Facebook Books $1.86B in Advertising; Muscles In on Google Turf

• As the social network steams past 650 million global users, its business is looking more like Google’s in that the majority of its ad sales now come from small- and medium-size companies that make use of its self-serve ad system, a model that turned Google into a $200 billion behemoth during the past decade.
• According to an estimate from eMarketer, Facebook took in $1.86 billion in worldwide advertising revenue for 2010, an 86% increase over the company’s estimated 2009 advertising revenue of $740 million worldwide. Not surprisingly, the majority of that, $1.21 billion, was earned inside the U.S.
• But what is surprising is the majority of revenue, 60% or $1.12 billion, was earned from smaller companies in 2010, those more likely to be using self-serve tools rather than work through a media agency. That’s greater than the $740 million coming from major marketers like Coke, P&G or Match.com. (www.adage.com)

Great Design and User Experience Is the Best Marketing

• Ever choose a bottle of wine because the label looked nice? Or buy a book because the cover looked good?
• In a past life, I designed book jackets for Vintage Paperbacks — so it was my job to make you do that. But despite my lack of wine expertise, my choice of wine based on font barely disappoints. I am a believer that good design cues usually tell you all you need to know. Design-driven decisions aren’t necessarily new to the world of advertising, but two recent examples drive home the utter power of design to serve as the catalyst to consumer action.
• The first is Apple, often lauded for its product design and approach to advertising. We have all seen how its product design has the power to stop you in your tracks, literally. In the past, its advertising has taken the form of beautifully colored dancing silhouettes and cinematic TV spots shot by Ridley Scott.
• I’m sure you have seen the spots that feature Dyson talking about the vacuum, dissecting its design, delving into the reasoning behind each piece and more. In fact, in one of the more recent spots, Dyson talks about how all previous vacuum cleaners have had the same specific design flaw. He then proceeds to show you how his latest product, the Dyson Ball, addresses this issue. You’re left feeling that Dyson is simply one of the coolest “gadgets” you have ever laid eyes on. I’m talking about a vacuum cleaner! (www.adage.com)

Vibe Magazine Forms Partnership With Nascar Team

• Vibe magazine has formed a partnership with Revolution Racing, which fields female and minority drivers as part of Nascar’s effort to diversify.
• Nascar has been funding female and minority drivers as part of its Drive for Diversity program since 2004, but last year consolidated that funding at Revolution, which chooses drivers from hundreds of applicants in a tryout camp.
• Vibe’s new partnership with Revolution will begin at the 2011 Nascar Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Calif., on Jan. 28 and 29, where Vibe branding will appear on the car driven by Darrell Wallace Jr., one of Revolution’s drivers, and on the track. Vibe will also begin covering Revolution Racing in print and on the web.
• Vibe’s audience is open to Nascar but has not been directly addressed before, according to Brett Wright, chief creative officer at the Vibe Lifestyle Network, Vibe magazine’s parent company. “There hasn’t really been a conduit that made it accessible, engaging and interesting enough for them,” he said. “We believe that through this partnership we can be the conduit to introduce it in a way that gets people excited and makes them want to participate.” (www.adage.com)

Cold Stone Creamery Opens Self-Serve Frozen-Yogurt Bars

• Cold Stone Creamery, known for its hand-mixed custom concoctions and fatty ice-cream indulgences, is going lighter and more casual with a new, self-serve frozen-yogurt line extension.
• The Cold Stone Yogurt Bar concept consists of self-serve, soft-serve machines accompanied by a toppings bar. Pricing will be a weigh-and-pay structure. Initially, the flavors will be the “sweet and creamy” kind the company said it is known for — vanilla, chocolate and cake batter — but additional creamy flavors and tart flavors such as berry will be added later. All stores will carry frozen yogurt in hard-packed options, which is the style in which the chain serves its ice cream.
• The Yogurt Bar is designed to be able to be a standalone concept, particularly in locations such as airports or military bases. Franchisees will have the option of incorporating the yogurt bars into existing stores as well as not-yet-built ones. A handful of stores in Arizona, California and on the East Coast will test the new yogurt concept over the next few weeks in preparation for an intended nationwide launch in the spring. (www.adage.com)

H.P. Updates TV’s Old Product Demos

• A mainstay of early television — live commercials demonstrating products like Polaroid cameras and Timex watches — is making a comeback, updated for a new century by migrating to new media.
• Hewlett-Packard is teaming up with the YouTube for a live show in the form known as branded entertainment. The program will be featured on YouTube’s home page from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time on Friday.
• The purpose of the show, called “H.P. ePrint Live,” will be to demonstrate a new H.P. technology, ePrint, which enables people who want to print files or photographs to send them from mobile devices to Web-connected H.P. printers, each with a unique e-mail address.
• The live stream of the show (youtube.com/hpeprintlive) can also be watched on Facebook (facebook.com/hphome) and on mobile devices (hpeprintlive.mobi). (www.nytimes.com)

Bobcats purring after Duke Energy deal

• Under the terms of the “multi-year” deal, Duke Energy will receive exposure via signage inside Time Warner Cable Arena and on the Bobcats website. The announcement has come just days after Duke Energy announced its merger with Raleigh-based Progress Energy. Duke Energy’s headquarters will remain in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• “Duke Energy is one of the pillars of this community, focused like we are on making this a better place to live, work and play,” said Bobcats Sports and Entertainment president and chief operating officer Fred Whitfield.
• “This partnership is the culmination of months of productive, insightful and wide-ranging discussions and a great representation of the things that matter most to both of our organisations,” said Whitfield. (www.sportsbussiness.com)

Allianz backing world women’s soccer champions Germany

• Allianz have agreed a deal with the German Football Association (DFB) to become the lead sponsor of the women’s national soccer team until the end of 2014.
• The Munich-based insurance firm will have its logo on all official apparel, as well as on press backgrounds during matches and events involving the current world and European champions. It will also support the Allianz Girl’s Cup, a national tournament involving over 10,000 female players aged 11 to 16. According to Sponsors.de, the deal will be worth an annual €1 million (US$1.33 million). Allianz replace kitchen manufacturer Alno, who ended their deal early at the end of last year.
• DFB president Dr Theo Zwanziger said: “I am sure we will work together to continue the success story of German women’s football.
• Andree Moschner, the chief executive of Allianz Consulting and Sales AG, added: The sustainable promotion of women is an essential part of our corporate philosophy. The expansion of our existing sponsorship of the 2011 World Cup to a partnership with the women’s team underlines our mission.” (www.sportspromedia.com)

Cabot Soup Swap Mixes Events, Social Media

• Cabot Creamery can’t spend millions on media campaigns for its award-winning cheeses. Fortunately, grass roots marketing and social media fit like a glove, since Cabot is a cooperative of 1,200 dairy farming families.
• “Community lies at the heart of the cooperative concept and our marketing approach,” sums up senior VP, marketing Roberta MacDonald.
• Latest case in point: Cabot’s “Community Soup Swap,” which combines at-home events thrown by popular bloggers, a social media-driven recipe contest and donations to food banks.
• The Cabot initiative ties in with “National Soup Swap Day” on Jan. 22, a grass roots event if there ever was one. Started locally in the late ’90s by Seattle resident Knox Gardner as a way to share soup leftovers, the concept has been fed by a site (soupswap.com) and a Facebook community, and has in recent years become an annual late-January event. (www.mediapost.com)

Ford Grabs Show-Floor Real Estate In Detroit

• Ford, which says it now has its largest consumer display in the world at Detroit’s Cobo Hall for the 2011 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), is enjoying increased attendance, already up 6% for the first two days. The company says its display comprises 75 vehicles, 22 interactive exhibits and 67 product specialists, is 25% larger than last year’s and is larger than a football field. The automaker says its display includes an elevated track on which attendees can ride the Focus Electric car. “We’ve moved from one-way communication to full-blown two-way communication and total engagement with visitors,” said Jim Farley, Ford group vice president, global marketing, sales and service, in a statement. “Futuristic concept cars and simple narrations about products have been augmented by or replaced with product interaction, hands-on technology displays, conversations with knowledgeable hosts and even games.” The automaker is also using the show to explain how electric powertrains work and the difference between electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Ford’s “Living Electric” exhibit is a mix of displays, digital tutorials, lectures and demonstrations by “product specialists”, and games. Ford also has a replica of the Laguna Seca raceway done up as a giant slot car track where visitors can test a scale-model Mustang Boss 302, and a kiosk with the not-yet-released Electronic Arts video game Need for Speed Shift 2. NAIAS says attendance this year is up, and that the show is exceeding last year’s attendance figures for the second consecutive day. According to the organization, attendance is up 6% so far with the first two days up over 3% each versus last year. The show’s organizers say 87,000 people came on Saturday, and 99,000 on Sunday.
• “We’re currently trending to meet our goal of 725,000 to 750,000 attendees,” said Barron Meade, NAIAS chairman, in a statement. Monday is likely to be well attended because most people aren’t at work, he said. (www.mediapost.com)

Honda To Intro ‘Dream The Impossible’ Film

• Honda is launching its eighth documentary film in its “Dream the Impossible” series. The films, under Honda’s “Power of Dreams” corporate campaign, first launched in 2005 in the United Kingdom and are archived at Dreams.Honda.com. The Power of Dreams campaign has also included advertising and events featuring Honda’s Asimo robot.
• The films juxtapose Honda engineers and other employees with athletes, artists, filmmakers, and visionaries in different fields. They expand upon perseverance, the benefits of working under pressure, and the wonders of the imagination, while showing Honda products in development. And they tie everything back to how Honda applies these virtues to developing and building consumer products.
• The new film, “The Undying Dream,” stars Laird Hamilton, a surfer known for his predilection for riding gigantic waves, as well as Team Honda motorcycle racers and Honda employees. They talk about what happens when “A dream takes hold of you and drives you to succeed,” according to a Honda release. The film was directed by Sundance Film Festival two-time Grand Jury Prize winner Ondi Timoner.
• The Torrance, Calif.-based Honda Motor America will premiere the eighth film as part of its sponsorship of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Honda, which has been a Sundance sponsor since 2008, will screen the film as part of its “Honda Power of Dreams Experience” on Main Street in Park City during the festival. The exhibition, running Jan. 21-26, features displays of Honda products, demonstrations and video productions and screenings. (www.mediapost.com)

New TAG Heuer Keeps Time To 1/100th Of A Second

• Luxury watch brand TAG Heuer is taking the wraps off what it calls a time-keeping breakthrough: The Carrera Mikrograph 1/100th Second Chronograph.  
• The Swiss watchmaker, owned by luxury powerhouse LVMH, claims to be the first to master chronographs with the precision of 1/10th, 1/100th and 1/1,000th of a second, and says the new special-edition watch is a tribute to the first sports stopwatch that displayed 1/50th and 1/100th of a second, patented by Heuer back in 1916.
• What make this model innovative, it says in its launch release, are two distinct balance wheels, which “allow for the full engagement of the stopwatch without interfering with the watch function. This core technology ensures less wear and tear of the mechanisms, and protects the longevity of the movement.”
• The company will make 150 of the new watches to commemorate its 150th anniversary, scheduled to go on sale in October and priced at $50,000. No word yet on whether the company will advertise the new offering, but TAG Heuer maintains marketing relationships with the Monaco Grand Prix, the Le Mans 24 and the Indy 500 as well as such celebrity spokespeople as actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Bollywood’s Shah Rukh Khan, and tennis star Maria Sharapova. (As part of its anniversary, the company says it will tour a “150 Years of Mastering Speed” exhibition to major cities and racing capitals.) (www.mediapost.com)

Fisher Is Latest Celeb Jenny Craig Spokesperson

• Princess Leia needs diet advice and she’s not turning to Hans Solo or even Darth Vader for help.  
• Carrie Fisher is the latest Jenny Craig celebrity client and spokesperson. Joining Jenny Craig spokespeople like Valerie Bertinelli, Sara Rue, Nicole Sullivan and Jason Alexander, Fisher will appear in Jenny Craig’s new ad campaign that launches in February.
• Fisher is using Jenny Craig’s new Metabolic Max program, the next generation of the signature Jenny Craig program. It measures calories burned with a BodyMedia FIT Armband. Jenny Craig consultants use that information to plan a weekly menu, review the client’s caloric intake and activity levels for the week, and adjust the program accordingly to help maximize weight loss efforts.
• Fisher started the program a few days after Thanksgiving and lost 12 pounds in six weeks. Her goal is to lose 30 total pounds.  (www.mediapost.com)

Moët & Chandon Present Romantic Ad Campaign Starring Scarlett Johansson

• Scarlett Johansson, a young and successful movie actress known also as a face of Mango and celebrity ambassador for Moët & Chandon Champagne (since 2009), starred in a series of commercial photographs that are part of the new brand’s romantic campaign.
• The photos were taken by British photographer Tim Walker during the photo set that took place in Trianon, a residence built by Jean-Rémy’s Moët between 1805-1817 on the Moët & Chandon Estate in Epernay, France. One of the photos presents close-up of Scarlett pouting seductively, wearing a bright-red lipstick. Another shot sees her posing on an old-style wooden staircase among the towers of champagne glasses and holding a bottle of Champagne, while wearing a sexy egg blue ballgown. (www.popsop.com)