FedEx is breaking tradition by not airing one of their more-often-than-not hilarious BBDO produced crazy SuperBowl commercials. The reason for their absence is explained on their blog:
“As a country, we are in unprecedented economic waters. And as a responsible employer of more than 290,000 employees and contractors worldwide, there is a time to justify such an ad spend and a time to step back. ”
With NBC getting $3 million per 30 second spot this year and the economy in the crapper their decision comes across as a good guy move, but they will definitely be missed.
Starbucks is expected to make a big round of layoffs, as many as 1,000 people, according to an email sent to investors. The layoffs will be concentrated at Starbucks HQ, cutting the number of workers there by a third.
Apparently the good people at Subway aren’t too keen on pizza maker Domino’s trying to take a bite out of their sandwich business.
Domino’s recently began airing taste-test TV spots claiming that consumers preferred its new subs over Subway’s by a two-to-one margin. Subway responded with a cease-and-desist letter citing concerns about their test’s methodology. Domino’s responded by baking the letter in a spot aired during American Idol. Burn indeed!
Microsoft joins the scores of companies forced to cut jobs to reduce operating cost. The move to layoff 5,000 people is unprecedented but Microsoft is not immune to the recession plaguing every sector of the economy.
“While we are not immune to the effects of the economy, I am confident in the strength of our product portfolio and soundness of our approach,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “We will continue to manage expenses and invest in long-term opportunities to deliver value to customers and shareholders, and we will emerge an even stronger industry leader than we are today.”
NYCGo.com launched January 21st in conjunction with a new tourist-geared info center in Midtown. Other partners in nycgo.com include Travelocity, Time Out New York, Paper magazine, the New York Observer and the eco-conscious consumer guide Greenopia.
As part of its recent decision to kill off poorly performing products Google has decided to end its 2-year-old Print Ad Program. In a blog post on Google’s Traditional Media blog, Spencer Spinnell, Director of Google Print Ads, explained that the program never generated significant revenues for Google’s 800 offline partners.
The closing of the program is the most high profile product to get the ax so far. Other services Google has decided to shutter include the mobile social network Dodgeball, as well as micro-blogging service Jaiku and Google Catalog Search.
“While we hoped that Print Ads would create a new revenue stream for newspapers and produce more relevant advertising for consumers, the product has not created the impact that we — or our partners — wanted,” Spinnell wrote.
I’ve seen plenty of businesses, mostly local, advertise their disdain for George W. or their enthusiasm for Obama but this ad for Australian-based hair removal product Veet really hit the mark this week. Topical advertising that includes a brand message never fails to win me over.
Ad Age not only reports the obvious, they pay for a survey to prove it.
Lightspeed Research was commissioned to ask consumers if they had cutback upmarket coffee consumption. The answer, unsurprisingly, is yes.
