Hasta La Creative!

Once it became a true national retail presence in the late 1990s, Walmart had a big advantage over regional competitors: It could buy national TV, and they couldn’t.

Now Walmart is giving up some of that edge as it plows a growing portion of its TV budget into spot, rolling out price-comparison ads against local retailers in 60 markets this year, up from 50 last year. It’s part of a plan that will see Walmart produce an eye-popping 1,500 TV ads in 2013. That’s more than double the 615-plus it ran in all of 2012, which itself was up substantially from a year earlier, when new local ads up 79%, according to Advertising Benchmark Index, which tracks consumer response to most new ads in the U.S.

It’s all part of Walmart’s effort to apply the real-time marketing popular in social media to TV, said people familiar with the campaign, though that does come at considerable cost in terms of production and spot media buys.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

As part of an initiative to revive its brand, TiVo has named indie agency Olson its agency of record after a review.

Founded in 1997, TiVo was the first company to offer a digital device that let consumers record shows and skip through ads. At its inception it was highly popular, but in recent years TiVo has struggled as more consumers have recorded TV shows on DVRs offered by cable providers, and as consumers increasingly switch to viewing TV through Hulu and other brands of that ilk. The company also has a fresh set of competitors like Roku and Apple and nascent models that offer programming via the cloud.

But now Tivo is looking to rejoin the fray with new products, such as the TiVo mini, a small device that came out last month that lets users watch live TV or recordings in a second room outside of the main TiVo’s locale, and TiVo stream, which lets users watch recordings on an iPhone or iPad.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Some newspapers’ remembrances of Margaret Thatcher depicted her as an economic savior, while others called her policies ruinous for the poor.

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(TrendHunter.com) Kelly Davidson is making headlines around the world, but you’d be surprised to hear that it’s not because this 34-year-old woman has battled and survived cancer for nearly her entire life….

Advertising Agency: Taku Satoh Design, Japan
Art Director: Taku Satoh
Designer: Shingo Noma
Photographer: Yasuaki Yoshinaga

After handling advertising and digital work in-house in recent years, TiVo is thinking outside the box, so to speak, and has named Minneapolis-based Olson as its new agency of record for advertising, web, consumer PR (previously handled by Allison + Partners) and social projects. There was a review for the TiVo biz, though no word yet on who else participated.

In a statement, Doug Bieter, TiVo’s VP of consumer sales and marketing says, “We were impressed by the depth and breadth of Olson’s ideas and their ability to seamlessly integrate the multiple aspects of our market differentiation and bold plans for the future. By retaining an agency of Olson’s stature, we are consolidating best-in-class advertising, digital and PR strategies that will be a tremendous asset as we build our brand and spread the word about the distinct value of the TiVo experience.”

According to those in the know, after a bit of a rough patch, TiVo has been on an upswing since last year (check out the brand’s Q4 report for context). Wit the win, Olson, which also picked up AOR duties for Saucony in recent months, is now in the process of developing “a multi-channel brand enhancement effort” for its newest client.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ian Twinn, director of public affairs at ISBA, and former Conservative MP for Edmonton, examines Margaret Thatcher’s legacy to the marketing communications industry.

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Advertising Agency: BBDO, Taiwan
Creative Director: Tom Huang
Executive Creative Director: Alex Lin
Art Director: Peggy Chen
Copywriter: Popeye Weng