The Future Of Email Is Mobile: Are You Ready?
Mobile open rates are rising faster than expected. If this trend continues, these rates will overtake opens on webmail and desktop email clients by the end of the year, or even as soon as this summer. Here’s what I see as the three big implications of the boom in mobile email: The explosion of devices presents senders with a design quandary. Exactly what creative should be sent to a given recipient? Should you send creative optimized for a mobile device? A careful review of which devices individuals are viewing your messages on will make the decision easier. For most email programs, there are two kinds of subscribers: a large group that views your emails only on one environment and a small group that views on multiple device types over a period of time. For the “single device” recipients, send creative optimized for the chosen environment.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/174283/the-future-of-email-is-mobile-are-you-ready.html

Skepticism surrounds Facebook’s ad model as IPO looms
No one knows the true value of Facebook, writes Elise Ackerman. An eMarketer study finds that almost half (47%) of marketers see no value in a Facebook like. But the upcoming initial public offering expected to command $86 billion-plus has industry analysts defending the social network, too. “Advertising is not always easy to measure. Facebook does not have a monopoly on this fact,” Buddy Media CEO Michael Lazerow writes, claiming that “shares” on Facebook are worth $2.10 in incremental sales. But Ackerman maintains that Facebook’s ad model is not disruptive but rather “a blast from the past.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eliseackerman/2012/05/14/truth-lies-facebook-advertising/

Moms’ online shopping and social trends above average
Moms have become online-shopping mavens, according to a Nielsen study. Looking at their last 30 days of behavior, the study found that moms are 35% more likely to shop for clothes, 50% more likely to buy toys, 29% more likely to buy music, and 23% more likely to purchase e-books online. Their favorite social sites are Pinterest and Disney Online, and 50% said they did so through a mobile device, the study found.
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2174264/moms-61-visit-pinterest

Media News

Dish Says It Will Drop ‘Mad Men’ Network in AMC Dispute
Dish Network Corp. (DISH), the second-largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, says it will drop AMC Networks Inc. (AMCX) channels including AMC, WE tv, IFC and Sundance Channel from all packages, citing poor viewership. Dish, based in Englewood, Colorado, will no longer carry the networks because AMC is demanding a “high renewal cost when compared to their low viewership,” the company said today in an e-mailed statement. AMC broadcasts TV shows including “Mad Men,” “The Walking Dead” and “Breaking Bad.” Dish subscribers can see AMC’s “very limited” programming through outlets including Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc.’s iTunes and Netflix Inc. (NFLX), the satellite-television provider said in the statement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-04/dish-to-drop-mad-men-network-citing-poor-viewership.html

‘Girls’ Is Surprisingly Male
Female viewers of HBO’s “Girls” might be surprised to learn they are in the minority. Four episodes in, the audience for the freshman dramedy is 60% male. Using a gross audience metric, the show is averaging 2.7 million male viewers an episode. That’s out of a total of 4.5 million, a number that combines viewing on the network; via DVRs and HBO on Demand; and on mobile platform HBO Go. Much-discussed “Girls” is about the lives and loves of four 20-something females making their way in New York. So, why such male interest?
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/174410/girls-is-surprisingly-male.html

Fox Wins Thursday May Sweeps Night, CBS Gets Closer
Closing in on the end of the season, the second week of the big May sweeps period gave Fox another Thursday night win. But second-place CBS got closer to the top spot versus the week before. All CBS shows gained versus the week before: “The Big Bang Theory” was up 12% to a Nielsen preliminary 4.6 rating/15 share among 18-49 viewers — the highest-rated Thursday show of the night; “Rules of Engagement” tacked on 8% to a 2.7/8; “Person of Interest” picked up one-tenth of a rating point to a 2.5/7; and “The Mentalist” rose 9% to a 2.4/7. All this pushed CBS up to a 2.8/8, from a 2.6/7 the week before.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/173989/fox-wins-thursday-may-sweeps-night-cbs-gets-close.html?edition=46498

The New York Times Expanding Street Style Coverage
MORE STREET STYLE: As if there weren’t enough photographers chasing fashionable people down the street to take their pictures — including Bill Cunningham — The New York Times is expanding its offering of street style and is launching a biweekly video series today. The aim is to feature a large cross section of individual style from all five boroughs. “I’ve been wanting to do this for about a year but didn’t have the resources,” said online fashion editor Simone Oliver. “We’re slowly beefing up our team, as in, now we have two people who are trying to do more all the time.”
http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/more-street-style-5897802

Retail News

Fashion’s Night Out Spreads to More Cities
Fashion’s Night Out is spreading out. The annual shopping event will take place in 19 markets worldwide, and in multiple cities in countries such as Greece, Brazil and Italy. According to a statement from British Vogue, several markets made the decision to host Fashion’s Night Out in two or more cities. In Italy, there will be events in Milan, Rome, and Florence; Germany will host nights in Berlin and in Düsseldorf; and in Russia, Moscow and St Petersburg will have their own nights. Mexico, Brazil and Greece will also host nights in multiple cities. The U.S. has already announced it will be holding Fashion’s Night Out on September 6.
http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/fashion-night-spreads-to-more-cities-5902520

Aerie uses SMS list for Facebook promotion
American Eagle Outfitters’ aerie brand celebrated the occasion of its millionth Facebook fan with a free-shipping offer promoted via an SMS mobile campaign and Facebook. The weekend-long push “demonstrates why every marketer needs to be collecting SMS opt-ins. … It is like having your own TV or radio station with all of your customers tuned in, all the time,” Sumotext CEO Tim Miller said.
http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/2012/05/15/aerie-rewards-facebook-fans-via-time-sensitive-sms-message

U.S. chains shift focus from bricks to clicks
The biggest U.S. chain retailers ended last year with 2.2% fewer stores as more consumers shifted their shopping online, and the growth of e-commerce has retailers including Lowe’s shifting capital investment to their web efforts. “The smart chains are the ones looking to grow online because there aren’t that many places left in the U.S. that warrant the cost of building another big-box store,” said industry consultant Will Ander.
http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/05/08/fewer-stores-more-digital-shoppers

Luxury fashion brands add footwear lines
High-end shoe brands will get more competition this fall from fashion designers adding footwear lines as a way to boost sales in a still-tight economy. Brands including Rodarte, Roland Mouret, Hervé Léger by Max Azria plan to step into shoes. “[Adding footwear] is a really great way for [a fashion brand] to round out its portfolio,” said Milton Pedraza, CEO of The Luxury Institute.
http://www.wwd.com/footwear-news/markets/luxury-apparel-brands-take-on-footwear-5894618

Travel News
Orbitz The travel site’s new anthem urges you to actually take those vacation days already
Don’t worry gents: Orbitz thinks you look great in that skirt. Along with its website redesign, the online travel agency is out with a new campaign encouraging all Americans to “Take vacation back”—by actually using all those days off you’ve earned grinding away at your jobs with single-minded puritanical devotion. Created by BBDO New York, the central spot marks a new positioning for the brand, shedding the old, fast-talking, slapstick sales pitch pushing its intimate knowledge of hotels for an rallying anthem urging more time in the sun—by the pool, on the golf course—or shacked up with your sweetheart in your luxe suite.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-orbitz-140118

Cruise industry will rebound by 2013, UBS predicts
The most recent outlook report for the cruise industry from UBS forecasts a recovery by 2013, as the industry continues to regain momentum since the Costa Concordia disaster in January. Referring to Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, respectively, analyst Robin Farley wrote, “We believe that each of CCL and RCCL could recover at least half of net yield growth lost in 2012 due to the impact of the Concordia, on top of 2% organic growth for the year as the global economy continues to recover…. We believe 2013 will be a year of yield recovery for pricing momentum lost during 2012.”
http://www.travelpulse.com/ubs-forecasts-cruise-industry-recovery-by-2013.html

Theme cruises exist for nearly all interests
As the popularity of theme cruises continues to grow, suppliers have begun rolling out cruises designed around some of the more specialized interests out there, this feature says. “The list of possible themes runs the gamut of human interest: politics, music, lifestyle, cuisine, wine appreciation or Alcoholics Anonymous,” said CruiseMates.com Editor Paul Motter.
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2012/05/14/three-great-theme-cruises/

Once Shunning Ad Promos, Google Now Flaunts Itself
After years of touting the superiority of online advertising, Google Inc. is taking a decidedly different approach to promote itself in areas where its rivals dominate. After years of touting the superiority of online advertising, Google is spending more of its own cash to promote itself through traditional ads. Amir Efrati has details on The News Hub. Photo: Reuters The Internet company is spending big sums on TV, magazine and newspaper ads to promote new services, including its Google+ social network and Chrome Web browser. Google’s ad-spending as a percentage of revenue is now almost on par with rival technology companies such as Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., according to new data.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577303581175364006.html?mod=WSJ_Advertising_MIDDLETopNews

Facebook’s Sequential Revenue Decline — Or, Taking The Sense Out Of Seasonality
Much has been said about the amendment to Facebook’s S1 this week, but, for the Social Media Insider, it’s still not enough.
Something has been troubling me about the newly revealed numbers in the S1, and it has a name: seasonality. That means investors should expect ad revenue to go down between the Christmas-crazed fourth quarter every year and the first quarter. As you may have read, Facebook just posted a year-on-year quarterly increase in ad revenue of 37% – from $637 million to $872 million – but, as the amendment says, “advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2011 and 2012 declined 3% and 8% compared to the fourth quarters of 2010 and 2011.”
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/173351/facebooks-sequential-revenue-decline-or-takin.html

Punch Media Wants to Redefine Tablet Advertising
There have been a few stabs at iPad-native newspapers and magazines, with limited success, but the just-released Punch is taking a different tack with its new app. It’s more of a collection of apps-within-app, wherein each one—represented as an item on the Punch bookshelf—opens into an interactive editorial feature. Hence the company’s motto: “You don’t read Punch, you play Punch.”“We wanted to create something on the tablet that was topical and relevant to the culture but could only exist on the tablet,” said Punch CEO and co-founder David Bennahum. “Creatively, the experience really couldn’t work on the Web, couldn’t work in print and couldn’t work on television.”
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/punch-media-wants-redefine-tablet-advertising-139864

YouTube mixes up programming pot to woo advertisers
YouTube has added to its programming lineup a series by Hollywood director Jon Avnet, exclusive U.S. Olympic Committee content and a Picture Show channel from the film-festival folks at Tribeca Enterprises, among many others. The Google-owned enterprise is expected to be adding as many as 25 hours of new programming a week by July in order to steal viewers from television and attract the advertising dollars that go with them. The spray-and-pray strategy recognizes that some series will fail and some will succeed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/business/media/youtube-channels-court-advertisers-at-newfronts.html?_r=1

Media News

TV Ad Spending Appears To Pass $70 Billion For The First Time, Sports Spending Also Growing
Total U.S. TV ad spending appears to have crossed the $70 billion mark for the first time in 2011, a year without a Presidential election or Olympics. Sports advertising also posted growth over a similar stretch, though surprisingly at about the same rate as the total market. Sports spending (for network and cable), covering the 12-month period from October 2010 through September 2011, grew at a 6% rate to $10.9 billion. That was slightly higher than the 5% bump for the full market to $71.8 billion for 2011, according to Nielsen figures. Nielsen numbers only go back five years, but 2011 looks to be the first time the market passed $70 billion.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/173472/tv-ad-spending-appears-to-pass-70-billion-for-the.html

Readership of digital edition of newspapers is on the rise
Newspaper readership trended up in the past six months, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Digital-edition readership nearly doubled year over year, from 8.7% to 14.2%. The Wall Street Journal remains the most popular newspaper in the U.S., and USA TODAY held second place, though dipping slightly in circulation. The ABC warned that it is increasingly difficult to sort out readership stats, with more newspapers, such as The New York Times, implementing a pay model and subscriptions spread out across mobile devices.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/newspaper-circulations-hold-steady-aided-by-digital-subscriptions/

How magazines are merging e-commerce and editorial
Magazines ranging from weekly Time Out New York to glossy fashion monthly Elle have launched new shopping features from their websites and mobile applications in an effort to boost revenue as traditional print advertising declines.
http://mashable.com/2012/04/29/magazines-ecommerce/

Hispanics are heavy users of mobile devices, survey finds
A little more than half of Hispanics in a Zpryme survey owned a smartphone and nearly 1 in 5 had a tablet device, helping to make them more likely to go online via mobile than whites. Zpryme also estimates that Hispanics will spend more than half a billion dollars on mobile applications this year.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009010

Retail News

May Is For Miracles: Chico’s FAS, Inc. Is Committed to Making a Difference in Children’s Lives – One Miracle at a Time
To Boost Awareness Retailer Introduces a Unique, Interactive Social Marketing Campaign: Send a Smile Chico’s FAS, Inc., and its family of brands – Chico’s, White House Black Market, Soma Intimates, and Boston Proper – announce the launch of its May Is For Miracles campaign, a multi-faceted program to raise funds for the 170 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® (CMNH) across North America. In 2011, Chico’s FAS, Inc. raised over $500,000 for CMNH, and this year, the Company hopes to dramatically increase its contribution. Beginning May 1st, customers can donate at any of the retailer’s 1250+ boutiques nationwide, outlets and online, as well as through a unique online social marketing campaign, Send a Smile. The goal of Send a Smile is to raise funds and put a smile on the faces of thousands of children. In partnership with ePrize, the leader in engagement campaigns across mobile, social and websites, users can create their own card through a customized, mobile-enabled microsite and each brand’s Facebook page. Participants can “share” the cards they create via Facebook, Twitter, email, and Pinterest. The card will then be printed and delivered to a child being treated in the customer’s local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. It’s completely free to create a card and Chico’s FAS, Inc. will donate $1 for every card created, up to $50,000. www.chicos.com/sendasmile
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/may-is-for-miracles-chicos-fas-inc-is-committed-to-making-a-difference-in-childrens-lives—one-miracle-at-a-time-149653275.html

New Balance Signs Hanley Ramirez
All-Star Hanley Ramirez has been signed to a multiyear endorsement contract with New Balance. The Boston-based footwear and apparel brand will become Ramirez’s official on-field footwear and off-field footwear and athletic provider. To launch the partnership, Ramirez, a third baseman for the Miami Marlins, will auction off a pair of his custom New Balance cleats worn on opening day, with all proceeds benefiting The Marlins Foundation, an organization established to improve the lives of youth through education, the arts and baseball, with a special focus on children with special needs.
http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/batter-up-5879103?src=nl%2FmornReport%2F20120427

Report: Affluent men spend more than women online
There are about 19 million wealthy men online, and most of them are shopping, spending more than their female counterparts, according to iProspect. About half spend more than $4,000 shopping online each year, a trend fueled largely by a preference for both researching and buying clothing and accessories.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47263732

Travel News
Cruise-line execs point out pent-up demand in market
A panel of cruise-line executives at Cruise Lines International Association’s Cruise3sixty conference remarked that the economy has generated plenty of pent-up demand that agents can capitalize on. The Jan. 13 grounding of the Costa Concordia may have affected demand some, “but the market returned quickly,” said Rick Sasso, president of MSC Cruises USA. “People saw it as an isolated incident — it didn’t change the propensity to cruise. As long as we all work together, we can tap into that pent-up demand,” said Dan Hanrahan, president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises.
http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Tap-into-pent-up-demand-Cruise3sixty-panelists-tell-agents/

Cruise execs reaffirm dependency on travel agents
Travel agents remain an important part of cruise lines’ marketing and sales efforts, a number of cruise line executives said during the cruise3sixty conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “You are the one who makes it all work. … I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if we all did direct business and we didn’t have our travel agent support,” said Rick Sasso, president and CEO of MSC Cruises.
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/retail?articleID=7200&LP=1

Google, King of Clicks and Data, Embraces TV’s Ad Metric
No one has benefited more from the web’s obsession with clicks than Google. But it made two changes this week that de-emphasize the click and will make buying display a lot more like buying TV. First, Google created a gross ratings point equivalent, which would allow advertisers to buy audiences on Google as they do TV. Second, the company announced a new standard for the “impression,” where an ad must be at least 50% visible for a second to count. We’ll let Google VP Neal Mohan explain in this snippet of his interview Wednesday with Ad Age Digital Editor Michael Learmonth.
http://adage.com/article/special-report-digital-conference/google-embraces-tv-s-ad-metric/234267/

Facebook Beefs Up Ad Analytics
Advertisers are spending a lot more money on Facebook, and naturally they want to know more about how their paid campaigns are performing. So Facebook is doing something about it. The company’s product manager for Pages Insights David Baser said that over the next couple weeks Facebook will roll out more granular metrics intended to provide a more detailed view at what sort of actions resulted from specific Facebook ads. Per Baser, the actions brands will be able to measured “could be anything [such as] liking, commenting or sharing a page post, claiming an offer, or, instead of just installing an app, actually using an app or doing things within an app.” Previously advertisers had only been able to measure page links or app installs. The new measurement system will be available for all Facebook ads but is designed for ads that direct on-site actions, said Baser.
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-beefs-ad-analytics-139677

Hulu’s First Upfront Attracts Attention, Attendees, Hopefully TV Dollars
As Hulu’s programming slate deepens, its advertising model is also getting more intricate. Like AOL, the company is offering guarantees based on Nielsen’s new OCR (online campaign ratings) system, which purports to group digital television viewers into GRP-like collections of unique ad-watching users. The team-up makes sense, perhaps more so for Hulu than for AOL, since Hulu offers a hybrid product that is so close to traditional TV: part library content, part day-after streaming of high-profile broadcast shows—some of which fare much better on the streaming service.”We want to be a catalyst to move more marketing dollars online,” Hulu’s svp of advertising, Jean-Paul “JP” Colaco, told Adweek.
http://www.adweek.com/news/television/hulus-first-upfront-attracts-attention-attendees-hopefully-tv-dollars-139707

Online video ads hit half of all Americans in March
Americans racked up 8.3 billion online video ad views in March, which broke standing records, per comScore. Hulu led the pack with 1.7 billion, followed by YouTube (1.2 billion) and the BrightRoll network (953 million). Moreover, video ads reached more than half (51%) of the total population in the U.S.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/172956/americans-watch-billions-of-video-ads-monthly.html

Media News

Condé Nast Hires Film, TV Veterans
Magazine publisher Condé Nast named two veterans of the film and television world to help further an ascent push into Hollywood. Jeremy Steckler, most recently an executive vice president of production at Imagine Entertainment, was appointed to buy and develop film properties at the company’s recently created Condé Nast Entertainment Group. Michael Klein, who was a programming and development executive at Sundance Channel, will oversee “alternative programming,” which includes reality shows. The two will work for Dawn Ostroff, a former president of the CW Network who was hired last fall to head up the new unit.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303624004577338152889470114.html?KEYWORDS=conde+nast

Food Network’s New Side Dish
The Food Network has given millions of viewers tips about how to make dinner. Now it hopes to help diners who would rather eat out. Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., which owns the Food Network and other lifestyle channels, is offering a service that lets people make restaurant reservations online. The move pits the company against OpenTable Inc. which has offered a similar service since 1998. Called CityEats, Scripps’s reservation website prominently displays the Food Network logo. It is already operating on a small scale in Washington and Philadelphia. So far, the service has signed up only about 130 restaurants, but Scripps executives are optimistic about its growth, and said it would be extended to several other markets, including New York and San Francisco, by the end of the year. Scripps wouldn’t disclose how much it is spending on the project, except to say that it is part of a $30 million investment the company is making this year to develop international, interactive and digital businesses.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303624004577342181531532746.html

London Olympics could mean the summer of social media
The London Olympics will be the biggest test of social media in that event context, representing a potential shift from paid to shared media for many brands. Samsung, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and others have already started with elaborate social media plays, taking advantage of how marketing can be extended beyond the two weeks of the Games themselves.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/olympics-facebook-idUSL2E8FICUL20120418

Who’s Number One? And How Long Will It Matter?
The 16-year winning streak of NBC’s “Today” as the top-rated network morning show hasn’t ended yet. Katie Couric’s week-long turn on “Good Morning America” helped ABC get the closest it has been to “Today” in seven years — within 200,000 viewers. (“Today” had 5.1 million viewers, “GMA” 4.9 million.)As we come close to the end of the season, we wonder if other reigning network shows will get a close scare, say Fox’s longtime prime-time champ “American Idol.” NBC’s “The Voice” has been making big inroads on “Idol,” the original singing competition show and still the big prime-time rating leader. For their performance shows, through April 8, “The Voice” was slightly ahead of “Idol” among the key 18-49 crowd: a 6.8 average rating versus a 6.5. “Idol,” however, is still ahead in total viewers — 20.2 million to 17.5 million.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/172445/whos-number-one-and-how-long-will-it-matter.html

Retail News

Dakota Johnson’s Uniqlo Turn
To boost its profile in the U.S. ahead of an ambitious retail expansion, Uniqlo is launching an ad campaign with actress Dakota Johnson. The latest in a series of celebrity ad campaigns that previously featured Charlize Theron, Orlando Bloom and Susan Sarandon, Johnson’s promotion spotlights Uniqlo’s easy leggings pants, which is one of the company’s core products along with denim and polo shirts. “People in the United States don’t know about those products,” said Shin Odake, chief executive officer of Uniqlo U.S. in New York. “So we need to introduce those products.”
http://www.wwd.com/media-news/advertising/dakota-johnsons-uniqlo-turn-5868282

Rue La La’s iPhone Moments
The smartphone is getting a greater share of wallet in the mobile shopping arena, according to data from Rue La La.
Steven C. Davis, president of flash-sale site Rue La La, said, “We have been heavily investing in mobile now for two years, investing in the mobile shopping experience. Today, over 75 percent of Rue La La’s customers shop Rue La La on a mobile phone. Two years ago, that was less than 10 percent.” The Rue La La customer shops via other channels as well, such as on a tablet or online via a laptop or desktop. Rue La La refers to the multi-channel approach as shopping across “three screens.”
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/direct-internet-catalogue/rue-la-las-iphone-moments-5870699?module=hp-topstories

How millennials will fuel retail’s future
The millennial generation operates in an omni-channel world that melds the latest in digital options with tried-and-true traditions, and retailers ignore the demands of the group at their own peril, said speakers at a global retailing conference last week. “This will be the single-biggest purchasing group, bigger than the baby boomers.…We must be the place of choice for this consumer,” said Macy’s chairman and CEO Terry Lundgren.
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/trends-analysis/gen-y-and-the-omni-channel-world-5865846

Travel News

Business for travel agencies is on the rebound
Travel agents are once again reasserting their role in the industry as the increasing complexity of online travel booking drives more consumers to reliable experts, this feature says. Travel agents have helped the recovery along by adapting to the changing times, reemerging as tech-savvy consultants who seek to wow clients with specialized services.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/travel/are-travel-agents-back.html

European tourist spots are freshening up
A number of popular tourist attractions across Europe are undergoing renovations to give visitors a fresh view of old, much-beloved sights. Rome’s Colosseum is receiving new lighting and guided tours are being expanded to previously restricted areas. Art lovers will be able to enjoy the pre-Classical Greek section at the Louvre in France when it reopens late this year, and Kensington Palace in the U.K. is gearing up for a grand reopening after a two-year renovation, opening a new permanent exhibit on the life of Queen Victoria.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/13/TR6J1NURFP.DTL

Celebrity Cruises continues digital push in New York Times front-page panel ad
Celebrity Cruises is using highly-visible front-page panel ad space on The New York Times Web site to advertise its European cruise itineraries to affluent consumers. The cruise line used the ad space to present an image of a European destination with its logo on the bottom and a “book now” button that presented consumers with an offer of up to $500 in savings. The ad appeared on the New York Times Web site April 2.“I think the unique thing about these New York Times placements is that they can deliver a huge amount of impressions and a huge amount of traffic, all of which tends to be highly qualified for the luxury market,” said Vic Drabicky, New York-based premium and luxury brand digital strategist.
http://www.luxurydaily.com/celebrity-cruises-continues-digital-push-in-new-york-times-front-page-panel-ad/

Five Reasons Businesses Should Be Using Google+
For months now, marketers have been debating the benefits of Google+. With other options for social engagement, why should you make Google+ a priority? There are essentially three main parts to Google+ for businesses: Google+ pages, Google+ badges and +1 Buttons. The three main elements of Google+ each have their own benefits. 1. Influence personalized search results. When Google launched Google Search Plus Your World (GSPYW) in January, the influence of Google+ grew exponentially. By default, searches in Google now show social network results with every search when searchers are logged into their Google accounts. But in addition to social profiles ranking well in Google results, Google+ status updates also become ranked immediately in Google search results and appear to those in the poster’s circle allowed to see the status update.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171654/five-reasons-businesses-should-be-using-google.html?edition=45362

IAB offers improved standards for Web video ads
The IAB is promoting three new standards for online video to clear away the many different technologies and tactics that make it difficult to launch broad-based Web video campaigns. The objective is to provide a way to produce video ad content that any publisher can use to meet the needs of the advertiser.
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/iabs-new-standardization-tools-just-might-mean-you-wont-see-beer-ad-10-times-row-139

Media News

Discovery Channel, OWN Launch New Series with Last Frontier
Discovery Channel plans to launch two very different shows with cars as a centerpiece, while a series joining two of the most popular entities in reality TV — Mark Burnett and Alaska — is also coming. Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network also has a series set in Alaska on tap. Discovery Channel’s “One Car Too Far” is in the vein of other survival series on the network as a British special forces veteran and American “car junkie” are let loose way off the beaten path. They have a small red car and have to work together to return to safety. Whether in the freezing cold or a muggy rainforest, they must “MacGyver-ize” the vehicle. “Fast And Loud” involves remote areas, but not dangerous ones. The series features two men prowling the country searching for “forgotten and derelict classic cars to restore” at their garage, which are then sold to the highest bidder.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171889/discovery-channel-own-launch-new-series-with-last.html?edition=45433

Leaders & Bleeders: ‘Big Bang’ Up, Cross-Platform Measurement Down
Every Mega Millions loser should have some of Keith Olbermann’s luck. Drive colleagues and bosses crazy in the workplace? No matter. Get another job with a lottery-like salary. Trouble will only come Olbermann’s way when the marketplace no longer feeds his massive narcissism. When networks say: you might be darn talented, but not worth the trouble — so enjoy tweeting about baseball and trying to make money off that. Current TV owners Al Gore and Joel Hyatt effectively ceded the fate of their network to him along with a reported $10 million salary, but that wasn’t enough to salve the petulant Olbermann. He had all sorts of complaints and skipped work at key junctures. Truth is, there was probably nothing Gore and Hyatt could have done. When Olbermann’s ratings were scant and he’d lost relevance in the national debate, his ego probably couldn’t handle it, so he just acted childish to the point Current had little choice, but to can him last week. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171570/leaders-bleeders-big-bang-up-cross-platform.html

Why Are There Still Upfronts When There Are So Many New Ways For Viewers To Access TV?
With the arrival of spring we look for the first robin, the first tulip, and whether the national television upfront will happen again this year. Year after year advertisers have been willing to lay down ever-increasing amounts of money at ever-increasing CPM (cost-per-thousand) pricing during cable and broadcast television’s upfront buying season. Here large advertising buyers commit to ad units within specific, high-demand programming at guaranteed prices to insure they get their share of premium inventory at a predictable cost. Bottom line, the laws of supply and demand create this rush to buy every spring.
But wait a minute. Aren’t the number of total “T/V” hours watched by viewers (let’s expand the term “television” here to multiplatform “T/V” or “television/video”) increasing? Aren’t viewers now able to access television online, through connected TV and on mobile and tablet platforms? Doesn’t TV Everywhere (which allows cable system operators to justify their paid subscriptions and pre-empt Netflix, Hulu, Roku et al by offering programming on other platforms than the home TV set) produce more sellable inventory or supply, which would in turn reduce costs?
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171617/why-are-there-still-upfronts-when-there-are-so-man.html

The importance of investing in Hispanic marketing
Hispanics will make up about 40% of about 12 million net new U.S. households in the next decade, illustrating the growing buying power of the demographic group, writes Ad Age columnist Chiqui Cartagena. Despite strong evidence of the emergence of Latinos’ growing buying power, many companies are investing only 3% to 5% of their marketing budgets to reach Hispanic consumers, she writes.
http://adage.com/article/the-big-tent/hispanics-a-mega-buying-force/234056/

Retail News

New Balance Celebrates Its Homemade Footprint
NEW BALANCE is introducing a 30th anniversary model of its 990 running shoe with an advertising campaign that emphasizes its production in the United States.The 30th anniversary 990 is the 10th version of this shoe; some earlier models have had style numbers other than 990, like the 993, the model preceding the newest shoe. The 30th anniversary 990, available now at shopnewbalance.com and early this month in stores and elsewhere online, is lighter than the 993, fits more snugly than the 993, and contains an updated sole and reflective logo. The 990 has a cult following: according to New Balance officials, it was favored by Steve Jobs, and has also been worn by the actors Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Hilary Duff, among others.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/business/media/new-balance-celebrates-its-homemade-footprint.html?_r=1

Juicy to Open in Moscow
Juicy Couture is headed to Russia. The brand will open its first two stores in Moscow on Tuesday in partnership with JamilCo., a leading Russian luxury brand distributor. The grand opening will take place at GUM on Tuesday night. An additional Juicy store will open Tuesday at the Four Seasons shopping center. LeAnn Nealz, chief creative officer and co-president of Juicy Couture, said, “Juicy has always enjoyed the loyalty of Russian customers who shop with us in London, New York and other cities,” so she believes the stores will appeal to Moscow women. “As we continue to expand internationally, the Russian market will become extremely important to our brand.” The 1,500-square foot mono-brand store within GUM will feature Juicy’s women’s categories, including ready-to-wear, outerwear and accessories as well as Juicy Kids. The 1,300-square-foot store at the Four Seasons mall will carry Juicy’s women’s categories.
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/specialty-stores/juicy-to-open-in-moscow-5847562

Report: Smartphones assist in many shopping decisions
Most consumers equipped with smartphones use them to help make shopping decisions, according to research firm Leo J. Shapiro and Associates, which found that 66% of the respondents in a February survey considered the devices to be helpful when shopping. Among its other findings: 38% conducted research with their phones while inside stores, while 47% said they used the devices for gathering information about products.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008971

Travel News

Airline skies: getting friendlier?
Airline passengers burdened by lost bags, delayed flights, terrible service and escalating fees (and even bizarre behavior by pilots and others) will find it hard to believe: flying may be getting better, according to private researchers.
That’s the case, anyway, compared to four long traditional measurements. Airline performance improved last year as judged by four measures — passengers who endured lost bags, delayed flights, lousy service or bumpings from full flights, according to an annual report recently released. Another positive development in late-breaking airline news: WestJet introduced its “Kargo Kids,” creating anticipation that it will lead to a move towards more child-free flights not only in Canada but in many other places as well. It’s an obvious effort to cater to the many passengers who would just as soon not travel with often noisy children. WestJet calls it an “exciting new program allowing guests to travel on select child-free flights, creating a quieter and more relaxing inflight experience, while children travel in a special VIP area of the aircraft.” http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?m_id=Y!T_T_T_dbT_&w_id=7706&news_id=2000970

Pinterest draws attention of agents, suppliers
More members of the travel industry are looking at the new social media tool Pinterest and recognizing its potential for marketing, this feature says. “The advantage Pinterest has is simple: pictures,” said Meghan Peters of social media news website Mashable.com. “Its photocentric design appeals to even the most casual social media user. … The site has quickly struck a chord with a mainstream audience, a difficult feat for a new social network.”
http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Online-Travel/Travel-companies-see-potential-in-scrapbooking-site-Pinterest/

What Facebook ‘Like’ and Email Have In Common
The reasons a consumer might click on a Facebook “Like” button and subscribe to an email list are similar, according to a study. The study, released Tuesday from Constant Contact and research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey, finds that consumers are more likely to opt in to receive communications from local businesses than national businesses in email and on Facebook. The study analyzed the behavior of 1,481 consumers ages 18 and older in the United States. It reveals that producing not-relevant content or over-communicating messages drives consumers to unlike and unsubscribe.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171117/what-facebook-like-and-email-have-in-common.html?edition=45039

Senators Call For DOJ Probe Of Facebook-Snooping
If anything’s become clear in the last week, it’s that many people really dislike the idea of employers extracting Facebook passwords from job applicants. While profile-snooping isn’t new (the city of Bozeman, Mont. routinely asked all job applicants for social media log-ins back in 2009), and probably isn’t yet widespread (to date, only a handful of anecdotes have surfaced), news reports last week brought the practice to public attention. The news reports also sparked a backlash, with critics rightly saying that employers who sought that kind of information had gone too far. The complaints grew loud enough that Facebook itself chimed in to remind people not to share their passwords.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171116/senators-call-for-doj-probe-of-facebook-snooping.html

Attack Of The Pinterest Clones
It happens while you sleep. One night, you’re visiting your favorite website. Then, you wake up, visit it again, and you can’t recognize it anymore. Did you enter the URL correctly? It’s not your imagination: your favorite site has been turned into yet another Pinterest clone! Shut down your laptop, run for the hills, and stock up on Smirnoff as you wait out this Pinterestpocalypse. The success of Pinterest, amazing and deserved as it is, has inspired many sites old and new to mimic its design. That’s making all internet users victims of Pinterest’s success. This is a new era for mimicry.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171157/attack-of-the-pinterest-clones.html

Geotargeted Push Notifications Coming to a Phone Near You
Advertisers looking to leverage location to reach consumers are getting a new option. At the O’Reilly Where Conference in San Francisco today, the Portland, Ore.-based startup Urban Airship is announcing a new service to deliver geotargeted push notifications. Called Segments, the service marries the company’s platform for deploying real-time messages and in-app purchase content with geospatial data amassed by SimpleGeo, a startup acquired by Urban Airship in October.
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/geotargeted-push-notifications-coming-phone-near-you-139374

Canada gets serious about combating spam
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission this week released its final regulations that detail how marketers can comply with that nation’s anti-spam act. The act, which passed into law in late 2010 and is expected to take effect later this year, requires a marketer to have received express consent from a recipient before it can send an electronic message, such as e-mail or text messages. It applies to all electronic messages sent to recipients in Canada, regardless of whether those messages originate in another country.
http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/03/30/canada-gets-serious-about-combating-spam

Media News

Telling A Brand Story Through Transmedia
Transmedia marketing, in which a story is told across a variety of platforms that can include film, television, the Internet, live events and social media, among others, is being used more widely, particularly in the entertainment industry. It’s one more way that content marketing, which is a primary driver in search engine optimization, is being leveraged not only to get better SEO, but to drive search queries in the first place. I wrote recently about how the team from Bravo’s “Top Chef” franchise used transmedia to increase viewership and improve audience engagement. A more recent example is Ridley Scott’s new film “Prometheus,” which is generating a lot of advance buzz — the film’s trailer, which debuted at Wondercon in Anaheim recently, generated more than 3 million views in the first 48 hours of its release.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171031/telling-a-brand-story-through-transmedia.html?edition=45039

TV ‘Friends’ Social Nets At The Expense Of Radio, Print, and Other Media
Social media is getting more ad revenue. But the dollars are coming out of budgets for print, radio, outdoor and other media — not TV. That is good news for sellers of traditional TV. For a long time, it seemed the Internet was angling to draw dollars away from television. But traditional marketers want to have their cake and eat it too. They still love to spend money on TV, but now realize that adding social media components — perhaps sold by traditional TV — could be a good way to go.
According to many analysts, social media has helped TV maintain or improve overall usage levels. Many marketers would say it has helped increase engagement levels for their campaigns. This is not to say that TV marketers won’t also be looking to gains from digital video extensions like Hulu, syndicated video players, and their own video players. Perhaps getting that social media connection is more valuable in the near term, with the engagement, conversations and connections serving as an additive to television.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171202/tv-friends-social-nets-at-the-expense-of-radio.html

Comcast deal increases potential audience for Oprah’s OWN network
A deal with Comcast means viewers in 3 million more homes will be able to see Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network. The deal increases OWN’s potential viewership to 83 million homes. The network is focused on increasing its income from subscription fees.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304750404577317332582679876.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Retail News

5 Questions for Kate Spade’s Deborah Lloyd
For Kate Spade New York, bridal is a natural part of the brand’s DNA. “I believe in dressing our girl for every occasion of her life,” said president and chief creative officer Deborah Lloyd, “and what bigger occasion is there than her wedding?” The brand, which also includes ready-to-wear, handbags and accessories, joined forces with Schwartz & Benjamin on its shoe collection in 2003, and that same year debuted bridal footwear. Since then, the bridal segment has tripled in size.
http://www.wwd.com/footwear-news/markets/5-questions-for-kate-spades-deborah-lloyd-5838527?module=pubs

Brands learn the value of college-campus ambassadors
Brand ambassadors and street teams have become more prominent on college campuses since the days of promoting record labels for swag. Still unpaid, but given titles such as “director of social media,” armies of budding marketers are boosting their resumes for tech startups such as Foursquare and dress-rental outfit Rent the Runway.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577321594090033560.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

White House | Black Market Keep It Real With ‘Marie Claire’
Everyday working women from magazine’s LinkedIn network replace models
Flip through the advertisements in any fashion magazine, and it won’t take long to notice a defining feature among the women shilling for lipsticks or shoes: They’re all stunningly beautiful, very famous, or both. But so-called “real women” have been slowly entering the territory of the professionally glamorous as brands attempt to relate to the woman who is more concerned with balancing her checkbook than maintaining a size zero. Hearst Magazines’ Marie Claire is jumping on this trend with the May issue of Marie Claire@Work, its new, thrice-yearly supplement for working women that’s sent to subscribers in the top 10 markets.
http://www.adweek.com/news/press/advertisers-keep-it-real-marie-claire-139332

Do Pinterest users spend more on e-commerce?
Customers who find online home-furnishings retailer Wayfair through social site Pinterest spend an average of 70% more than shoppers who arrive there via other channels, says Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah. “It’s about the pictures. You have decided you like it before you know what it costs.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46878779

Travel News

Cruises winning battle with airlines
An emerging trend among travelers: an inclination to eschew air trips for cruises. Why? “A big reason for the shift is the raw deal consumers are getting from airlines, but don’t expect the financial end of that raw deal to change anytime soon,” writes MainStreet. US airlines collected about $5.7 billion in airline baggage fees and reservation changes in 2010, according to the US Department of Transportation. “With profit margins thinner and fuel prices higher, airlines are going to keep those fees in place, but risk facing a backlash against the traveling-bound consumer as the summer holiday season beckons,” says MainStreet. So one option is cruising.
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?m_id=Y!T_T_T_dbT_&w_id=7693&news_id=2000921

Europe will harbor 3 more Royal Caribbean ships in 2013
Royal Caribbean International announced that it is deploying three more of its cruise ships in Europe in 2013. The Liberty of the Seas, the Navigator of the Seas and the Serenade of the Seas will undertake round-trip sailings along the Western Mediterranean, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean Greek Isles and Mediterranean Venice, respectively.
http://www.travelpulse.com/royal-caribbean-to-base-three-more-ships-in-europe-in-2013.html

Data Points: Social Commentary Which TV shows are getting the most mention on Twitter?
Chances are if you’re an avid TV viewer, you’ve tweeted about a show at some point. SocialGuide Intelligence, one of a growing number of companies tracking social response to TV content, examined tweets related to 213 channels over a two-day period to see where the action was. Looking at shows by genre, reality TV was the most active, receiving 19 percent of all comments. Series were the most-tweeted program type, receiving more than half the comments, which is in keeping with the volume of programs they represent. But no one tops sports fans for tweeting activity: Sports events accounted for 37 percent of comments, despite representing just 3 percent of program volume.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/data-points-social-commentary-139015

True Social Networks
The open bar-fueled upfront party is making a comeback among kids networks. To take home a bigger helping of the television ad dollar, networks are forgoing boring but thorough early-morning presentations in favor of proving to buyers they’ve got ready cash to throw around with punchy sessions awash in adult refreshment. Disney, Nickelodeon and, later this week, Cartoon Network are among networks trying out the wine-’em-and-dine-’em strategy this year. A big upfront shindig is de rigueur for Nick. The network has been at the top of the kids’ ratings heap for so long that its celebration with Madison Avenue seems perpetual. But big bashes are not the norm for rivals Cartoon and Disney. With Cartoon seeing some first-quarter gains and Disney launching Disney Junior, a new cable network to compete with Nick Jr., those long, look-at-all-our-new-stuff presentations have vanished from the 2012 kids upfront calendar.
http://www.adweek.com/news/television/true-social-networks-139176

New iPad’s Perk for Publishers Apple takes a page from the Nook and Amazon Kindle.
The new high-res iPad would, like so many things from Apple, seem a mixed bag for publishers. Its richer visuals raise concerns that consumers already frustrated by long download times for digital editions of magazines will have to suffer still more waiting. But some good news: Apple is quietly letting publishers offer trials on auto-renewing subscriptions. The move suggests that despite its reputation for inflexibility, Apple is paying close attention to the Barnes & Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle, which already have the feature. That has worked well for publishers, as customers who sign up for the free trial are automatically charged at the end of that trial unless they turn off the auto-renew option.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/new-ipads-perk-publishers-139009

Media News

Network Report Card Shows a Solid ‘C’ for ABC
With a dozen weeks to go before the 2011-12 broadcast season wheezes to a halt, ABC is suspended in a nearly airless equipoise between triumph and futility. For every new series that has landed on the network’s prime-time schedule like a stunned carp, there’s been an equal number of easy, breezy hits. The dynamic tension between boom and bust has left ABC in a familiar position—flat on its back, looking up at the stars. Through Feb. 26, ABC is averaging a 2.5 rating in the crucial 18-49 demo, precisely where the network stood at the conclusion of the previous season. If ABC hasn’t moved the needle, it has stopped the bleeding; when the lights went out last May, ABC had lost 8 percent of its GRPs. Wholly static, ABC now trails NBC by two-tenths of a ratings point, having been edged out of third place after the Super Bowl (there is no defense against a 40.5 rating).
http://www.adweek.com/news/television/network-report-card-shows-solid-c-abc-138687

Battle Royale: ‘Voice’ and ‘DWTS’ Square Off
Already packed like a rush-hour subway car, Monday night became even more dangerously overcrowded with the return of Dancing With the Stars. Back for its 14th cycle, ABC’s competition series averaged 18.8 million viewers and a 3.5 in the adults 18-to-49 demo, marking a significant 34 percent drop versus last spring’s opener. Per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings, DWTS grew steadily from start to finish, improving 9 percent from 17.4 million viewers at 9 p.m. to 19.1 million in the final half-hour episode. The demo grew proportionately, starting at a 3.3 rating before ending with a 3.6. While DWTS beat NBC’s powerhouse The Voice in total viewers, ABC lagged well behind its rival in the all-important demographic. After averaging 12 million total viewers, The Voice won the night with a season-low 4.6 in the dollar demo––down 12 percent from last week’s 5.2.
http://www.adweek.com/news/television/battle-royale-voice-and-dwts-square-139092

ASME Names Digital ‘Ellies’ Winners ‘New York’ magazine, Condé Nast’s ‘Wired’ win multiple awards
Condé Nast’s Wired and New York magazine were the big winners of the American Society of Magazine Editors’ 2012 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media, with Wired winning in both the Design and Reporting categories and New York taking home Ellies for Website and General Excellence, the day’s highest honor.
The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) and Columbia School of Journalism handed out the awards at a luncheon today. The Personal Service award went to Menshealth.com for “The Skin Cancer Center,” The Daily Beast won the Website Department trophy for its “Book Beast,” the Multimedia Ellie went to Foreign Policy for “The Qadaffi Files: An FP Special Report,” and National Geographic won the Tablet Edition award for its iPad app. Time Inc. won the Utility App award for Time magazine’s PopuList app for the iPad.
http://www.adweek.com/news/press/asme-names-digital-ellies-winners-139093

Retail News

J. Crew Makes International Push
Determined to become a global brand, J. Crew Group Inc. will expand distribution to 107 countries, from the 29 nations the brand currently ships. The company considers online direct sales a gauge to determine where there’s enough demand to warrant launching stores, and has begun scouting sites in Europe and Asia. It’s most keen on the U.K., Hong Kong and China. J. Crew is sounding a different tune from a few years ago, when its chairman and chief executive officer Millard “Mickey” Drexler expressed reservations about international expansion just as retailers such as Gap Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among others, were mounting aggressive overseas strategies.
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/specialty-stores/j-crew-makes-international-push-5815600

Dior Makes a Big Statement With Taiwan Store
Dior has just put a big footprint on the Greater China market. The brand owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Friday opened its largest store in the world here, a 19,410-square-foot manse in the towering Taipei 101 mall that is a physical manifestation of both the importance of the market and Dior’s confidence in its continued growth. “You have several generations now of Taiwanese entrepreneurs with a very high level of taste,” said Dior chief executive officer Sidney Toledano. “They don’t just buy something because it’s a brand and because it’s in fashion. They buy because they look to invest in a high-quality product.”
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/designer-luxury/dior-makes-a-big-statement-with-taiwan-store-5824850

Neiman Marcus Buys Minority Stake in Glamour Sales
The Neiman Marcus Group said Thursday that it is taking a “non-controlling” strategic stake in Asia-based e-commerce company Glamour Sales Holding by investing $28 million. This will be the American retailer’s first foray into China. Neiman Marcus said it intends to launch a full-price, luxury e-commerce website in China through Glamour Sales by the end of 2012.
“The site will have editorial content, fashion expertise and behind-the-scenes videos to make it a reliable and indispensable source of valuable insights about featured luxury brands,” the company said in a release. “We are taking this bold step to establish Neiman Marcus Group as an international brand,” said Karen Katz, president and chief executive of the Neiman Marcus Group. “Our strategic investment in Glamour Sales gives us a tremendous partner and a strong foothold in a rapidly expanding luxury market.”
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/department-stores/neiman-marcus-buys-minority-stake-in-glamour-sales-5817040

Travel News

Airbus and Virgin take new route to greener flying
Airbus has joined a consortium including Virgin Australia to study a new pathway to produce sustainable aviation fuels. Eucalyptus mallee trees, grown in Western Australia’s wheat belt, are sustainably harvested and converted to a feedstock for refining into alternative aviation fuel via a process called Pyrolysis. Mallee is indigenous to Australia, adapting to an environment where it helps return salt-affected land to a productive state. In a statement, Airbus said growing these trees to make alternative fuels encourages large scale planting, “which is expected to bring a range of environmental and social benefits to farmers and rural communities”.
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000825&c=setreg&region=2

Virgin Atlantic Helping You Find Reading Material for Your Trip
Longreads has become a great resource for readers whose attention span lasts longer than this blog post. Now, it’s getting into travel writing via a new partnership with Virgin Atlantic. Longreads today announced the launch of Travelreads, a new channel that will help people find and share the best stories about the best places in the world. Editor’s picks will be curated on Twitter and Facebook, and people can share their favorite stories by tagging them #travelreads. Longreads hopes to expand this brand sponsorship model, and signed up none other than Joyce King Thomas—the former chief creative officer at McCann Erickson, New York, best known for MasterCard’s “Priceless” campaign—to help facilitate future partnerships.
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/virgin-atlantic-helping-you-find-reading-material-your-trip-139103

British Airways Rushes Baggage to the 2012 London Olympics
British Airways catches Olympic fever in this cute spot, where luggage from Great Britain, Japan, South Africa, the U.S. and Brazil compete in a race to the luggage carousel. Created by BBH London (and Moxie Pictures director Neil Gorringe) and set to the commentary of Jim Rosenthal, it’s a delightful way to celebrate British Airways’s sponsorship of the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London. I particularly appreciate the attention paid to the luggage, from the enormous, impenetrable steel case of the U.S. to Brazil’s patch-covered duffle bag. Actually, all the details were carefully crafted: the two-handed ticket take at Narita Airport; the commentator from the U.S. talking about how we’re dominating this race; the careful attempt to show BA as a conscientious luggage handler. When Great Britain comes from behind to win the race, perfectly catering to the well-documented British love of the underdog, you truly feel happy for the little girl—and not just because she actually got her suitcase back in one piece.
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/british-airways-rushes-baggage-2012-london-olympics-139088

Google Rebuilds Semantic Search, Expands Delivery Options
Google plans to give its search engine a makeover by integrating semantic technology that will return results more similar to how humans view the world. Google Fellow Amit Singhal in Thursday’s Google+ post explains how the company’s ability to turn raw data into knowledge and deliver the most relevant information relies on its understanding of the questions.”And right now, our understanding is pretty darn limited,” he wrote. Singhal admits queries typically return “decent results” based on keywords, but not necessarily because the engine understands the depth of the question.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/170245/google-rebuilds-semantic-search-expands-delivery.html?edition=44639

Stat of the Day: Americans Spent 53 Billion Minutes on Facebook in March
Americans spent a cumulative 100,000 years on Facebook in March. That’s a number so big even we can’t get our heads around it. We thought about putting together a “what can happen in 100,000 years” post but once we layered in, well, all of recorded history, it got kind of silly. How about: If you had a nickel for every minute spent on Facebook in March, you’d have more than $2.6 billion? Still not doing it? Ok, then let’s keep it apples to apples. 100,000 years is 53 billion minutes, which parses out to 5.8 hours per user. Or 12 minutes per day.
http://adage.com/article/adagestat/u-s-facebook-usage-reached-53-billion-minutes-march-2011/227516/

Google’s GoMo push passes the test in Mobile
Google’s effort to persuade websites to enable themselves for mobile is moving beyond its successful test market of Mobile, Ala. The so-called “GoMo” initiative will roll out to other cities as well as 25 foreign lands.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/google-broadens-a-campaign/

Survey: Women Trust Pinterest More Than Facebook, Twitter
Pinterest may be a social media newcomer, but, apparently, it’s already beating Twitter and Facebook when it comes to trust among women in the U.S. According to BlogHer’s annual study on women and social media, when asked whether they trusted different social media sources, 81 percent of women representing the general U.S. population said they trusted blogs and Pinterest, while 67 percent said they trusted Facebook and 73 percent said they trusted Twitter.
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/survey-women-trust-pinterest-more-facebook-twitter-138930

Media News

‘Dead’ Breathes Life Into AMC Networks Zombie thriller helps scare up huge Q4 profits
iDriven by a significant uptick in ad sales dollars, AMC Networks today reported a 53 percent jump in fourth-quarter profits.
The New York-based cable network group, which houses AMC, IFC, the Sundance Channel and WE tv, posted Q4 net income of $29.5 million, or 40 cents a share, compared to $19.3 million, or 28 cents a share, during the same period last year. Ad sales revenue improved 15 percent, thanks in large part to higher rates and sell-out at AMC. Home to the critically acclaimed original dramas Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead and The Killing, AMC closed out Q4 ranked twelfth among all basic cablenets in the 18-49 demo.
http://www.adweek.com/news/television/dead-breathes-life-amc-networks-138969

CBS: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
CBS viewers can expect to see a lot of familiar faces next fall, as the network has locked up all but four hours of its 2012-13 prime-time schedule. The broadcaster announced today that it has renewed 18 series for next season, a sweeping effort that includes four comedies, nine dramas and three unscripted programs. Among the series that will return in the fall are freshman comedy 2 Broke Girls and the veteran sitcoms How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly. Now in its fifth season, The Big Bang Theory averages 14.1 million viewers per episode and a 4.6 in the adults 18-to-49 demo, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data. Newcomer 2 Broke Girls is the season’s biggest rookie hit, averaging 11.9 million viewers and a 4.5 rating over the course of 18 episodes.
http://www.adweek.com/news/television/cbs-if-it-ain-t-broke-don-t-fix-it-138948

‘Cosmo Latina’ Takes Aim At Bicultural Readers English-language mag nixes family-friendly approach
When Hearst Magazines launches Cosmopolitan Latina in May, it will target an audience that brands are growing increasingly aware of: the millions of young, bilingual and bicultural Latino Americans. And it won’t be like the Spanish-language magazines that already dominate the market. For starters, it will be in English. “What typically happens when you have a magazine or product targeted toward Latinas is, it has a very wholesome, family approach,” said the magazine’s editor, Michelle Herrera Mulligan. Cosmo Latina will provide “the kind of conversation that goes on when the door is shut, when we can talk about things openly and honestly” Cosmo Latina, which will start with two issues this year and a circulation of 545,000, will have half its ads coming from beauty versus one-fourth in the original Cosmopolitan. Advertisers in the launch issue include Estée Lauder, Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal USA, Lancôme, Christian Dior, Macy’s, Unilever, Calvin Klein and Coty.
http://www.adweek.com/news/press/cosmo-latina-takes-aim-bicultural-readers-138864

OWN layoffs come as Oprah’s cable channel struggles
Oprah Winfrey is shaking up management of OWN, the network she co-owns with Discovery Communications. The moves, which include 30 job cuts, come in the wake of weak ratings and the cancellation of the underperforming “Rosie Show” and are expected to save the network $20 million over the next two years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/own-cuts-30-jobs-as-network-is-restructured/2012/03/19/gIQA0tHxNS_blog.html

Retail News

Italy’s online sales rose 20% last year
Online sales in Italy rose 20% last year, as consumers turned to the web to buy more clothing, computers, media and groceries, according to Netcomm. Amazon, Banzai Commerce and eBay led the list of online merchants with the most market share.
http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/03/19/e-commerce-soars-italy-despite-economic-crisis

Retailers mix multicultural and general marketing
Wal-Mart Stores, Kohl’s, Kmart and Sears are putting multicultural marketing dollars into individual business units, to develop what’s known as “total market.” Wal-Mart, for example, has the humorous “Every Cart Tells a Story” campaign, developed by The Martin Agency, with slight differences in the Spanish-language version.
http://adage.com/article/hispanic-marketing/retailers-break-multicultural-silo/233361/

Where Uniqlo’s fast fashion begins
Yuki Katsuta and his global team of 100 designers are responsible for creating the trendy basics Fast Retailing’s Uniqlo has become known for around the world. In this profile he explains the process, which starts with imagining where the brand’s customers might want to travel and using images of those places to inspire new patterns and styles.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304537904577277590156537080.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

The state of the luxury jewelry market
Luxury brands have been on an upward trajectory, but slowing sales in the West and a projected decline in demand in China this year could prove challenging. Cartier says its geographical diversity and ability to shift production levels quickly in the face of changing demand have positioned it well to ride out market changes.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304692804577285290159275230.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Travel News

UK ports attract cruise visitors
More passengers are cruising into UK ports as figures show a 6% increase in the number of ships visiting. The CruiseBritain show revealed that 648,000 passengers arrived at UK ports in 2011 which was an increase of 15% on the previous year. 2011 also saw 878,000 passengers join their cruise at a UK port, a five per cent increase on 2010, with 86 per cent of passengers being British.
Kate O’Hara, chair of CruiseBritain, said: “The growth in both cruise ship visits and passenger numbers is a testament to Britain’s value as a cruise destination.”Over the last seven years, we have seen the number of visiting passengers double.”
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000776&c=setreg&region=2

Hotel launches check-in on wheels
Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands has begun checking guests into its hotel as they ride on free coach services from Changi airport. The 2,500 rooms and suites hotel made the move to alleviate long queues at check-in counters. There have been complaints from guests about long waits ‘✠up to 30 minutes ‘✠to complete registration. Now, on the coach from the airport, Marina Bay Sands guest service staff register the guest’s details via handheld tablets. The data is updated in real-time into the hotel guest system.
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000744&c=setreg&region=2

Florida’s tourism industry surged in 2011, study shows
Strong growth in Florida tourism, particularly in the corporate travel sector and cruise business, allowed the state’s hotel industry to place fifth in Marcus & Millichap’s Statewide Hotel Property Index. In-state travel also enjoyed a 12.5% rise from the addition of 114,000 jobs in the state. “People are getting more confidence in the economy and hotels are benefiting from that,” said Hospitality Operations President Bernie Wolfson.
http://www.globest.com/news/12_309/miami/hotel/Florida-Hotel-Market-Among-Top-in-Nation-319705.html

“We’ve become more about individual brands—ourselves included—and social media has built a platform that enables that,” said Pattie Garrahy, founder & CEO of PGR Media
Once upon a time, there were two venerated queens. Each enjoyed a historic reign over her multimedia kingdom, ruling absolutely over her millions of adoring subjects who yearned to be just like these demigoddesses of house and home, body and soul. By obeying their every edict and staying on task, the rulers decreed, any woman could get whatever she wanted—as long as she just wanted it enough. Then, the evil Kardashian princesses swept into town and ruined everything. So, it’s come to this for Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart. So much has already been written about the crash of their respective businesses that rehashing the details would amount to overkill. The bottom line is that for so very long, female consumers bought whatever this diva duo was selling—be they TV programs, magazines or house paint. And then one day, they weren’t. In this, our Women’s Issue, we aim to define the evolving female consumer and determine how marketers should speak to her, which brands are doing the best job of connecting to her—and which are not.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/editors-note-end-everywoman-138506

Getting Pinterested In Email
The online world is abuzz about the virtual pinboard site Pinterest these days, and for good reason: it’s blowing up! Launched in March 2010, Pinterest already had 11.7 million unique visitors as of January 2012, having surpassed the 10 million unique visitors mark more quickly than any standalone site in history. These days, it drives more referral traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube combined. So, as an email marketer, what’s your next move? How should you determine if Pinterest is right for you, and what’s the best way to get a piece of the Pinterest pie? Get ready: Know who uses it and what they use it for. People use Pinterest for collecting images of products and things they like. This allows users to visually represent themselves to their networks through collages of “found” imagery, and it also facilitates group online shopping when the “things they like” are for sale somewhere.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/170046/getting-pinterested-in-email.html

Why There Won’t Be another Twitter at SXSW
The year was 2007. South by Southwest was mostly known as a film and music festival, but SXSW Interactive was attracting greater attendance and media coverage. It was there that early adopters first fell in love with Twitter. Just as SXSW helped establish Twitter, Twitter’s fame in turn popularized the Interactive conference, and both would struggle to keep pace with consumer demand. Thanks to Twitter, digital media pundits spend all year making predictions about what technology will break through at the following SXSW. In this echo chamber, it’s a bigger deal than picking the winner of the Super Bowl, the Oscars, and the presidential election. It helped that Dennis Crowley debuted Foursquare at 2009′s festival, giving SXSW even more clout for launching tech brands. In 2011, GroupMe popularized group messaging, while rival app Beluga, garnering somewhat less buzz, was subsequently acquired by Facebook. The parlor game remains as vibrant as ever in 2012.
http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/twitter-sxsw/233214/

Go Ahead, Look Inside Pandora’s Box
Good news is bad news is good news for Pandora Media investors. Shares in the Internet “radio” service were slammed Wednesday, falling 24%, after it reported that revenue missed expectations in its latest quarter and that it would likely report yet another loss for the fiscal year ending January 2013. The bloodletting, though, may actually give investors an opportunity to cue up Pandora in their portfolio playlist. Pandora’s dilemma is that users are streaming more music every month over its service. On one hand, this should lessen concerns that new, online music rivals such as Spotify could eat into its business. On the other, the company’s success means costs are growing faster than revenue. That is because Pandora pays royalties for every song streamed, regardless of whether it has advertisers lined up.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203961204577267502801364344.html

Media News

Mag Bag: ‘Cosmo’ Boasts 100,000 Digital Subscribers
Cosmopolitan, long one of the best-selling magazines at print newsstands is also taking the digital world by storm, according to publisher Hearst Magazines, which said the saucy women’s lifestyle title is the first Hearst pub to attract over 100,000 digital subscribers. The digital edition, which is available on the Apple, Zinio, Barnes & Noble and Amazon Kindle newsstands, was one of the first big consumer mags to launch in the medium. Its Zinio product debuted in 2005. Now Cosmo is just one of a number of Hearst titles hawking digital editions. Hearst Magazines president David Carey stated: ”Hearst Magazines has sold more than 500,000 digital subscriptions across its portfolio to date and expects to reach 1 million by the end of 2012.”
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/169757/mag-bag-cosmo-boasts-100000-digital-subscriber.html

A Moment With Harvey Weinstein
“In baseball, we’d be mediocre,” said Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of multimedia production and distribution company, The Weinstein Co., referring to the number of Academy Award nominations that projects under he and his brother Bob’s companies have scored over the years — 303 nominations with 67 wins. The most recent triumph, of course, is the Michel Hazanavicius-helmed French production “The Artist,” which was acquired by Weinstein in spring 2011 and scooped up five Oscars this year, including Best Picture. For Weinstein, each win feels as thrilling as the first. “You know it’s being judged by your peers so it’s like no other award.
http://www.wwd.com/eye/people/a-moment-with-harvey-weinstein-5786400

Checking in With Condé Nast’s Dawn Ostroff
Dawn Ostroff is taking her time in assembling Condé Nast’s new entertainment division. Don’t expect any big deals to be unveiled — whether movies, TV shows or anything digital — until the end of this year or early next. Her first step: Hiring a team.
“It all takes time to get up and going,” Ostroff, the president of Condé Nast Entertainment, told WWD on Wednesday night. “It’s the equivalent of starting a magazine from scratch. You have to go out and pick and choose people from other companies and find the best of the best and put them together, so you can imagine how hard that would be.”Ostroff, nearly five months in the job, said she would bring on about 10 to 12 people and that she’s made just one move so far (she’s brought on a strategic planning person).
http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/rome-wasnt-built-5786940

Brands flaunt innovations at SXSW
Corporate giants have become part of the landscape at the South by Southwest festival, using the occasion to network among themselves and to advertise their latest innovations. Chevy is promoting a new version of its interactive OnStar navigation system. American Express is sponsoring a show, as well as promoting its relationship with location-based social network Foursquare. Virgin Mobile is debuting an ad campaign.
http://adage.com/article/digital/top-brands-amex-warby-parker-sxsw/233260/

Retail News

Kate Spade Bows Vegas Boutique
Kate Spade is making a fresh bet. Next month, Kate Spade New York will bow a new 2,200-sq.-ft. boutique inside The Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The store will carry a wide assortment of footwear, handbags, apparel, legwear, eyewear, fragrance and home goods.
http://www.wwd.com/footwear-news/retail/shop-talk-vejas-london-pop-up-kate-spade-in-vegas-5783400

Study: Boomers, Gen Y seek different shopping experiences
Gen Y consumers seek out retailers that make them smile and want to share the experience with their friends while baby boomers are much more focused on finding the best values, according to a survey from Brodeur Partners. “What we can’t know from this, but what’s interesting, is whether that happens over time, and rational values become more important as we age,” said Brodeur’s Jerry Johnson.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/170053/gen-y-shoppers-want-to-share-boomers-to-save.html?edition=44542

How Apple’s Siri will affect mobile shopping’s future
Relatively few consumers currently have Apple devices equipped with Siri, the company’s digital personal assistant, but many more have expressed interest in using the service to compare prices and search for coupons while they’re shopping, according to Catapult Marketing. One-third of consumers said they either had used or would be interested in using Siri when shopping.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008898

Brazilian tourists boost U.S. retail coffers
Newly wealthy Brazilian citizens are flocking to the U.S. with carry-on luggage and heading home with so many new purchases that airplanes have to carry extra fuel. Driven by a combination of new prosperity and hyperinflation that makes everything more expensive at home, Brazilians spent about $5.9 billion on visits to the U.S. in 2010, and they’re a big part of the reason President Barack Obama is pushing to speed the visa process.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1061116496

Travel News

Travel to Europe holds steady despite higher airfares
Despite rising airfares, travel bookings to Europe have remained steady, according to travel agents. “We have not had any slowdown. We’re already struggling getting the right space for people at certain hotels,” said Rudi Steele, president of Rudi Steele Travel in Dallas.
http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Tour-Operators/Europe-travel-holding-up-well-despite-soaring-airfares/

Cruise-line executives project industry’s recovery post-Concordia
Leaders of the cruise industry who attended the Cruise Shipping Miami conference say cruise lines should experience strong growth this year after the grounding of the Costa Concordia off Italy, as renewed marketing efforts put a greater focus on ship safety. The Cruise Lines International Association projects 17.2 million passengers this year, up 5% over 2011 figures. “I don’t think we’ll get back as much pricing probably as we otherwise would have had this not occurred, but I think [as] we move into future years we’ll continue to get stronger,” said Carnival Cruise Lines President and CEO Gerald Cahill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/already-facing-new-challenges-in-2012-cruise-line-leaders-discuss-state-of-industry/2012/03/13/gIQA1nsZ9R_story.html

Will You Adopt Facebook Timeline or Just Migrate?
Like many marketers, I’ve spent the last few days devouring the new brand timelines launched for Facebook pages. My expectations were sky-high but after several hours I realized that Facebook timeline is going to be a lot harder to implement than most brands think. As it stands now, there is a clear divide between brands that have “adopted” the timeline feature set full on and those that have simply “migrated” their old strategy to the timeline format with a few old brand assets tossed in for backfill.
http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/adopt-facebook-timeline-migrate/233094/

Facebook Warns Brands that Scale in Social Won’t Come For Free
Facebook is asking marketers to double down on their investment in advertising and content in return for an assurance that they’ll reach a sizable share of the fan base they’ve been growing for years. It always wants them to rethink their very organizations and what an ad is. The message: Social at scale will not be free. It was delivered at a grand event that ended with cocktails under the life-size replica of a blue whale in the Museum of Natural History and a performance by Alicia Keys. There, Facebook suggested that marketers reorganize themselves around social. It produced a handy playbook with a proposed organizational chart for marketers that advises creating a position to “oversee social across the organization” (and report directly to the chief marketing officer) as well as a “pages team” dedicated to Facebook. It also suggested a terminology in which Facebook ads will no longer be “ads” but “stories.”
http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-warns-brands-scale-social-free/233105/

Tim Castelli Out at AOL
AOL is losing its top East Coast sales executive. Tim Castelli, AOL’s vp of sales for its Eastern U.S. Region, is leaving the company. Castelli—one of the many ex-Google executives brought on by CEO Tim Armstrong—is headed to Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, where he’ll serve as evp of digital sales. AOL plans to aggressively look for a replacement for Castelli, according to Jim Norton, AOL’s head of sales.“Tim has a very personal opportunity to take on a new challenge,” said Norton. “His departure is continued validation that AOL has some of the top talent in the industry.” It’s possible that Castelli surveyed AOL’s new sales structure under Norton and felt that his opportunities for advancement were limited. But it’s also possible that Armstrong is looking to bring in more brand-sales-oriented executives, rather than ex-Googlers. Norton cautioned against reading too much into the move. “This is in no way a reflection of a change in strategy, or that we don’t have the right people in the building,” he said. “I don’t think this speaks to people’s experiences. We are about using content to bring brands to customers. At the end of the day, we are looking at people who understand customers.”
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/tim-castelli-out-aol-138641

Media News

Condé Nast Primes Ars Technica for Its Big Moment
Ars Technica has many things, from an audience of nearly 8 million monthly uniques to an affluent, educated readership of engaged hard-core techies. What it hasn’t had—until now—is a dedicated advertising staff. Founded by Ken Fisher in 1998 and bought by Condé Nast for a reported $25 million in 2008, Ars’ following results in four out of five readers visiting daily, according to the site. Last year, its 27,300-word review of Apple’s Mac OS X Lion got more than 3 million pageviews and sold 15,000 copies as a $5 Kindle e-book, also per the site. Now, Condé Nast has decided it’s time for Ars, which had been sold by Wired’s sales staff, to sell itself. The new team will bill Ars as “the biggest site you don’t know about.” Fisher said the end of the recession and strong advertiser interest in the online community contributed to the timing. “When [Condé Nast] purchased Ars, it had big plans,” he said. “Now that everything’s lined up, it’s time to go.” The sales team will have a bigger, fresher-looking product to sell too. Ars is adding several new editorial people and getting a redesign in May that Fisher said would give its long-form journalism more exposure and expand its coverage of topics like security and gadgets. Wired publisher Howard Mittman, who will continue to oversee Ars, said he saw the redesign helping to attract new ad clients to the site.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/cond-nast-primes-ars-technica-its-big-moment-138691

Harper’s Bazaar Unveils New Look
Glenda Bailey clutched the magazine close to her chest, like a Giants running back about to charge the Patriots’ defensive line. It was the first copy of the first redesign of Harper’s Bazaar in a decade, and she was understandably possessive of it. “Let’s wait a minute,” said Bazaar’s editor in chief, taking a seat in an otherwise empty conference room on the 16th floor of Hearst Tower. “I just returned from the collections. How are you?” The March issue finally lands on the table and it’s the cover that subscribers will receive. It shows a leggy blonde, wearing a skin-baring, long black dress from relatively new designer Anthony Vaccarello. Her long, wavy hair is covering her face. Is that a model? “It’s Gwyneth Paltrow,” Bailey proclaimed. “It’s a very daring thing to do, where you don’t immediately see her face.” Bailey added, “As you know, I was the first to develop this two-cover approach.” Here’s how the new Harper’s Bazaar can be summed up: it’s like the party guest who you recognize when she enters the room, but you know she’s had work done — a lot of work.
http://www.wwd.com/media-news/media-features/bazaar-redesigns-to-reenergize-5595001

WSJ. and T: The Rivalry Is On
Five years ago, The New York Times had a real business on its hands when it badly needed one. T: The New York Times Style Magazine had become a powerhouse. It had just over 1,600 ad pages, and brought in more than $45 million in revenue. It was frequently mentioned by chief executive officer Janet Robinson in quarterly earnings calls and at media summits as being a standout business for The New York Times Co. Meanwhile, across town, Rupert Murdoch, fresh off closing on the sale of The Wall Street Journal, was assembling his own luxury magazine, WSJ. When the magazine came out in September 2008, it came off as a poor imitation of T, and a transparent attempt by Murdoch to elbow his way even further into the Times’ turf. The verdict came in early: It was T’s town and there was no competition.
http://www.wwd.com/media-news/media-features/wsj-and-t-the-rivaly-is-on-5688981

Retail News

Customs Seizes Fake Estée Lauder Scents
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said they have seized a shipment of counterfeit perfume at the Port of Houston bearing labels under the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. trademark. Authorities said the counterfeit perfume shipment of 5,000 bottles was valued at more than $344,000. Officials intercepted the shipment at the Port of Houston on Jan. 24 and found thousands of bottles bearing the Flirt and Sensuous labels owned by Estée Lauder. CBP officers sent photos and samples of merchandise to Washington and coordinated with Estée Lauder to confirm the merchandise was counterfeit, according to Customs.“CBP officers are actively enforcing trade laws and protecting legitimate business owners and consumers from copyright and trademark infringements,” said Judson W. Murdock II, acting Houston director of Field Operations. “When we identify products as counterfeit or confusingly similar, we take the necessary steps to protect the consumer and seize the shipment, preventing criminals from profiting from this type of illegal activity.”
http://www.wwd.com/business-news/legal/customs-seizes-fake-este-lauder-scents-5763083?browsets=1330966789558

Neiman Marcus Eyes Strategies for Growth
The future is upon the Neiman Marcus Group, which motored through a strong holiday season and is hammering out potential growth strategies. In the months ahead, NMG will determine whether to take Neiman’s international; whether to expand or pull the plug on the fledgling Cusp and Last Call Studio formats, and whether to offer a dividend. The luxury chain will also be fine-tuning and grappling with strategies to lure younger customers; deciding how often to offer free shipping on e-commerce, which Nordstrom does all the time now, and exploring where to open more full-line stores, although with 42 operating and a 43rd opening next week, there is limited opportunity left in the U.S. A proposal to pay a dividend to shareholders not to exceed about $500 million, which may require the company to tap into its revolving credit facility, is on the table.
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/department-stores/neimans-eyes-growth-strategies-5769340

White House|Black Market, The Limited Tap Top Models for Spring
UPPING THE ANTE: The Limited is spending big on its spring campaign, which involves a big-name model and supersized media plan. The brand has never been in the race to score a big name, but all indicators show the retailer is now ready to compete by hiring model Karolina Kurkova and tapping Trey Laird of Laird + Partners (who seems to be behind every campaign this season). The Limited declined to comment on its media budget for the season, but an industry source said that “it’s approaching the $10 million level.” White House|Black Market has also tapped a well-known model this season. On Monday, its first spot featuring Coco Rocha will run during prime-time TV, a first for the brand. White House|Black Market has made a significant increase in TV (prime time, entertainment syndication and cable), as well as online. The print run will be the same as last season.
http://www.wwd.com/media-news/advertising/upping-the-ante-5697253

Travel News

Airline launches flights to southern Iraq
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways will launch flights to Basra in southern Iraq in mid-April. The city will be the third destination in Iraq served by Etihad from its base in the United Arab Emirates. It already flies to the capital, Baghdad, and Erbil in the north. Other airlines currently flying to Basra include Dubai-based Emirates, Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines.”Iraq’s surging economy represents a good opportunity to add even greater depth to our schedule,” said Etihad Airways president and chief executive officer James Hogan.”Basra is an important industrial and transport hub but currently has only limited access to air services and we are delighted to be able to help improve these by investing in the local community.”The new Airbus A320 service will operate four times a week from April 15.
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php news_id=2000524&c=setreg&region=2

TMC goes for green
Portman Travel has unveiled a wide-ranging Corporate Responsibility (CR) initiative – ‘Responsibly Portman’. ‘Under the new strategy and through partnerships with ClimateCare and ManageCO2, Portman Travel clients are provided with an integrated means of managing their impact on the environment when undertaking business travel. Portman will capture emissions data, report on and invoice for offset amounts, collect payment, invest funds in a chosen portfolio of projects and provide official certification for its clients. The new programme will make it hassle free for Portman clients to fulfill their own CR requirements. In partnership with ManageCO2, ‘Responsibly Portman’ will provide clients with the ability to measure the collective impact of their employees when travelling on business. Also, ‘Responsibly Portman’ offers clients ClimateCare carbon offsets The TMC itself will play an important part in ‘Responsibly Portman’, using the innovative reporting system provided by ManageCO2 to measure its own carbon footprint and ultimately reduce its impact on the environment. As part of the programme, Portman Travel will be benchmarking and actively monitoring its own performance in areas such as electricity and gas consumption; recycling and waste management as well as offsetting the travel impact of its own management team.
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000530&c=setreg&region=2

American Airlines Adds Some Leg Room in Coach
American Airlines said Thursday that it is adding roomier seats to the front of its economy-class cabins, mimicking the strategies of its two biggest competitors who have boosted revenues and engendered customer loyalty by offering similar service. The AMR Corp. unit, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, has said it hopes to improve annual revenue by $1 billion through a series of restructuring initiatives, including adding flights from its five hubs in the next few years. The seating program hadn’t been disclosed until Thursday. American said it would add four-to-six inches of leg room to some seats at the front of its economy cabins, charging most customers $8 to $108 for the extra space depending on the length of the flight, and giving its most-elite frequent fliers complimentary access to the seats. The airline said it would remove at least one row of seats from each coach cabin, a minimum of four-to-nine seats per aircraft, to create the extra leg room. American declined to say how much the re-configuration would cost or how much revenue it expects to bring in.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203753704577255312409073878.html

YouTube Natives Topping Big Names Early On Mom, science channels off to solid starts; eggheads and Madonna struggle
Guess which companies are having early success as part of YouTube’s massive 96-channel roll out? The ones that have done it before. YouTube natives like Maker Studios and Vlog brothers are off to strong starts since launching new channels backed by Google’s much-hyped $100 million production fund. Conversely, less experienced (and perhaps more substantive) content producers like Slate and The Intelligent Channel are struggling, as least according to the early view numbers they’re generating on YouTube. And so far, Madonna’s celebrity, along with her well-received Super Bowl halftime performance, has failed to translate into a mass audience—though it’s still early. For example, Maker Studios, perhaps best known for nurturing comedic YouTubers like Ray William Johnson and Nice Peter, started off strong with its mom-oriented channel The Moms’ View, which has amassed nearly 60,000 subscribers and 2.1 million views since launching in December; and Tutele, its more narrowly focused Hispanic-themed channel, which claims close to 25,000 subscribers as of Wednesday (Feb. 15).
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/youtube-natives-topping-big-names-early-138319

Recruiting in a Digital World
Where do online and brick-and-mortar retailers look to hire tech-savvy, merchant-friendly, self-starting, collaborative job candidates? That was the question before an industry panel that included Paul Blum, chief executive officer of Kenneth Cole Productions Inc.; Les Berglass, chairman and ceo of Berglass+Associates, and Melissa Payner, then-ceo of Bluefly Inc., moderated by WWD news director Lisa Lockwood. “Bricks-and-mortar versus Internet is not in our vocabulary,” said Blum. “We’re a lifestyle brand. All technologies and touch points are coming together. It’s changing the language and thinking around the company. We’re looking for people who have adapted to new technologies and changed things where they worked. We don’t want someone who just picked up individual skills.”
http://www.wwd.com/business-news/human-resources/recruiting-in-a-digital-world-5624070

AOL Wants To Bring High-Impact Desktop Model To Mobile
Getting “beyond the banner” appears to be a growing refrain these days among the mobilistas with whom I speak, especially on the publishing side. Frustration over the mobile ad inventory glut seems rife. I also hear promises not to let the same commodification of premium properties occur on mobile the way it did on the Web. We’ll see. That is pretty much the story I was writing about the Web in 2001, too — and we are still seeing content providers wrestling with the same issues of banner and network effectiveness. AOL says it is trying to take some of the same principles it has been espousing of late on the desktop onto its mobile ad creative and sales strategy. Tim Armstrong has been touting the importance of the high-impact ad unit, and the company’s head of mobile monetization, Trent Herren, tells me the same idea informs the mobile plan. In addition to rolling out mobile- and tablet-optimized versions of the key AOL properties in the next year, the company has been seeing heavy usage on devices to big destinations like Huffington Post, Engadget and TechCrunch.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/168001/aol-wants-to-bring-high-impact-desktop-model-to-mo.html

Media News

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Location-based technology will redefine behavioral targeting, maybe sooner than you think
That future in which a bus-shelter ad equipped with geofencing technology scans your smartphone as you stroll by—inviting you to, say, a free latte or a cut-rate back rub—may not be so far off after all. “2012 is going to be a huge year in terms of innovation—not just with respect to being able to leverage location to contextualize the types of advertising and offers that a consumer receives, but also then to turn the corner on that and turn it into actual commerce in the physical world,” said Walt Doyle, CEO of the location-based service Where. Last spring, eBay bought Where to facilitate its mobile transactions. It will figure heavily in the forthcoming mobile-commerce initiative of eBay’s electronic payment service PayPal, which has already been tested with Best Buy and Home Depot. And geotargeting doesn’t stop with the widely cited example of a free cup of Starbucks. While often accused of not living up to its promise, we likely will see the day, and soon, when location-based technology redefines behavioral targeting as we know it, when a consumer packaged-goods company recognizes that a shopper is in the cereal aisle and sends a Wheaties coupon to her phone.
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/where-are-you-going-where-have-you-been-138178

Bon Appétit Releases Digital Edition
Bon Appétit’s new digital edition for tablets launches with its March Tastemaker issue. The aim? Transform the magazine into a kitchen companion for home cooks. The edition’s “Kitchen Mode” breaks down recipes into step-by-step instructions that are accompanied by video, photos, tips, and slideshows. “With features like Kitchen Mode, an easy-to-navigate recipe index, and exclusive content, this app will become your new favorite kitchen tool,” says editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport. Print subscribers will have access to the digital edition.Bon Appétit can be purchased digitally for $4.99 for a single issue. A monthly subscription to the tablet edition is $1.99; an annual subscription is $19.99. The tablet edition is available at the iPad App Store and BarnesandNoble.com.
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/bon-appetit-releases-digital-edition_b53675

Great Quarter for Discovery, but Oprah Net Still Under Fire
It was a good fourth quarter for Discovery Communications. The cable network company saw revenues increase 12 percent to $4.2 billion, propelled by a 13 percent uptick in domestic ad revenue (17 percent, if you exclude figures from the now-defunct Discovery Health) and 7 percent more in affiliate fees. The report far outstripped Wall Street predictions; Discovery has also been able to leverage higher carriage fees as its true-crime network Investigation Discovery barrels up the cable ranker. But the network’s impressive increases internationally and at Discovery and ID couldn’t quite stop analysts from quizzing honcho David Zaslav about OWN, its high-profile, high-cost Oprah Winfrey joint venture. Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG, flatly asked Zaslav whether the company had the rights to terminate the JV or turn the channel into an online network so that it could repurpose the cable network real estate it currently takes up.
http://www.adweek.com/news/own/earnings-great-quarter-discovery-own-still-under-fire-138333

Retail News

New Commerce Sites Challenge Mass Production Mode: Etsy, Fab, Shapeways let consumers engage in design process
Mass production may give us efficiency, more affordable prices and convenience, but a handful of new tech companies say their more custom, less assembly-line-oriented commerce models provide something else: a deeper, more personalized connection to the products people choose to bring into their lives. During a Social Media Week panel on Tuesday (Feb. 14), which asked “Are We in a Post-Consumer Age?,” Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO and co-founder of 3 D printing and design company Shapeways, said his company allows people to take part in the design process—which ultimately creates a stronger relationship with their products. While the technology the company employs is still in its infancy, he said, it already allows people to customize products like jewelry and accessories and ceramic cups. “[We] want to be involved in the products that we care about,” he said. “[This] enables people to rediscover the value of the goods that they buy.”
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/new-commerce-sites-challenge-mass-production-model-138264

Armani Plots Aggressive Expansion in North America
Giorgio Armani has redesigned his vision for capturing market share in North America — and the most immediate sign is at the Madison Avenue flagship. That’s where Armani has elevated the luxury appeal in a top-to-bottom, three-month overhaul of the four-level, 21,000-square-foot site, which reopens today. The renovation of the 17-year-old store marks the next chapter in Armani’s retail and wholesale operations across North America, which accounted for 18 percent of worldwide revenues in 2010. The group’s revenues that year, including licensed products, totaled 6.02 billion euros, or $7.95 billion. It also suggests where a lot of the growth will come by giving more space to categories heretofore underplayed but being developed — footwear, fine and costume jewelry, leather goods, accessories and men’s made-to-measure. The flagship, located at 760 Madison Avenue, also maintains front and center such core components as eveningwear, cocktail dresses, work attire and more casual sportswear.
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/designer-luxury/armani-plots-aggressive-expansion-in-north-america-5688245

Barneys New York Seen Under Pressure Again
The financial pressure is back on Barneys New York, which continues to be dogged by debt concerns and speculation that certain stores are struggling. On Wednesday, the $700 million luxury retailer confirmed it has hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP to help renegotiate its $200 million revolving credit loan due in September. Barneys also has a $280 million term loan due in September 2014 and a $180 million payment-in-kind loan due March 2016, but immediate concerns center on the revolver. Citigroup and Wells Fargo are the primary lenders. Two private equity players have been circling Barneys for a few years, though. Ron Burkle, chief executive officer of Yucaipa Cos., bought about 15 percent of Barneys’ senior term loan in late 2009, along with roughly 60 percent of the luxury retailer’s subordinated loan. Yucaipa declined comment Wednesday. Burkle has been eyeing Barneys, as has Richard Perry, whose Perry Capital also has a large piece of Barneys’ debt.
http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/financial/barneys-seen-under-pressure-again-5634460

Travel News

New Safety Drill for Cruise Industry
The cruise industry has announced a new emergency lifeboat drill to be carried out before departure from port following the Costa Concordia disaster. The new policy, which requires passengers to be informed about safety protocols and emergency evacuation before the ship leaves, is part of the Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review launched on 27 January. On rare occasions that passengers arrive after the muster has been completed, they will be provided with individual or group safety briefings.
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000270&c=setreg&region=2

Hotel Heavyweights Forge Alliance
Carlson and The Rezidor Hotel Group have joined together to become the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. The legal status and ownership structure of each group will stay the same, but they will work together to: align and manage their brands, develop revenue generation engines, explore global purchasing opportunities and people development, establish a global sales team. The joint group aims to generate more than $400 million in additional revenue and a RevPAR Index increase of more than 9 points by 2015. Carlson and Rezidor have a long common history and have grown together over the past 17 years, said Hubert Joly, president & CEO of Carlson. Going to market as one is a next and natural step. We are leveraging the strengths of two great companies to create value for all our stakeholders
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=1151107

Fiji Battens Down for Another Blast
A tropical storm is bringing more high winds and severe rain to parts of Fiji. Fiji’s National Weather Forecasting Centre (NWFC) has issued a strong wind warning for the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands, Kadavu and nearby smaller islands. A state of emergency was issued in Fiji last week, after flooding and landslides killed at least six and forced at least 3,500 people into emergency shelters. The NWFC has also advised the region can also expect heavy rain and squally thunderstorms in coming days and as a result, the possibility of some flooding of low-lying areas. International flights into the country continue as normal, however domestic carriers including Pacific Sun advised that while Nadi-Suva flights continue to operate, some outer island flights may be affected by the current conditions.
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000123&c=setreg&region=2