Tuesday, December 23, 2008

A Mean Year for Ads and Their Agencies

Video

By SUZANNE VRANICA

It took a year for economists to call the recession. Yet Madison Avenue felt the pinch earlier than most industries.

Despite an ad-rich presidential election and the Olympics, U.S. ad spending this year is expected to decline 3.8% to $172.5 billion, according to Publicis Groupe SA, as sharp pullbacks in the second half by auto makers and others put an end to routine annual gains.

Microsoft

Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates teamed up in some head-scratching ads for Microsoft.

General Motors Corp., for instance, has asked its agencies to slash fees by as much as 20% this year and next.

An industry-wide ad spending decline of another 6.2%, to $161.8 billion, is forecast for 2009.

In response, big agencies such as Omnicom Group are resorting to layoffs. Omnicom this year cut loose almost 5% of its 70,000 employees, and more pink slips are expected at other agencies early in 2009.

Ad companies continued to buy digital shops and other types of marketing concerns to help offset the slowdown. WPP paid £1.1 billion ($1.95 billion) for Taylor Nelson Sofres, a market research firm.

Marketers also continued to shift resources to the Web, as brands such as Gatorade relied on viral videos to grab attention.

Still, the Internet won't offer a safe harbor. WPP PLC predicts online ad spending will increase just 5% in 2009, down from an estimated 16% increase in 2008.

The ad industry never stopped trying to surprise.

From reviews of major campaigns and interviews with advertising executives, here are our choices for the best and worst ads that made headlines this year.

The Best

Political Hip-Hop

Content: "Yes We Can," a music video produced by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, showed footage of a speech by President-elect Barack Obama as musicians and celebrities echoed his words.

Feedback: In a bitter advertising war, the ad managed to take the high ground -- and vividly demonstrated the treatment of politicians as brands. The video, which wasn't commissioned by the Obama camp, was viewed more than 20 million times on sites such as YouTube and fueled "yes we can" as the rallying cry for supporters.

Vote: Which Ad Is Best?


Obama VIEW \| VOTE	Burger King VIEW \| VOTE

E-Trade VIEW \| VOTE	Gatorade VIEW \| VOTE
	Discuss: What makes an ad good?
Apple VIEW (TV) \| VOTE	View results

Fast-Foodies Get Punked

Client: Burger King Holdings

Agency: MDC Partners Inc.'s Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Content: The burger baron resorted to a hoax dubbed "Whopper Freakout" that snatched the Whopper from the menu at two stores and used hidden cameras to film customers' dismay.

Feedback: The campaign received enormous attention on and off the Internet, boosting Whooper sales, the company said. People created their own versions of the ad and posted them online.

Tired-and-True

Client: E*Trade Financial Corp.

Agency: WPP's Grey Group

Content: E*Trade gave us a talking baby during this year's Super Bowl to show that online banking and trading is so easy, even you-know-who could do it.

Feedback: Ad executives say you can never go wrong with sex, babies or puppies, and E*Trade's effort paid off. E*Trade took a risk jumping into an expensive ad buy.

Believe It or Not

Client: PepsiCo Inc.'s Gatorade

Agency: Omnicom's Element 79

Content: An online video showed a ball girl for the Fresno Grizzlies minor-league baseball team scaling the wall to make a stunning catch of a foul ball. A bottle of Gatorade appeared briefly at her feet.

Feedback: Made to look like a home video, the ad had viewers believing it was a real catch. It never aired on TV but was viewed by more than six million people online, according to Gatorade, and generated buzz on outlets such as "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

iBanner

Client: Apple Inc.

Agency: Omnicom's TBWA/Media Arts Lab

Content: Apple used interactive banner ads this year, featuring its well-known Mac and PC ad characters. In an ad that appeared on the home page of the New York Times site, the nerdy PC character dragged a story with the headline "Stop Switching to Mac!" into the ad space on the right side of the screen.

Feedback: Banner ads have been much maligned, but Apple's tweaks helped its ads stand out, say digital ad experts. The ad's average click-through rates were three times the industry average, and the ads garnered awards.

The Worst

Odd Couple

Client: Microsoft Corp.

Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Content: Microsoft shelled out about $10 million for pitchman Jerry Seinfeld and paired him with Bill Gates for a massive Windows ad campaign. In one spot, the pair shopped for shoes; in another, they bunked with a family.

Feedback: The much-anticipated ads were largely panned by viewers and ad experts. A Microsoft spokesman says, "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. We're thrilled."

Vote: Which Ad Is Worst?


Microsoft VIEW \| VOTE	Toyota VIEW \| VOTE

Salesgenie VIEW \| VOTE	AIG VIEW \| VOTE
	Discuss: What makes an ad good?
Pfizer VIEW \| VOTE	View results

Sledgehammer Marketing

Client: Toyota Motor Corp.

Agency: Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi

Content: A car ad pushing zero-percent financing featured a version of the 1983 Fixx song "Saved by Zero."

Feedback: Toyota's ad appears tone deaf. A Facebook fan club that urged "Stop Playing Toyota's 'Saved by Zero' Commercial" was able to recruit about 10,000 members. TV watchers were sick of seeing the ad. "Our objective was to drive traffic to our dealers who were experiencing a dropoff," says a Toyota spokeswoman, adding, "The ad performed: showroom traffic increased."

Offensive Fumble

Client: Salesgenie.com, a unit of InfoGroup Inc.

Agency: In-house

Content: One animated Super Bowl ad featured a panda couple, speaking in Asian accents, who worry they may go out of business and are saved by a panda psychic who recommends Salesgenie. Another spot showed a white boss berating an Indian salesman, Ramesh, who has eight children.

Feedback: With over 90 million people watching the big game, the company misfired with these ads, say ad executives and many Super Bowl viewers. The company, which provides databases to marketers, eventually apologized for the ads and pulled the panda spot off the air. Salesgenie did not return calls seeking comment.

A Strong Message

Client: American International Group Inc.

Agency: Omnicom's BBDO

Content: Ads for the troubled insurance company carried the slogan "The Strength to Be There." One ad featured cute children concerned about complex financial issues. They told their worries to their parents, who quickly reassured the moppets that everything was indeed OK, because "We're with AIG."

Feedback: Even as the insurer was awaiting its government bailout, it was airing ads that carried the self-assured slogan. The company eventually cut corporate ads that carried the tag line. The slogan "did get pulled off, because it was a distraction to our businesses, which continue to be strong," says Charlie Armstrong, an AIG advertising executive.

Bitter Medicine

Client: Pfizer Inc.

Agency: Publicis's Kaplan Thaler Group

Content: TV and print ads featured Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the artificial heart, peddling the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor. In one ad, Dr. Jarvik says, "Just because I'm a doctor doesn't mean I don't worry about my cholesterol."

Feedback: The drug maker pulled the ads after the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, examining drug endorsements, complained Dr. Javik isn't a practicing physician. A spokesman for Pfizer declined to comment.

—Emily Steel contributed to this article.

Write to Suzanne Vranica at suzanne.vranica@wsj.com

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