Hasta La Creative!

The leader of the Paley Center for Media says that “an industry undergoing major change is the perfect place for me.”

Recapping the fifth episode of “House of Cards”: Zoe Barnes joins Slugline, Frank Underwood joins Ms. Barnes, while his spouse considers the upside.

Content Partners has agreed to buy half of the franchise from a unit of Goldman Sachs in a deal that makes it a co-owner with CBS.

In an excerpt from “Roger Ailes: Off Camera,” Mr. Ailes, the head of the Fox News Channel, takes aim at Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Newt Gingrich, among others.

Amazon’s production arm said Wednesday that it had ordered a children’s pilot called “Sara Solves It,” which was co-developed by WGBH in Boston and Out of the Blue Enterprises.

Whenever I write about zombies, I tend to bury the lead. That's a grave mistake. Anyway, here's a case study about how the Darewin Agency used social media to make The Walking Dead a hit on France's NT1 TV network. On its Walking Dead site, NT1 advised people to avoid a "zombie virus" by avoiding the #walkingdeadNT1 hashtag, which naturally prompted people to use it. Within moments of posting the hashtag on Twitter or Facebook, users were suddenly followed by hoards of virtual zombies. (Maybe those new followers were just average French people. Undead or Parisian … it can be tough to tell.) Contrast this campaign—in which 30,000 users were "attacked" by zombies in less than two weeks, with 550,000 impressions tallied—with this Walking Dead stunt from Toronto, where a finger was chopped off a pair of giant zombie hands each day until the series' return to TV. Effective for sure, but the French effort required more braaaains. Via Adverve.

Fox’s chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, hopes to challenge ESPN for some of the lucrative revenue that the sports media giant has had largely to itself for more than three decades.

A deal with Nielsen will allow ABC to measure viewing whether on television or online.

Mad Men returns to AMC on April 7 for Season 6—with a special two-hour premiere written by showrunner Matthew Weiner and directed by executive producer Scott Hornbacher. Check out the first on-air promo below, which began airing on Sunday. There's not much to go on, plot wise, although Don looks as conflicted as ever.

Separately, the other big Mad Men news this week is that Gita Hall May, a model from the 1950s and '60s, is suing Lionsgate over the show's opening credits. May, who is now 79, claims the opening segment uses an image of her without her consent. The image, below, was taken by Richard Avedon and used in a Revlon hairspray ad.

Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. seems to be in a constant marketing tug-of-war between using half-naked girls to sell their menu and attempting to move away from sexualizing their products entirely. When David & Goliath won the biz at end of 2010/beginning of 2011, the agency starting producing spots for the fast-food chain that seemingly mocked the company’s usual over-the-top, sex sells approach while, simultaneously, not skimping on the bikini-clad models.

It seemed as though everyone was happy, that is until David & Goliath stopped putting sexy girls in the ads altogether. Rumor has it that this angered higher-ups at Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s parent, CKE, who were all like, “Where are the sexy ladies, dudes?” So, in less than a year, D&G lost the business.  72andSunny, which took over on the CKE account almost immediately, has proven their loyalty to the topless-girl-eats-a-sandwich-in-slow-motion style of execution with their ongoing TV spots. However, the above ad, “No Tomorrow,” seems to again be moving away from sexy people in favor of sexy ingredients.

As someone who tries to avoid fast-food UNLESS we’re talking about breakfast, Hardee’s Pork Chop ‘N’ Gravy Biscuits actually look very mouthwatering in this spot. I understand that Hardee’s advertising usually is a bit more conservative than Carl’s Jr.’s, but I wonder if this is the kind of execution that the latter could benefit from as well. As history has shown, a lack of sexy girls is a risky move for any agency working for these brands in particular. However, I hope this works out for 72andSunny, as they are able to do for Hardee’s what McGarryBowen tried (and failed) to do for Burger King. Credits after the jump.
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