Marketers spent 4.2 percent more in 2005 than in 2004, with the top 10 U.S. advertisers spending $17 billion across a range of media, with the internet, Spanish-language TV and cable TV showing the most growth, and national newspapers and network TV seeing the greatest declines, according to Nielsen Media Research, reports AdAge (via MarketingVox). Internet ad spending (excluding paid-search, sponsorships and barters) increased 23 percent year over year.
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About 100 billboards are going up around Mississippi that show photographs of convicted sex offenders, along with their names, sentences, and descriptions of their crimes, according to the Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger. The billboards are a part of the state Department of Human Services’ effort to raise public awareness about sex crimes against children, but the American Civil Liberties Union in Mississippi has called the move a waste of taxpayer funds.
Hoping to get a head start in upcoming negotiations with organizations representing actors, the Joint Policy Committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and Association of National Advertisers is looking for a consultant to help the sides come up with a new system for compensating actors used in integrated campaigns, writes Adweek (via MarketingVox). With the creation of new media, talent has collected fees for various media for which an ad is repurposed, resulting in additional costs for advertisers and administrative problems for those managing talent payments.
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The New Yorker received five nominations for the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Awards, as did New York magazine, National Geographic, Harper’s and GQ, reports WWD. The Atlantic Monthly led the field with eight nominations and the Virginia Quarterly Review garnered six.
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“More people want our products today than wanted them yesterday; this is hardly the profile of a dying industry,” writes McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal today. McClatchy points out the fact that 54 percent of adults read newspapers, while nearly 60 percent do on Sundays.
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Tony Ridder Knight Ridder CEO Tony Ridder was shocked when the newspaper chain’s recent buyer McClatchy turned around and sold 12 of its newspapers, writes Yahoo News.
Fifty-seven percent of marketing firms will be hiring in 2006, up from last year’s figure of 52 percent, according to Aquent Marketing Staffing’s report “2006 Spending and Staffing Trends for Corporate Marketing Departments,” writes BtoB.
Former Philadelphia advertising executive, Brian Tierney, has a group of 20 “super-successful” Philadelphia business people committed to “well in excess of $100 million” to purchase The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News in an ownership agreement similar to that used by the community-owned Green Bay Packers pro football team, Editor & Publisher reports.
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During its board meeting last week, the Audit Bureau of Circulations approved a rapid circulation reporting service, called ABC Rapid Report, Mediaweek writes.
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JCDecaux, the world’s second-largest outdoor advertising company, forecasts a sales growth of more than 5 percent in 2006, the company announced today, after posting a 29 percent rise in second-half profit, Bloomberg reports. Takeovers in Hong Kong and more ads in public transport helped boost profits.
Among the decisions released to solve over 300,000 complaints of televised indecency in 49 programs, the Federal Communications Commission yesterday handed out over $3 million in new televised indecency fines to a number of CBS stations, Mediaweek reports.
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Following its first Ford boycott in 2002, the American Family Association has issued another boycott of the automaker, continuing to insist that Ford withdraw advertisements from gay publications, writes Media Life.
The AFA and 18 other family groups have joined together to form a one-year boycott of Ford for what they call supporting gay marriage.
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After a review concerning PHD and two other undisclosed agencies, watchmaker Timex named Omnicom Group-owned PHD its new media planner and buyer, writes Adweek.
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CMP Media announced Tuesday its plans to close Software Development as a standalone publication and to relaunch Dr. Dobb’s Journal in June, writes B2B. The change has not resulted in any layoffs.
