Hasta La Creative!

Netflix released all 13 episodes of House of Cards season 5 on Tuesday morning. But Frank and Claire Underwood’s presidential ticket was in trouble before anyone could watch a minute of the new season. Over the weekend, Netflix added to its list of fun advertising stunts for HOC by posting a faux-guerrilla video of someone…

Ad Age “Media Guy” columnist Simon Dumenco’s media roundup for the morning of Friday, May 26:

1. “Remember when Ronald Reagan body slammed a reporter to the cheers of the conservative grassroots? Neither do I,” Michelle Fields writes in “Journalism in the Age of the Body Slam,” a New York Times guest opinion piece. “Yet in the aftermath of the assault on Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian, by Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate for a special House election in Montana, too many conservatives are either doubting the event occurred, despite audio evidence and witness testimony by a Fox News crew, or praising Mr. Gianforte for giving the press what it deserves.”

Michelle Fields is a former reporter at Breitbart News, who, as she notes, “was grabbed and bruised by one of Donald Trump’s campaign managers, Corey Lewandowski, during the Republican primary.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Ad Age “Media Guy” columnist Simon Dumenco’s media roundup for the morning of Tuesday, May 30:

What keeps you awake at night? The whole Trump-Russia thing? (See No. 1, below.) The United States’ deteriorating relationships with its European allies? (No. 3.) A stomach ache and/or headache from eating too many champagne popsicles? (No. 2.) If you anwered “yes” to any of the above … WRONG. The correct answer is nothing. Nothing keeps you awake at night (see No. 7). Anyway, let’s get started …

1. It never ends. “Russian government officials discussed having potentially ‘derogatory’ information about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and some of his top aides in conversations intercepted by US intelligence during the 2016 election, according to two former intelligence officials and a congressional source,” per a CNN report by Pamela Brown, Jim Sciutto and Dana Bash. The information was “financial in nature and said the discussion centered on whether the Russians had leverage over Trump’s inner circle. … But the sources … cautioned the Russian claims to one another ‘could have been exaggerated or even made up’ as part of a disinformation campaign that the Russians did during the election.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

(TrendHunter.com) This portable fan you wear is here just in time for summer, enabling you to beat the heat. Available online from Japan Trend Shop, the USB Wearable Cooling Fan is a multipurpose portable fan that&#…

Don’t buy online ads through partners who aren’t independently tested, warns Santander’s chief marketing officer.

In case you missed it at the end of the day right before a long weekend, Japanese automaker Mitsubishi has ended its 7-year relationship with Omnicom’s 180LA.

Agency CEO Michael Allen gave Adweek the following statement:

“We are very proud of the work we have done with Mitsubishi over the last seven years, including the current ‘Re-model A’ TV program celebrating their 100-year anniversary. They just finished their most recent fiscal year, selling over 100,000 vehicles for the first time in 10 years. This is a 75 percent increase over the last four years, despite the introduction of very few new models. We wish them continued success. Our ambition moving forward remains the same—to do breakthrough work in the automotive category.”

The agency didn’t elaborate on this statement, and client representatives never got back to us—possibly because Mitsubishi recently fired its head of public relations.

Different parties described the split in different ways. One source said the agency refused to agree to client demands regarding  fees vs. workload, while another told us the automaker terminated the relationship of its own accord.

At any rate, Mitsubishi is going through a tumultuous period. A couple of months ago, Renault CEO and Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn announced that he would effectively take over the company’s recovery efforts after last year’s scandal in which employees admitted that they had manipulated fuel economy ratings in an effort to fool Japanese regulators a la Volkswagen. The company lost more than $1.5 billion in 2016.

Given that the client did not discuss the status of its advertising business after more than a week of requests, it’s not yet clear whether a formal review has begun. But according to Kantar Media, Mitsubishi spent around $82 million on paid media in the U.S. in 2015 and increased that total to $95 million last year.

180LA has been actively pitching new business since losing the global ASICS account late last year, and the same parties who alerted us to the Mitsubishi change also noted that Al Moseley, president and CCO of the network’s Amsterdam office, has been in L.A. leading an unspecified pitch.

Last month, the agency confirmed that it would be moving into a new office in Playa Vista’s “Silicon Beach” after more than a decade in Santa Monica.

Category: Beyond Madison Avenue
Summary: Dollar Shave Club first grabbed attention with its funny videos starring founder Michael Dubin, but its simpler ideas also pack a powerful punch. In fact, these new out-of-home ads about shaving “down there” will likely make you cringe.

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