Hasta La Creative!

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — Welcome to the silly season, otherwise known as the upfront, when rumors and hints of big marketers making dramatic cuts or media-mix shifts abound, even if similar reports never quite panned out in the past.

"American Idol" is, of course, the show we love to hate and (secretly) love to love. The true pleasure of this still-unstoppable entertainment juggernaut is that its highlights are often its lowlights. Thus my high/low list of the Seven Most Awesomest 'Idol' Moments This Season. Think of it as a helpful crib sheet for either instant "Idol" pop-cultural literacy — or an instant pop-cultural lobotomy.

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — Sadly, no amount of coaxing could fire up "Speed Racer", Warner Bros.' blockbuster gone bust — and that's left the studio stuck with the prospect of having to deliver Madison-meets-Vine "make-goods," or at least find ways to appease tie-in partners that got far less exposure than expected.

If you thought that the failed talks between the potential merger between Yahoo and Microsoft are over then guess again. Apparently while the last meeting did not turn out well, it seems that Microsoft is planning to make an alternative offer to possibly make the merger push through.

Google has long been dominating the online advertising binge and apparently Microsoft knows it can give Google some form of competition with this merger from Yahoo. There are discussions going on at the moment but though they may not show anything potent at this point, you can just imagine how determined Microsoft Corp. is as far as balancing competition for a larger share of the market saturation for online advertising today.

Microsoft Corp. is once again trying to team up with Yahoo Inc. to challenge Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc., although at this point the renewed talks haven’t escalated to another attempt to take over Yahoo.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker disclosed the revived discussions Sunday without providing any specifics about the nature of the deal being explored except to say it involved bolstering the companies’ position in the online search and advertising markets.

“There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions,” the statement said.

(Source) Associated Press

Technorati Tags: advertising, yahoo, microsoft, merger, google, online advertising

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Microsoft is back in its hunt for Yahoo after insisting for a couple weeks it could go it alone. This time, however, it's tempering its appetite and only going after part of the iconic web portal.

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Advertising Agency: Tonic Communications, UAE
Creative Director: Vincent Raffray
Via: Media Me

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Frankfurt, Germany
Creative Directors: Christian Mommertz, Sr. Stephan Vogel
Copywriter: Stefan Lenz
Art Directors: Stefan Lenz, Marco Weber
Photographer: Kajetan Kandler
Via: Advert Eyes