Hasta La Creative!

LONDON – The Conservative Party has ruled out legislative curbs on advertising to combat problems such as binge-drinking and obesity if it wins the next election.

LONDON – Paramount Comedy, the digital satellite channel, has kicked off a search for an
advertising agency.

One of the few press releases that reach the front page of Digg: Dr. Pepper promises (and blogs about it) a can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in the States if Guns’N’Roses releases its long-overdue Chinese Democracy album in 2008. Axl Rose is pleasantly surprised but isn’t promising anything.

Billboard: “It took a little patience to perfect Dr Pepper’s special mix of 23 ingredients, which our fans have come to know and love,” Dr Pepper director of marketing Jaxie Alt says. “So we completely understand and empathize with Axl’s quest for perfection — for something more than the average album. We know once it’s released, people will refer to it as ‘Dr Pepper for the ears’ because it will be such a refreshing blend of rich, bold sounds – an instant classic.”

Wonder about the decision to use four unskinned Blogspot blogs, though. Why? Authenticity? Speed?

Anyway, nice stunt with some press coverage. Almost free if the album doesn’t come out, and, what, $25M if it does? (300M people in the States / $.25 per can of soda).

By DENISE PETSKI, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 1 minute ago
Herb Peterson, who invented the ubiquitous Egg McMuffin as a way to introduce breakfast to McDonald’s restaurants, has died, a Southern California McDonald’s official said Wednesday. He was 89.

Peterson died peacefully Tuesday at his Santa Barbara home, said Monte Fraker, vice president of operations for McDonald’s restaurants in that city.

He began his career with McDonald’s Corp. as vice president of the company’s advertising firm, D’Arcy Advertising, in Chicago. He wrote McDonald’s first national advertising slogan, “Where Quality Starts Fresh Every Day.”

Peterson eventually became a franchisee and was currently co-owner and operator of six McDonald’s restaurants in Santa Barbara and Goleta, Fraker said.

Peterson came up with idea for the signature McDonald’s breakfast item in 1972(the year of my birth-vh). He “was very partial to eggs Benedict,” Fraker said, and worked on creating something similar.

The egg sandwich consisted of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle with the yolk broken, topped with a slice of cheese and grilled Canadian bacon. It was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin.

The Egg McMuffin made its debut at a restaurant in Santa Barbara that Peterson co-owned with his son, David Peterson.

Fraker said that, although semiretired, Peterson still visited all six of his stores in the Santa Barbara area until last year when his health began to deteriorate.

“He would talk to the customers, visit with the employees. He loved McDonald’s(so do I -vh),” Fraker said.

Fraker, who said he worked with Peterson for 30 years, said “he was amazing as far as giving back to the community.”

“He embraced the community and the community embraced him,” Fraker said. “We loved the man.”

Peterson is survived by his wife, son and three daughters.

A public memorial service will be held April 23 at All Saints by the Sea church in Montecito.

First the Wii inspired a bunch of folk to get off the couch and get active with gaming. PS2 and Singstar realised this yonks ago. My eight year old desperately wants Guitar Hero… now gaming with GPS enabled phones gets kids outdoors again. UK-based LocoMatrix has developed a number of
location-based games kids can play outdoors […]

BEIJING – Leo Burnett is believed to be finalising a deal to buy China agency W&K Communications, in a bid to revive the Publicis Groupe agency’s presence in Beijing.

TAIPEI – Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (SKM) Department Store has appointed Leo Burnett Taipei as creative agency for its 13-store network in Taiwan.

SINGAPORE – MSN has named Jane O’Connell (pictured) regional director of product planning Asia-Pacific, a newly created role at Microsoft’s online services group.

SINGAPORE – Publicis Groupe has rebranded Solutions, its India and Singapore-based marketing arm, as Solutions Digitas.

(TrendHunter.com) The Flux PC concept is an ultra-portable computer that can be worn on your wrist and consists of three parts: the bracelet, a display that can folded and the inductive charging tray.

It is designed based on the following principles: flexibility, mobility, friendly user interface and fashion.

The…