Interesting bit of gossip we received via the tip box over the weekend — and on yet another very slow news day:

Why hasn’t the potential new ECD at TBWA signed the contract?

Well it seems they cannot find a good school for his kids. TBWA is trying to buy their way into some of NYC’s most prominent private schools — apparently unsuccessfully so far.

Nice to see that the ECD candidate is putting the welfare of his kids’ education at the forefront of their requirements — probably because all the hours they’ll be putting in at the job, they’ll never see them aside from vacations

Maurice Levy… God love the daft “cheese-eating surrender monkey” as he decided to share his “special insights & observations” with us all yesterday at the International Advertising Association (IAA) conference in DC.

Now I have already mentioned some of the “heavy insights” some of the pinheads at the conference have shared in the past 24 hours — like they are re-inventing the wheel or something — but our man Mo kicks it up a notch.

His master stroke to share with all:

The current advertising model is broken — mainly due to the emergence of digital.

Jesus…that is deep thought stuff there Mo — who thought companies like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft would have a vested interest in a lot of the same stuff that Publicis works on. You mean that MSFT buying aQuantive could signal a challenge to the current advertising model? I’m blown away by the revelation.

My favorite part of the Brand Republic article in which I read this is the last bit:

“Levy alluded to this yesterday, saying that advertising agencies needed to develop a deeper understanding of technology, as audiences spend more time with video games, cell phones and other new media.”

In other words, our man Mo is saying that people aren’t watching TV (and :30 spots), listening to the radio or buying newspapers & magazines like they used to — so you’ll need to figure out how to reach the audience in new ways.

With statements like the quote above, no longer are we mystified by the hold that David Kenny has over Mo — I’m assuming Dave comes over to program Mo’s VCR clock for him too. (I’m assuming Mo hasn’t been alerted to DVD technology yet — gotta save some stuff in the tank to pull out for the next conference.)

Online advertising spend is set to overtake television spend by the end of 2009 as social networks and online video continue to have a massive impact on the ad market.

UK internet advertising spend grew by 38 per cent year-on-year to £2.8 billion in 2007, taking 15.3 per cent of the market share as ad networks boost share of display advertising according to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).

More from Mad.co.uk:

“The research, in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC), also revealed there are now 32.5 million people now online in the UK, with the average broadband user spending 16 hours per week with the medium.

The launch of internet sites such as BBC iPlayer and Channel 4’s 4oD are seeing a number of advertisers drift online as online TV take-up increases.

Internet ad spend in 2007, up from 11.4 per cent in 2006, now has a larger share of spend than press classifieds and regional newspapers.

The majority of display spend rests with portals and major online publishers with an increasing volume being bought through sales networks.

Brands are now using search more intelligently, getting a greater return on investment through ’key phrases’ and more accurate targeting that reflects consumer behaviour.

Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB, said: “To grow 38 per cent from £2 billion to £2.8 billion is a very powerful performance, and with 16 per cent share of media spend, the UK is head and shoulders above all other major world markets. It’s clear marketing directors now recognise the value of online to drive their business, and more and more are using rich media and video to build their brands, just as they do on TV.

“With broadband speeds on the up and consumers spending more time on more sites, the outlook for online advertising is rosy – in fact we expect it to overtake TV in 2009 when it will become the UK’s biggest medium.”

Nicki Lynas, senior manager, entertainment and media practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, added: “2007 has been another success story for the internet. The strong growth in adspend reflects what has been an incredible year for internet advertising in the UK. We’ve seen high profile acquisitions, mergers, a rise in social media and online video, and higher than ever usage of the internet. These ad spend figures are proof that internet advertising is big business, and it’s not going to stop growing anytime soon.”

Reminds me of reading this article today on Ad Age — everything from it ripped straight from “Duh! Magazine” — this shit is so obvious there are flashing lights and a siren on it.

You don’t say the internet is going to be big and outflank TV — did you hear TV beat the radio about 50 years ago too?  Companies should invest in the internet and perhaps even use it to learn about their customers rather than just make pretty pictures?

Fuck me — revelations from the all stars of the BDAs telling this today in DC… too bad I was doing some of this shit that they discuss as revolutionary 10 years ago… but thanks for the memo kids.

Holy shit batman! WTF!

http://slinkyfoxvideo.com/

(You need to watch it all the way to the end…)

Ok…apparently I was appointed over the night to talk more about the One Show “awards” — put on by “The One Club.”

The first thing that comes to mind is that who the fuck didn’t make the list — Jaysus H. Mary Mother of God — the pdf “Short List” document that announces the nominees is bloody 19 pages long (who the fuck do they think they are kidding using “short” in conjunction with the this list?)

I know that awards show are all one big daisy chain for all involved, but hell aren’t the judges supposed to do their job and limit the field just a tad — some of the categories must have a good 80-100 entries each — with several of them from the same campaign for the same client produced from the same agency.

(We won’t go into the potential points of conflict about the possibility that judges are nominating their own work for awards (or trading nominations amongst judges if that works better to get around the “rules”) or that some of the ads could be “fake” — well-worn ground there for us all, but separately I do find it quite funny that Roger Makak is one of the judges.)

Even the movie industry — which rivals the ad world for the number of useless awards shows — has some modicum of taste (or at least some sense of cojones) to often limit the nominees to somewhere around 4-5 entries per category.

Now to be fair and honest — I have not seen most of the campaigns (due to time limits and bittorrent providing most of my TV viewing — it comes sans commercials, don’t you know.)

I, along with several others I imagine, might actually make the effort to check out the nominated campaigns in the categories if it didn’t require actually doing anything else but devoting the next week other than watching the “nominees” in 46 categories (??? — are you shitting me?) .

Advertising is at the point (and hopefully most of us can agree) that a lot of it is complete shit and a complete waste of time — the ads I check out these days I get from either reading blogs where they are posted and talked about or watching YouTube clips — not from TV, radio, magazines or newspapers.

Discuss amongst yourselves…

Fake ads plague the industry — but this is taking it to a whole new level.  Someone at Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore is selling some massive tales it seems — award-winning ones — but ones that can come back to bite you on the ass really badly.

Brand Republic Asia has all the sorrid details:

“Roger Makak (pictured), the creative ranked number one in Campaign Brief Asia’s recently released rankings, has been exposed as a work of fiction created by Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore.

Speaking to Media, Campaign Brief Asia publisher Kim Shaw said: “From our point of view we’re disappointed that this agency chose to use a false name for work done by someone else.”According to Shaw, Makak is actually a nom de plume for the agency’s regional creative director Andy Greenaway, who said: “He does exist, but not in the form you might think. He goes bananas sometimes.” Greenaway added that more would be revealed in one week.“I think they were trying to dupe the whole industry and then come out with some fantastic award concept at the end that would appeal to other ECDs,” said Shaw. “But, of course, because he ended up winning our rankings it’s come out very quickly that this guy doesn’t exist.”

“At first, I was really angry because I felt for (Creative Juice ECD) Thirasak who came second and he would have been the first person to win it twice,” continued Shaw. “But if Andy is in fact Roger, my comment is I’m disappointed that it’s not Andy topping the rankings.”

Saatchis Singapore has won a swathe of metal at awards shows across the globe over the past year, with Makak credited heavily on almost of all the award-winning entries. He was ranked fifth in Media’s ranking of young creatives last year.”

OK…maybe it is not that bad — but the troubles at Leo Burnett UK continue on.

With today’s announcement of the departure of group marketing director Nina Jasinski (who lasted less than seven months) — she now adds to the total that tallies up to people such as the CEO, Executive Creative Director, Executive Planning Director, Head of Account Management, Head of Digital, Head of Research, Executive Creative Director at Arc (the below-the-line agency), several Client Service Directors, and numerous (in the area of dozens & dozens) of lower-level employees jetting off for greener pastures — all who have left in the past nine months — all described as “management restructures” — when described at all.

Jasinski was responsible for helping to win new business at the agency — which couldn’t have been too easy with the constant press mentions of all the employees looking to get the hell out (with the common phrase “leaving without a job to go to” often repeated ad nausuem in the press releases.)

Paired with a vast number of continuing & lingering account, creative & planning issues — well not a good cocktail for success in this game we call “advertising.”

It probably doesn’t help the fact that the relative new head of Leo Burnett UK, Andrew Edwards, has no significant “above the line” advertising experience, nor has he shown much (if any) success in his running of Arc Worldwide across the EMEA region for the past two years since his arrival from Australia.

He was inexplicably promoted this past October when, Bruce Haines, the past CEO of Leo Burnett UK Group (which included both Leo & Arc Worldwide) resigned in protest to the proposed decisions made by headquarters in Chicago over the future direction of the UK group.

There were jesting whispers around the building that Edwards must have compromising photos of Tom Bernardin, who is the chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide in Chicago, to get the job — especially based off past performance since landing in London.

His sidekick on the “ad side”, Paul Lawson, Managing Director of Leo Burnett UK, is known in the building as a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen — although he is referred to around the agency as “the classic 80’s ad man.” (aren’t code word phrases fun?)

They have shown quite the propensity to lose clients however in the building between the two entities — Nintendo, Fiat, Central Office of Information (COI), Monster, Beck’s, Post Office, etc — along with failing miserably on numerous high-profile pitches (Porsche, Fortis, etc.)

Not sure if the title even applies — don’t even need to turn the lights on if there is no reason to — and it looks like it is heading that way.

Seems the UK is getting novel ideas on how to solve the ever-growing shortage of money available to the National Health Service (NHS) and the looming health care crisis that everyone seems to be caught up in.

The future is all about sponsorship & celebrity endorsements!

“Retailers such as Boots and Tesco or fast-food chains such as McDonald’s will be allowed to sponsor hospitals under new Government rules.

The Patient Choice rules will come into force on April 1, when patients’ right to choose where to go for treatment is due to extended to include any hospital in England that can meet the Department of Health’s quality and price.

Under these new rules, NHS Trusts will be able to advertise direct to patients and will also be allowed to use testimonials from celebrities because the Government has not put a cap on advertising spend. Hospitals will also be allowed to secure commercial sponsorship from supermarkets and high street stores, though deals with tobacco, alcohol or gambling companies will be excluded.

The NHS logo will be protected under the new rules, meaning that companies will not be allowed to put their names across the front of hospitals but Patient Choice will allow a brand name on the front of staff clothing.”

So your local hospital is going to be kitted out like your favorite English football team.

Just imagine the infinite possibilities — “This hemorrhoid operation is brought to you by the fine folks at Ford — when you need to sit on a inflatable donut after surgery — do it in a Ford on the way home!”

Today, AdWeek has an article with the opening quote: “Changing consumer media habits, driven by the shift from analog to digital media, will revolutionize the ad industry, according to a new study by Accenture. They actually go on to say that: “With that shift to digital, the survey found that advertising is undergoing a fundamental shift to become more accountable.“

It’s okay. Go ahead and roll your eyes. We did. Seriously… AdWeek? Um, how long has the industry been dealing with this reality? New survey or not, we are sentient beings. We know this. Plus, exactly how many times have you run this article? Let’s see:

1. Here’s one talking about the problems/divide between digital and traditional advertising.

2. Here’s one about Web 2.0 threatening the industry.

3. Here’s one about learning about the digital landscape and how it’s changing the business.

4. Here’s another one focusing on Sorrell and the digital revolution as a threat to business-as-usual.

Oh, there’s so many more that it’s going to take us hours to create a full list. While we’re at it, we can mourn the cancellation of the NHL hockey season, look at pictures of Prince Charles’ wedding, download some Destiny’s Child and do all the other stuff that we were doing in 2005.

Read More: The Digital Dead Pool

We don’t normally report on art world happening, but we can’t resist today. Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted cast of a human skull titled “For the Love of God” has been bought by a group of anonymous investors for its asking price of £50 million. It is the most paid for a work by a living artist. His aim was to come up with “the maximum celebration you could make against death.” He also describes this work as “quite bling.”

We’re astounded. Although, Hirst is an artist with no boundaries who has brought serious attention to the UK art scene. Critics and fans both agree that his art mirrors culture and maybe that’s why he’s such a success. It might be the Britney Spears/50 Cent principle. Society often popularizes its most base desires or in Damien’s case (he focuses on death in his works) Freud would say our focus on thanatos. Whether you love or hate him, you gotta admit… Hirst has done an amazing job of marketing himself and his work.