Hotlines 2: Late-Breaking Industry News

Monster.com Awards Global Creative to BBDONEW YORK Monster.com has chosen Omnicom Group's BBDO to handle its global creative chores. The job site spent about $155 million in domestic measured media in each of the past two years, per TNS Media Intelligence. Sources, however, said spending in overseas markets would likely take that figure well past $200 million. Global ad spending was not immediately available. BBDO in New York and Atmosphere BBDO, the shop's North American digital arm, will lead the creative effort. Brand Content in Boston had handled Monster.DraftFCB Wins $200 Mil. Census Account After ReviewNEW YORK The U.S. Census Bureau last week hired IPG's DraftFCB as lead agency for its 2010 campaign after a review. The one-year contract, effective immediately, has up to three option years. Media spending for the four years is estimated at $200 million. DraftFCB here will handle creative development and media planning, while sister shop Initiative in New York will handle buying chores. Other finalists included WPP units Ogilvy & Mather in New York, JWT in Atlanta and Young & Rubicam in New York; Omnicom's GSD&M Idea City in Austin, Texas; and IPG's Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Mich., said sources. Assisting DraftFCB and Initiative will be shops that specialize in reaching minority audiences: GlobalHue (black and Hispanic audiences), IW Group (Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders), G&G (American Indian and native Alaskans) and Allied Media (other emerging audiences). Cookson Succeeds Jones As CEO of BBH New YorkNEW YORK Bartle Bogle Hegarty global director of strategic planning Emma Cookson is replacing Gwyn Jones as CEO of the shop's New York office, the agency said. Jones, who was named to the top job in September 2004, is shifting to BBH in London, where he will assume a "senior global management role," BBH said. The changing of the guard takes effect this week. On Jones' watch, the agency added accounts such as Miller Lite, Dyson, and SoBe and losses were limited to Smirnoff Ice and EDS, which the agency resigned. The Publicis-backed agency characterized Jones' shift as a promotion for a job well done, but he acknowledged that the timing of his return to the U.K. reflects his family's desire to reconnect with its roots. BBH did not elaborate on Jones' new role or reveal what his title will be; he said it would be spelled out in a broader announcement in a few months. Cookson, a 14-year veteran of the agency, rose to the global strategic role in 2002. She has worked in the New York office since 1999. NBCU Signs Content Deal With Amazon.comNEW YORK Days after it went public in announcing its pending split with Apple, NBC Universal unveiled a new partnership with Amazon.com to sell a variety of its prime-time series via the company's fledgling Unbox video download service. With Amazon.com, NBC appears to be gaining the flexibility it desires. The company will begin selling both individual television episodes and full seasons of series such as Heroes, 30 Rock and The Office, using a variety of pricing scenarios, starting on Sept. 10. NBCU had announced it would not renew its deal with Apple when it expires at the end of the year because Apple has remained rigid on its pricing structure for TV series.Publicis Buys European Shop, Which Remains Own EntityNEW YORK Publicis Groupe bought European mobile shop Phonevalley. The seven-year-old, 60-person shop runs mobile campaigns for advertisers in five European markets. It does both creative and media buying, handling over 1,000 campaigns last year, Publicis said. Clients include Colgate Palmolive, Air France and Paramount. Its campaigns include text messaging, running banner and text ads on mobile sites and creating mobile applications. Paris-based Phonevalley will become the mobile unit of Publicis Groupe Media, comprised of Starcom Mediavest Group and ZenithOptimedia. It will continue operating as a separate company, working with Publicis agencies and others. Alexandre Mars, the company's 32-year-old founder, will become head of mobile for Publicis Groupe Media in Europe, charged with educating Publicis agencies about including mobile marketing in their campaigns. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.ANA Study Shows Frustration With Marketing AccountabilityCHICAGO Marketers are growing increasingly frustrated with their marketing accountability practices and the inability to communicate their goals to other corporate groups, particularly financial departments, according to the Association of National Advertisers' fourth annual accountability study. The study, which was conducted in conjunction with Marketing Management Analytics, found that 92 percent of all companies have some kind of accountability process in place. While 31 percent of those programs are managed through the marketing department, nearly a quarter of them are run through informal and grass-roots efforts. Only 20 percent are a shared responsibility among a company's marketing, financial and IT departments. "A company's ability to make effective marketing decisions requires relevant and targeted metrics and measurements," said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA, in a statement. "It is incumbent upon marketing to work cohesively with all cross-functional teams to establish common goals and processes to determine if those goals have been reached. It is clear from this study that although progress has been made, there is a substantial gap that still needs to be bridged." Nearly half of all marketing executives expressed dissatisfaction with current marketing accountability practices. Some 48 percent of the executives said there was poor organizational response to marketing ROI data, compared with 32 percent in last year's survey. Forty-two percent of the respondents were dissatisfied with measurement systems, up from 35 percent, while 45 percent said they were frustrated with a lack of ROI definition, up from 25 percent the previous year (see Adweek.com for full story). The study was conducted in July, surveying more than 200 senior-level marketing executives through online surveys.Cramer-Krasselt Chosen For Porsche North AmericaCHICAGO Porsche North America last week selected Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago to handle creative and media duties on its estimated $40 million ad account, the client confirmed. The other finalists were IPG's Carmichael Lynch, the incumbent in Minneapolis, its sister shop The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., and SS&K here. "Our decision to go with Cramer-Krasselt was based on seeking new and innovative approaches to marketing our unique products to a difficult-to-reach audience," wrote David Pryor, client svp, marketing, in a statement. "Their team very quickly showed a tremendous passion and understanding of our business and developed a compelling, evolutionary expression of our brand." Carmichael will continue to work on a "significant project" for the company through the first quarter of next year, Pryor said. The account was initially valued at $25 million, but, per sources, the carmaker plans to increase ad spending in the coming year. The review was spurred by the recent promotion of Pryor and the company's planned launch of a four-door sedan in 2009.

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