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GM Planworks Promotes Rosen, Carpenter to Presidents NEW YORK GM Planworks, a unit of Publicis' Starcom MediaVest Group, has become the latest agency to appoint an executive to oversee buying across all media platforms with the promotion of Mike Rosen to president of investment and activation. It also advanced Mary Carpenter to the new post of president, strategy and operations. In that role, Carpenter will oversee planning for all General Motors divisions. Both executives report to Planworks CEO Dennis Donlin. Rosen will implement a "content-centric approach to the business," the agency said, establishing teams with expertise across an array of media and specific content areas, such as sports and multicultural marketing. Rosen, 45, joined Planworks last year after the shop won GM's $3 billion-plus U.S. buying assignment in a shootout with the incumbent, IPG's MediaWorks. Previously, Rosen was chief investment officer, responsible for overseeing the Video Investment Group, the shop's New York-based buying hub for national broadcast, cable and on-demand video. In her prior role as evp, chief strategy officer, Carpenter, 41, managed day-to-day strategic operations at Planworks. Novartis Moves Diovan From Deutsch to Hill, HollidayBOSTON Novartis has shifted creative chores on its Diovan drug to Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos here from Deutsch without a review, sources said. Both shops are units of IPG. Novartis spent more than $350 million this year in measured media for all its brands, but has not advertised Diovan in several years, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The drug ranks among the nation's leading hypertension medications with nearly $1.1 billion in sales. Sources said Diovan ad spending could top $75 million in 2007, with work breaking early next year. The Diovan business was estimated at $80 million in 2002, when Deutsch added the assignment. MTV Networks Puts Salmi In Charge of Digital MediaNEW YORK MTV Networks has named Mika Salmi, founder of Atom Entertainment—which MTV acquired in August—to the new post of president of global digital media. Salmi, most recently Atom's acting CEO, will report to MTVN chairman, CEO Judy McGrath. He is likely to assume many of the duties held by former MTVN chief digital officer Jason Hirschhorn, who left the firm this summer. Salmi is charged with growing the firm's portfolio of digital properties, such as MTV Overdrive and Virtual Laguna Beach, as well as recent acquisitions like Atom and Quizilla. MTVN said it operates 30 broadband sites across the globe and ranks among the world's leading mobile video content producers.Nielsen Weds TV, Web Data In New National Service NEW YORK Nielsen Media Research and Nielsen NetRatings have launched National TV/Internet Fusion database, which merges information from TV and Web viewer/user panels into a single data set. The new service will be offered through Nielsen's Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement initiative. The resource combines Nielsen's National People Meter sample of more than 30,000 respondents with NetRatings' NetView sample, which electronically tracks the Internet use of about 29,000 panelists from homes and businesses. The fused database can provide age, sex, education, household income and region of the country, to provide a comprehensive picture of consumers' TV and online activities. The goal of the database will be to ultimately develop a single-sample TV/Internet panel. A sample-fused report produced via April 2006 data shows that 40 percent of Americans are more TV centric, 24 percent are more Internet centric, and 15 percent are equally heavy users of both media. Nielsen is owned by Adweek parent VNU.Viacom, YouTube Are Working Out DifferencesNEW YORK After Viacom sent YouTube a letter last month asking the video-sharing site to remove some of its copyrighted content, the two firms appear to have reached an understanding. Viacom asked YouTube to remove some proprietary content that had been posted by users, including episodes of The Daily Show. YouTube removed several videos, according to officials. A Viacom rep said the two firms are exploring ways to ensure such problems will not be repeated. As a result, YouTube has re-posted an undisclosed number of Viacom-produced videos, including short clips from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, South Park and Laguna Beach. Unlike CBS, NBC and several record labels, Viacom has yet to enter an official licensing pact with YouTube.Sorrell Looks to East, West For WPP Group's Growth NEW YORK WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell revealed that China and the U.S. are on his mind in his keynote address last week at the Media Convergence Forum here. His speech, titled "A Global Revolution," outlined what he considers the challenges facing multinational businesses against the backdrop of an ever-changing media landscape and the rise of China. One challenge is the current shift in economic power from West to East, which doesn't necessarily suggest a decline of the West, he said, but "a balancing of the world economy." He said it was becoming increasingly clear that the global economy was operating on two tracks (China and the U.S.), with "poor old Western Europe" cast as a "mature company" that has no top or bottom line growth and aging population and healthcare issues. In five to 10 years, Sorrell said he envisions WPP's business interests becoming more Asian, African and Latin American. By 2014, the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) would comprise nearly 40 percent of WPP's business. The Economist and WPP's G2 agency co-sponsored the forum.Nike Goes Wall-to-Wall On ESPN's 'SportsCenter'LOS ANGELES ESPN's SportsCenter was "taken over" last Wednesday by all commercial pods featuring original content created for Nike by independent Wieden + Kennedy. Promoted by 15-second teasers that broke on ESPN's Web site, along with ads in ESPN: The Magazine and Slam, the sponsorship was orchestrated by Danny Sheniak, media director at the Portland, Ore.-based agency. All told, 10 minutes of mainly humorous material aired. The work centers on fictitious relatives of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James. Spots are set in a backyard pool, on a street court and in various Cleveland locations. The campaign, tagged "We are all witnesses," promotes James' new signature Nike shoe. The SportsCenter played just before the NBA season opener between Cleveland and Washington.Philip Morris Defends Its Anti-Smoking Spots CHICAGO In an ironic twist, the American Legacy Foundation has called on tobacco companies to pull their parent-targeted anti-smoking ads, in part because an upcoming study in the December American Journal of Public Health suggests that cigarette makers' spots actually increase the likelihood that teens will smoke in the future. Philip Morris USA, however, the only tobacco company currently on air with youth-focused anti-smoking ads, refutes the study's findings and contends that its initiative for encouraging parents to discuss smoking with their children (themed "Talk, they'll listen") is attaining its goals. The study found a correlation between increased exposure to tobacco company parent-targeted ads and lower recall of anti-tobacco messages and stronger intentions to smoke among all students. The study did not, however, find a link between increased exposure to the tobacco companies' youth-targeted smoking prevention initiatives and smoking behavior among American youths.

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