If negative advertising works so well in the political arena, why don't consumer marketers use the same technique more often? After all, voters and consumers are the same people. Maybe it's because political ad guys get more practice. Much of their work is focused on destroying the opponent, and they spend a lot of time digging up dirt. Consumer marketers, on the other hand, like to entertain us or dazzle us with elaborate productions that sometimes leave what's being sold in question. In a New ...

Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody -- a tune with plenty of mileage in adland -- gets a fresh cover in Fallon Minneapolis' quirky spot for Las Vegas hotel The Cosmopolitan, featuring a sexy and strange cast of characters putting their spin on the lyrics. View the work and see full credits at Creativity-Online.com.

Time Warner Cable and Madison Square Garden reached an agreement on a new contract, ending a seven-week stalemate that kept the operator's 2.8 million local subscribers from watching the New York Knicks and their Jeremy Lin-led winning streak. Alex Dudley, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable, confirmed the agreement, which was first reported by The New York Times. He said MSG will be back on Time Warner Cable in time for Friday night's game against the New Orleans Hornets. He declined to disclose ...

What better way to promote your double-duty pipe cleaner than with a slice of beefcake or two? Liquid-Plumr goes for a daring double entendre in this new spot out of DDB, San Francisco and directed by Biscuit Filmworks' Clay Weiner. See the work and full creative credits, at Creativity-Online.com.

One of the most-closely watched independent shops in adland, Droga5, has won a major vote of confidence -- and several million dollars in backing --from prominent investors who are trying to help the agency expand while retaining its indie status. The investment, which was reported earlier today by one of the Wall Street Journal's blogs , was led by a private group headed by investor Henry Silverman, and included media mogul Bob Pittman. Mr. Silverman is the vice chairman and director at Apollo ...

Conventional wisdom long held that you don't joke about feminine care in ads. But Kimberly-Clark has been laughing all the way to the bank with successful spots for U by Kotex in recent years and is now enlisting female standup comics for a new round of ads behind the base Kotex brand. U by Kotex, launched two years ago with ads that mocked feminine-care ads of yore, helped Kotex reverse a generation of share decline in the U.S. and top $1 billion in global sales for the first time last year. Du...

Cirque du Soleil, the global live-event organization, has bought a "significant minority equity stake" in Montreal-based ad agency Sid Lee, reports Marketing magazine, Ad Age's international partner in Canada. Sid Lee President Jean-Francois Bouchard said the deal will not affect day-to-day operations of the agency, with the existing partners "remaining solidly in control of the company." Someone from Cirque will join the agency's board, but the management team won't change. Sid Lee, an unconven...

In its new campaign, Foxwoods Resort Casino is willing to bet on its services. As it prepares for its 20th anniversary amid an increasingly competitive environment, the Connecticut-based casino wants to sell itself as a destination that offers a little of this or a lot of that -- and much more than gaming. "If you want to be among people, have interaction, we are the place to do that," said newly appointed Chief Marketing Officer Rebecca Carr. "We have the 'what else can you do' here." Ms. Carr,...

Apple is once again slashing the minimum amount it charges advertisers to run a campaign on its iAd mobile ad system and boosting the amount it pays mobile app developers, Ad Age has learned. Advertisers will now have to spend just $100,000 for Apple mobile campaigns running in iPhone and iPad apps, down from a previous $500,000 threshold and a significant reduction from the initial starting price of $1 million in 2010, when Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's first ad product. In addition, app develope...

You know how sometime you'll ask a friend to give you a rescue call in the middle of a bad blind date? Andes Beer and Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi go one step further and provide a whole team of heroes to pull you out of your cousin's wedding or your great-aunt's 50th anniversary party. Fans on the brand's Facebook page were invited to give the date, time and location of an event they were hoping to avoid. The brand sent a rescue team of actors dressed as firefighters or even hazmat workers...

Adele was no doubt the star of last night's Grammys, taking home six awards. And although Coldplay performed at the event, the band's live performance was overshadowed by Chipotle's "Back to the Start" ad, which featured Willie Nelson covering Coldplay's "The Scientist." The two-minute spot is the chain's first national TV ad, but Chipotle released the ad online in late August; it also aired in some 5,700 movie theaters. The ad takes viewers through one farmer's journey, from a huge industrializ...

CBS's broadcast of the Grammy Awards attracted more than 39 million viewers, according to early figures from Nielsen provided by the network, making the show second in Grammy viewership only to the 1984 broadcast featuring Michael Jackson. Last night's broadcast also trumped the audience that watched last year's Oscars telecast on ABC, which attracted an average of 37.9 million people, according to Nielsen. The broadcast most likely enjoyed a ratings boost in large part because of the death of W...

We live in an increasingly connected world, with media consumption often happening on more than one device at the same time, which has many questioning the impact of this behavior on the media industry. But a recent Discovery Communications survey focusing on Discovery Channel viewers in the U.S., and the iPad owners among them in particular, demonstrates that the simultaneous usage of digital platforms increases many viewers' connection to programs and advertisements. Of those who use digital d...

For a company that sells some 50,000 products, Kraft Foods has relatively few brand mascots. There's the Kool-Aid Man, of course, and Mr. Peanut. Beyond that, however, the star power starts to dim. Ever heard of Cheesasaurus Rex? Or Polly-O Parrot? But a new character is coming, one that the marketing giant hopes will be more A-list than D-list and whose quirky personality will be counted on to help launch one of Kraft 's biggest new products bets of the year. He is "Mel," a puppet created by Ji...

News Corp., owner of Fox Broadcasting and The Wall Street Journal, said quarterly profit rose 65% from the year-earlier period as TV revenue increased and the hacking scandal in the U.K. seemed to remain contained -- albeit at a cost. Net income rose to $1.06 billion, or 42 cents a share, from $642 million, or 24 cents, the company said in a statement. News Corp., run by CEO Rupert Murdoch, gets most of its profit from a TV business that receives fees from pay-TV operators for broadcast and cabl...

Old Spice is too powerful for its own good, or at least for Procter & Gamble's own good. Odor blocker spokes-muscles Terry Crews carves out new space for the male body spray, in a pair of spots out of Wieden + Kennedy Portland and fellow P&G brands Bounce and Charmin. They are the first ever co-branded ads featuring Old Spice. The team recruited Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric fame to direct. The films have been released on Old Spice's Facebook page and YouTube channel and will l...

Kraft is once again rejiggering its roster, handing Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi creative duties for Kool-Aid and Capri Sun. Those beverage brands were previously handled by WPP's Ogilvy. Agency representatives either declined to comment or referred calls to Kraft Foods. Bridget A. MacConnell, Kraft 's senior manager-corporate affairs for beverages, told Ad Age that Saatchi's New York office will be responsible for handling the two accounts and said the impetus was a desire for new creati...

Parents of teens get a horrifying taste of what their kids go through with a free iPhone app created by Liz Claiborne Inc.'s Love Is Not Abuse Coalition. Aimed at providing parents with the information they need to learn more about teen dating abuse in the digital age, the app helps parents to recognize abusive behavior by simulating the behavior that many teens endure in their dating relationships. Users receive text messages, emails and phone calls from a 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' that mimic...

Absent from the Super Bowl ad scene for three years, Toyota returns this weekend with a pair of 30-second spots that appropriately embrace the theme of "reinvention." Images of Toyota Motor Corp.'s best-selling Camry model bookend one of the spots, which cleverly integrates bits about friendly house plants and a Department of Motor Vehicles that offers minigolf and free ice cream while customers wait ... and wait. The ad was created by Toyota 's agency of record, Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles, ...

A well-known Procter & Gamble multicultural executive, Ida Chacon, is joining the Latinum Network in the newly created role of VP-marketing and commercial solutions. Ms. Chacon was P&G's multicultural marketing capabilities manager, working with the marketer to develop its ethnic strategy, manage relationships with U.S. Hispanic agencies, and consult on Hispanic efforts for individual brands. Latinum is a business network that helps marketing executives understand and take advantage of the U.S. ...