Yahoo Ad System Crashes, Advertisers in Dark, Livid

Upon opening new account…

After a weekend upgrade, Yahoo’s search engine ad system first slowed to a crawl, and then went belly up on Monday, preventing marketers from making changes to their campaigns, accessing their accounts and, in many cases, even having their ads run at all, reports MarketingVox. Yahoo support representatives are telling clients that they themselves can’t access their accounts and have no idea when the problem - now in its third day - will be fixed.

Yahoo search spokesperson Gaude Paez told MarketingVOX Wednesday evening that the upgrade caused “unexpected issues,” and that their engineers were working around the clock to fix the problem.

Direct Mail Piece Called Racist, Destroyed

A firm promoting identity theft insurance has been ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority to withdraw a direct mail piece that showed four black men in a police lineup on the grounds that it implied black men are criminals, according to Brand Republic.

The firm, Lifestyle Services Group, said that three versions of the pamphlet had been distributed to mobile phone insurance customers of its sister company, but that it had destroyed any remaining pamphlets.

Vogue to Feature Wal-Mart Ads

Vogue is running ads for discount retailer Wal-Mart alongside upscale designers such as Gucci, Oscar de la Renta and Roberto Cavalli, the New York Post reports. The ads will debut with an eight-page spread in the September issue.

The ads have received criticism from media buyers who say they don’t live up to the magazine’s stature. Not long ago, the magazine was known to turn away or bury in the back pages ads it deemed too down-market.

Comcast Wants ESPN’s MLB Rights

Comcast and its Outdoor Life Network snatched cable rights for the National Hockey League away from ESPN last week. Now, Comcast/OLN has set its sights on landing Major League Baseball’s Sunday-Wednesday-night cable package, ESPN’s rights to which expire at the end of the current season, Mediaweek reports.

Dish Network Wants a Town Named ‘Dish’

EchoStar’s Dish Network is looking for a town to change its name to “Dish,” MediaPost reports. In exchange for the name change, everyone in that town will get 10 years worth of free satellite service, which would total about $4 million for 1,000 households. The town would have to change street names, buildings, even city stationary.

Chevrolet & MLB Launch Hispanic Campaign

Major League Baseball and Chevrolet announced a program where people can vote for players that will comprise the first official MLB all-time Latino team, Brandweek reports.

People will be able to vote via English and Spanish ballots in participating Chevy dealerships nationwide or online at MLB.com. Chevy will support POP materials in all of their participating Chevy dealerships. The program is part of the automaker’s deal with MLB that names it the “official vehicle of Major League Baseball,” which continues through the 2007 season.

Playboy Launches Digital Edition

Playboy will launch a digital edition with its October issue, MarketWatch reports. Digital Playboy will be identical to the print edition. Christie Hefner, chief executive of Playboy, said giving Playboy increased distribution and worldwide access over the Web will boost its advertisers’ reach, and provide additional advertising sales opportunities through ad-sponsored links.

ImpreMedia Announces World Cup Ad Programs

ImpreMedia, the nation’s largest Spanish language newspaper publisher, has announced its editorial coverage of World Cup 2006 and related marketing programs available for advertisers.

The coverage, called will be anchored by a series of 10 editorial supplements focused on the World Cup, with programs running concurrently in Los Angeles’ La Opinion, El Diario La Prensa in New York and Chicago’s La Raza.

Time Invests In Glu Mobile

Time Warner, seeking to deliver entertainment content on cell phones, announced that it will invest about $7.5 million in Glu Mobile, a privately held company that makes and distributes games and other entertainment for mobile devices, Fortune reports. This comes at a time when other major media companies are searching for innovative ways to reach consumers with repurposed content. News Corp.’s Fox is filming exclusive content of the show 24 specifically for Verizon Wireless, and the NFL will provide special video highlights exclusively to Sprint wireless customers, for example.

Big Advertisers Sponsor Virgin Podcasts

Virgin Radio, whose Pete & Geoff Breakfast Show podcast has been getting 85,000 downloads every month since its launch in March, will add The Tim Lovejoy Show to its podcast list, Brand Republic reports. Nivea for Men will sponsor the podcasts.