said in the morning he remained hopeful that a deal could be reached to clear the way for the cast and crew to work overtime to put the show together by 11 p.m. Saturday.

Back on “SNL” for a seventh season, Meyers picketed for a second straight day in New York.

Meyers–one of the show’s head writers as well as a performer–shrugged his shoulders about an exact deadline for when an agreement would have to be reached for the show to go on, but said “it would be fun” to try and put it together on a truncated schedule. (Much of the cast, including Meyers, has roots in improv.)

No such luck. NBC said Tuesday evening that an “SNL” repeat would air, since no settlement was in sight. With the strike now in day three, “SNL” is the latest late-night franchise to experience an interruption.

So what’s your verdict on this situation?  Can we manage without the writers on broadcast tv?  You can always watch E!. (that’s Ryan Seacrest’s take on the situation)

Febreze Targets Students With Online Campaign
From Ad Age
Procter & Gamble has kicked off “What Stinks,” an online and viral campaign for its Febreeze fabric-refresher spray that’s aimed at college students. Recognizing that the campus is a far cry from where the marketer has thrust its marketing efforts in the past, Febreze and Grey–its longtime ad agency–decided a mainstream-marketing approach likely would fail.

WhatStinks.com–an interactive Web site all about Febreze spray–is housed within Facebook; P&G also plans media buys and banner ads on the popular social-networking site. The brand swaps its “It’s a breath of fresh air” tagline for college-oriented ones such as “Febreze … Because surprise! Your parents are visiting!” It also adds a mascot in the form of a gigantic Converse-wearing nose.

Other features of the site include: the “Dank Game,” a video game where players are armed with bottles of Febreze to attack dirty socks and boxers, and a “What Stinks” news feed. The marketer is also invading campuses with a Febreze-branded comedy tour featuring the improvisational troupe Upright Citizens Brigade.

NBC has ended it’s official relationship with YouTube.

Starting in June 2006, NBC had an officially sanctioned channel on YouTube, the popular video sharing site.  However, with the announcement of their own online video site,  named Hulu, we  hear that NBC will no longer be maintaining their channel.  The new site is set to launch sometime this month.

from Mashable:

YouTube has a lot to be thankful towards NBC with as many people credit this nod from a large media company with finally adding credibility to the video site.  And also, possibly, what led to their buyout by Google.

SquidSoap, with its patented technology, is designed to teach and train proper hand-washing technique to children. It’s the only liquid-soap dispenser with a specially designed pump that stamps a child’s hand with vegetable dye. It takes about 20 seconds of thorough hand washing to remove the ink mark, leaving the child with clean hands.   According to the Web site, the brand was acquired by Airborne this summer. Airborne is probably familiar to many of you, as a best-selling herbal health product for colds. Since Airborne was created by a former second-grade teacher who was inspired to create it since she was always dealing with germs and colds in the classroom,  it’s a perfect product for Airborne .   I think it might contribute to some OCD behavior later in life but that’s only my guess.  Check it out.

From an article by Ben Relles

When and where can political viral video be effective.  Here are some of Mr. Relles findings:

Viral videos can help campaigns in creating initial interest.  The attention is grabbed.

By its very nature, a video can help shape an image, especially by personalizing and “de-wonking” a candidate.

Online videos help campaigns respond quickly to attacks.

 vVral campaigns can help in targeting a certain demographic. (especially the young)It’s no secret that the early adopters of the internet and its nuances — blogs, videos, instant messaging, et cetera — are young and technologically progressive and, in many instances, alienated from politics. It has been estimated that the majority of the under 30 crowd depend on the internet rather than traditional media for getting news.

 Online videos can really help stretch a budget and are very cost effective.  (Off to Youtube we go!)

The (RED)™ campaign and the Global Fund have inked a deal with Hallmark to add the greeting card company as a new partner in its initiative to fight AIDS in Africa.

(RED)™ is a for-benefit brand, created by singer Bono and activist Bobby Shriver, in which corporations generate portions of their sales from select products to the campaign’s cause. Since its inception in March 2006, sales from (PRODUCT) RED™ branded items have generated more than $45 million for the Global Fund.

Hallmark will join other (RED)™-affiliated corporations including Motorola, American Express (UK only), GAP, Emporio Armani, Converse and Apple. As part of its (PRODUCT) RED™ line, Hallmark will begin selling branded holiday and everyday greeting cards, cards with sound, gift wrap and a Keepsake Ornament. Hallmark officials indicate the new collection has also created 221 jobs in the West African Republic of Mali, since some of the items will be made only in this region.

My Life Brand is a new free social networking tool to promote your life in the media, among other things.  If you are a performer, you can get a free page to spotlight your talents.  As a company you can also get a free page to showcase your firm.  It has ambitious goals and a beautiful interface so check it out here.

From Mashable

NBC Universal is acquiring Oxygen Media for $925 million, with $875 million net of financial assets.
The cable network started by Oprah Winfrey, Tom Werner and Marcy Carsey, and backed by Paul Allen, has made a pretty big impact with its television programming as well as its Internet strategy, which garnered a good amountof the female demographic as it’s a hub for entertainment and information.

From The Wall Street Journal

A federal jury in Duluth found a Minnesota woman liable for willful copyright infringement yesterday for making nearly 2,000 songs available for sharing on the Kazaa file-sharing service. It awarded the music companies a total of $220,000. Of the more than 26,000 lawsuits that record labels have filed against alleged pirates since 2003, it was the first to actually be tried before a jury.

The labels–EMI Group PLC’s Capitol Records; Arista Records LLC and its parent Sony BMG Music Entertainment; Vivendi SA’s UMG Recordings and UMG’s Interscope Records; and Warner Music Group’s Warner Bros. Records–now could step up their practice of suing people they believe are illegally sharing music.

Opponents of the labels’ legal strategy say the suits amount to little more than a shakedown of people who often have been unfairly fingered because of difficulties establishing who is using the computers. The labels say the suits are an important deterrent in the fight to preserve their intellectual property.

Also check out this article about how the award was calculated.