Media and Marketing Mix

Now we know things are really bad in the Chicago ad industry. Bernie DiMeo, one of the most colorful members of the local ad community for the past 22 years, said Monday he is in the process of shutting down his ad shop, DiMeo & Co./Chicago, which for most of last year employed a staff of 11. DiMeo said the revenue stream simply wasn't strong enough to justify carrying on. "Things hadn't been good for a while," said DiMeo.

The biggest blow apparently came about 16 months ago with the loss of the local Popeyes restaurant co-op account. Though there had been the occasional new business win since then, they weren't enough to make up for a big loss. For the past 16 years, DiMeo also was the agency of record for the Chicago Bulls. Steve Schanwald, executive vice-president, business operations for the Bulls, said that in the short term, the plan is keep the Bulls advertising account in-house. "Long term, we'll see," added Schanwald.

DiMeo said he expects to remain connected to the advertising and public relations industries in some fashion, but he is still sorting out what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. "I should know in about 60 days," he said. In the heyday of DiMeo & Co., no adman embodied the fun spirit of the good ol' days more than Bernie DiMeo. He knew a good party when he threw one, and he was as adept at self-promotion as he was at the art and craft of promoting clients.

But in the end, all the fun stuff couldn't pay the bills. We doubt anyone will come along anytime soon that can match Bernie's joie de vivre. A loss indeed.

Is DDB/Chicago about to suffer its biggest blow yet? Sources close to developments say the Chicago agency may be about to say goodbye to two of its most important, high-profile and lucrative brands: Bud Light and Budweiser.

Sources say plans may be in the works to move the Bud Light business to DDB's San Francisco office and the Budweiser account to DDB's New York outpost, which would leave the Chicago office with next to no Anheuser-Busch business. Those east and west coast shops could have -- or have access to -- the creative firepower to give the accounts the jolt the Chicago shop hasn't been able to of late. A DDB spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment.

Plus, DDB reportedly has just parted ways with Steve Jackson, a top-level global account person on the Anheuser-Busch business. Jackson had worked on the A-B business at DDB for more than 20 years. Jackson's departure is viewed as another sign that all is not well with DDB's relationship with Anheuser-Busch.

Word of these developments comes just days before Super Bowl Sunday -- which traditionally has been one of DDB/Chicago's biggest days. For years, the agency typically provided multiple Bud Light and Budweiser Super Bowl spots. But for the first time in memory, DDB/Chicago was shut out of the Bud Light Super Bowl line-up altogether because its work did not score high enough in focus group testing.

And there were even problems with the Budweiser work. A DDB/Chicago Clydesdale spot had to be re-edited, and the public had to vote to put the commercial in the Super Bowl, before Anheuser-Busch would add it to the line-up for the game.

Moving the Bud Light account to San Francisco could be part of DDB's and parent Omnicom Group's last-ditch effort to hold on to its lucrative Anheuser-Busch business. That business is no longer as lucrative as it once was, but it still provides significant income for the shop. A-B business that once brought in close to $20 million annually for DDB/Chicago is now worth about $6 million to the agency, sources say.

By all accounts, DDB/Chicago's hold on the A-B business grew considerably more tenuous after the brewery's chief creative officer Bob Lachky exited a year ago. The former DDB executive was in charge of deciding what creative from which agencies the brewery would use, and he always seemed to take care of DDB.

However things play out with Anheuser-Busch, DDB/Chicago still has other major issues to tackle, chief among them a glaring absence of new business even as big chunks continue to exit the shop. And nearly two years after chief creative officer Paul Tilley jumped to his death, DDB/Chicago leader Rick Carpenter has yet to find a new chief creative officer. With each passing day the question looms ever larger: Is it even possible to get one now with the agency in its current state?

U.S. Cellular, the nation's fifth-largest wireless carrier, has named Lapiz/Chicago its Hispanic agency of record. U.S. Cellular was looking for a strategic partner to help them best define and segment their Hispanic customers. Lapiz also is based in Chicago, U.S. Cellular's biggest market.

As Hispanic agency of record, Lapiz, a division of Leo Burnett, will be responsible for strategy and creative related to overall branding for U.S. Cellular, as well as specific promotional advertising targeting the United States Hispanic audience. "In looking for a strategic partner to support its brand within the Hispanic community, U.S. Cellular recognized similar company values in our approach to putting a brand's purpose at the center of communication," said Dolores Kunda, president and CEO of Lapiz.

U.S. Cellular, the nation's fifth-largest wireless carrier, has named Lapiz/Chicago its Hispanic agency of record. U.S. Cellular was looking for a strategic partner to help them best define and segment their Hispanic customers. Lapiz also is based in Chicago, U.S. Cellular's biggest market.

As Hispanic agency of record, Lapiz, a division of Leo Burnett, will be responsible for strategy and creative related to overall branding for U.S. Cellular, as well as specific promotional advertising targeting the United States Hispanic audience. "In looking for a strategic partner to support its brand within the Hispanic community, U.S. Cellular recognized similar company values in our approach to putting a brand's purpose at the center of communication," said Dolores Kunda, president and CEO of Lapiz.

Sources are reporting the Rustoleum advertising account has come back to Chicago. McGarryBowen/Chicago reportedly has won the business, which had been quietly put into review. Periscope/Minneapolis most recently had the account. Energy BBDO/Chicago was competing along with MB and Periscope for the business. The Rustoleum account had been based in Chicago as recently as 2006, when it was housed at the now-defunct Greenhouse shop.

McGarryBowen's Chicago office has been on a roll in recent months. The agency picked up the Maxwell House coffee account recently, the latest in a series of Kraft Foods brands the agency has added to its client roster. The agency also recently moved into new digs in the American Medical Association building. McGarry execs could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Chicago White Sox have selected the San Jose Group/Chicago as its first Hispanic ad agency of record. The move is part of an effort by White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and the team's top management to grow a significant, loyal segment of the White Sox audience at U.S. Cellular Field, where on average about 14 percent of the crowd for a typical game is Hispanic. Energy BBDO/Chicago will continue to handle White Sox general market advertising.

The San Jose Group will work on an Hispanic-focused ad campaign that is expected to break in about four weeks. The finished campaign will include Spanish-language online work, as well as print, radio and television executions. "Baseball is a powerful passion point for Latinos, and we are going to tap into that excitement for the game and continue building affinity for the White Sox among Latinos," said George L. San Jose, president and chief operating officer of the San Jose Group, which was founded in 1981. The agency also will assist with public relations outreach to the metro Chicago Hispanic community that numbers nearly 2 million.

Meanwhile, the White Sox are expected to unveil the first print executions for their 2010 general market ad campaign next week to coincide with the start of individual ticket sales. The new campaign will carry the tag line "White Sox baseball: It's black and white." The theme is intended to suggest that there are no gray areas at the White Sox, especially when it comes to winning and losing. TV commercials may break as early as March, and some of the ads are expected to feature White Sox team members.

Remember the Burma Shave sequential sign advertising? The Illinois State Bar Association and its ad agency & Wojdyla/Chicago drew their inspiration for a new outdoor campaign from the wonderfully-entertaining Burma Shave executions were a mainstay during America's Great Depression. Given the economic hard times we've endured recently, it's understandable why David Wojdyla and his creative team might have turned to the Burma Shave advertising concept for inspiration.

The new ISBA billboard executions encourage consumers always to be aware of whether attorneys actually belong to the Illinois State Bar Association and to hire only member attorneys. The sequential billboards are going up along Interstate 55 and in Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center, where they appear as side-by-side backlit displays.

Speaking of "Monsters & Money In the Morning," the overnight Nielsen ratings for the show's debut Monday on CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 weren't promising. The first hour of the show from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. pulled a .6 rating. But that small number fell dramatically to a mere .2 rating in the show's second hour from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.

That means the show lost around two-thirds of its audience after the first hour. Some viewers may have headed off to work, but others may have simply headed to another local TV station. Per the January 2010 Nielsen numbers, WBBM's old, more traditional early morning news show had averaged a .8 rating from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. from Jan. 7 to 27, and that number grew to a 1 rating in the 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. hour.

"Monsters & Money In the Morning" has made its long-awaited debut on CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2. Everyone was expecting the talk show to be a departure from the other early morning local new shows, and that it is. But what has caught the attention of a lot of viewers is the revolving camera in the middle of the table around which the four co-hosts -- Mike North, Dan Jiggetts, Mike Hegedus and Terry Savage -- are seated.

We have written about the considerable thought given to designing the set for the show over the course of a number of weeks, but we had heard no mention of a camera being placed on the large round table itself. And, as we learned today, there was originally no plan to put a camera on the table. But during rehearsals last Friday, this new camera device was discussed, and at the very last minute a decision was made to give it a try on "Monsters & Money." So there it is. A conversation-starter, to be sure, but it does inject a slightly creepy quality into the show.

Dave Fogel is returning to the Chicago market as morning drive host at oldies WLS-FM (94.7). He replaces Brant Miller, who had been doing double duty as NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 weatherman and morning drive host at WLS-FM. Fogel was last in the market as a talent at hot adult contemporary WTMX-FM (101.9), where he was on air from 1997 to 2004. He most recently was at KCKC-FM in Kansas City. Joining Fogel on his new morning drive show at WLS-FM will be Maura Myles, who will handle traffic, weather, news and other duties. Myles moves over from WLS-AM (890), where she had a similar role. Fogel begins his new job on Mar. 1.