Lewis Lazare: Ah yes, hotels. Perhaps aside from some major airlines and a few high-profile luxury goods companies, no other business is as marketing driven as the hotel industry. Chicago-headquartered Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, armed with a new ad agency, BBDO/New York, is launching a new global ad campaign this month to ensure it remains competitive vis a vis the Hiltons, Westins and Marriotts of the world. The new Hyatt campaign is tied to the tag line "You're More than Welcome."
Frankly, the effort to imbue retailer J.C. Penney with the so-called "lovemarks" branding magic espoused by Saatchi & Saatchi/New York and its fearless leader, Kevin Roberts, is starting to look more than a little ridiculous. We weren't fans of the first work Saatchi debuted for Penney's after the agency managed to sneak the account from DDB/Chicago. We could see that Saatchi was trying to give consumers a reason to forge an emotional bond with Penney's. But the work struck us as hollow and phony, and the new Christmas campaign for Penney's is, sadly, no better.
Lewis Lazare: Coming soon to NBC-owned WMAQ-TV-Channel 5 and Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32: Local newscasts that share a common newsgathering service. What looks to be a disturbing new concept in local TV news was jointly announced Thursday by Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media, composed of the 10 local stations NBC operates.
Lewis Lazare: Local television station managers -- who often exhibit the swagger of the ad sales executives many were at one time -- aren't all that upbeat right now. Especially since the Television Bureau of Advertising, in a rare move, has just issued a revised outlook for 2009 that predicts local stations will see spot television ad sales revenue plunge between 7 and 11 percent.
It's official. Clear Channel's WLIT-FM (93.9) will switch to its annual all holiday music format at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning (Nov. 14). The format switch comes nearly two weeks later this year than it did last year, when the format change happened on Nov. 2. WLIT morning drive host Melissa Forman will have the honor of announcing the format switch to the station's listeners. A WLIT spokeswoman said the station is expected to revert to its regular adult contemporary format on Dec. 26.
Lewis Lazare: With its "Believe" campaign, Macy's is unabashedly using sentiment to try to sway skittish, cash-strapped shoppers this holiday season. Now comes Sears, which is using a somewhat similar approach in its new "Don't Just Give a Gift, Grant a Wish" holiday ad campaign from Young & Rubicam/Chicago.
Adult contemporary WLIT-FM (93.9) is making adjustments in its daytime talent lineup, effective today (Monday). After a year of doing double duty as morning and afternoon host, Melissa Forman now will be given a breather and allowed to concentrate on her morning show from 5:30 to 9 a.m. Robin Rock then will host a show from 9 to 2 p.m.
Rotary International is all about doing good in the world. And a new global ad campaign from Schafer Condon Carter/Chicago for the Evanston-based service organization breaking this month hopes to remind the world what Rotary does and to recruit new members.
The Chicago Public Library system wants to smash the stereotypical image that it is nothing more than a place where old fogies congregate and read. So the Chicago Public Library is launching a new ad campaign Nov. 17 from All Terrain/Chicago that attempts to impress upon young adults of a post-college, pre-children age that their neighborhood library isn't only a repository for books and prim librarians. Indeed, the range of offerings now extends to DVDs, CDs, live performances, free Wi-Fi and more.
Lewis Lazare: Rod Zimmerman is a happy guy. On Wednesday, Zimmerman, market manager for all-news WBBM-AM (780) and six other CBS-owned local stations, got his first look at the October Arbitron numbers for the Chicago radio market, and his all-news station is the big winner.
Lewis Lazare: Change has come to America, as President-elect Barack Obama emphatically announced Tuesday night. But there was little or no change in the relative ranking of Chicago television stations in the ratings for their coverage of one of the most important nights in our nation's -- and Chicago's -- history.
Lewis Lazare: So everyone is angry and depressed about the nation's economic crisis, and Macy's is giving us a heaping helping of sentiment for the holidays. Starting Nov. 9, the famed national department store chain that now includes the former Marshall Field's outpost on State Street, will roll out its new holiday campaign with the theme "Believe." As in you must believe in Santa Claus.
Allison Payne is off the air again. On Monday, Marty Wilke, vice president and general manager of Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Channel 9, said that effective immediately, Payne, 44, will take an unspecified amount of time off from her co-anchor role on the "WGN Evening News" and "WGN News at Nine" to fully rehabilitate from a series of mini-strokes that took her off the air for several weeks earlier this year. In the interim, WGN noon news co-anchor Micah Materre will handle Payne's on-air duties. Wilke said the station looks forward to Payne's "speedy return."
Bergwood is back. For the uninitiated, he's a rather lamebrained character created by Leo Burnett/Chicago for client Allstate Insurance to help peddle (pun intended) auto insurance.
Country music fans rejoice. Taylor Swift is about to join the large contingent of celebs who have worn the "Got Milk?" mustache.
So everyone is angry and depressed about the nation's economic crisis, and Macy's is giving us a heaping helping of sentiment for the holidays. Starting Nov. 9, the famed national department store chain that now includes the former Marshall Field's outpost on State Street, will roll out its new holiday campaign with the theme "Believe." As in you must believe in Santa Claus.
Lewis Lazare: Are we talking landslide? If you are a true believer in a lot of the hype that is starting to surface, Chicago's very own Barack Obama could pull huge numbers and win in Tuesday's Presidential election.
Lewis Lazare: At a time when locally produced non-news television programming has all but gone the way of the dinosaur, it's significant that the Emmy Award-winning "190 North" show at ABC-owned WLS-TV-Channel 7 celebrates its 10th anniversary with a 30-minute special Sunday at 10:35 p.m. Executive producer Janet Davies will serve as host, just as she was a decade ago when the entertainment and lifestyle show started with familiar WLS sports anchor Jim Rose at Davies' side.
Lewis Lazare: Nobody said it was going be easy. The economic crisis that has gripped the United States -- and indeed the world -- is beginning to impact Chicago's ad industry, as agency leaders watch client ad budgets contract, forcing painful adjustments in agency staffing and strategy.
Lewis Lazare: Mancow Muller, the former radio host at Emmis Communications’ WKQX-FM who lost his berth there more than two years ago, starts a new morning program on Monday at Citadel Broadcasting’s WLS-AM/890.
The Chicago-based Quaker Co., a unit of food and beverage giant PepsiCo, has selected Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco as the new agency of record for most of its cereal and snack foods portfolio, which was recently yanked from Element 79/Chicago.
Lewis Lazare: It was very last minute. And very ballsy. But last Saturday, Larry Wert picked up the phone and did what might be unthinkable to many in the image-conscious broadcasting industry.
Lewis Lazare: StreetWise is going glossy. Beginning Nov. 5, the not-for-profit weekly street newspaper founded in 1992 will transition from a tabloid newspaper to a glossy, four-color magazine format and raise its suggested cover price to $2 from $1.
Chicago-based UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, posted a third-quarter net loss of $779 million as falling oil prices forced the carrier to cut the value of fuel contracts bought in advance.
Lewis Lazare: It was a night suffused with nostalgia for five decades of often hard-hitting local television news and those who brought it to us. Saturday night's 50th anniversary Chicago Emmy Awards also was notable for one development that had the crowd of 450 broadcast pros atwitter: Joe Ahern was in the audience.
Lewis Lazare: Circuit City is on life support. For some time now, the beleaguered electronics retailer hasn't offered a clear, sustained marketing message, which hasn't helped a bad situation. Circuit City's latest television advertising effort from Euro RSCG/Chicago isn't likely to buttress the chain's fortunes.
Will it be the public at large who finally determines how Chicago positions itself to win the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics?
Sponge, the Chicago agency founded by former DDB/Chicago Group Creative Director Paul Brourman, got a big boost in June, when it became agency of record for AutoZone, a national retailer of auto parts and accessories. Since winning the business, Sponge has produced two campaigns for the chain. The newer, for a Duralast ceramic auto brake product with proprietary technology, debuted last week with the tag line "Proven Tough."