Pacquiao-Clottey Gives Cowboys Stadium A Big Debut Bout

• While the March 13 Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey bout at Cowboys Stadium “isn’t the hoped-for mega showdown” between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., it still is a “good, big-time boxing start for the house that Jerry Jones built,” according to Gil LeBreton of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM.
• The stadium will use its “basketball configuration for the bout.” The top deck will not be opened, and the center-hung video board “will be lowered to 30 feet over the ring.”
• Ticket prices to the fight will range from $50-700, and Top Rank Chair Bob Arum is “excited about being able to offer what he called ‘reasonable prices’ for a world-class boxing show.”
• Jones yesterday said he envisions as many as “four or five significant fights a year” in the new stadium. Jones: “Las Vegas has its aura, and we can do things here to capture our own aura.” The ring will be placed at midfield, and Arum and Jones noted that they are “hoping to fill 40,000 seats.”
• In Ft. Worth, Tobias Xavier Lopez notes there were “comparisons to the Roman Coliseums” throughout yesterday’s press conference at Cowboys Stadium, and Arum suggested that the Dallas facility “could replace Madison Square Garden or Caesar’s Palace as the ‘new Mecca of boxing’” (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 1/20)
• Jones said, “With the stature of Pacquiao, we’re going to be able to put on a unique fight.” While the plan is to fill 40,000 seats, Arum indicated that a “60,000-seat plan can be arranged if necessary.” Arum also announced that HBO PPV will televise the fight (L.A. TIMES, 1/20).

(www.sportsbusinessdaily.com)

Boost Mobile ‘Shuffles’ Into Its First Super Bowl

By Aaron Baar

• Boost Mobile is making its first foray into the Super Bowl with an updated version of the Super Bowl Shuffle, sung by a reunited 1985 Chicago Bears football team (a/k/a “the Shufflin’ Crew”).
• The spirit of the ad will be similar to the company’s ongoing “Unwronged” advertising, which posits odd or uncomfortable situations (Danica Patrick’s burly pit crew in bikinis, for instance) and compares them with the “wrongs” of other wireless carriers’ pricing plans.

(www.mediapost.com)

Nielsen: Super Bowl Ads Drive Web Traffic

By David Goetzl

• As Super Bowl advertisers look for spots to reverberate beyond the game, the freebie strategy employed by Denny’s appears to be a grand slam. But many marketers have more pedestrian goals: Driving viewers to their Web sites.
• One finding bears little need for exhaustive research: GoDaddy.com saw a 112% lift in Web traffic (unique visitors) during those 24 hours, more than any other advertiser.
• Overall, Nielsen said the average leap in Web traffic for Super Bowl advertisers on Feb. 2, the day after the game, was up an average of 63%.

(www.mediapost.com)

‘NY Times’ Will Erect Online Pay Wall in 2011

By Erik Sass

• After months of speculation that major newspaper publishers will begin charging for online content, The New York Times revealed Wednesday that it will introduce limited content fees on its Web site — but not until early 2011.
• The new system, when it debuts, will employ a “metered” model that allows users to view a certain number of articles per month for free, then begin charging them when they exceed that number.
• NYTCO President and CEO Janet Robinson explained that the additional online revenue stream will make us “less susceptible to the inevitable economic cycles.”

(www.mediapost.com)

Scott’s Miracle-Gro Seeds Major League Baseball

By David Goetzl

• Talk about grassroots marketing. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a deal with Major League Baseball to sell seed blendsand fertilizers akin to those used on the fields at iconic venues such as Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.
• The arrangement is part of a broader link that pitches Scotts as an “official lawn care company” of MLB.

(www.mediapost.com)

Daily Candy: Kids Spend 7+ Hours Devouring Media

By Wayne Friedman

• Kids are spending over an hour a day more with all media versus five years ago — more so when you consider multitasking.
• According to a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, total media consumption of young consumers 8-18 — from mobile, TV, games, Internet, etc — comes to a big seven hours and 38 minutes a day, up from six hours and 21 minutes in 2004.
• Fueling this process are big increases in mobile device ownership. The study says since 2004, ownership among 8- to-18-year-olds has jumped to 66% from 39%, and to 76% from 18% for iPods and other MP3 players.

(www.mediapost.com)

NBC’s Ebersol Frustrated By GE’s Immelt Olympic Remarks

By David Goetzl

• In comments published Wednesday in The New York Times, Ebersol suggested General Electric’s CEO Jeff Immelt’s statements last month that GE would lose $200 million on the Vancouver Olympics has affected the sales process.
• But Ebersol told the Times: “When you say something like that, advertisers think they’ll get a bargain, and we’ve told them there aren’t any.” Ebersol added that he wished Immelt had made the revelation at the end of January, “so it didn’t cause any disruption of sales.”

(www.mediapost.com)

Study: People Willing To Spend More For Green

By Tanya Irwin

• Consumers are willing to pay more for a variety of products that are environmentally friendly and sustainable — better known as “green,” according to a Burst Media study.
• The survey revealed that 90% of respondents have incorporated some level of greenness into their daily lives — 8.8% are completely green, while most are aspirationally green.
• help lead green lives, respondents cite the Internet as the best source of information on green products and practices.
• The trend of green consumers turning to the Internet poses an “incredible” opportunity for marketers, says Chuck Moran, chief marketing officer for Burlington, Mass.-based Burst Media.

(www.mediapost.com)

Conan O’Brien Set to Exit NBC Jan. 22

By: Marc Berman (Mediaweek)

• As expected, Conan O’Brien will officially step down as host of NBC’s The Tonight Show tomorrow with a departing package reported to be worth more than $40 million. An estimated $32.5 million is expected to go to Conan, with the rest to his staff in severance pay. 

(ww.adweek.com)

Super Bowl Ads More Exciting Than the Game?

By: Steve McLellan

• It’s close, but a new Nielsen viewer survey shows that just over half (51 percent) of respondents enjoy the Super Bowl more for the ads than the game.

(www.adweek.com)

Weight Watchers Wins 1st Round vs. Jenny Craig

By: Noreen O’Leary

• A New York court has granted Weight Watchers International a temporary restraining order in its lawsuit against Jenny Craig. The order prohibits the latter from using comparative claims of superiority in its current marketing communications.

(www.adweek.com)

First Mobile Upfront in New York

By: Adweek Staff

• Still waiting for the year of mobile advertising to arrive? It’s been a decade in the making, but according to the organizers of the first Mobile Upfront event, to be held in New York on March 16, that year has arrived.

(www.adweek.com)

Double Fusion to Deliver Ads to PS3 Titles

By: Mike Shields (Mediaweek)

• In-game ad firm Double Fusion has snagged exclusive rights to deliver ads in a pair of top PlayStation 3 titles.

(www.adweek.com)

HSBC Campaign Arrives at L.A. Airport

By: Katy Bachman (Mediaweek)

• HSBC Bank USA, a familiar advertiser in some of the nation’s largest airports, has added Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the seventh-busiest airport in the world, to its global airport campaign. 

(www.brandweek.com)

Target Offers ‘Wii Fit Plus Experience’

By: Elaine Wong

• Target, in partnership with Nintendo, has set up Wii exercise kiosks outside store entrances and parking lots to build hype around the newest version of the popular weight loss game, Wii Fit Plus.

(www.brandweek.com)