Coors’ Pitchman & CEO Arrested for DUI

Pete Coors, Chairman of Coors Brewing Co. and its beer pitchman, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, AdAge reports. Coors, 59, was cited for having a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit and also for rolling through a stop sign. Pete Coors frequently appeared in Coors ads urging responsible drinking and, on its website, Coors says it supports “more severe consequences” for drunk drivers.

Corporate Communicators Split on Responding to Negative Word of Mouth

Forty-six percent of corporate communications professionals said angry bloggers should be ignored or managed by the customer relations department, according to a poll conducted by Dallas/International Association of Business Communicators, BtoB reports. Forty-two percent said bloggers’ negative posts should be handled by media relations.

Ford to ‘Rip out the BS’ with Online Film Series

With an unlikely mixture of brutal honesty and advertising guile, Ford is telling the story of its turnaround efforts with a weekly online-only series of fifty 3-5-minute short films titled “Bold Moves. The Future of Ford,” reports AdAge (via MarketingVOX). In the first episode, Mark Fields, Ford president of the Americas, says the company should “rip out the BS and political posturing.” The series is produced by WPP Group’s JWT, Detroit and New York, and directed by Radical Media, New York.

Joyner’s Mixes LA Return with Gas Promotion

To kick off his return to LA radio yesterday, nationally syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner and 100.3 The Beat are offering $1 gas at stations around Los Angeles, RadioInk reports.

Budweiser Faces World Cup Backlash

As many as a thousand Netherlands World Cup fans had to turn in their pants before entering a stadium in Stuttgart, Germany because the orange team pants carried a logo for a Dutch Brewery, UPI reports. Since Budweiser owns exclusive beer advertising and promotional rights at the World Cup, that’s not allowed, so stadium officials made the Dutch fans shed their logos - pants - before they could enter.

According to FIFA officials, the trousers were an attempt at so-called ambush marketing - where a company tries to gain free publicity - and that they had to act to protect the interests of sponsors, BBC News reports.

This is just the latest in what could be called a PR nightmare for Budweiser, which paid $40 million for the World Cup beer monopoly.

Latin Grammy Awards Seeks Sponsors

The Latin Grammy Awards, headed to Madison Square Garden on November 2, is looking for five corporate sponsors in the wireless, automotive, financial services, retail and apparel categories. Univision will broadcast the show in Spanish.

Almost 50% of Media Execs Have Paid for Placement

Almost 50 percent (48.9 percent) of senior marketing executives report paying for an editorial or broadcast placement, according to the results of the fourth annual PRWeek/Manning Selvage & Lee (MS&L) Marketing Management Survey. Additionally, nearly half (45.6 percent) of all respondents who indicated their companies had never paid for a placement said they would consider it in the future.

According to the paid placement survey, which polled 266 U.S. chief marketing officers, marketing VPs and marketing directors, 24 percent of senior marketing executives said their companies had paid for an editorial placement; nine percent said their companies had paid for a broadcast placement; and nearly 16 percent reported their companies had paid for both.

P&G’s Braun Launches Viral Marketing Campaign

In an effort to overcome the hype given to Amazon.com bestseller Philips Norelco Bodygroom electric razor, Procter & Gamble Co.’s Braun has launched an unbranded viral campaign from Digitas, Boston, that aims to jokingly scare men clean-shaven by showing them the consequences of growing hairy stubble, writes Ad Age.

Marketing Compensation Survey Results Released

Boston-based Aquent and the American Marketing Association (AMA) have announced this year’s Compensation Survey of Marketing Professionals, and the news seems mostly good, according to a post in the MarketingProfs DailyFix blog (via MarketingVOX). The survey results point to companies’ placing more emphasis on strategic marketing within their organizations and hiring more top-level marketers. In fact, there are more positions available than there are top-tier candidates. Consequently, there’s more opportunity trickling down to mid-level and entry-level marketing positions.

Page Six Influences Buzz Industries

Content on Page Six of The New York Post can greatly influence those New York industries where buzz matters, including media, writes The York Times.