Media and Marketing Mix

It's not been a great few weeks for Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago and its hold on various facets of the Corona and Corona Light business. First came word that Corona importer Crown Imports was moving the Corona Light ad account to Publicis/New York -- a step that, at the very least, suggests C-K's grip all on all things Corona no longer is as solid as it once was.

Now, Crown says it intends to relieve C-K of media buying duties for the flagship Corona Extra, Corona Light and Modelo Especial brands. C-K had been handling media buys for the Corona brands since 1993. A Crown spokesman said the importer wants to find a single media buying agency to handle media chores for all the aforementioned beer brands, as well as the Pacifico brand, for which Creature in Seattle currently does both creative and media buys.

The plan is for Crown to select the new media buying firm by year's end and transition all media buying to that agency early in 2010. That means that Cramer-Krasselt will be left with a lot less of everything related to Corona -- including income -- in about another six months. It's not the best of situations, to say the least. C-K and its aggressive CEO Peter Krivkovich will have to start beating the bushes just a little harder to find some new business to make up for what it will be losing with all the Corona changes.

Of course, it might help if C-K managed to find a new creative leader for the Chicago shop sooner rather than later. We've always been told that clients -- potential and existing -- feel more comfortable when they know who will be overseeing the creative output at agencies where they are investing a lot of marketing money.

Informed sources say the NBA has a new lead quick service restaurant sponsor -- Taco Bell, replacing Oak Brook-based McDonald's, which had been an NBA sponsor for some 20 years. Taco Bell is a unit of the world's largest restaurant company, Louisville-based Yum! Brands. An official announcement of the newly-inked sponsorship deal is expected within the next couple of days.

Sources say the NBA's switch in principal quick service restaurant sponsors evolved from a developing relationship with Yum! that began in 2006. The NBA has been working internationally with another Yum! unit, KFC. The new sponsorship affiliation with the NBA will yield Taco Bell a number of high-profile opportunities to tout the Mexican fast food chain to a large basketball audience.

The folks at Euro RSCG/Chicago didn't come home from the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival with a boatload of Lion trophies, but at least they were lucky enough to be honored by the Mayor of Cannes and a group called ACT Responsible for a print ad the agency created for an organization called the Juvenile Protection Association. The honored ad called "Choke" was part of a series designed to make the point that verbal abuse towards children is just as damaging as physical abuse. The tagline for the honored campaign is "verbal abuse is still abuse." The public voted the child abuse campaign their favorite caused-related effort from among a number of ad campaigns on display in an exhibition at the Cannes fest.

Tim Smithe thinks it's the Smithe furniture empire's "prettiest" commercial to date. That may be, but the new spot featuring the three by-now-iconic furniture mavens is certainly not their most inspired bit of marketing lunacy. This newest Walter E. Smithe Furniture spot just now breaking has the three brothers sitting with Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White on a couch in front of Chicago's famed Buckingham Fountain. Though it's hardly a key point in the new spot, the couch on which all are seated is from the company's new Pierre Deux French Country furniture collection.

At the top of the spot we see the three Smithe brothers start mouthing French to each other as subtitles at the bottom of the screen seem to offer a translation of what the boys are saying. But anyone with even a passing familiarity with French will quickly realize what the Smithe boys are saying doesn't remotely jive with the translation -- a gimmick that creates confusion in the mind of the viewer. What's worse,though, is that it isn't funny. In any event, White suddenly mutters something in French too as the camera catches White's famed tumbling team waiting in the wings -- as it were. On cue, they start trampolining over the men seated on the couch. It's a fairly impressive feat -- exquisitely captured against a bright blue sky and the Chicago loop skyline.

But alas, the beauty of these visuals doesn't make up for the fact the commercial lost us at the beginning with all the French-speaking schtick. Still, some good will come out of the spot -- the Smithe brothers are supporting both the Buckingham Fountain restoration and the Jesse White Tumbling Team -- an organization that dates back to 1959, when it was founded as a juvenile delinquency prevention program.

Lew's view: B-

Sources say Vernon Hills-based CDW, the computer supplies reseller, has narrowed its search for a new ad agency to two finalists: the Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., and Ogilvy & Mather/Chicago -- two agencies that are vastly different in size and public profile. Martin, of course, is famously known as the shop that won the huge WalMart account from DraftFCB/Chicago, which had the business for just a few weeks. O&M has seen various pieces of business come and then go over the past several years, including Quiznos, Kraft Foods' Oscar Mayer unit and, of course, a large chunk of Sears business. O&M/Chicago remains best known for its recent "real beauty" work on the Dove beauty brand.

Gone from the CDW review, it appears, is DDB/Chicago, which had been pushing hard, we were informed, to remain in the running for business. No indication of when CDW will announce a winner.

Okay. We'll come clean. We were hardly fixated on what was happening in the south of France at the horrendously over-hyped, overrated event known as the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. But from a Chicago perspective (and granted there wasn't much of a Chicago perspective to worry about at the fest this year), there was one interesting development. The Escape Pod/Chicago proved it could compete with some of the biggest (but not necessarily the best) acts in Chicago, including Leo Burnett and DDB. Yes, Vinny Warren and the folk at the Escape Pod wowed 'em at Cannes with two of the commercials the agency created last summer for OfficeMax's delightful back-to-school ad campaign.

You remember the work. It was all about a guy going around New York City trying to pay for expensive jewelry and vehicles with nothing but pennies. "Used Car" and "Jewelry Store" from that campaign were both shortlisted in the Film category at Cannes -- a phenomenal achievement given that the Escape Pod had never before entered work at Cannes.

Meanwhile, among the city's biggies, Burnett managed only two commercials on the short list -- "Brother of the Bride" for Hallmark Cards and "Zach Johnson" for Tampax, while DDB had only one piece of work shortlisted, the "No Fry Left Behind" for McDonald's. DraftFCB also had one spot shortlisted -- "Crib" for client Qwest.

Bernie's found some new business. The times, as we all know, ain't what they used to in the Chicago ad industry. Still, stalwart ad man Bernie Dimeo of DiMeo & Co./Chicago has found a piece of new business in downstate Carbondale, of all places. DiMeo & Co. has been awarded a five-year contract to provide marketing and public relations services for Southern Illinois University/Carbondale's Department of Event Services, perhaps best known for its Southern Lights Entertainment performance series.

Southern Lights Entertainment presents approximately 10 to 20 performances a year featuring artists such as Lily Tomlin, Crystal Gayle, B.B. King and others. "As a proud alum of SIU, I'm thrilled to be returning to campus for the first time in . . .well a lot of years," said DiMeo. It's also good to know the alma mater is good for some new business as well as a degree, right Bernie?

Bernie's found some new business. The times, as we all know, ain't what they were in the Chicago ad industry. Still, stalwart ad man Bernie Dimeo of DiMeo & Co./Chicago has found a piece of new business in downstate Carbondale, of all places. DiMeo & Co. has been awarded a five-year contract to provide marketing and public relations services for Southern Illinois University/Carbondale's Department of Event Services, perhaps best known for its Southern Lights Entertainment performance series.

Southern Lights Entertainment presents approximately 10 to 20 performances a year featuring artists such as Lily Tomlin, Crystal Gayle, B.B. King and others. "As a proud alum of SIU, I'm thrilled to be returning to campus for the first time in . . .well a lot of years," said DiMeo. It's also good to know the alma mater is good for some new business as well as a degree, right Bernie?

Urban contemporary WGCI-FM (107.5) has added two new hosts to its talent lineup effective July 6. Loni Swain will host mid-days from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays. Originally from New Orleans, Swain most recently hosted "Loni's Love Lounge" on Foxy 95.5 in St. Louis. Consuella Williams will host evenings from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays. Williams, a New Orleans native, previously was at WPEG-FM in Charlotte, N.C., where had had hosted "Grindtime" since 2006. WGCI Program Director Kris Kelley said the two new hosts will "bring a unique flair and familiarity to WGCI-FM." Flair maybe. But we're not sure about the familiarity. Neither of the new additions has worked in Chicago, so they both have a lot of learning to do, it would seem.

Veteran WGN-AM (720) reporter Max Armstrong is joining Farm Progress as director of broadcasting effective July 6. Armstrong will oversee Farm Progress' recent addition of a new broadcast unit providing radio, television and enhanced Web programming for the agricultural market. Armstrong has been an agribusiness reporter at WGN for over 30 years.

In addition to his new duties at Farm Progress, Armstrong will continue to co-host with colleague Orion Samuelson WGN's agriculture program "The Morning Show," at 5 a.m. on Saturdays. In pursuit of the news of agriculture, Armstrong has originated broadcasts from every state in America and at least 30 foreign countries.