Breaking News

• Car companies create marketing magic with Super Bowl ads
  Car companies appear to have been the big winners with professionals and consumers in the Super Bowl advertising bonanza. A Chrysler spot featuring Clint Eastwood sent a powerful message, and an Acura commercial featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno had the early edge in a Wall Street Journal poll of the best ads. The Wall Street Journal (2/6)     

Company News

• Watch the Super Bowl ads
  Advertising Age has aggregated all the spots that aired during Super Bowl XLVI on one page, sorted by marketer and by their rating. They gave top honors to a Cars.com spot from DDB Chicago, Chevy's "Stunt Anthem" spot by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and Kia's "A Dream Car for Real Life" from David & Goliath. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (2/5)     

• M&M's spot scores well with Kellogg panel
  A spot for M&M's featuring a new spokes-character named Ms. Brown performed well with viewers on the Kellogg School of Management Super Bowl ad-ranking panel. Tim Calkins of the Kellogg School at Northwestern University said, "What's notable about this year versus others is that advertisers played it safe. As a result, we saw fewer standouts, but we also didn't see as many costly mistakes." The Boston Globe (tiered subscription model) (2/6), BleacherReport.com (2/6)     

• BofA review focuses on strategic positioning
  A briefing to its collection of ad agencies and PR shops shows a Bank of America desperate to retool its damaged image quickly. The troubled bank is throwing the brand into review and inviting Brand Union, BBDO, Weber Shandwick and Hill Holliday to participate. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (2/6)     

Market Trends

• As economy stumbles, brewers offer bigger kick per bottle
  With beer shipments dipping 1.4% last year to an eight-year low, higher-alcohol beverages are on the rise. Anheuser-Busch InBev introduced 6% alcohol Bud Light Platinum at the Super Bowl, and others are following suit with higher-potency brews as experts see that pursuit of "affordable luxury" as a sign of the economic times. Los Angeles Times (2/5)     

• Advertisers are cautious amid growing economy
  Despite GM's reneging on upfront commitments signaling that 2012 advertising should be approached with caution, GM's move hasn't caused a stampede to the exits. The television scatter market is running ahead of upfront prices and although marketers were counting on a better year because of Olympics and election spending, categories are sending mixed signals. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (2/6)     

• CPG brands top list of digital video ad spending
  CPG brands led on video advertising at 24% of dollars spent, besting pharmaceuticals' 16% share, according to a YuMe study. The 25- to 54-year-old demography is the most sought, and Californians alone consumed 11% of the ads as the digital video ad industry expects to grow from $2 billion in 2011 to $5.4 billion by 2016. MediaPost Communications/Online Media Daily (2/3)     

• Can Disney market anime without merchandizing rights?
  Disney's struggle to make domestic hits of internationally acclaimed Japanese animation points to the importance of the missing merchandizing rights to the Disney formula. Nevertheless, Disney executive John Lasseter and producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall are hoping the latest Studio Ghibli film, "The Secret World of Arrietty," will succeed on more screens than the disappointing release of "Ponyo." The Wall Street Journal (2/6)     

Interactive

• Search is projected to remain dominant online ad form
  Search ad spending is expected to edge down but will remain dominant through 2016, accounting for just under half of all ad spending online, according to projections by eMarketer. Banner and video ads will be next most popular forms and, together with search, will make up more than 80% of online spending. eMarketer (2/3)     

• Big digital buildup is set for Grammy Awards
  Three days of live-streaming video will provide an online buildup for this year's Grammy Awards. Grammy Live begins Friday and expands on a digital outreach since 2009 credited with growing the number of younger viewers for the broadcast, which is increasingly a multi-screen experience. GigaOm/NewTeeVee blog (2/5), Mashable (2/4)     

Featured Content

Multicultural Marketing

• "Cooper" front kills 250, dampening weather-naming market
  A European marketing trend of brands buying naming rights for weather conditions has BMW shifting into apology mode. The so-called "Cooper" front is tarnishing the brand image, as the severe cold has killed more than 250 people so far. The Wall Street Journal (2/6)     

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by AAF SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Broderick takes another "day off" for Honda CR-V (Los Angeles Times)

• Cereal box surprises go digital (USA TODAY)

• Hot-sauce war shows no signs of cooling off (The New York Times (tiered subscription model))

• Why Priceline threw Shatner under the bus (Advertising Age (tiered subscription model))

• Old Spice crashes into other ads (The New York Times (tiered subscription model))

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

SmartQuote

The most common trouble with advertising is that it tries too hard to impress people." --James Randolph Adams, member, Advertising Hall of Fame