Cadillac is switching ad duties to Campbell Ewald
After last year's ouster of CMO Joel Ewanick, General Motors is switching ad agencies for Cadillac from Minneapolis-based Fallon Worldwide to Michigan's Campbell Ewald, sources say. The deal is expected to be announced in a few days and comes after a sudden move by Campbell Ewald from its Warren, Mich., home to downtown Detroit, near GM headquarters. The Wall Street Journal (3/12)

Fred is ready to meet the public
Fred, the Brooklyn-based bottled water brand, has hired Made Movement as its agency of record. "Fred is in a great position to disrupt the water category," said Dave Schiff, creative director of Made, which was founded a year ago and works with American brands. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (3/11)

McCann may be in line for lead ad duties at Chevrolet
A fundamentally new ad agency arrangement for Chevrolet is the subject of talks at GM, executives say. Under the new plan, McCann would be placed in the lead, effectively undoing an 11-month partnership in which duties were shared with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (3/11)

Creative

Lowe's springs into new ad campaign
Lowe's has launched new ad campaigns for the spring busy season, including a 60-second spot from film and TV director Peter Berg, another 60-second spot aimed at male NASCAR and college basketball watchers and a series of commercials tailored to the weather and climate in specific regions. January brought the seventh consecutive month of rising home sales, a positive sign for home-improvement chains. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (3/11)

Media

Advertisers line up for Rovio "Angry Birds" series
The series of short "Angry Birds Toons" will appear first on television Saturday, then on various devices, including a channel in the game application itself. Among the initial sponsors of the series, Activision, BlackBerry, Paramount and Sony Pictures are on board. The series is also available via Samsung smart TVs and the Roku connected device, though its YouTube channel is not on the schedule yet. Adweek (3/11), Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (3/11), TechCrunch (3/11)

CQ Roll Call is introducing blogs for each of 5 big names
CQ Roll Call is introducing five political blogs from its star-billed contributors in a bid to build its digital base. The new bloggers are David Drucker, Stu Rothenberg, Mort Kondracke, David Hawking and Taegan Goddard. Adweek (3/11)

Fox Sports is said to reach a $500 million deal for new Big East
News Corp.'s Fox Sports 1 reportedly has reached a $500 million, 12-year deal for the basketball rights to Georgetown, Seton Hall and five other Catholic universities that will be in the reconfigured Big East conference. ESPN, meanwhile, has a contract worth $20 million a year for the old Big East, featuring such teams as Connecticut, Cincinnati and a number of Southern universities. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (3/11)

Trends & Research

Kantar: Retail, Olympics, election lifted total ad spend 3% in 2012
Total advertising spending rose 3% to $140 billion year-over-year in 2012, according to Kantar Media, which attributes the gain in part to the quadrennial Olympics and elections season. The retail, automotive, local services and telecom categories also showed single-digit gains. Procter & Gamble, Comcast and General Motors were the three largest advertisers in terms of spending, although only Comcast among these three increased its spend last year, up 10% to $1.7 billion. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (3/11)

Marketer News

Campbell Soup CEO wants smaller teams to "think outside the can"
Campbell Soup breaks its creative teams into "smaller cross-functional groups" for greater agility and thinking beyond traditional ways, said CEO Denise Morrison, speaking at the 4A's Transformation conference. "[W]e came out with this mantra when I became CEO [in 2011] of focusing forward -- focusing outward to consumers and ahead to create our future. So, we had to think outside the can," she says. Morrison says that idea came from Ideo and proved itself in the company's immersion study of millennials, writes Andrew McMains. Adweek (3/11)

WAT-AAH! taps OMG Girlz for multichannel campaign
Pop group OMG Girlz has signed on as the first teen celebrity ambassador in a print, television, digital and retail campaign for WAT-AAH!, a bottled-water brand. The campaign includes a bottle designed by the band, a cross-country tour and a youth talent show, Show Me WAT-YOU-GOT!, with band members as judges. MediaPost Communications/Marketing Daily (3/11)

Association News

Free for members: Advertising Metrics and ROI Book
Help your agency make more informed business intelligence decisions with this exclusive 4A's book, Advertising Metrics and ROI: A Guide to Agency Accountability and Effectiveness. Find out which key performance indicators you should be measuring. A template for aggregating the results of an ROI analysis is included. While the book is free for 4A's members, non-members can purchase it for just $100 in the 4A's Bookstore. To place your order, visit our website.

Project management for agency initiatives seminar
Join project management expert Dave Po-Chedley, principal at Cambridge Consulting, and Mina Seetharaman, Executive Program Director for the Ogilvy Advanced Video Practice, at 4A's headquarters in New York for this all-day workshop. Learn how to manage your incoming digital projects better while maximizing client satisfaction and agency profit. Complete an agency assessment and leave with digital copies of all project management templates. Save a spot today for this April 10 event.

Legislative & Regulatory

Lawyers aren't waiting for the FDA to sue CPGs over "natural" claims
Lawyers have stepped into the gap left by the failure of government agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission, to decide on the definition of "natural," writes Jack Neff. Unilever's Ben & Jerry, PepsiCo's SoBe, Sun Chips and Tostitos, and Johnson & Johnson's Aveeno are among those facing lawsuits. New products claiming to be natural were down to 16.1% last year from 28.5% in 2009, per Datamonitor. "The lack of clarity from regulators has contributed to a free-for-all, where marketers treat 'natural' differently," Frankfurt Kurnit attorney Terri Seligman said. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (3/11)

SmartQuote

We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm." -- Winston Churchill, British prime minister Share: