Lewis Lazare: In August of last year, McDonald's, looking to focus on its core fast-food operations, sold the Boston Market restaurant chain to Sun Capital Partners. That firm, we've been informed, has set about trying to make the familiar restaurant brand "more relevant" in today's competitive restaurant market.
United Airlines' powerful unions are not happy. And that is sure to further complicate an already hugely complicated situation for United CEO Glenn Tilton as he attempts to chart a course for the beleaguered carrier, which watched oil inch toward $125 a barrel Wednesday (it settled at $123.53).
On Tuesday, Young & Rubicam/Chicago tapped Ken Erke as its new chief creative officer. Erke, 40, succeeds Mark Figliulo, who resigned from the agency last month to presumably pursue other job opportunities. Figliulo has reportedly been in increasingly protracted talks to become a top executive at TBWA Chiat Day/New York.
Lewis Lazare: Just in time for Mother's Day, the iconic "Got Milk?" campaign is shifting gears a bit to focus on -- what else? -- moms. Kicking off the new mom-focused effort is Marg Helgenberger, an actress known to many for her role on the CBS hit series "CSI."
Lewis Lazare: With a curious print ad featuring an image of Chicago's iconic, very retro 60-year-old Superdawg hot dog stand, Bank of America on Monday said goodbye to a big chunk of local banking history that was LaSalle Bank and welcomed itself to the neighborhood.
Lewis Lazare: Euro RSCG/Chicago Chief Creative Officer Steffan Postaer has taken a particular interest in the work his agency is doing for Cabot, a division of the Valspar Corp. that began making wood stains way back in 1877. Of all the work Euro RSCG has done for Cabot, Postaer appears to have become most obsessed with the new "Tidal Wave" spot that debuts today.
Lewis Lazare: On Friday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed $215,000 in fines against United Airlines for alleged multiple serious and repeat violations of federal workplace safety standards discovered during an inspection of the carrier's O'Hare Airport workplace completed last February.
Yes, it's true: Effen is a five-letter word. And that truth is the cornerstone of a suggestively naughty, but still rather nice billboard campaign Euro RSCG/Chicago has developed for the Chicago-based premium vodka brand.
Lewis Lazare: It's been a tough few years for the venerable ad agency Fallon/Minneapolis. A steady turnover in chief creative officers and significant client defections left the agency near death until Saatchi & Saatchi's Kevin Roberts stepped in last year and finagled an arrangement that made Fallon a sort of subsidiary of S & S.
Lewis Lazare: Management at Energy BBDO/Chicago and DDB/Chicago had to be a little on edge Monday when privately held candy giant Mars announced it intends to acquire Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. Acquisitions of companies often mean shakeups in marketing departments which, in turn, can lead to shakeups in ad agency relationships. Wrigley lead agency Energy BBDO certainly has the most to lose -- or, if it's lucky, to keep.
Lewis Lazare: United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton faces tough choices. In the wake of the Continental Airlines board of directors' unanimous decision Sunday to abruptly end merger talks with United, Tilton must now decide whether to pursue a merger with the only remaining candidate -- a very tattered US Airways -- or try to carry on as is.
It can't be said too often: Sex sells. That truism was apparently uppermost in the mind of Blake Ebel, Euro RSCG/Chicago's executive creative director, when he traveled to the rolling hills of Tuscany in Italy to shoot a new Barilla pasta commercial called "Sisters" that breaks today in Chicago and other select American markets.
Lewis Lazare: We guess the playing field must be changing. How else to explain why KFC is launching a new ad campaign from DraftFCB/Chicago next week intended to "challenge" consumers. Back in the day, ads were typically designed to engage and entice consumers with a winning brand message or sales proposition.
Given the vast amount of television advertising touting women's personal grooming products, it's rare to find a creative concept that doesn't seem like a tired rehash of something else. Salon Selectives this month is introducing a new commercial from Laughlin Constable/Chicago that isn't as much of a rehash as most.
Chicago-based Ebony magazine will salute top African-American women in advertising, corporate marketing, journalism and public relations at its ninth annual Ebony Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications Awards luncheon on May 1, at the Cipriani restaurant in New York City. Mellody Hobson, president of Chicago-based Ariel Mutual Funds, will receive the Madam C.J. Walker Award, given out to recognize women who are trailblazers in the fields of marketing and communications. Other honorees include McGhee Williams Osse of Burrell Communications/Chicago, Marvet Britto of the Britto Agency, Patti Webster of W&W Public Relations, Zeline Kelly-Bates of Beaman Inc., Carla Harris of Morgan Stanley, Susan Banks of TV One, Nadja Fidelia of Lehman Bros., Lyne Pitts of NBC News and Robin Givhan of the Washington Post.
We don't agree with everything savvy author Steve Cone puts forth in his (mostly) absorbing Powerlines: Words That Sell Brands, Grip Fans & Sometimes Change History (Bloomberg Press, 251 pages, $22.95), but Cone demonstrates a firm grasp of the importance of what is increasingly an afterthought in most ad campaigns.
Lewis Lazare: 'One's Not Enough" is the Chicago Rush's overarching ad theme for the 2008 season. The advertising tagline is intended to express the team's desire to repeat the arena football league championship victory it savored in 2006. But the line could also apply to the team's wish to constantly expand its impressive roster of sponsors.
There is no more brutal battle in all of advertising than the beer wars. Americans love beer, and the three biggest brewers -- Anheuser Busch, Miller and Coors -- bombard us with ads designed either to get us to shift loyalty from one brand to another or to ensure we remain loyal to the one we already like.
Lewis Lazare: In the wake of Element 79/Chicago's devastating loss of both the Gatorade and Tropicana accounts Wednesday, sources close to developments say the severely wounded agency could once again be eyeing a merger with the slumping DDB/Chicago, which is looking for a new top creative leader and new clients.
Lewis Lazare: The high-profile Gatorade and Tropicana accounts are both leaving Element 79/Chicago. On Tuesday, PepsiCo said it will move the Gatorade account to TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles. The Tropicana business is going to Arnell Group/New York. The double whammy is a potentially devastating setback for Element 79, which began bleeding major PepsiCo accounts earlier this year, including Propel fitness water, Lays potato chips and Tostitos.
When Alexi Giannoulias took office as Illinois treasurer last year, he wasn't satisfied with the way the state's Bright Start program was operating. Bright Start is the state program that allows residents to make regular deposits into a tax-free account for their children's college education.
Are we ready for the "Culverization" of America? Hope so. Because starting this week Culver's fast food chain is launching a new ad campaign from Marc USA/Chicago that promises to do just that. What, you will undoubtedly ask, is "Culverization?" Well, as the campaign will reveal, it's about spreading the so-called irresistible goodness and hospitality that are Culver's hallmarks. Of course most restaurants want us to believe they're all about goodness and hospitality, even if that isn't what we always get when we visit.
More than 300,000 travelers were left stranded by American Airlines in one week -- waiting at airport ticket counters around the nation for hours to speak to customer service agents to find out how, when, even whether they would reach their destination.
Lewis Lazare: More than 300,000 travelers were left stranded by American Airlines in one week -- waiting at airport ticket counters around the nation for hours to speak to customer service agents to find out how, when, even whether they would reach their destination. As the headlines screamed about the possibility of more bad news, fliers could only ask: Who's at fault?
Five years were enough for Marty Orzio. Energy BBDO/Chicago's chief creative officer said Thursday he is leaving the agency -- and Chicago -- to return to New York, where he had been a significant player in the ad industry for many years before taking on the Energy BBDO assignment.
Lewis Lazare: OK, so we're all feeling a little stressed right now. Oil and gas prices are surging to record highs. And the dreaded "r" word is on the tip of everyone's tongue. Enter Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual with a new ad campaign from Downtown Partners/Chicago that breaks this month.
Fulgor, an Italian cooking appliance manufacturer, has tapped Euro RSCG/Chicago to develop advertising for its North American launch. Euro also works with Italian pasta behemoth Barilla. Separately, Zain Raj has been appointed CEO of Euro RSCG Discovery, the agency's Chicago-based data analytics and customer relationship marketing company. Raj formerly was chief marketing officer of Euro RSCG/Chicago.
Lewis Lazare: Nobody ever said insurance advertising had to be boring. In fact, Geico has been working overtime for years to prove that point. Now one of the more staid among insurers -- American Family Insurance -- is out to prove it too can project an unexpectedly lighthearted image.
