Newswires: Late-Breaking News

Maxwell House Campaign Shifts to Promos, WebNEW YORK Ogilvy & Mather's new "Brew some good" campaign for Kraft's Maxwell House shifts to promotional and Web efforts in the next two weeks, with, for example, the marketer picking up the cost of highway tolls while distributing samples of its reformulated coffee. For two hours on Wednesday morning, an estimated 100,000 drivers in eight markets will pass through toll booths for free. The Web effort revolves around a new microsite, www.brewsomegood,com, that Maxwell House will launch Nov. 30. Users will be able to post videos, smile into a Web camera to get coupons and share uplifting stories in the spirit of the brand's positioning as a coffee for optimistic early risers. WPP's Ogilvy here developed the Web site, while OgilvyAction is executing the promotional efforts. The campaign's budget was not disclosed. Kraft spent nearly $25 million in major measured media on the brand last year and $9 million in the first eight months of 2007, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. GlobalHue Reorganizes, Splits Into 4 Ethnocentric AgenciesNEW YORK Southfield, Mich.-based GlobalHue last week said it would divide its business operations into four separate agencies devoted to its expertise in the areas of Hispanic, African American and Asian consumers as well as the emerging general market influenced by ethnic trends. The agencies will operate under the holding company GlobalHue as GlobalHue Latino, GlobalHue African American, GlobalHue Asian Pacific Islander and GlobalHue Next. The restructuring is intended to reposition each of the four entities "to stay ahead of the curve and continue to effectively reach the nation's fastest-growing markets now and in the future," the company said. From a client perspective, GlobalHue said the new agency offerings would help to "better direct how their current and future clients connect with multicultural audiences."Word-of-Mouth Spending To Top $1.3 Bil., per SurveyBOSTON Spending on word-of-mouth marketing is projected to rise more than 37 percent this year to $1.35 billion, according to a report issued last week by PQ Media, a research firm in Stamford, Conn. Driving that growth is the continued consumer shift to alternative media and the need for marketers to improve brand engagement and return on investment, according to PQ. The findings of the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Forecast 2006-2011 were presented in detail at last week's Word-of-Mouth Marketing Summit 2007 in Las Vegas.Saatchi & Saatchi CCO Granger Takes Global Role at Y&RNEW YORK Tony Granger, chief creative officer at Publicis' Saatchi & Saatchi since 2004, is joining WPP's Young & Rubicam as worldwide creative director, Y&R said last week. Granger, who won't start until next year, fills a vacancy left by the December 2006 exit of Michael Patti. Granger became the top creative at Saatchi's New York headquarters in October 2004, replacing Tod Seisser. Saatchi, which declined comment, is searching for Granger's successor. Co-founder Kim Departs Havas' MPG Entertainment NEW YORK Hank Kim, one of two co-founding directors of Havas-owned MPG's branded entertainment unit, has left the agency, the shop confirmed. MPG in 2004 hired Kim and Richard Linnett, both former Adweek and Advertising Age staffers, to set up and run the department. Earlier this year, Linnett left for a similar post at New York-based Fathom Communications, a unit of Omnicom. MPG chief operating officer Steve Lanzano confirmed Kim's departure and indicated that a search is underway for his replacement. Kim said he was pursuing consulting opportunities in the marketing communications area. McCabe to Join Deutsch as Partner, Chief Strategy OfficerNEW YORK Mick McCabe will join IPG's Deutsch here as a partner and chief strategy officer after the long Thanksgiving weekend. McCabe, 37, a 15-year industry veteran, joins from Publicis' Leo Burnett in Chicago, where he spent five years, most recently as evp, director of planning. McCabe's earlier agency experience includes planning posts at Omnicom's TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York and Publicis' Fallon in Minneapolis. His résumé includes high-profile work for the launches of Nintendo's Wii and Altoids' chocolate confections. He will report to Deutsch N.Y. president Van DiFebo and succeeds Jeffrey Wolf, who left a year ago.GSD&M Preps 15% Staff Cut; Result of AT&T Account LossLOS ANGELES Omnicom's GSD&M Idea City will cut roughly 10-15 percent of its staff, about 90-120 people, as a result of the shop losing its portion of AT&T's media chores in October, per sources. Most of the cuts will likely come from the agency's media ranks and start as soon as this week, sources said. The $2.3 billion AT&T media account was consolidated at WPP's Mediaedge:cia, New York, last month. GSD&M had handled media planning and buying across traditional and digital channels for the company's landline business. Its exact share of the ad spending could not be determined, but sources said AT&T spent $1 billion annually in measured media through GSD&M. Sources said executives within the Austin, Texas-based agency are working to place the workers at other shops. Agency executives, including CEO Roy Spence, either could not be reached or declined comment. FCC's Martin Eyes Changes To Media Ownership RulesNEW YORK In a move likely to stir debate, Federal Communications Commission chief Kevin Martin last week proposed that it change the 32-year ban on owning a newspaper and TV or radio station in a single market, but only in the nation's largest markets. The rule change is the only one Martin suggested after review of all media ownership rules, rejecting any changes in the local TV duopoly rule, the local radio ownership rule and the local radio-TV cross-ownership rule. If the full commission agrees to the amendment, it could smooth the way for Sam Zell's bid to take Tribune Co. private. Citing the troubled newspaper business, Martin's proposal would allow a newspaper to own one TV station or one radio station, but only in top-20 markets. There must also be eight independently owned and operated media voices in the market, and if the transaction involved a TV station, the station could not be among the top-four-ranked stations.Targeting Latinos, MTV Tr3s Plans Mobile Social NetworkNEW YORK MTV Networks will develop and launch a mobile social network called Con3xion in December around its Latino youth-focused channel MTV Tr3s, it said last week. It will target heavy users of mobile data technology and will be mounted in partnership with San Diego-based mobile social networking company Intercasting Corp., the companies said. "We have seen a huge consumption of mobile content in the Latino community with more than 60 percent growth in video streams for the channel every month in the past quarter," Greg Clayman, MTV's evp, digital distribution and business development, said in a statement. Notably, 63 percent of Hispanics own a media-capable cell phone, compared with 46 percent of non-Latinos, and Latinos are more likely to use their cell phones to watch video content, according to the networks' Slivered Screen research.

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