Archive for February, 2008

MIPTV featuring MILIA 2008 will see advertisers and brands out in force, both in the conference programme and the exhibition space.

Richard Dickson, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Media & Entertainment, Mattel Brands, will give the Advertising Keynote on Tuesday 8 April and Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Group, will give the opening speech of the Mobile Media day on Wednesday 9 April. Ogilvy will also be the first advertising agency to exhibit at MIPTV featuring MILIA and is a sponsor of the advertising and media conference track which will take place on Tuesday 8 April.

Global advertising agencies and their subsidiaries and affiliated companies from several countries are on the rise at MIPTV featuring MILIA this April: including TBWA, Havas Entertainment, Euro RSCG, WPP Group’s Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne Worldwide, OgilvyAction and some of the many global brands to participate will be Dove, Nike, American Express, Fanta, Ford, BP and Kodak.

Commenting on the growing force of digital for both the advertising industry and content producers , Paul Johnson, Director of the Television Division for Reed MIDEM, said, “All of the distribution solutions, whether they are traditional or digital, will increasingly need a strong advertising partner in order to succeed in a cross-platform world.

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Commercials appearing in local newscasts represent the most effective video advertising platform, a study by Hearst-Argyle Television, which owns 26 U.S. TV stations, has concluded. Speaking at the annual Association of National Advertisers (ANA) conference in New York, Hearst-Argyle chief David Barrett also pointed out that local TV news is more “DVR proof” than other broadcasts because viewers tend to watch the programs live and therefore can’t fast forward through commercials.

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Those worried that these new-fangled video games are taking vital attention away from the written word likely won’t be too happy with the news that Borders Books is reportedly testing game sales in its Oxford Street London store. A handful of PC titles sit alongside the store’s selection of CDs and DVDs as part of a pilot program that Borders UK and Ireland Commercial Director David Kohn thinks could expand to be a core part of the store’s business.

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Overall, the best cars sold in the U.S. are made by Honda. That’s the conclusion of a recent analysis conducted by Consumer Reports that looks at the reliability, performance, fuel economy, comfort, interior fit and finish, and ergonomics of 262 vehicles we’ve recently tested.Honda, with an overall score of 78, is followed closely by Toyota (75) and Subaru (72). BMW, Mazda, Nissan, and Volkswagen are tied at 71, after rounding.

Detroit automakers garnered some of the lowest scores, but we have seen some significant signs of improvement in Ford and GM vehicles this past year.

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Jimmy Kimmel assembled a pretty sweet collection of celebrities for his “I’m F—ing Ben Affleck” video — Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford were just two of the A-list stars featured in the viral sensation — but there was one ’80s icon he just couldn’t land. “You know who we really wanted to be in it but couldn’t because of her schedule was Cyndi Lauper,” Kimmel says of the We Are the World veteran. “We thought it would be great to have her really belting it out right in the middle of the song. But God took Cyndi Lauper away from us and gave us Josh Groban. I think this is some of his best work.”How did Pitt — who received what Kimmel exec producer Jill Leiderman calls an “impassioned plea” to sign on — wind up as a delivery dude? “It was the middle of the night and we had to give Brad ideas in the morning, and I just scratched out a bunch,” says Kimmel. “I really liked the FedEx idea, and he definitely picked the right one…. Turns out, he’s a very good actor. I think he just needed a part like this to really shine.”

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There is no written sound effect that can fully express the magnitude of my frustration after watching last night’s episode of Celebrity Apprentice, but I think the closest I can come up with is simply: Uuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggg. Somehow, we managed to lose yet another surprisingly endearing contestant last night before the likes of the intolerable Omarosa, obnoxious Piers and completely useless Lennox. Yep, Tito — a.k.a. the only fighter on Celebrity Apprentice that can form a simple sentence — was called out of the ring and sent packing, even though Omarosa probably should have gone home for neglecting to step up to the plate. (At least Tito left with that $50,000 consolation prize for St. Jude’s.)

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Katherine Heigl’s husband Josh Kelley showed off some hidden talents by solving on a Rubik’s cube during Live with Regis and Kelly on Friday.

The singer, who married the Grey’s Anatomy star in December, furiously worked to solve the toy’s puzzle – and chatted about married life with the TV hosts.

Asked by Philbin how he likes being married. Kelley responded, “Oh man, it feels good, dude. It feels really, really good. I finally, I’ve got roots now. It’s like I am finally becoming an adult.”

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The redhead is back at Seattle Grace! ABC has confirmed that Kate Walsh, whose freshman show Private Practice is on hiatus until fall, will return to Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Addison Montgomery for one episode this spring. Executive Producer Shonda Rhimes is still fleshing out the script, so there’s no word yet on when Walsh’s episode will air. ABC will air five originals of Grey’s beginning April 24.

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Mixed martial arts is coming to CBS in prime time as part of a multi-year deal with ProElite in which the network will televise four live, two-hour MMA events per year.

The network will air the events, produced by ProElite’s EliteXC fight division, on Saturday nights. It is another move where CBS is taking programming that originally aired on its sister pay cable network Showtime. CBS recently began airing the Showtime drama Dexter. Showtime has been televising EliteXC live MMA events since last year. These events will continue to air on Showtime, in addition to CBS.

Also part of the deal, CBS Interactive and ProElite.com will collaborate on generating interactive content for both companies’ Web platforms, including CBSSports.com. The online events could include video streaming of the events and clips and highlights syndicated across the CBS Audience Network.
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