Archive for April 4th, 2008

Today, on “This Week in iPhone,” we’ll address two significant developments. Apple stores around the country are starting to recover from an iPhone shortage, while T-Mobile has cut the price of the iPhone in Germany by 300 euros.

First up, the supply concerns. Apple acknowledged the shortage and told The New York Times that it was working to get iPhones into its retail stores as fast as possible. The cause of the shortage still hasn’t emerged, but speculation that a 3G iPhone would be arriving sooner than expected has cooled.

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NBC and Liberty Mutual have struck a marketing partnership that casts the insurance company as primary sponsor of two movies tied to a larger promotional effort based on the theme of personal responsibility.

The initial project, a two-hour pilot called “Kings” is about a young soldier who saves a king’s son from enemy territory. A second movie will air on NBC and USA Network during the 2008-09 season. The campaign is tied to Liberty Mutual’s “Responsibility Project,” a branded-entertainment initiative.

The themes of the movies are suggestive of the overall project. The deal calls for Liberty Mutual to use independently produced short films, online content and on-air content through the NBC relationship to encourage the concept of maintaining a sense of personal responsibility by doing the right thing.
The NBC movies will be promoted and linked to The Responsibility Project Web site at http://www.responsibilityproject.com, featuring short films, interviews, articles and blog postings related to the site’s central theme.

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Cartoon Network is beefing up its resources to become a stronger player in the increasingly competitive kids’ entertainment marketplace. The network is pairing exclusive rights to tentpole series like “Star Wars: Clone Wars” with new prime-time programming blocks of strong-performing new shows “Chowder” and “Ben 10″; TV rights to feature films like “Hoodwinked,” “The Ant Bully” and “Open Season”; and live-action fare like Will Ferrell’s “Kicking and Screaming.”

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When you think of Jodie Foster these days, you tend to remember the sometimes-intense, as-often-icy characters she played in such hit thrillers as “The Brave One,” “Flightplan” and “Panic Room.”

And you certainly don’t think of the light comedienne version of Foster who appeared in the movie version of “Maverick” and the original “Freaky Friday.”

“Nim’s Island” finds Foster trying to lighten up a bit, indulging her comic tendencies.

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Havas Media has bought Cake, the branded entertainment agency, for an undisclosed sum. The agency will join other similar Havas Media-owned specialist agencies under the Havas Entertainment brand.Havas says the purchase of Cake is part of a continuing strategy to consolidate and expand the group’s branded entertainment network, housed within Havas Media. It has eight other agencies based in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, Mexico, India and Chile. Over the next year, the agencies will be aligned under the name Havas Entertainment.

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NEWS CORP. THIS MORNING announced a restructuring of its Fox Interactive Media unit, including the launch of a long-awaited online advertising network, and the departure of long-time Chief Revenue Officer Michael Barrett, as it flattens out its interactive sales organization.

Adam Bain was named president of the new online ad network, dubbed Fox Interactive Media Audience Network, which will combine inventory across Fox’s existing interactive content network with that of third-party publishers. The company said the network would leverage Fox’s HyperTargeting technology, as well as its proprietary ad-serving platform.

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AMAZON.COM STRENGTHENED THE LINK BETWEEN Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley this week, sending more than a message that mobile transactions and marketing have arrived on cell phones.

The new service, called TextBuyIt, lets customers with Amazon accounts find and buy products in less than one minute via text message through Amazon’s Web site. Using Amazon’s service simply requires consumers to send a text message to “AMAZON” (262966) with the product name, search term, UPC or ISBN.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. has surpassed Wal-Mart to become America’s No. 1 music store, the first time that a seller of digital downloads has ever beaten the big CD retailers.

Apple sold more albums in January and February than any other U.S. retailer, market research firm NPD Group said Thursday, underscoring how the music industry is on the front edge of a digital media shift that is upending businesses as diverse as bookstores and video game makers.

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On the same day that MySpace announced a landmark music deal with several major record labels, Fox Interactive Media, the social network’s parent, unveiled a “significant” restructuring. FIM will spin off its advertising technology business, and chief revenue officer Michael Barrett will leave the company. The move could be the result of FIM missing fiscal-year revenue projections by more than 10 percent, or approximately $100 million, although a company spokeswoman claimed the News Corp. unit’s revenues would be “close to the target” of $1 billion.

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Microsoft sent a direct message to the ad buying community on Thursday–everyone’s software company is a hit-making digital media leader.

The company unveiled an ambitious slate of original programming created for its multiple Web platforms, including the MSN portal, MSNBC.com and Xbox Live before a group of agency and marketing executives at its first ever Digital Showcase held at the Director’s Guild Theater in New York. During the event, executives emphasized the company’s commitment to producing highly targeted, large scale Web series, which facilitate integrated advertising opportunities.

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