16389: In Adland, Anti-Pollution Trumps Anti-Racism.

 

Advertising Age reported on Clean Creatives—another do-gooder group promoting themselves as “a movement of advertisers, PR professionals, and their clients cutting ties with fossil fuels”—whose latest campaign publicly calls out Edelman, McCann, Ogilvy, and Publicis for working with fossil fuels.

 

Not quite sure why anyone’s surprised to uncover fossil fuels being hyped via firms run by fossil fools.

 

Regardless, it’s more outrageous to realize the list of Adland enterprises into fossil fuels would be totally eclipsed by the directory of White advertising agencies fueled by systemic racism. Yet no one seems inspired to clean up that mess.

16388: Legend Of Lily = LOL.

Why does this clickbait present Lily the AT&T saleswoman as a former legendary TV icon, now working 9 to 5? Technology company shill hardly deserves iconic status.

16387: Doctors Without Financial Limits…?

Doctors Without Borders is asking for gifts, offering to match your donation up to $200,000. Is online advertising really the best way to handle wealthy donors and corporate fundraising? Maybe the promotion should have depicted a luxury yacht.

16386: Byron Allen Bids—And Bets On—Big Bucks…?

 

MediaPost reported Media Mogul Byron Allen made a $10-billion bid to acquire Walt Disney properties including the ABC TV network, the FX and National Geographic channels, and local TV stations. Hmmm, is Allen banking on acquiring an extra $10 billion soon?

 

Byron Allen Bids $10B For ABC, Other Disney Nets

 

By Karlene Lukovitz

 

Media entrepreneur Byron Allen has made a $10-billion bid to acquire the ABC TV network, the FX and National Geographic channels and local TV stations from Walt Disney, a spokesperson for Allen confirmed.

 

Allen’s Entertainment Studios owns 10 HD television networks, including The Weather Channel, Comedy.TV and several other verticals, and also produces and distributes shows, and sells advertising for 43 broadcast and cable TV programs.

 

Allen’s bid for the Disney assets is reportedly based on an eight-times multiple of estimated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the Disney linear businesses.

 

Disney has also held exploratory discussions with regional TV power Nexstar Media Group, according to multiple reports.

 

Nexstar has not commented on those reports. However, on Wednesday, during a Bank of America Securities conference, Tom Carter, a former Nexstar president who now advises its CEO and board, confirmed that Nexstar is interested in acquisitions, and mentioned Disney as a potential seller. But he added that Nexstar doesn’t know “what Disney wants to do.”

 

Disney, which has reportedly also considered selling a stake in ESPN, did not comment on the reports about Allen or Nexstar specifically, stating instead that while it is “open to considering strategic options for its linear business,” it has not yet made a decision about selling any of those assets.

 

Disney CEO Bob Iger raised the possibility of Disney selling off some networks in a CNBC interview in July.

 

“There clearly is content that they create that is core to Disney, but the distribution model, the business model that forms the underpinning of that business — and that is delivering great profits over the years — is definitely broken, and we have to call it like it is,” he said.

 

“Given the low valuations attached to standalone linear networks, it isn’t clear that there is an accretive move to be made here,” senior research analyst and MoffettNathanson co-founder Michael Nathanson wrote in a note at the time. “Simply exiting bad businesses at any cost might be the price you pay to limit management and investor distractions in the long run.”

 

The stock prices of Nexstar, Tegna and E.W. Scripps, which had all declined since Iger’s remarks, rose on Thursday after the reports of sale discussions.

 

Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion in 1995, when Michael Eisner was CEO.

 

In addition to its national network, ABC has eight owned and operated regional TV stations and 240 affiliate stations.

 

Nexstar owns 200 stations in 116 markets and the 24-hour cable news channel NewsNation, and would likely have to divest at least some properties in order to stay within federal TV ownership limits if it struck a deal to buy the Disney linear networks. Such a deal might also face opposition from Disney rivals that have affiliate station deals with Nexstar, including Comcast and Paramount.

16385: What’s Hot And What’s Not In Global Adland.

 

Campaign reported White advertising agencies are uniting via the Ethical Agency Alliance—fabricated by nonprofit global network Creatives for Climate—to tackle environmental issues.

 

The Ethical Agency Alliance—whose exclusive membership is depicted throughout the Creatives for Climate website—has clearly prioritized its ethical imperatives, putting the planet ahead of people. After all, Adland’s performative commitment to racial and ethnic diversity—in contrast to concerns over global warming—has considerably cooled off.

16384: Bananas Ballyhoo—A Bunch Of BS.

 

This Chiquita campaign from Italy is mediocre at best—but its creators went bananas in explaining the contrived concept:

 

Chiquita and Bitmama Reply make bananas come to life in the new global brand experience.

 

The new campaign reaffirms leadership and places the brand mission front and center.

One banana relaxes, leaning comfortably on its side, another reclines with hands behind its head, and one shows off its muscles in a captivating flex. These are the three key visuals driving the new global brand experience, spanning on 3D video walls, billboards, and digital media. But let’s start from the beginning.

 

Chiquita, in addition to reinforcing its leadership, underscores its mission with this new global brand experience—aiming to make us feel and live our best lives. The invitation to seek one’s well-being is encapsulated in the campaign’s global tagline, “It peels so good,” which aligns perfectly with the product and opens up to a fertile and iconic treatment.

 

To expedite the production, quality, and personalization of omnichannel content, Bitmama Reply, with its end-to-end approach, has transformed the world's most famous banana into a hyper-realistic 3D model, creating a crucial asset for producing large volumes of brand content, including images, videos, and more personalized and engaging experiences.

 

After being peeled, the banana reveals three anthropomorphic poses (static and animated) that go far beyond the OOH and digital circuits, creating spectacular 3D video experiences set in some of the world’s most prestigious locations, such as New York, Milan, and the heart of Florence. In Times Square and on Via Dante in Milan, the Chiquita Banana literally emerges from the screens to strike a pose. Inside The Gallery, a 30-meter-long gallery in the center of Florence, the Chiquita banana accompany passersby along their entire walk in an immersive experience where animations on the three walls move to the rhythm of the famous jingle.

 

“What makes us most proud, in addition to our increasingly strong global partnership with Chiquita, is the synthesis and simplicity we achieved with the ‘It peels so good’ campaign. We have successfully conveyed Chiquita’s mission while keeping the product’s premium quality at the center, evolving an asset that will help us be even more effective and iconic in content production.” says Nicola Gotti, Chief Creative Officer, and Partner at Bitmama Reply, commenting on the campaign’s launch.

 

The campaign is planned in the United States, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands. It will be on the air until the end of September.

16383: Ask Not What Your White Advertising Agency Can Do For You…

 

This JFK Presidential Library and Museum campaign is described as follows:

 

Service and Sacrifice offers personal glimpses of a few of the Americans who served in World War II, including members of the Kennedy family and the untold stories of historically marginalized communities, including people of color and women, and how they relate to today.

 

Can’t help but wonder how the historically marginalized fare at the White advertising agency behind the campaign.