Archive for August 16th, 2007

NEWLY INDEPENDENT CHRYSLER, LLC HAS hired Toyota marketer Deborah Wahl Meyer to be vice president and CMO, starting next week.

At 44, Meyer is a six-year veteran of Toyota, and most recently was vice president/marketing of the Lexus division. She will oversee global marketing and advertising for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep worldwide and report to Steven Landry, executive vice president/global sales, servicing and parts.

The move comes on the heels of Chrysler’s acquisition by Cerberus Capital Management, which now owns an 80% stake in the company. It also follows Chrysler’s appointment of former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli to chairman of the board and CEO of the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker.

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Rajdoot GTS bike in Raj Kapoor’s Bobby, a Ray Ban for Tom Cruise, and a Tata bus in Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. “Love them or hate them, product placements are nonetheless increasingly a part of our daily lives,” writes Jean-Marc Lehu in Branded Entertainment ( www.vivagroupindia.com). This is a world in which a brand can get close to its target audience through films and television programmes, songs and video games, he adds.

One of the early examples of product placement in the cinema that the book cites is of an Air France plane in the opening of Henri Decoin’s Razzia sur la Chnouf. The name of the airline is also mentioned by one of the characters later on, and written on a telegram shown on camera, narrates Lehu.

“Placement may be a logo, a brand name, a product or its packaging,” he explains. “In its least elaborate form, it merely allows for the appearance of a brand or product on screen. In its most effective form, it is so integrated into the storyline that its presence seems logical, even indispensable.” For the latter, Honeymoon may be an example, because the movie is about six couples on a four-day schedule, riding the bus from Mumbai to Goa.

Marrying movies and brands can work both ways. While a brand can contribute to a film’s entertainment by entering it, there is a danger of ‘hijacking the film or even a simple scene to turn it into an advertising spot’, in which case the emotional link may get snapped, cautions Lehu.

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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Don Imus might be returning to the airwaves — and advertisers may not be far behind.

Media reports were buzzing today that the radio host, fired by CBS and MSNBC from his “Imus in the Morning” show in April after he made controversial comments regarding members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, might be negotiating with WABC-AM. A spokeswoman said she had no comment regarding the reported discussions when contacted by Ad Age.

A $40 million deal?

The report surfaced with the news that Mr. Imus has settled the terms of the five-year contract he signed with CBS Radio just prior to his dismissal from the company. The Associated Press put a dollar figure of the deal at $40 million, but a CBS spokesperson said in a statement that “the terms of the settlement are confidential and will not be disclosed.”

The media-buying community had mixed reactions to the notion of a return. Marketers including Procter & Gamble Co., General Motors Corp., American Express and Staples were among the first to pull out of the show following racial remarks made by the talk show host.

Natalie Swed Stone, who heads up radio buying for OMD and who has had clients advertise on Mr. Imus’ previous incarnations, said she “couldn’t see why” advertisers would not want to put their money behind the host’s newest show. Mr. Imus has apologized several times for his remarks and advertisers could conclude that he has been punished enough.

She said Mr. Imus’ show could be a decent moneymaker for his next radio station. Ad Age estimated in April that revenues for “Imus in the Morning” brought in $15 million to $22 million for CBS’s WFAN-AM in New York alone, with an additional $2.5 million on his MSNBC simulcast.

‘Curiosity seekers’

Matthew Warnecke, VP-local and national radio for MediaCom, said Mr. Imus had a loyal audience on CBS that would likely follow him to his next venture. But advertisers probably won’t be signing up for any new shows “in the short term,” he said. “Certainly there will be curiosity seekers tuning in to see if he will trip up again or not.”

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